The value of a good demo. Taylor Swift and hiphop...

[God]

If you submit a demo, please make it as hot as possible. Please pay attention to your pitch-shifted write ins in ATR. Make sure it sounds as glossy and polished and possible.

Why do I say this?

This is a multiplatinum artist:


Just watch it. LISTEN to it. LISTEN to how AWFUL the live performance is. LISTEN to how a producer looked at her and took a cute girl that has/had weak singing chops and made her HUGE.

Look at her RIAA platinum status or Soundscan sales. The MASSES will PURCHASE anything that is studio-polished. Live performances apparently don't mean SHIT anymore. I thought that was a rock-anomaly, but it's not.

Ask yourself: close your eyes and honestly say 'she sings good and I would sign her.' You can't say that with a straight face can you?

It's about IMAGE, DIFFERENTIATION, and feeding DREAMS to people. She sings love-songs that teen girls identify with. Create a different reality for people, to escape.

The threshold is low as fuck now...

 

[Chrono]

yeah, i don't think her guitar level was up much either because her fingers didn't look precise at all. It's all vainglorious I say!!! lol.. I'm glad i'm not in the music industry

 

[UNORTHODOX]

dam..... i was rushin my next project but i just decided to slow it down and set it off right, this just refirmed that. thanks G. (hard to believe thats real)

 

[God]

Look, let's break it down.

1. She's hot (not in a 'hood way, though.)
2. She carries the tune.
3. She plays the guitar.
4. She's hot.
5. She plays the guitar.
6. She's hot.
7. Her albums are polished as hell.

She was the #1 selling artist for 2008... I believe. Take it for what its worth.

She purportedly writes her own songs.

 

[MagnaOpera]

lol if by carries the tune you mean speaks and sustains the ending of a particular phrase...

This is depressing though, really. I hate the majority of people on earth.

 

[Kontents]

Good for her. If she writes her own songs she will be set for some time. Horrible performance, horrible. ....... trash at best.


Good example of a marketable icon for teenage girls. and possibly gay boys.... fuckin markets.


Nice post God great example.

 

[Vice]

it sounded like the mic levels were fucked on this performance.... she didn't sound horrible to me. Reminded me of a talent showcase or something... I think SNL has a history of bad live performances... At least she really tried and didn't lip sync.

 

[skidflow]

Just watch it. LISTEN to it. LISTEN to how AWFUL the live performance is. LISTEN to how a producer looked at her and took a cute girl that has/had weak singing chops and made her HUGE.

Look at her RIAA platinum status or Soundscan sales. The MASSES will PURCHASE anything that is studio-polished. Live performances apparently don't mean SHIT anymore.

Man I have never even heard of this chick...she sounds terrible. I think it took a impeccable demo package and a nice "bj" for her to get on. lmao...

INFORMATIVE POST G

 

[KurtisRich]

hey stop hating on taylor swift... i love her man. She can put tear drops on my penis if she like.

 

[skidflow]

hey stop hating on taylor swift... i love her man. She can put tear drops on my penis if she like.

hating as in jealous of her success...ha! here today...gone tommorrow...

 

[slik da relic]

she's hot??? damn... "The threshold is low as fuck now..."

lol

da relic

 

[God]

it sounded like the mic levels were fucked on this performance.... she didn't sound horrible to me. Reminded me of a talent showcase or something... I think SNL has a history of bad live performances... At least she really tried and didn't lip sync.

Yeah. I'm surprised there wasn't any digital delay or at least a rack-mounted ATR unit. A lot of "country" acts use ATR live.

I'm just letting people know... think about yourself as a marketable entity, not JUST a producer or artist. Taylor Swift is on top of the country music industry - a part of the music biz that has historically had a high bullshit threshold when it came to vocal chops (most of the acts use to sing choir in their churches since they were in the womb. They generally can sing.)

It goes to show you that with the right strategy and act, you can redefine an industry. She did it. Shania Twain did it in the 90's with her "country-pop".

In either case, what do you think can be game-changers for the hip-hop world?

 

[Beatz 101]

what do you think can be game-changers for the hip-hop world?

People are going to stop recording raps the traditional way.

Artists are going to start splicing bars and punchlines and piecing them together with no intention to hide it, sometimes in some pitch/filter crazy colage . Kinda like a choppy flow sequenced digitally and sampling themselves. Alotta old heads will be like, "What happened to JUST SPITTIN' off the dome in one take? Whats wit all the computer editing and chopping..?! You can't even perform that live!" The kids will not care a download it millions of times over.

(....don't take my idea lol)


101

 

[skidflow]

People are going to stop recording raps the traditional way.

Artists are going to start splicing bars and punchlines and piecing them together with no intention to hide it, sometimes in some pitch/filter crazy colage . Kinda like a choppy flow sequenced digitally and sampling themselves. Alotta old heads will be like, "What happened to JUST SPITTIN' off the dome in one take? Whats wit all the computer editing and chopping..?! You can't even perform that live!" The kids will not care a download it millions of times over.

(....don't take my idea lol)


101

In a way I recorded rhymes in a non-traditional way before....I lay down the first line(verse) of everybar in one take...then on another track...I lay the second line down. It works real good if you got a wordy ass rap....but beleive me, when it come time to perform that joint...you better have your wind up....its like one big "punch-in".

