(3) Let Me Love You, Mario  

UK

The UK download chart is almost in tune with the shop bought chart....except for E**** [I won't mention his name...grin!]

At the very top is  Stereophonics         with their first ever Number One then slipped a bit is Nelly who last week duly becomes the ninth new Number One single in as many weeks, a rate of turnover not seen since the final months of 2000 when ten different singles each managed a solitary seven days at Number One. The rapper chalks up a third Number One hit single and his second in recent months, 'My Place' having hit the top back in September prior to the release of 'Tilt Ya Head Back' which hit Number 5 at Christmas.

The route to Nelly's biggest commercial successes is obvious when you consider the similar musical style of all his Number One hits to date with 'Dilemma', 'My Place' and now 'Over and Over' all playing to a laid back groove and augmented by a celebrity duettist..

The USA chart just  has no change ...what a different story to the UK...where the chart toons just seem to be Record Company fodder.....amazing.

 " Life is a school and none of us graduate till they shut the box"
nomi whalen

 Subscriber's Section:

I get a lot of Emails wanting a last minute 'fix' for a situation which should be planned over months.

Hi Dec! I need your help.on my B.Tech college course tomorrow (in music technology & sound design), we are required to mic up, arrange and produce in the studio, including mixing & effects etc, of a piece of music. I am going to produce a performance of ironic (A. Morrisette) with my daughter C***** on vocals (it's a song she's done many times live).

On the track I also want to use electric & acoustic guitar, bass, drums & C***** will also do backing vocals. On the original there is also an organ & bongos which I regard as optional at the moment.

Dec, I need your help in the best order to lay these tracks down, bearing in mind I have the same musician playing drums & guitar (a genius of a lad called J**** who's also grade 8 piano & brilliant on guitar) & the same person on acoustic & bass.

I really want to do this professionally, Dec, and pin everyone's ears back. That's why I've come to you!  Hope you have the time to reply, Dec would really appreciate it. Many thanks. B** M****

My Reply:

B**

First - postpone the session.....waste of time without the arrangement and the proper music. You are not ready.

Never start the session without proper music - arranged from the original sheet music. [from a shop or the Publishers].

Then everyone should have copies.

Start with click track and write the complete drum part into the computer, precisely as the record [if you are doing an exact copy...which you shouldn't be! What good will it do? You should be doing a 2005 cover of the song in your own unique style]. Under no circumstances work without a computer click track and NEVER rely on a drummer's tempo. All 'today' drummers understand this logic.

Set up 6-8 astonishing, never heard before, noise / sweep / single note samples and apply to a keyboard.

Next, record a pad sequenced into the computer [not to be used in the final mix...it just helps for reference.]
Bass [played on keyboards - use a live bass player only if you know a red hot '2005' one...hard to find], keyboards into computer. Percussion from keyboards. Now add samples by forcing yourself to incorporate the 6-8 samples mentioned above.

Guide vocal, complete vocal arrangement. Tonight I used 27 tracks for vocal arrangement.
Guitars. Electrics through JMP1 module [or Pod] and acoustics using the Serious Writers Guild techniques.
Live drums [only to be used if they ADD to the jump and excitement.] Preferably record the live drums through triggers into the computer sequencer. Then use an Akai sampler [or similar] to play drum samples [far superior to live drum sounds] or my current favourite - 

Alesis DM5 drum module

or Yamaha Motif.  

Clean up all the tracks and quantise for best excitement.

Replace original guide vocal. Check everything is sitting in it's own particular frequency range uncluttered. Less is always more, so be prepared to delete offending passages. ["If in doubt, leave it out"]
Mix [using filter sweeping a lot, in differing sections...also 3 unheard before effects...use RSS on vocal arrangement] 
Master
HIT

B**....

All this is given in great detail in my releases of "How To Make A $Million From Your Music" at www.makehits.com . The teachers [who have never had a hit in their lives and will totally disagree with the above] never teach at those establishments, they merely let the students 'get on with it' and therefore let them just practice the 'mistakes' over and over again. All the correct Hit making techniques are in 'How To Make A £Million From Your Music' and 'The Master Class'.

Regards
DEC dec@makehits.co.uk