The Songwriting Process

How The August Drama takes an idea and turns it into a complete song.

I want to preface this by saying there is no right or wrong way to write a song. My main purpose in writing this is to give an insight into how songs get written from start to finish in The August Drama (my band).

I have been songwriting for what is going on 10 years. I remember being in the break room of my very first part time job. It was a frozen yogurt shop. I had my phone open to a Google search for the pop song structure and my songwriting book open. I would write and write and write, familiarizing myself with the pop song structure. In these 10 years, many things have changed from when I was in that break room, and yet some things have stayed the same.

One huge change between then and now was that I took it upon myself to learn the art of music production. I was in community college. I had worked with a “producer” who turned out to be incredibly abusive and cruel. I believe this was a tactic to beat me down so I would be okay with him taking the majority of ownership in MY song. I did not allow this to happen and parted ways with him. After that experience I had decided that I would be the producer from now on. So I took the only music production class my community college had to offer. It taught the basics of using Pro Tools, the industry standard digital audio workstation (DAW). And that has made all the difference in the process I’m about to explain to you all.

Step 1: Lyrics and Melody

This might be a controversial take to my fellow songwriters but I actually start with lyrics and melody before anything else. While I have written “top lines” on top of pre made instrumentals, I always go back to writing with Lyrics and Melodies first. This is something that has remained consistent in these last 10 years. I (Andrew Rudy) am a vocalist. Music comes to me in the form of lyrics and melodies. The voice is one of the few instruments where you are not only dealing with musical melodies, but you are also dealing with words, vowels, syncopated pronunciation, etc. the voice is where music interacts and combines with language. I find this step so fun because it is the very first strokes of paint onto an otherwise blank canvas. So nowadays I’ll have my phone out and I’ll switch back and forth between my notes app and my voice memos app, writing lyrics and then recording what I’ve written so I don’t lose the melody. This continues until I have a full song in just lyrics and melody. Essentially by the end of this step I have an “acapella” version of what will eventually become a full song. In my head while I am writing I have an abstract idea of what the instrumental will sound like. It could be a vibe, an energy, perhaps a guitar part is playing in my head the clearest while I write to it, but nothing is concrete. I like to think of the part I created, the lyrics and melody, to be the skeleton of the song. It provides the structure, the key, and the journey that the song will take. By the end of this session I will record a demo take to a metronome onto pro tools so that I can bring it to my bandmates for them to write on top of.

Step 2: Instrumentation

If my lyrics and melody are the skeleton, then the instrumentation is the musculature that forms around and on top of the skeleton. It’s what allows the skeleton to move, it’s what gives it its shape. It is integral. I will usually conduct either a full band writing session, or individual writing sessions with each instrumentalist building off of the work of the instrumentalist who worked on the song before. What determines whether I do one over the other typically comes down to scheduling and availability. I think both kinds of writing sessions have their pros and cons. If I am only meeting with one band mate at a time then usually the first person I’ll meet with will either be my guitarist or my keyboardist. What determines who gets to start songwriting train is what I feel the song calls for. I can usually tell when a song will be piano lead or guitar lead. This person will be leading the charge on the structure of the song. They will create chord progressions, harmonies, and rhythms that will lead the following instrumentalists in their songwriting. It’s a bit of a “no pressure but you are having the biggest impact on where this song goes” situation. We will typically move through the song section by section, hammering out how we want the part to go, and then we will record a demo take of the full instrumental part onto the pro tools session. Once all members have written their parts, we now have a full demo session for the song. This will be an imperfect, rough, version of the song. But it allows me to listen to it and get the general idea of how the song will turn out. I can listen to the session and start brainstorming production elements I will want to add in as well as what I will want to do for my final vocals and backing vocals.