 

[dahkter]

It goes to show you that with the right strategy and act, you can redefine an industry. She did it. Shania Twain did it in the 90's with her "country-pop".

In either case, what do you think can be game-changers for the hip-hop world?

Good thread.

You have a good word there - redefine

And I think the next big hip hop artists will be those that do something new.
Two of the producers that did something new/unique/original in the last ten years were Timbaland and the Neptunes. Both of them went on to make a small fortune. And both of them were leaders, not followers.

85% of hip hop produced today is trying to sound like someone else to make a quick buck (becuase to be unique has an inherent risk of not getting placement or making sales). The other problem is that a lot of these new producers are trying to sound exactly like their idols instead of trying to sound like themselves.

It's interesting you mention that both Shania and the girl above redefined by mixing genres and creating something new. I think the next "gamechanger" will likely be doing something along those lines. The question is who will have the balls/vision/money to market/promote something like that to the mainstream? The tough thing is that the masses like the same shit, they are not always open to hearing something new (unlike those of us who live and breathe music).

Hard to tell the future, but definitely interesting to try to predict it.

 

[7thangel]

not to diminish the top-selling moniker she has but it was for 2 albums, unfortunately the top selling artist individually (1 album), can hardly be considered a great one either...lil' wayne.

it would be interesting if she really did write her own stuff due to the nashville/country way of doing things even if it's fluff. that's a songwriter (notice i didn't say singer-songwriter) dominated market, with songwriting teams being the norm, a place where an established writer may have to join up with a known and respected writer as a partner or a sort of an understudy in order to break into that market.

despite the whole 'ordinary american' vibe and myth they portray, country songwriters and producers create, orchestrate, mold, and polish stuff that make the pop world, political parties and hollywood envious.

 

[2GooD Productions]

This post raises a couple issues...
One is the lack of singing ability to make it big these days, at least Shania Twain could sing IMO.
I was under the impression that for the artist, one of the best ways to make cash was on the live performance circuit.
I think the only note she held was the loud note just before the guitar solo.
The thing is that a lot of these autotuned singers are being found out as soon as they perform live, but in todays throwaway mentality Im starting to think thats not so important. Success is more fleeting than ever.
Most of these artists may make a second album but due to poor live performance a lot of potential returning fans just wont support them, hence the number of second albums that flop these days.
Im seeing a lot of actual talent coming from the UK right now, especially female vocalists, that dont use autotune at all. Whether the producer lays some subtle unnoticable autotune is regardless like you say G is all about the polish so I would assume 90% upwards of modern music uses autotune in some minor way, especially during final mixdown. Its a tool to be used, but not abused.
The important thing is that a lot of these girls can actually belt the tracks out live.
Take Leona Lewis, the first time I heard her sing I got goosebumps, it never happened before or after, that girl can truly sing. And then we have Duffy and Adele, and another new artist whos so new I cant remember her name. But they all perform live very well. As for Amy Winehouse, shes just making like her name and throwing her talent away.
In pop music here at the moment it seems to be all about guitar bands, Klaxons, Snow Patrol, Arctic Monkeys, even Coldplay are back up there.
Heres my idea for hiphop, just like back in the day they did the rock crossovers when rock was huge.
Maybe it would be an idea to do a guitar band crossover. Just instead of having some middle classed lead singer, have the rapper/rappers. Similar to Roots, but all out guitar band with rappers, lol.
Would make one hell of a live performance. And the teenagers would love it.
Steal the idea, I dont mind, its not like Im going to take that direction myself.
But just remember where it came from, lol.


edit: I thought Josh Grogan was the biggest seller of 08
Which brings me to another crossover idea...... Operatic/Classical rap, lol. Now thats genius.

edit: Just found this, the link with Shania was eerily coincidental.
http://www.billboard.com/bbcom/news/jonas-bros-duet-with-taylor-cover-shania-1003931795.story

 

[Beatz 101]

In a way I recorded rhymes in a non-traditional way before....I lay down the first line(verse) of everybar in one take...then on another track...I lay the second line down. It works real good if you got a wordy ass rap....but beleive me, when it come time to perform that joint...you better have your wind up....its like one big "punch-in".

Yea, kats do that shit all time. I used to get frustrated with some artists i worked with cuz they would write a rhyme they couldn't perform on stage or a rhyme that takes over 10 takes. There minds are thinking way ahead of their natural abilities. But i think people will try to make punch-in's an artform. lol


Kats are gonna be writing rhymes that can't be performed without computers or hype men. They'll be like superhuman mutant 16's. lol




101

 

[Vice]

In either case, what do you think can be game-changers for the hip-hop world?

That is a tough one to answer.... cause any little thing could spark the next "BIG" thing to change hip hop.
if anything the trend I see that isn't big but probably will be is the whole "melodic rapping," not necessarily in a Bone Thugs N Harmony sense, because they took it into there own place, but a "T.I. you can have whatever you like" type song or even Kid Cudi "Day and Night" I've seen it here and there throughout Hip Hop, on hooks and what not, but have yet to see an artist really conceive an entire style from it. Would be interesting.

 

[UNORTHODOX]

the next big thing i think is gonna be funk. bands and beats are gonna be alittle funky in years to come...(still thinking)