Solo Artists

Most of the people we work with at Analog Heart are solo artists. For a variety of reasons, solo artists tend to write better songs than bands, and if we find a good voice and good song, we’ll jump at the chance to record it.

If you’re a solo singer / songwriter, you may have never played your songs with a band, or even outside of your bedroom. And although the song is simply you and guitar / piano, you probably have a vision of how you want it to sound – drums, backing vocals, orchestra. Or perhaps you have very little idea how the song should be fleshed out. Perhaps you have only written a vocal part, and you need help to create the music behind it. Or perhaps you want some music to write to. Or maybe, you want someone to write something for you to sing.

Whatever you’re after as a solo artist, Stuart Stuart is highly experienced with taking an acoustic demo and turning into an epic production. Or a stripped back low key production. Whichever happens to suit. He is also a songwriter with many credits, who can write with you, or even for you. He can make an entire music track to surround your vocal ideas, or he can create a sonic landscape for you to write something to.

Essentially, whatever the gap is between where you are now, and the ultimate sound you have in mind for your music, Stuart will fill it. That includes any kind of instrument, or backing band, and any kind of style.

And remember, once your music is recorded, no matter who’s playing on the recording, you are still free to put together a band and market your music under a band name. Stuart tends to take the approach of ‘make the most exciting record you can first, then worry about how to play it live’. He will give you plenty of ideas on how you can take the music ‘on the road’ once the tracks are finalised.

Unlike pretty much every other recording studio on the planet, our goal is not to simply record you ‘as you are’. We want to make a significant improvement to every part of your music, raise the standards and create the recording that is the difference between where you are now and where you want to be.

Stuart will have ideas on every aspect of what you’re doing, from which songs to record, to the lyrics, to the tempo, to the arrangement, the key, the melodies, the chords, the drum groove, the guitar sound, the vocals, the genre it all falls into and everything in between. So be prepared for some pretty frank constructive criticism and advice. Ultimately, it is YOUR MUSIC so your opinion is the one that wins. But be prepared for that opinion to change as you get a new perspective.

Generally, Stuart will want to hear almost everything you’ve written that you think is worth hearing. It’s not unusual for Stuart to listen to 20 songs, even if the plan is to record just 3.

Once you and Stuart decide which songs are the strongest, he’ll give you plenty of ideas on how they could be stronger – lyrics, arrangement, melody, feel, everything. He’s going to throw up every single idea and possible change he can think of – some will make sense to you straight away, some will take a while to get used to, and some will feel completely wrong. It’s all good – it’s the give and take of ideas that leads to something great.

Remember, the ultimate choice about everything is up to you. If Stuart suggests a change, it’s only because he thinks it’s going to help you get noticed. So as much as possible, come open-minded. But if it feels totally wrong for you, PLEASE speak up – we’re collaborating here and your satisfaction is the first priority.

After this process, Stuart may leave you to work on the changes. In general, he mightsuggest a few specific starting points (like chords, lyrical ideas, general melodic direction), but it will be up to you to actually write the songs. On this first day, you’ll also be tossing up where you should go style-wise. It comes down to the kind of music you write, your age, the way you look, your musical tastes, and where the opportunities in the industry are. Once again, Stuart has a world of knowledge you can draw from, and will have plenty of advice for you.

One thing that separates accomplished songwriters from beginners is the ability to write a good bridge. A bridge is the section, usually after the second chorus which happens once and takes the song somewhere different.

Songwriters often have a verse, a chorus, and an instrumental based around one of those two parts. It may work ok, but more often than not, a song with too few parts can get tedious, and not give punters a whole lot of reason to hit ‘repeat’. If your songs are lacking bridges, and you know they need variety, start messing around with some ideas before you get here. Listen to a bunch of songs in your style with good bridges to give you some inspiration – you’ll know the bridge when you hear it!

Songwriters often go with their first idea when writing lyrics, and never re-visit the words again. Remember, this is your shot, and a chance to get your music AND lyrics heard by the industry. If you know that you can write better lyrics, start revising them now. If things go well, you (and your fans) will be singing these words for years to come!

Getting the tempo just right is ultra-important for every song – a few BPM’s too slow and the song will drag, too quick and the groove might get lost. Stuart will spend a fairly long time working this out with you – maybe more time than you might expect.

Practically every song you hear on the radio these days is recorded at one tempo start to finish. This allows you to edit everything easily – you can copy over good parts and repeat them, you can move things around simply, and generally save a huge amount of time. This gives you more time to create, and get the best take.

If your song requires tempo or time signature changes, Stuart can definitely make that happen, though there are VERY few times when that much jerking around actually helps the song. Speeding up the chorus 15 BPM, and slowing down the bridge 25 may seem tricky, but it generally adds up to an awkward listening experience, and something pretty anti-commercial. But if it sincerely works, no problem.

Before getting too deep into the recording Stuart will make sure the arrangement is in place.

A typical arrangement might be – Intro, Verse 1, Pre-Chorus, Chorus, Verse 2, Pre-Chorus, Chorus, Bridge, Instrumental, Chorus, Chorus Repeat, Outro. Once this is decided on, Stuart lays out the arrangement on the screen, plotting the exact length of each part in bars. This way, you’ll know precisely how long the song is going to be, when the first chorus hits, which parts each instrument has to record, which parts can be cut and pasted etc.

The arrangement can change, right up until the final mix – choruses can be doubled, verses can be halved. But Stuart will want to ensure the song is basically working for its full length before recording.