New Monday #7
Happy Monday!
First: watch this before you read on any further:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aIZD9WFpWZo
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I want to be reincarnated as a high school girl in a sundress and sandals, rocking out to Fugazi.
This thing is so damn HUMAN. This clip embodies the fun and camaraderie of rocking out in the band. Playing in a band. Remember: you don’t “serious" music, you play music.
Lead singer is a killer. She has a sincerity about spelling out how she’s going to do what she wants with her life.
Drummer is a killer, too. I wrote more about why he’s good and what is the takeaway if you’re recording/producing.
TV Themes and Songs
TV themes have gotten REALLY short. This has to be a byproduct of Instagram and TikTok and I don’t think I like it. I remember tv theme songs that were fabulous songs, like this and this.
However, some of these short themes are wickedly good as well as wickedly short.
Two of my faves, Better Call Saul and The Lincoln Lawyer.
Great little, distinctive bits of production/writing.
Perhaps think about getting good at making music like this.
Why are these things so effective?
1) There’s something familiar about them. When we think we’ve heard something before but we’re not sure, our brain tends to lock in on that: It's like a puzzle.
2) Cool sonics and sounds that are interesting. Both of these are using non-standard instrumentation, and again, our brain likes to puzzle out, “What is that?"
3) Strong moods that sum up the show. You can tell from the themes that 'Better Call Saul' is set in the West and has a sense of humor, and that 'The Lincoln Lawyer' is slick and mysterious.
Remember: our brains love questions and a sense of what comes next. Think about that next time you’re writing music or producing something.
AND... I couldn’t help it. I downloaded the themes off Netflix and they sounded AWFUL, like this...
SO I confess... I ran them through our new WOW Thing and then through the El Juan Limiter and they sounded much better! Here’s a before and after I made...
Cutting Vocals
We kinda touched on this a few weeks ago, that vocals need to be thinned out somewhat in the mix to get them to sit right (and easily).
The problem is standing too close to the damn mic. BACK UP.
Click here for more thoughts on this.
The struggle against our eventual robot overlords continues
Another AI product aimed at making creative work fast, cheap and coincidentally, uncreative?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1tL5X8kuuGs
Contrast that crap to the Cleveland School of Rock Video we started with and be glad you’re not a robot.
At your request
You can now see back issues of New Monday online here: https://korneffaudio.com/new-monday-newsletter/
We are experimenting with the format a bit. Do you like long emails with a lot in them, or shorter emails with links that lead off to other content, so you can choose what interests you? Please let us know what you like.
Dan and Luke
