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What makes this song great

  • Thread starter Thread starter Nekujak
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Nekujak

Nekujak

My muse is demanding better working hours
On VI-C we have the "What's on your playlist right now?" sub-forum, with its most popular thread: "MUSIC: What are you listening to ? ?"

Seems it would be nice to have something similar here. And actually, what could be even more useful and generate lots of lively discussion, is a topic like "What makes this song great" where members post great songs by other artists and discuss what makes them so excellent. Ultimately, a topic like that could grow up into a great one-stop resource for examples of exceptional songwriting and production.

Rick Beato already cornered the "What makes this song great" label, but I don't think he has exclusive claim to it. But if it's an issue, the topic could be called something else like "Great songs and production" or somesuch...
 
This sounds like an excellent idea. I have been thinking about what makes a great song and how a lot of great songs don't get lost with reduced instrumentation. A piano, a guitar.
I am fan of Nick Cave's songwriting but had really only heard his songs through the vehicle of the Bad Seeds. I saw him live this past year, just piano and bass guitar. Every song came through powerfully.

Here is a song I think is great, in two versions. The first, a faster tempo, more instrumentation and the second the album version which is slower, stripped down but equally beautiful.

@Nekujak This may not be what you were thinking, but let's get it started somewhere.



 
jehovahlicious said:
This sounds like an excellent idea. I have been thinking about what makes a great song and how a lot of great songs don't get lost with reduced instrumentation. A piano, a guitar.
I am fan of Nick Cave's songwriting but had really only heard his songs through the vehicle of the Bad Seeds. I saw him live this past year, just piano and bass guitar. Every song came through powerfully.

Here is a song I think is great, in two versions. The first, a faster tempo, more instrumentation and the second the album version which is slower, stripped down but equally beautiful.

@Nekujak This may not be what you were thinking, but let's get it started somewhere.



Click to expand...

All good, but right now, this thread is in the "suggestions" sub-forum as a proposed idea. If Mike decides to actually implement it, then we start posting and discussing songs!
 
This is a really good idea, so I've made a new sub-forum here:
What Makes This Song Great?

I put it in the "Critiques" section, which might be confusing, but I'm not sure where else it could go.

Maybe we combine the Songwriting and Production sections, and put it there.
 
Mike Greene said:
This is a really good idea, so I've made a new sub-forum here:
What Makes This Song Great?

I put it in the "Critiques" section, which might be confusing, but I'm not sure where else it could go.

Maybe we combine the Songwriting and Production sections, and put it there.
Click to expand...
My impression was "Critiques" was for members' original works - but maybe I'm wrong.

Seems like "Songwriting" is the better home for this topic, however, I understand why it would also be appropriate to "Production".

A conundrum indeed. Maybe this is a crazy idea, but what if there were two threads, one in "Songwriting" and one in "Production", each with its own respective focus? So "What makes this song great - songwriting" and "What makes this song great - production".

While there is some crossover between songwriting and production elements, for me they are really two completely separate things. Lots of songwriters don't record or produce their own material and are only interested in the writing aspect. While, just as many producers, are only interested in creating a good recording, regardless of the source. Both are valid topics IMHO.
 
I think "What makes this song great" works perfectly under Critiques because that's really what it is... critiquing the song and its elements.

One mostly unrelated suggestion I might offer for the forum is a separate category, something like "SHARE & PROMOTE YOUR NEW SONGS:" It would be a place where members could share a new release in an area where criticism is not sought. It would entice members, who are established producers and songwriters, to share their completed, mixed, mastered, and released works with their fellow members.

The obvious downside is that it could draw in all the world's musically-challenged EDM and Hip Hop bedroom producers to shamelessly promote themselves, drowning out all the other genres. If that came to pass, then the category would either need genre subforums so that the EDM and Hip Hop would be separated from the rock, country, R&B, etc. or else there would have to be a rule established which disallows new members from plastering the forum with their music until they've engaged with the forum for a while.
 
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