Training Your Ears 👂🏽

Jun 18, 2019

Training your ears.
Let's talk about training your ears. 🌽 (Sorry for the duplicate video, the one I posted a few mins ago had some weird stuttering things happening.)
Posted by Catch The Moon Music on Tuesday, June 18, 2019

Let's talk about training your ears. 🌽

I gained some excellent advice from mixing engineer awhile back. He has worked with some huge artists like Prince, Matchbox Twenty, Def Leppard, Tom Petty, and Rush. He said he gets asked all the time, "How did you learn to hear that?" His answer, "I had to teach myself to do this, nobody is born with tools to understand a mix. You have to learn."

Know Who You're Pitching To

When you are pitching your music, you need to know what your client is looking for. That client is trying to satisfy someone else's needs, and they have to present things that are on brand. Research to figure out what is needed and what they are looking for before tossing EPs their way.

The next step is figuring out what the Sonic Branding for a show or brand is. Knowing and understanding what kind of music you need to create will give you a better shot of getting it synced.

I think a lot of times we think we will learn things solely by listening. But we need to be making it a point to study music and learn a little bit about how to produce music in order to thoroughly understand and be successful. Reverse Engineering the writing/production process is the key to unlocking a successful pattern in this industry!

Here are some things to begin training your ear to listen for:

Production - what pieces are lining up at which points of a song and why.
Lyrical Themes/words - you wouldn't sing a romantic song to your insurance guy. Pay attention to the lyrics within your favorite TV shows/commercials and how they align with the scene.
Drums - how is the groove formulated? What is the kick drum pattern?
Guitars - there is a clear difference in the guitars in Coldplay vs. Santana, do you know them?
Synthesizers - pads, notes, plucks, organs, square wave are just a few different synthesizers used.
Vocals - understand that some artists are not professionally trained and that is what makes them unique, putting them into a different category. There is a distinct difference between a classically trained vocalist and a vocalist from a punk-rock band.

Commonalities are in each of the categories above, and it's fundamental to train yourself and listen for each one of them and even expect what to hear within the music.

Lastly, listening to what’s working for these projects does not mean you won’t be authentic to your artistic voice! If you don't love rock, then don't do rock - it's as simple as that. But it would still be beneficially to learn about it.

xxx— Zion
Catch the Moon Music

"Hey, I am doing a 5 Day Workshop, later this summer, to show you the secrets I’ve learned to how to make a living doing music full time… oh and did I mention it’s FREE?!"

✨ We’ll talk about how to pitch your songs, what kinds of songs music supervisors are looking for and what steps to take this year to get your songs licensed.

 
✨ After you complete the 5 Day Workshop you will have an in depth understanding of how the licensing process works, which category your music fits into (ads, TV, film, trailers, promo, etc), and new strategies to help you rework your songwriting process and write amazing songs that are licensable.

"I'm hosting an online 5-Day Songwriting Workshop, later this summer, geared toward getting your songs placed in film, TV, and ads.

Oh, and it's FREE!"

-- Cathy

JOIN

Cathy Heller

Founder of Catch the Moon Music

Cathy has become a go-to in the licensing world. She started out pitching her own music, which got her national fame. She was featured in Billboard, LA Weekly, Variety and Music Connection Magazine for having licensed her songs over hundreds of times to film, TV and ads. She went on to start her own licensing company, Catch the Moon Music, and she's been very successful now pitching other artists.

3 Reasons Why Every Musician Should Attend a Synckeepers Event Dec 11, 2019

Training Your Ears 👂🏽 Jun 18, 2019

The Top 5 Lyrical Themes That Pretty Much Any Ad, TV Show, or Film Needs (and will pay you for!) May 21, 2019

Training Your Ears 👂🏽

Let's talk about training your ears. 🌽

Know Who You're Pitching To

Here are some things to begin training your ear to listen for:

"Hey, I am doing a 5 Day Workshop, later this summer, to show you the secrets I’ve learned to how to make a living doing music full time… oh and did I mention it’s FREE?!"

Keep in Touch!