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The Archive - '2'
A service from 'The
Serious Writers Guild' at MAKEHITS.COM
Written by Dec Cluskey with a little bit of help from his friends.
This Email first mailed to all Members of 'The Serious Writers Guild' and subscribers to 'One Minute With Dec' on
22 JULY 04
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"Where the lil' guy gets the same chance as the big guy" Latest Music News Quality Information TechniquesCutting Edge Advice for TodayRun by real, successful, active, performing and music making human beings - not 'faceless' businessmen. ================================= 'One Minute With Dec' "My Emails Are Written With Good Humour And Should Be Read With A Smile" [-The views of any contributor to 'One Minute with Dec' are not necessarily the views of Dec Cluskey-] "Truth -
Accuracy - with no Flannel....that is our promise here at 'The Serious Writers
Guild'. ''Nothing great in the world has been accomplished without passion' g wilhelm hegel Is it nearly finished? Yep! I have been writing what I consider the most definitive book on what makes a 'hit'. It has been a labour of love for the past six years. I have accumulated a staggering amount of information and knowledge. I have interviewed anyone and everyone I have come across who is knowledgeable on the subject. It may be that they only have their own experience of having written or recorded a Number One or in the case of Jeff Wayne....simply being in the Top Hundred albums for the past 25 years...some feat! His 'War of the Worlds' classic has made him a multi millionaire....he's a pal and he demonstrates so many of the 'tricks' or 'secrets', as I call them, right through that immortal piece of music. Members of my Serious Writers Guild will know about my project book, and have been asking about it for some time now. "57 Secrets of a Hit Record". I am writing furiously, sitting here on the beach [yep! laptops are wonderful things!]. I am getting mercilessly burnt....but all in the service of helping music guys [huge grin!] The Martini Cocktails are stunning....Kempinski Hotel is, so far, getting the best marks out of ten....closely followed by The Marbella Club. But my own come out way on top....join me and try one! So when will it be ready? All the research is done, all the notes are written.....I have ten more secrets to divulge and then I have to record the CD and CDrom. The idea is to award each secret an importance factor of 1 to 5. The CDrom will have an automatic system where you can enter in the points out of ten which you feel you score in checking does your toon have that 'secret' embodied in it. The program will automatically multiply the 1-10 score by the importance factor 1-5 and then automatically add the total together for all the 57 secrets. Thus you have the perfect check method for gauging how much 'hit potential' your toon has. Of course, the great hidden benefit is that by incorporating the secrets in your next toon it will have serious Hit Potential. I am constantly amazed at how little novices and even experienced writers know of the 'secrets' to writing a Hit. Yep, I am constantly shocked. So the answer to 'when will it be ready?' is ....any second now! Stand by! Weekly Major writing tip: I told you I intended to give a major tip each week on making your lyrics much more commercial. Try adding a name to the end of each line in your song [Debbie, Carl, Justin]...just as if it were a conversation between two fourteen year olds getting a couple of bottles of Coke at a thumping junior dance club. The name will not remain in the finished product it is merely for checking purposes. If you can't fully accept that the conversation would flow using those lines then you have the logic of Hit Potential lyric writing all wrong.....no argument....fact! And to prove the point? Get any Beyonce or Justin Timberlake song and apply the same test. Convinced? Now you should improve by 150% 'Crazy' [happens to be playing at the moment...Julio]: I'm crazy, crazy for feeling so blue [Justin] Worry? Why do I let myself worry? [Debbie] Crazy for trying, I'm crazy for loving you [Carl]
My Performers score big time! OK, this 'One Minute' idea is really more music orientated than performer orientated but the Performers love it too. The members of my 'Serious Performers Guild' have notched up some humungous successes. Now 'The Art of Live Performing' is the world's leading ten month program to seriously get your performing to world standard. www.liveperforming.com Check this out, the Member's mother originally got him and his brother involved with me some 4 years ago and I have followed their meteoric rise in their chosen side of the business:
