Enterprise Week

Bucks Got Talent

On Thursday the 12th of November, I attended a meeting titled ‘Bucks Got Talent’. This meeting was an opportunity to play my band Tramp Etiquette’s songs to a panel of professional musicians and producers in the music business. The aim was to receive feedback and advice from the panel, which I would then be able to use in my song writing to benefit future compositions.


Feedback

Their first criticism was that the drums were too busy. They said that with any song, you can usually get away with imperfections on guitars, vocals, etc, but a messy beat or a beat with too much going on will be the first thing to put the listener off. I recognise now, when I listen to mainstream music that drumbeats do usually sound very simplified for this reason.

They followed on to say that their pet hate in pop and rock music is slap bass. The funky bass lines in our music are what we construct our songs around, and therefore are what give us our unusual sound.
I chose to ignore what they said about this, as it was clearly personal preference and opinion, rather than constructive. I feel that the band made the right choice to keep the base sound, as it has since been focused on in reviews as an asset to our sound. For example, this review of our extended play ‘Face for the Radio’ from The New Roxette magazine (2009) encourages us to keep our sound.

“With their intense, aggressive arrangements Tramp Etiquette can really rip things up. Couple this with a sound that is very much their own, serious musicianship that is never used to the cost of their intrinsic rawness and you have a class act both live and on record.”

So, this along with the producers’ comments leaves us with the understanding that we are like Marmite. You either love us, or hate us.

The professionals also felt that each song had too many lyrical hooks in it. As the lyric writer, I have taken this on board. The criticism does make good sense, as a listener needs to easily pick up on a theme, and be sure about which theme is the main theme.
For example, our song ‘Radio Face’ has two dominant themes. First is the repetition of the phrase ‘...You’ve got a face for the radio!’ Although this fits well with the song title, there is another theme of equal dominance in the song. This is the repetition of the phrase ‘Here you are now. Here you are now. An inspiration for the nation, here you are now!’
Understandably, the listener could get confused about what they ought to sing along to. Therefore, since the meeting, I have been cautious when writing songs that the dominant hook is clear and any other themes do not overpower it.

However, this being said, examples can be seen in mainstream music which contradict the professionals opinions. For example, Lady Gaga’s number one hit ‘Bad Romance’ contains at least three hooks which I would consider to be dominant. Yet, it was internationally number one in the charts for multiple weeks, and helped the album to achieve Diamond status (10 million copies sold) (Gaga News, 2010). It would therefore appear that there are many people who enjoy music which is saturated with hooks.

Finally, the producers and musicians advised that when writing the songs, we also apply the music, chords and melody to the piano. This is because any dischordal blemishes can be more easily recognised and ironed out. We have since done this, and feel it has strengthened the structures of our compositions.


Conclusion

The experience with the panel of producers and musicians was beneficial, because it helped us to recognise what is and isn’t appropriate for the mainstream music world. All advice was taken on board and helped us to develop, as long as it didn’t interfere too much with our individual sound. The important thing is to make sure that tracks are easy for the listener to digest.
Despite their particular disliking towards our song Radio Face, the song has since continued to impress at showcases, and has even been accepted for air play on BBC Radio, and internationally on British Forces Radio. This just goes to show that opinion is varied, and just because you are disliked by one group, you may still appeal to a wider market.


References:

The New Roxette (2009) Reviews. [online] Available from: http://www.thenewroxette.co.uk/reviews.asp [Accessed 13 April 2010]

Gaga News (2010) Lady gaga goes diamond!! sells 10 million albums!! [online]. Available from: http://www.gaganews.com/2010/02/26/lady-gaga-goes-diamond-sells-10-million-albums/ [Accessed 13 April 2010]