Before starting this particular task, we were placed into groups during lectures and were told that we were now in ‘songwriting camps’. We were then tasked with the job of writing a song, or at least the bulk of one, before going straight into the studio and laying it down, with Marco Migliari engineering the process. We did this on more than one occasion and more often than not surprised ourselves with the quality of music that we were able to create in such a short space of time. On one of the weeks, it was just myself and my peer Nathan in a group and we decided to take on the main assignment which was to choose an existing commercial singer to record and produce a track for, all the while utilising the methodology of songwriting camps. Initially, we chose Carrie Underwood (which has absolutely nothing to do with the fact that I was belting it out in the shower that morning) and wrote a nice and simple chord progression. We took it into the studio and recorded drums and guitar from what I can remember and, although it sounded great and we were both pleased with it, the Carrie Underwood link wasn’t as blatant as we felt it ought to be. Following this, we made the joint decision to pick someone new and write a brand-new song for them, adhering more strictly to the guidelines to ensure that we would be able to encapsulate their sound in the music we wrote.
The obvious decision for us was to write for ‘The Chainsmokers’, an American DJ duo who make highly popular EDM / Electropop / Pop music and have had much success over the past couple of years. However, as successful as they and their music are, their formulaic, repetitive and predictable style of writing and production has been called out by critics and listeners alike, most notably in a video posted to Facebook titled ‘how EVERY chainsmokers song is written’. In the self-shot video, a young music student plays the typical three chord structure of a generic chainsmokers song while calling out the fact that the lyrics are just as inane as the music, stating that most are about ‘How difficult it is being white and in love’. Having both seen this video, Nathan and I decided that ‘The Chainsmokers’ made the perfect candidates for this task, as their music is quite easy to break down and replicate, while their sound does not require vast amounts of skills to attain.
When we eventually sat down to begin recording our track, Ryan, another of our peers, had heard about what we planned to do and liked the idea and so joined the group. Together, we formulated a primitive and largely 3-chord progression as well as our structure, making sure that the song fit the parameters stated on moodle, and that it was effective in replicating the sound generated by ‘The Chainsmokers’ themselves. We all agreed that it was suitable and laid down the first chords on a new logic file using a couple of different piano effects that we felt were most suitable for the particular sound that we were trying to achieve. We wrote a suitable hook to put over the top for which we used what sounded almost like a synth flute preset which we modified slightly to suit our needs – at this stage the track was looking lively and really coming together as an ode to ‘The Chainsmokers’ very nicely. Next, we decided on a nice sub bass preset and worked that into the necessary areas, which considerably thickened up the track’s sound, giving it that EDM / Electropop edge. After that came drums which naturally, as a drummer, I took control of. I trawled through the drum machine presets to find one that would work, eventually settling on one called ‘Ibiza’ (fitting, right?) and modified the bass drum and snare to give them more punch, more body and more presence. Once I was happy with the sound, I made the beat and laid it down. At this stage, all that was left to do was write song lyrics and add some texture to the chorus in order to thicken it up. As a group, we wrote some awful lyrics which we felt epitomised ‘The Chainsmokers’ to a tee and I took them into the vocal booth and recorded them. I took control of this part of the process, mixing and matching my favourite parts of each vocal take, before applying the preset I wanted, as well as some reverb to help bed the vocals into the mix. Some synth bells and a few more minor textural elements took the track to completion, at which point we listened back and were satisfied with what we heard.
Following the songwriting camp, we as a group were successfully able to create a track for a commercial singer which encapsulated the main elements of their music, but while working as a team and, in honesty, thoroughly enjoying ourselves.
university of gloucestershire - popular music 