"This Sh*t Works" dan pena =========================== "(Membership # NE******030W) Just to say thank you ever so much again for the course - I'm still studying and working on it! Best wishes, Mat " ==================== "I had one song “Here in Newcastle” released in the North East and played over the PA system at Newcastle United Football Club before every home game. Les Bassett ================================ As you know this month I’ll be on grade five and so many things have change. I am being called hot by women, can’t believe it. I have heard cute and attractive never hot. I have started to think that there’s got to be something sad about a person who doesn’t do commercial music. Never thought I’d hear myself say thatJ but it does take some extra effort on my part. I think I’m on my way and I never truly felt that way before. And oh yeah, it is all in the vocals it always has been and always will be. Quincy [University Of Alabama At Birmingham] ============================== You have no idea how much you have already helped me. I've felt for some time I was on the verge of a tremendous breakthrough. Something, however, seemed to be standing in the way. Just wanted to let you know how you've made a difference in my life. I can't wait to get next month's materials. With much gratitude, Luanne [LA] ============================ I felt inspired to express my thanks to you also. Thank you for all that you have done for me and all you are still doing for all of us. I do appreciate your work, it is a worthy enterprise. In the words of a great man; " Thank you so very much " Have a nice weekend Dec and regards to family. Sincerely, Sixer. "Not Quite What We Are Looking For"? I always smile when music guys tell me they have gotten a very positive reaction from a Record Company/Production Company/Publisher. Let me tell you the only positive reaction you can believe is when the cheque is banked in your account....trust me! They have a million ways of saying a patronising 'no'.....here's a good one: “We have been reviewing your material and think there is potential for the Australia market……..We are keen to investigate possibilities but would not like to inhibit other possibilities for you while we are deliberating.” P**** B****** (S******* E*********) January 2003. Giving really works? I know I encourage charitable giving or just plain 'giving'...simply because it works....check this out from Willie Crawford:
Charts: UK 1) 'LOLA'S THEME' ... SHAPESHIFTERS 2) 'SOME GIRLS' .... RACHEL STEVENS - 3) "Burn"..... Usher USA 1) "Confessions Part II,"..... Usher 2) "Slow Motion" ......... Juvenile Featuring Soulja Slim Cash Money 3) "Burn" ..... Usher Chart Comments: Quite astonishing how slowly the USA chart changes...it is almost like slow motion. Whereas in the UK, I go overseas for a little while and everything changes within seconds....amazing. Usher still stamps his authority. Celebrity News: Jerry Goldsmith: The man who composed music for scores of movies and television shows died at home last night after a lengthy battle with cancer. Goldmsith was 75 at the time of his passing. During his celebrated career, the composer won numerous major awards, including the 1977 Oscar for Best Music and Original Score (The Omen) and Emmy Awards for Star Trek: Voyager in 1995, Masada in 1981, Babe in 1976, and QB VII in 1975. Some of the major films that relied on his creative sounds included The Sum Of All Fears, The Mummy, L.A. Confidential, Basic Instinct, Total Recall, Hoosiers, Poltergeist, Chinatown and Patton. Goldmsith is survived by his wife, five children, six grandchildren and one great grandchild. No funeral or memorial information has been released yet.Dave Matthews Band: Music fans who visit San Francisco's Golden Gate Park on Sunday, September 12, will have a chance to catch the popular group in concert for free. Matthews and his bandmates plan to perform for the crowds in an event designed to raise funds for AIDS research and numerous Bay Area worthwhile causes. All monies raised will be distributed though the band's Bama Works Foundation. Tickets for the worthwhile event will be distributed through the band's Web Site and though their Warehouse Fan Association."Don't feel entitled to anything you didn't sweat
for." Subscribers Section:
