Artist Comparison Exercise

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From the course by Berklee College of Music

The Art of Music Production

730 ratings

Berklee College of Music

The Art of Music Production

730 ratings

Course 1 of 4 in the Specialization Music Production

Explore the art of record production and how to make recordings that other people will love listening to. This course will teach you how to make emotionally moving recordings on almost any recording equipment, including your phone or laptop. The emphasis is on mastering tangible artistic concepts; the gear you use is up to you. You will learn to develop the most important tool in the recording studio: your ears. You will learn to enhance every aspect of your own productions, both sonically and musically, by employing deeper listening skills. Assignments will include posting your own recordings for peer review, and reviewing your classmates’ work by employing specific tools and strategies. If you use a digital audio workstation to record and mix, that’s great, but as long as you can record into your computer and post an MP3, you can complete the assignments. As you learn about the art of record production in this 4-week course, you will also learn about yourself and who you are as an artist and producer. It is not necessary that you read music or play an instrument to take this course.

From the lesson

Identity, Vision, and Intention

In this lesson, you’ll hone in on your identity as a recording artist: who are you, and what are you meaning to convey through your music? You’ll work on refining your vision and intention for the recordings you’ll make employing these skills, and record and post a “work tape” of a new piece of music.

Identity, Vision, and Intention2:07

Artist Comparison Exercise4:16

Artist Identity Workshop3:12

Producer Identity Workshop6:11

What is your Artistic Intention?2:00

Giving and Receiving Feedback3:01

Meet the Instructors

Stephen Webber
Director of Music Production, Technology and Innovation
Berklee

[MUSIC]

So, a fun and effective way to start being able to express who you are as an artist

so people can get an idea of what it is you do Is to do some artist comparisons.

Now I know nobody likes to be just compared to another artist and

think that they're copying someone.

But this actually kind of gets around that by kind of having some fun with it and

turning it on his head.

So the first thing that you do is you actually pick out an artist

to compare your artistry yourself to.

And this could be someone who obviously,

they are not going to be exactly the same as you.

But maybe they have certain elements about what they do

that is similar to what you do or maybe they have been an influence on you.

So you might want to start just jotting down some artists that you vibe with,

that you kind of see that you've been influenced by.

Then what you want to do is you want to contrast that.

So you want to get a contrasting artist comparison.

So somebody that is also an influence on what you do, and

has something to do with the work that you're doing.

But is as far away from that first artist as humanly possible so

that we have a nice contrast.

Then I want you to spend some time thinking about your unique differentiator.

And this could be almost anything.

This could have something to do with your identity, about where you're from.

It could have to do with the way that you put together different styles of music.

It could be an unusual instrument that you play.

It could be an unusual type of way that you come at lyrics or

the themes that you choose to sing or speak about.

It could almost anything, but think about what is it that makes me the most unique,

your unique differentiator.

Think artist comparison meets contrasting artist

comparison with a healthy dose of unique differentiator.

So once you put this together, you now have a pretty good idea

in just one sentence of at least where you might be heading.

Lets try this for a couple of musicians that everybody knows about,

some recording artists like Bruce Springsteen.

So Bruce Springsteen you might think Bob Dylan meets Roy Orbison,

with a healthy dose of larger than life showmanship.

When Bruce Springsteen first came out, everybody was saying he's the new Dylan

and of course he was saying I'm trying to sing like Roy Orbison.

But, of course, he had this huge persona on stage,

this larger than life showmanship that was equally important.

So all those three things in one succinct sentence, gives you a pretty good,

very tight idea of who Bruce Springsteen might be in one sense.

Then let's think maybe Bruno Mars.

Think Elvis meets Micheal Jackson, with a healthy dose of Hawaiian charm.

So there in one succinct sentence we get the whole Elvis thing and

of course Bruno was an Elvis impersonator when he was a kid.

The Michael Jackson piece, which he loves to emulate Michael Jackson, and

Michael Jackson has been a big influence.

And then, the whole Hawaii piece.

He's from Hawaii, he's got this Hawaiian charm going on.

So, okay, we're not telling you everything you need to know about Bruno Mars, but in

one sentence, you've gone from maybe not knowing anything to knowing a whole lot.

So now you try.

What I'd like for you to do is for you to choose two artists who you know quite

a bit about and you are into and try doing it for them, try doing it for them first.

Think of different artists who have influenced them and

what the breadth of that might be and then maybe what their unique differentiator is.

And then try doing it for yourself.

This can be really revealing.

I mean this can also let people know in a very, very succinct way,

at least a general idea of where you coming from as an artist.

So, I'd like for you to write up all three, your two artists and

then yourself, and then post this to the Artist Comparison Forum.

And then I would like for you to get on there and

comment on your colleagues' postings as well, and have fun with this.

I think this can be a lot of fun.

And it can really get you thinking about how to express

who you are as an artist in a succinct way.

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