Music City Playbook https://musiccityplaybook.com Music City Playbook Tue, 02 May 2023 20:15:46 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://musiccityplaybook.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/cropped-Untitled-design-15-copy-2-32x32.png Music City Playbook https://musiccityplaybook.com 32 32 5 Rules To Live By As a Songwriter https://musiccityplaybook.com/5-rules-to-live-by-as-a-songwriter/ https://musiccityplaybook.com/5-rules-to-live-by-as-a-songwriter/#respond Tue, 02 May 2023 19:02:11 +0000 https://musiccityplaybook.com/?p=6204

5 Rules To Live By As a Songwriter

Watch the full keynote of Forest live in the 2023 Music Makers Bootcamp in Nashville, TN.

Listen to Forest talk about his beginnings as a Songwriter/ Producer along with 5 valuable life lessons he learned in his 15 years living in Music City and much more.

Enjoy!

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]]> https://musiccityplaybook.com/5-rules-to-live-by-as-a-songwriter/feed/ 0 Tiffany Woys – What’s Mine Is Yours Podcast https://musiccityplaybook.com/tiffany-woys-whats-mine-is-yours-podcast/ https://musiccityplaybook.com/tiffany-woys-whats-mine-is-yours-podcast/#respond Sun, 12 Mar 2023 07:56:32 +0000 https://musiccityplaybook.com/?p=6153

Tiffany Woys – What’s Mine Is Yours Podcast

If you are someone who wants to make a career in music I have something you really need to check out!

A while back I sat down with Tiffany Woys for her Whats Mine Is Yours podcast. She asked some tough questions I have never been asked in an interview setting before…

  • Why I no longer produce Kelsea Ballerini?
  • Why I left a publishing deal in 2020?
  • Do I regret pursuing a career in the music industry?


This is hands down the most real interview I’ve ever done.

I give you a glimpse of the political side of the music industry, but I also share some of the magical moments that can happen in a town like Nashville.

Give me an hour of your time and I will give you some of the tough truths about my journey in Nashville.

Check out Whats Mine Is Yours podcast interview!

Talk soon,

Forest

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]]> https://musiccityplaybook.com/tiffany-woys-whats-mine-is-yours-podcast/feed/ 0 Produce Pop/Country LIKE A PRO! Start To Finish https://musiccityplaybook.com/produce-pop-country-like-a-pro-start-to-finish/ Mon, 31 Oct 2022 16:41:55 +0000 https://musiccityplaybook.com/?p=5455

Produce Pop/Country LIKE A PRO! Start To Finish

Today we are building out a country pop song from start to finish. This content is a preview of what to expect from a brand new program called the Track In A Day Challenge.

PREP YOUR SESSION 💻

STEP 1: TRACK TO A METRONOME

Make sure your worktape is recorded to a click or metronome because this makes the starting process easy.

Arrange your worktape where you have enough grid for a count in.

Make sure your worktape align with the grid of your session and the bpm of your DAW matches your wortape.

STEP 2: ADD A QUICK MELODIC KEYBOARD

Choose a melodic keyboard to lay in your basic chord progression.

This is just a simple melodic guide track to kick start our track…

I sometimes use the stock electric keyboard in Logic.

As you build out your chord progressions map up markers in your session to know which section you are working on.

An organized producer can move faster when it comes to mixing.

DRUMS AND PERCUSSION 🥁

STEP 3: ADD SOME QUICK HATS

Let’s ease into drums by starting with recording a simple hi hat…

This is to establish rhythm and groove without overthinking too much.

I’m just looking to establish a simple groove to kick start my production.

STEP 4: ADD DRUMS

Next I will pull up my favorite Drum VST. Thomas Pridgen from Mixwave.

I will lay in a drum groove for my verse and then my chorus without quantize my performance too much.

If you want your drums to sound like it was played by a real drummer, when you quantize, make sure you are not quantizing but only 70% so it’s not exact on the grid.

