[skogge]

Aaaaaa those bloody sweedes!! 

Eeeey man! 

[torgny_n]

Aaaaaa those bloody sweedes!! 

Eeeey man! 

Så mycket svensk man kan bli! 

[Jamie]

Those Swedes are not so bad! I worked in Sweden on and off for 20 years, and lived in beautiful Stockholm for 3 years!
Great place! And we still are friends with our old neighbours.
Cheers
Jamie

[S.T.C]

Having read more....the truth seems to be this........if you get something published fine...then you want a placement !
Don't expect much more than a small part on some tv program.....no ones going to pick up your work of art..even if it's mega.
So better to write fairly non descript stuff,with a neutral lyric.. this then gives it more chance,with a broader appeal to more types of tv, synch type deals.
Famous artists..will never write with you or use your one-off classic...they write themselves, or co-write with songwriters that have a proven track record and that can create 10 'hit' songs per year.....real hit songs not just stuff your mate tells you is good.

[Boydie]

I think you are spot on STC

However, if you do write a guaranteed hit song - like the ones you hear for the first time on the radio and think "that is gonna be huge" - then that is the exception to the rule

This is what those that want to get published need to be striving for


It is possible to write for the TV sync market (which is very lucrative) and although not mutually exclusive I think in general you should be targeting one or the other as you may miss either target IMHO

[S.T.C]

Yes if you write a proper hit song...it might be used by an unknown,or minor artist...but probably will never come to the attention of anyone who could make it a serious placement  success..but i suspect even 'one hit wonders' are the products of professional writers..?

This is the sort of article i've been reading  http://www.writerswrite.com/journal/mar02/dawson27.htm

[Boydie]

I haven't read the article yet but here is my take...

"Average" songs (ie good album tracks) stand zero chance of major placements with major artists - this is where the artist, producer and every tom, dick and Sally gets the chance to chalk up a writing credit

It is the "singles" where a really top notch, fantastic, HIT song (which follows the rules, is different but not too different etc.) where a new writer stands a chance

Writing the sure fire hit song is where the difficulty lies!!

[S.T.C]

Yes of course ,thats the first thing..doing something that even the top recognized writers only pull of now and again..
2nd, someone of importance as to get to hear it, and if they care or can be bothered they might give it more than a thought,because they already have a collection of writer friends,that usually produce what they want for the artist they look after..so on and so on..

Being negative i know...but the stand alone songwriter as our friend Ralph calls them  , is really up against it with out a track record of work and friends that count.

One thing i have read several times though is , find an artist whos up and coming and write for them , so if they become a star , you will be in their circle and then your songs may be hits.

[Boydie]

100% agree with all that

Writing the hit song is hard enough but then getting it listened to is a whole new challenge

If it was easy everyone would be doing it 

[S.T.C]

This why i Twitter a lot..the people you would like to be your contacts are all there,inc, A-list artists...for e.g. ,i 'chat' with someone whose album was produced by Jake Owen, he's a personal friend of hers...so, bit by bit shes becoming a contact...i have one or two others also...maybe it will be fruitful maybe not.....but it's a free resource and it bypasses all those road blocks and obstructions were talking about!

[diademgrove]

Hi Boydie,

I think what the producer is talking about are the drums. My suggestion would be to replace the snare drum with the bass drum and try straight 8ths. I think you'll find the song has a lot more drive. The snare drags back the song to my ears.

Listening to a couple of Swedish House Mafia songs they drop out the drums for parts of the song. You could try that either for the verses or the couple of lines "I want walk you off the floor".

Not really my type of music, so I'm not sure if my suggestions will work. If you are up for trying my suggestions after a year with the song please let me know how you get on.

Keith

[sephsleft06]

can you tell us about the song? it's very good

ie. Did you write melody first?
Lyrics first?
Was the demo done in a pro demo service?

[Boydie]

Thank you for the kind words (and the PM) SEPHSLEFT06

This was the first song I wrote after my "sabbatical" from songwriting to learn about recording and music production

I used this song as an experiment to try out different techniques

I wrote the "backing" track first and then found a melody that I felt fitted

I then came up with the concept of "a boy is caught looking at a girl, that is also checking him out"

This song followed by normal approach of writing the chorus first and then writing the rest of the song & lyrics around this concept - I try to stick to a single theme/message

The demo was recorded, produced and mixed by me at home using a windows laptop (which is quite a beast of a laptop) and Cakewalk's SONAR DAW

[Boydie]

Hiya

Just a quick update to this...

I have just re-visited the original track to see if I could improve it using the knowledge (and new toys) I have built up over the past year or so

I didn't start from scratch with the mix but I did go through and tweak a few mix elements

I think the biggest difference has come from the "re-mastering" I have done

In case anyone is interested:

Here is the original:
https://soundcloud.com/boydiemusic/watching-me-watching-you-original/s-mifXn


Here is my new version (which has now replaced my "public" version)
https://soundcloud.com/boydiemusic/watching-me-watching-you


I think the new version has a much better "production value" and hopefully has a bit more of a professional "sparkle"

I am not convinced the song is "the one" but it gave me something to play with

[S.T.C]

Yeah it's pretty good.some nice new toys hey....you can only pitch it and see....trick is as you know it's got to be better than the staff writers and their mates