Step 3: Final Recording Session Part 1

Step 3 and 4 are interchangeable. I do not typically do one big session to record band and vocals. Ideally I break the final recording sessions into a band recording day and a vocals recording day. Sometimes there will be 3 final recording sessions: one for the band, one for the vocals, and one for the drums. This again comes down to scheduling and availability. This may be another shocking statement, but more often than not I will actually record my final vocals on top of the demo session before my band even records their final parts. Why? Two reasons: one reason being that if the demo recording is clean and on beat with the metronome then it is quite easy for me to record my final vocals on top of it; the second reason being that I am an easily excited and impatient person so if I have an opportunity to get my part done ASAP then I will do it. Why would something like this be a bit taboo in the music world? Well because from what I’ve seen vocalists, producers, etc. seem to like having the final instrumental track for the vocalist to record on top of because it helps their performance. I totally get this and understand why this is common practice. In my case, however, you must remember that I originally write the song without any form of instrumental to begin with, so after having worked with my band to create the demo, and being the person who will be mixing the song, I have no trouble hearing the final version in my head as I lay down my final vocals. This session can be anywhere from four to eight hours. I will record everything from the main vocal melody to the backing harmonies, to the ad libs, and to any other part I get inspired to do in the moment. I like to record at least eight takes for each section of the song. This encompasses lead vocals and backing vocals. This is so I have a variety of takes to choose from when working on the final mix. After this session is done, I can use the time in between this session and the band’s final recording session to comp vocals and work on their production.

Step 4: Final Recording Session Part 2

This final recording session will be for the band. Remember that this step and the step prior are interchangeable. I like to plan a full eight hour recording day where I will have each band member come at a different time to lay down their parts. I like to do it this way so no one spends an obscene amount of time waiting to record their part. Maybe some day when we get to record in a “fancy shmancy” studio it will be fun to be there and wait but as of right now it’s not a super fun experience to wait hours to record your part. By the time this recording day arrives, everyone will have gotten their demos to practice with and prepare for the final recording session. No one is expected to play a carbon copy of their demo session, in fact it’s kind of expected that everyone will want to play something a little bit cleaner and more elevated from their demo session. For the band, I prefer to have at least four takes of the song recorded for each instrument.

Step 5: Mix and Comp and Adjust and Adjust and Adjust

This step will take the longest time. This is where things like panning, EQ, compression, reverb, delay, and any other production element will be added.Once I have everyone’s final recordings in my Pro Tools session, the following weeks will consist of comping everyone’s final part together, adding any production elements that I think the song needs, and making a bunch of small mixing adjustments until I feel like the track is “done”. There can be a lot of back and forth as well as frustration when it comes to getting the mix ready but it’s all worth it in the end.

Step 6: Send To Be Mastered

You may have noticed that I am a pretty hands on person when it comes to the song making process. I know many people who pay someone to record them, pay someone to mix the song, and pay someone to master the song. Part of me envies those people because it must be so much less stressful to just pay someone to do what needs to be done and not have to worry about it. But that’s just not the way I roll. I prefer the joy that comes with having as much creative control as possible, all the way through the mixing process, and it is not until this last step that I am ready to pass the song onto someone else to work on. If we are still using the body analogy when talking about the songwriting process then let’s review what we have up until now: lyrics and melody are the skeleton, instrumentation is the musculature that surrounds the skeleton, the mix is the skin, eyes, hair, fingernails, that sit on top of the musculature, and the master is the clothing, makeup, hair style etc that goes on top of all of that. The master is the top coat of nail polish. It is the unsung hero that makes the song shine. You know how there are ways to dress for your body type? How certain cuts, colors, and shapes will be more flattering on your body? This is pretty much what the mastering process is there to do. The mastering engineer looks at the song you have presented to them and then they decide what additions would make the song truly be its best. I find it integral that someone besides myself works on the master. It is important to have another set of ears listen to the track and decide what small tweaks are necessary to make it sparkle. Once the master is sent back to me, the song is ready to be released!

And there you have it! That is the official songwriting process for The August Drama as of present. Songwriting gives me so much joy. It is so fun to create something and watch it take on a life of its own. Getting to create with my friends and bandmates is something that brings me so much joy. I cannot wait for you all to hear what we have been working on! I think you are going to love it!

PS: To any prospective songwriters reading this. It is absolutely integral that you have written documentation of everybody who will be receiving writers credit on the song. You need to have a piece of paper signed by each song writer that shows that they agree to the percentage you are splitting the song ownership by. That means next to each persons name you have what their percent ownership is for the song and their signature is proof that they agree to that. In addition you need to have the song name on the sheet in addition to how the song will be used ie: released on all streaming platforms.

Let me know what other posts you’d like to see from me!

See you in The Drama Club ;)

-Andrew Rudy