To be in front of or behind the beat is human. Don’t quantize all the feel out of it.

STEP 5: LAYER DRUMS

Then I will layer a quality sample pack to help my drums cut through the mix.

Then I will layer a quality sample pack to help my drums cut through the mix.

Snares, cymbals, rise and fall fx, claps, ect.

Having quality samples narrowed down is important.

You don’t want to be overwhelmed with all the options on Splice so find your favorites and make a folder and save them in a place where you can find them.

STEP 6: ADD REAL PERCUSSION

Sometimes adding a real percussion instruments to your mix and help out your mix!

I like to grab a few different style of shakers and in a single pass have a few options of shaker sounds that I can use throughout my session.

I will only use a 4-8 bar loop of the best performed section of the live shaker recording.

To be in front of or behind the beat is human. Don’t quantize all the feel out of it.

STEP 7: ADD SHAKER

Shimmer Shake Strike is an excellent shaker plugin that will give you immediate vibe and rhythm in the high end of your mix.

Pads with different textures work great to create dynamics and separation in your tracks.

TRANSITIONS AND SYNTHS 🎹

STEP 8: ADD PADS AND SYNTHS

Synths can be used to create separation and texture in your track. I lack to us simple drone type of sounds that fill the mid range with the root note in your mix.

Try voicing 5th intervals on synths for interesting textures in your song.

I like to change up the type of synths that I use to change the texture as my song progresses.

Pads with different textures work great to create dynamics and separation in your tracks.

STEP 9: ADD TRANSITIONS

Synths can also make great sounds for transitions in your song. Try weird evolving sounds at the end of your vers into your chorus section.

Try printing your midi to audio to have more control over the audio.

 You can create more separation from your verse to your chorus bby adding a grand piano sound that is absent in the verse.

Also try adding weird rhythmic synths for different textures…

Try different synths for different transitions in your song. Dont be committed to just one sound.  

I encourage you to explore your options with synths! 

You never know which type of sound you will accidentally find.

BASS GUITAR 🎸

STEP 10: ADD BASS GUITAR

Real bass is my personal favorite so I always prefer tracking it in. Its easier for me to get realistic note changes that way. You are welcome to try out a few midi bass.

Guitars and more! 🪕

STEP 11: ADD ACOUSTIC GUITAR

When tracking acoustic I will try a few different patterns, one picking and the next strumming.

I usually will always double my acoustic parts unless I already know I will want it mono in the mix.

A strummed acoustic guitar is magic for lifting your pop/country chorus.

STEP 12: ADD MANDOLIN

I like to use a 6 string mandolin to add a rhythmic melody to my acoustics… Usually when I pick this instrument it is to double an acoustic guitar with a higher voicing or to pull out a lead lick in the song.

Mandolins sit pointed in the mix so when you bring them in I recommend it be a hooky part.

STEP 13: ADD RESONATOR GUITAR

I love a resonator guitar because it brings a specific tone that just feels country. 

This is the type of tone that the ear can fatigue quickly because it is pointed like a mandolin. Unless you are going for a straight up bluegrass/americana vibe, use in your mix sparingly.

STEP 14: ADD AN ELECTRIC GUITAR

Electric guitar will help our chorus stand out and I like to keep it simple with a melodic strum. If you can’t get your hands on a fractal or I recommend using Guitar Rig 6. The same way I change acoustic instruments, I recommend trying a few different pickup options when recording guitar.

STEP 15: ADD A SOLO GUITAR

I recommend adding a melodic guitar solo to your track. Dont overthink this process trying to complicate some intricate part. Pull out the melodies that want to be revealed in your song. Only you as a producer can make this decision.

I also love using Guitar Rig 6 to find solo tones!

VOCALS 🎤

STEP 16: LEAD VOCALS

Tracking vocals can seem intimidating because it is one of if not the most important part of a production. 