My Reply: 29 DIFFERING words.....with the emphasis on 'differing'. All the guys who try to knock me always pick up on that phrase...but they totally misunderstand 'differing'. The word 'love' can be repeated in ten different formats, noun, pronoun, verb, adjective etc. etc. And the emphasis is on 'words' not the incidental participles, I, the, it, is - etc. The 'differing' gives my advice a totally different meaning....'Genie' would fall into that category and probably most of the others you mention. The 'lyric' sites are mostly run and subscribed to by amateurs who have never had a hit in their lives...that is pure 'poetry put to music'...that is different to commercial lyrics that sell to record buyers. There is little relationship. "Words written without music are poetry" [Sir Paul McCartney] The main reason for harping on so much about 29 words [which is now quite a famous reference point since I first muted it] is that most songwriters write with no reference to a limit on words...therefore, end up with 700 words that are unrelated, unmemorable, because of the lack of repetition. One line repeated 27 times is much more powerful and commercial than the most carefully crafted six verse dirge. "My ambition is to write a song with one word and one chord" [John Lennon] The fewer words the more powerful, each becomes important. The fewer lines the more memorable they become. The fewer melody changes, likewise, the more commercial the whole product becomes. [Chris Martin?] Cathy Dennis, and the like, understand these basic rules which gives them a sellable framework or formula for any song they write. So.... If they need a Hit song for 3 pm tomorrow at AIR studios, they work to their framework, use as few words as possible, get good jump into the lyrics and melody and deliver that Hit by 3PM...EASY? Finally....why analyse and worry....just do it......you will be pleasantly surprised... If you find one line that will stand up to being repeated 27 times in a song, you certainly have a great line....any record company will buy it.... Regards DEC dec@makehits.co.uk "When you're floating free, when the laughs are coming in large, you regulate your timing in the great free-wheeling style..... Then timing is the rhythm of the world."
Regards Dec You may use any part of this 'One Minute' in your own publications...we simply require you to add: Start ============ 'One Minute With Dec' is written each week by Dec Cluskey. Dec's advice? Get in touch personally to discuss what you want to achieve in music dec@makehits.com <mailto:dec@makehits.com> web: www.makehits.com <http://www.makehits.com> or call +44 (0)1323.728005 Finish=========== ============================================ The gags [Hey guys, try to keep them clean? I run a clean house!] The mountain farmer who got in his pickup and drove several miles to a neighbouring farm and knocked on the farmhouse door. A young boy, about 12 opened the door. "Is yer pa home?" the farmer asked. "No sir he ain't," the boy replied. "He went to town." "Well, said the farmer, is yer ma here?" "No, she ain't here either. She went to town with pa." "How about your brother, Joe, is he here?" "He went with ma and pa." The farmer stood there for a few minutes, shifting from one foot to the other and mumbling to himself. "Is there anything I can do fer ya?", the boy inquired politely. "I know where all the tools are, if you want to borry one. Or maybe I could take a message fer pa." "Well," said the farmer uncomfortably. "I really wanted to talk to yer pa. It's about your brother Joe getting my daughter, Pearly Mae, pregnant." The boy considered for a moment. "You would have to talk to pa about that", he finally conceded. "But I know he charges $50 fir the bull and $30 fir the boar hog - I ain't got a clue what he charges fir Joe." =========================================== How to set up a Demo consultation
with Dec? The Professional service the Professionals use. Even available for voice and guitar! Simply get in touch by Email - click this link: demo@makehits.co.uk and tell me that you want to send your material for a full critique and appraisal. We will then send you a unique PIN number to put on your letter or Jiffy Bag. This will ensure you get immediate attention. This is also for security reasons. We do not open unsolicited Jiffy Bags. For full details click on this link: www.makehits.co.uk/demo.htm Back to the list page for Archive 'One Minute With Dec's'? Click HERE.Heard enough, want to apply to join 'The Serious Writers Guild' and receive the award winning ten month program: "How To Make A $Million From Your Music" now?
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