Continued from Part I…

Adapting Your Song Structure for the Studio
Your band has just finished listening to a studio mix of the song that is most requested by live audiences. As silence descends, everyone looks kind of confused. It’s just not happening. Everything is played “correctly”, but it doesn’t really pop and snap like it does on stage.

Maybe that long build between the verse and the hook sounds repetitive. The volume increases, but there’s no crowd egging you on, no wave breaking into the chorus. Maybe the abrupt halt between the end of the chorus and the instrumental breakdown sounds forced and kills the momentum; the wowed audience – waiting breathlessly to hear you come back in right on beat – is not there to cheer when you do.

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If you’re a musician who’s spent much time in the studio, you’re well aware of the myriad ways the studio experience differs from rehearsal and a live setting. These differences arise out of the studio’s microscopic (or microsonic, if you will) view of music, which diverts attention away from spontaneity and emotional expression.

Some musical elements notoriously stand out in the studio: audio bleed, tempo, precise playing, being in tune, etc. But others are not as well known. In particular, and to the surprise of many artists, the songs themselves may not work in the studio like they work conceptually or even live.

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