Be confident tracking your lead vocals taking at least 3 takes to choose from.

 I always recommend being familiar with autotune or melodyne or some other similar software so that you can correct the imperfections of your vocal. 

STEP 17: ADD HARMONY VOCALS

Harmony vocals will help your lead vocal pop in the mix. I recommend doubling your lower harmonies to sit wider in your mix.

If you can sing harmony vocals then always add them, if not, then I recommend practicing learning harmony. 

Even if you recreate the harmony with software like melodyne, you still need to know what you are looking for.

⚠️ PREP FOR MIXING ⚠️

STEP 18: ORGANIZE YOUR SESSION

Before moving on to mixing you will want to take the time to organize your session in track stacks or folder stacks.  Organize with similar colors and categories to your sounds. Route to busses or group tracks, track stacks, or folder stacks, however your DAW refers to a collected group of sounds…  This will help cut your mixing time in half.

MIXING 🎚

STEP 19: MIX DRUMS

Saturation and compression love a drum a bus.. 

To get the gain set right, I will always follow the chain up with an L2. This just has a musical way of keeping it right where you want it in the mix.

STEP 20: MIX BASS

Try a pultec eq for mixing your bass. With cutting and boosting available you can quickly get your bass sitting right in the mix with this style of eq.

STEP 21: MIX KEYS/SYNTHS

Eq all the lows out of your synth and keys bus and try adding a little bit of high end to give your keys some presence. 

I sometimes like to use tape or saturation or both to take a little harshness off of the digital synths. Try using a bus compressor to glue everything together at the end.

STEP 22: MIX ACOUSTICS

Mix your acoustics with compression and a bit of tape saturation and try picking a lead part to send to a spacy reverb. 

This will help create dynamics and personality to that part of the song because it wont always stay washed with verb. When it drys up it the chorus this creates separation in your track.

STEP 23: MIX ELECTRICS

Redlight distortion or any type of overdrive is always great for lead electric guitars. 

Try doubling your guitars on solo parts that you want to stand out of the mix. Soundtoys decapitator would also be a great option.

I will also use a tape style delay for adding more tail to the solo. Of course doubling the solo with more guitars is always a great option.

STEP 24: MIX VOCALS

Since all of your vocals are packed into a folder or track stack, you can apply a single eq and cut the lows… be careful when boosting the highs as this can be very harsh if not done sparingly…

Try using 1176 Compression only reducing 2-3 db. If you need more compression, you can add more, but I recommend only 2-3db increments at a time.

STEP 25: AUTOMATE VERBS/ DELAYS

To really create contrast in your song, automate your verbs and delays. This is why it’s important to use your verbs as an aux or bus and not on the main channel strip.

Automation is very powerful. Don’t miss out on using it everywhere in your tracks.

MASTERING 🎛

STEP 26: MASTER YOUR TRACK

I always start my master bus with bus compression and then follow up with a cheatcode.. Ozone. It does all the heavy lifting with eq compression and limiting..

A little compression at a time in stages is the key. Even hearing what ozone ads to my track I will usually back off the effect by 25%. Then finishing my master with my own limiter. I use the L2 maximizer in this video.

STEP 27: LISTEN DOWN

Enjoy all the hard work you have put in and listen down to your mix!

Enjoy!

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]]> KLON OVERDRIVE TONES on the AXE FX 3 https://musiccityplaybook.com/klon-overdrive-tones-on-the-axe-fx-3/ https://musiccityplaybook.com/klon-overdrive-tones-on-the-axe-fx-3/#respond Thu, 18 Aug 2022 00:20:17 +0000 https://musiccityplaybook.com/?p=4519

KLON OVERDRIVE TONES on the AXE FX 3

The Klon Chiron Overdrive Pedal is one of the most rare overdrives on the market.

Normally a $5000 dollar purchase, Axe Effects has recently released the Klon Chiron Pedal on their Axe FX 3 Platform upon their latest firmware update and it sounds amazing!

