My roles in music

In the past months, I receive a lot of requests from talented musicians all over the world. Most of them result in awesome musical collaborations, but sometimes people seem to misunderstand my roles in music. I decided to write this blog post to explain what I do and what I don’t.

You will notice that nearly all of my songs credit me as composer, arranger and producer. I write songs for full bands and search for vocalists and instrumentalists to record them. All songs start as a rough programmed demo with fake instruments, and will be adapted to individual preferences and ranges. Sometimes I intentionally leave some parts of the song open, that can be filled with an own solo or lyric. I also co-write with songwriters and composers, where different people write different parts or add new instruments to existing backing tracks.

Things I can offer

• Songwriting / Composition
  My main job is songwriting and composition. I write and optimize songs for full bands, that need ideas for vocals, guitars, bass, drums, and sometimes even other instruments.
• Arrangement
  I optimize the flow of your songs; shorten or extend them; add more instruments; optimize the key; change the genre… even to an extent that I turn a singer-with-guitar draft into a full band song.
• Remixing / Rearrangement
  Given dry stems of the most important tracks, I can remix a song or change the genre. Not all styles are fully convertible, and I may need help on instruments I don’t play good enough.
• Mixing / Production
  I mix and produce all my own songs. Technically, I can mix and produce your original songs, but I usually don’t do, because it takes too much time and involves other people to record all instruments needed.
• Lyrics / Vocal phrasing
  I sometimes help vocalists who are completely stuck with finding a melody for lyrics or writing lyrics. It’s important for me to know your vocal style, range and register breaks. And you may allow me to cut or rearrange a few passages or words. I only write in English.
  

Things I don’t do

• I don’t do ghostwriting and ghost production
  I value the work of ghostwriters and ghostproducers, but it’s completely against my attitude to give or take parts from people without crediting.
• No work with AI generated music
  Even embracing technological progress, I cannot and will not work with ANY kind of AI generated lyric, vocal, stem or backing track. No discussion here.
• You won’t see me touring or playing gigs
  I am not a vocalist, and I don’t play any instrument good enough to entertain you as a one woman band. Even if I had a live band, my place would be on the keyboards or backstage.
• I won’t offer backing tracks for covers or karaoke
  I don’t want to get involved into copyright issues, and it takes too much time as I don’t play all instruments needed.
• I don’t work on bootlegs, mash-ups and covers versions
  I’m out of this business for legal reasons. I only work with original material, where I have all rights to process and arrange.
• Don’t ask me for beat production and sound design
  I’m not the right person to ask for hip hop beats or soundscapes. I also don’t produce backing tracks that are available for multiple artists.
• Don’t ask me to sing or play instruments for you
  Other people do a much better job, and it’s not the role I feel comfortable with.
• I don’t record bands
  I don’t own a studio, and I am not a recording engineer. Everybody records their own tracks.
• Tight deadlines are a no-go for me
  Music is not my full time job, and this applies to most people I work with. We all are involved in multiple projects and cannot guarantee tight deadlines as life and work is more important.
• I don’t pay for recording or mastering services
  I don’t make enough money to justify the expenses needed. On top of that, mixing and mastering is my thing.

I hope that this blogpost helped you to understand my roles in music. In a nutshell: composition, arrangement, production, lyrics – and sometimes helping instruments.