In the video above, I’ll run through some of the sounds that are possible using a Les Paul. Check it out!

Amp interface on computer

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]]> https://musiccityplaybook.com/klon-overdrive-tones-on-the-axe-fx-3/feed/ 0 Drum Layers With Impact XT https://musiccityplaybook.com/drum-layers-with-impact-xt/ https://musiccityplaybook.com/drum-layers-with-impact-xt/#respond Tue, 09 Aug 2022 15:14:33 +0000 https://musiccityplaybook.com/?p=4389

Drum Layers With Impact XT

So you want your drums to sit great in the mix every single time?

Who doesn’t?!

The Impact XT plugin in Studio One 5 makes it very easy to do this with a simple layering trick.

When it comes to producing drums sometimes you need more than one layer for each hit.

Even after adding compression, saturation and eq your drum could still lack the attitude it needs to cut through a mix…

This is when you should consider adding more drum layers…

Once you know your snare is happening where you want it to during your song, take your audio file and place it in the groove tab in Studio One 5.

Studio One will extract all of the transients and create a MIDI file for you.

Once you have a midi file created you can now add Impact XT to trigger a new sample at the perfect timing…

Once you have Impact XT created, drag your newly created midi file from the groove tab down onto your new instrument track where Impact XT is active.

If you see that Impact XT is triggering but you hear no sound it could be that your midi note is not triggering the sample.

Double click onto the note region to open up the midi view to ensure that the sample triggers the right note when the snare is played so the sample can be heard.

Adding extra drum layers can help fill out certain frequencies where your original snare might be lacking.

Adding this extra snare sample really helps this drum cut through the mix.

Even with quality samples, adding extra layers can help add fullness to your drums you otherwise could not get.

Once you have the sample triggering the way you want, consider choosing to mix down that section. 

This takes the job away from Impact XT and commits the sample to audio.

I always encourage you to do this so you have the sound written in an audio file in your session.

Too many times have I upgraded computers or DAWs only to find that my session won’t load properly.

Being able to perfectly recall your sessions can be tricky so make it easier on yourself by committing your midi sounds to audio.

This will ensure that your drum samples sound the same in your session even if you upgrade your computer or DAW in the future.

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]]> https://musiccityplaybook.com/drum-layers-with-impact-xt/feed/ 0 MUST HAVE STEEL PLUGIN for Pop/Country Producers! https://musiccityplaybook.com/must-have-steel-plugin-for-pop-country-producers/ https://musiccityplaybook.com/must-have-steel-plugin-for-pop-country-producers/#respond Thu, 04 Aug 2022 00:52:59 +0000 https://musiccityplaybook.com/?p=4362

MUST HAVE STEEL PLUGIN for Pop/Country Producers!

When it comes to producing pop/country style tracks, having a few options for signature sounds is key to making an interesting production.

The pedal steel guitar is one of the most recognizable sounds in country music and has been for decades.

If you are a country music producer and are wondering what your MIDI options are for a pedal steel sound, I’ve got something pretty cool to share with you. Introducing the Impact Soundworks Pedal Steel.

This is one of the best sounding pedal steel VSTs on the market. (If not THE best!)

The playability is so user friendly and it sounds great immediately.

The presets included are very inspiring to a pop/country production. 

I honestly find myself pulling up this plugin quite a bit when working on my productions. 

If you are looking for that Nashville style steel sound. 

Look no further than the Impact Soundworks Pedal Steel!

Check out my video on using the Impact Soundwork’s Steel plugin in a few productions!

Most of the time when I am producing a steel part I am highlighting a musical phrase. This means I am not chording as much as I am finding the lead notes that stand out in a track. I usually keep it super simple. I use it to for melodic ear candy to fill the holes in the song.

If you want that familiar pedal steel twang in your songs.. This is the plugin for you.

Bonus Tip:

When working with MIDI, once I find what I’m looking for with a part, I will commit it to audio. This is a way to covert your midi note into a wave form and also writes it as a new audio file in your session. I find it is best to commit your midi to audio as soon as possible.

Finding a great sounding VST is not always easy, especially when it comes to producing pop/country. 

There are more natural sounds in the production which make it harder to recreate with a VST. 

I think Impact Soundworks has done an incredible job giving me a tool I can use in my studio on almost every session.

From the time I downloaded this plugin, I find myself applying it on almost every song I’m producing lately.

Is that because I’m obsessed with steel guitar or is this plugin just that inspiring?

Find out for yourself!

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]]> https://musiccityplaybook.com/must-have-steel-plugin-for-pop-country-producers/feed/ 0 How To Mix Electric Guitar (Delay on Guitar Trick) https://musiccityplaybook.com/how-to-mix-electric-guitar-delay-on-guitar-trick/ https://musiccityplaybook.com/how-to-mix-electric-guitar-delay-on-guitar-trick/#respond Fri, 10 Jun 2022 04:55:53 +0000 https://musiccityplaybook.com/?p=4262

How To Mix Electric Guitar (Delay on Guitar Trick)

In this video I show you how to mix electric guitar and show you a cool delay trick!

Enjoy!

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]]> https://musiccityplaybook.com/how-to-mix-electric-guitar-delay-on-guitar-trick/feed/ 0 The BEST drum VST on the market: Tony Royster Jr Kit by Mixwave! https://musiccityplaybook.com/the-best-drum-vst-on-the-market-tony-royster-jr-kit-by-mixwave/ https://musiccityplaybook.com/the-best-drum-vst-on-the-market-tony-royster-jr-kit-by-mixwave/#respond Fri, 18 Feb 2022 05:26:49 +0000 https://musiccityplaybook.com/?p=3937

FAQ

The BEST drum VST on the market: Tony Royster Jr Kit by Mixwave!

In this video I show you my favorite drums out right now!

#drum #production #mixwave

 

You can purchase the Mixwave pack in this link (This is not a paid link. We just love how the drums sound): MIXWAVE DRUMS

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]]> https://musiccityplaybook.com/the-best-drum-vst-on-the-market-tony-royster-jr-kit-by-mixwave/feed/ 0 How to Produce Thinking Bout You by Dustin Lynch! (STEMS AVAILABLE) https://musiccityplaybook.com/how-to-produce-thinking-bout-you-by-dustin-lynch-stems-available/ https://musiccityplaybook.com/how-to-produce-thinking-bout-you-by-dustin-lynch-stems-available/#respond Sat, 12 Feb 2022 01:39:42 +0000 https://musiccityplaybook.com/?p=3192

FAQ

How to Produce Thinking Bout You by Dustin Lynch! (STEMS AVAILABLE)

In his video I’ll walk you through the basic production layers of a country song in Logic Pro.

Make sure to download the stems at the link above to practice your own production at home!

Follow me on insta @musiccityplaybook

#Dustinlynch #thinkingboutyou #musicproduction

 

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]]> https://musiccityplaybook.com/how-to-produce-thinking-bout-you-by-dustin-lynch-stems-available/feed/ 0 How to start a track in Studio One 5! https://musiccityplaybook.com/how-to-start-a-track-in-studio-one-5/ https://musiccityplaybook.com/how-to-start-a-track-in-studio-one-5/#respond Fri, 11 Feb 2022 15:32:21 +0000 https://musiccityplaybook.com/?p=2970

How to start a track in Studio One 5!

Get the banjo sample by joining https://musiccityplaybook.com/

In this video I show you how to start a song from scratch in Studio One 5!

Join https://musiccityplaybook.com/

#musicproduction #tutorial #studioone5 #startasong

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]]> https://musiccityplaybook.com/how-to-start-a-track-in-studio-one-5/feed/ 0