TUTORIAL #1 (last one was #0 because I didn't think I'd gain any popularity) - How to Write Emotionally and Tackle Serious Personal Topics

everyone has emotions just don't go completely overboard, ya dig?

Hey all! If I haven't thanked anyone enough for all the support from my last tutorial on lyricism and making a track I thought I'd say thank you one more time

THANK YOU

Thanks to all the support of friends and strangers of steemit I've been so much more confident to express my emotions in my lyrics, in life and in general. It may only be a handful of people and barely any money but it means the world to me <3

before i go into this thought i'd mention that I AM NOT AN EXPERT just giving you my own personal thoughts on the topics i choose, don't expect and Einsteinian Theory of Music Production on this steemit account ;)

THE BEAT

First off lemme quickly shoutout my boy huchick for letting me use his beat, show him some love: https://soundcloud.com/huchick

INCREDIBLY IMPORTANT - HERE'S THE TRACK https://soundcloud.com/p00rkid/august-prod-huchick

When thinking about emotions, this beat couldn't be anymore perfect in my opinion; it's got all the features that I love about emotional beats similar to Lil Peep or XXXTENTACION's 17 album.

Here's what I think the beat has to offer that anyone could learn a thing or two from:

Soft percussion and soft kicks

These are crucial in any beat that you might use to show yourself vocally. A thumpy kick that's not too abrasive and hollow percussion really adds to the beat. A powerful kick doesn't mean any beat is ruined just it can be a lot hard to mix and master with (huchick I think mastered and mixed this shit real nice). A tip for producers is to make sure everything is leveled correctly and nothing is too abrasive or stands out as firstly, aforementioned, it can be a bitch to mix especially with heavy vocals especially vocals that have layered voices at different pitches with different levels of reverb and all types of complicated stuff. Secondly, you don't want the beat overpowering your vocalist or rapper.

Think of the beat as a stage right? You can't litter a stage with all types of props cause then the performers have no room to move or do any of their unique actions in. The beat is the exact same: the beat matters and it needs to be good but if you wanna have a vocalist or rapper or whatever over it, you don't want the beat to be in front of the artist, you want it the opposite way round.

^^^actual metaphor for most of the beats I make^^^

Gradual and melodic progression

Sometimes its great to have a beat that varies throughout as long as everything is in tune and is pitched correctly as it allows for a wild experience and can lead to amazing switch-up's or beat changes and all the shit that really makes an anthem. If you wanna think about beat change ups and complexity you might wanna check out my first tutorial based off my track 'demonboy [ghost ship]' ---> https://steemit.com/rap/@poorkidbeats/poorkids-world-an-extended-guide-on-lyricism-and-the-process-of-making-a-track-new-song-demonboy-ghost-ship-prod-dream

Huchick's beat on my track is very simple in progression which is never necessarily a bad thing, the intro with no drums really lets me preview the track with the few opening verses. As for later in the track, the synth or sampled synth thingamajig is perfectly in tune with the guitar that plays throughout and the simple pitch changes it makes allows me to keep the actual tone of every verse the same which is nice because sometimes with my chain smoking british accent it can be hard to make complicated vocal changes throughout a track. A lesson to be learned is that producers must have faith in your artists capabilities as a vocalist or rapper and rappers and vocalist must realize the producers limits. If you produce and vocalize your songs then it's even better because you can make a beat based on what you are capable of in both singing and beat production.

Very relaxing instruments and sample choices that are easy to write to

The droning guitar is incredibly melodic and is actually fairly complex when you think about how many notes it is hitting in the arp. I based my vocals very easily with the guitar that plays through, singing at the route note for the first line and dropping down a couple notes at the end, then doing the reverse on the second line. I only used 2 voices throughout the song. I typically like to have one voice more to the left and another more to the right so it isn't fully stereo but makes the beat feel wider like paris hilton's old crusty...nevermind.

The drone from the synth that plays through into the second half is incredibly important as the wavy bass underneath it makes sure there are no gaps in the mix. I'm gonna throw in another metaphor to keep this tutorial interesting: the beat is like a road; you can't drive on that shit if there's big pothole's or gaps in the entire width of the road. You gotta make your beat fat but not overpowering so I can drive on through with my lyrics. I mean I'm not gonna be on every beat from this point on but you get the point lol.

Finally, the hats are very snappy and sorta chiptune-y considering the reverb or lofi filter or distortion they have on them. Light percussion such as hats are FUCKING CRUCIAL to making any beat; just to stretch this point watch TM88's explanation of his production on Lil Uzi Vert - XO TOUR LLIF3 (somehow lil uzi vert keeps appearing in my tutorials?). That's a dude who knows his production.

SOURCE MATERIAL AND INSPIRATION

I run my music on a policy that I have great friends IRL who know a lot about me and are used to serious stuff in my life. Therefore, I keep nothing hidden when I'm writing lyrics...if I wanna make a song about how good nutella is I'll fuckin' do it. Never be afraid to let loose with the most personal stuff you have faced in your life or are currently facing that are bubbling inside your head waiting to be released. Your mind should be an open border policy, don't defend that shit (insert Presidential Election 2017 joke). Unless you're rapping about something you aren't without any mention of playing a character or creating an alternate world, then let loose.

'August (prod. huchick)' is about a relationship I had for 7 months that ended in some real bad shit that I really don't wanna talk about otherwise people would just upvote me for pity and not for my actual thoughts. I've never been in love with someone like that before and I thought I'd make a song about everything I love for them.

You can easily see it in the track with such lines as "I know you make fun of my hands because they're slightly small, always teasing me about how I'm not that tall". I'm just not afraid of what people over the internet or even in real life will think about the fact that my ex-boyfriend made fun of me cause I'm only 5ft 5in and I have Trump-esque hands. Also such personal and detailed lines I find add to the experience of any song; makes it a lot more naive and playful that you are able to talk about such specifics when dealing with emotion. Another lesson to be learned in the track is to keep up with wordplay and metaphors. Of course your track has a topic but you shouldn't bore them to death without any memorable lines or wordplay that really makes it a track (e.g. in my track "splitting fast just like atoms do, the breakup's bolted in my head its like a mental screw").

Hit every single one of these emotions throughout your repertoire of songs and you should have a diverse range of topics to talk about. Also look at that 'acceptance face' like what the fuck is that face? Doesn't it look like the face Mark Zuckerburg makes when he's selling off your data to the highest bidder and he's just sold your entire history of dirty messages to your high school thot to a Liberian senator currently on the NSA watchlist?

"But wait Poorkid, that shit sounds gay as fuck! Be macho! Don't be a pussy and make shit about your shitty life, no one even fucking cares!", I hear you ask, eating your bowl of Lucky Charms your mom made you sitting in front of your favorite episode of My Little Pony with your anime body pillow slumped next to you (I'm exagerrating). Well you can be macho and tough sounding whilst showing your emotions. MAKE. WHAT. YOU. WANT. IN. MUSIC. You can have a style and follow it but I personally like to keep my shit unorganised and unexpected. No one is going to judge you if you wanna rap or sing about your feelings after your last song about driving drunk and running over bitches. If XXXTENTACION can make a whole album about being upset despite his greatest hit being about how he can't keep his dick in his pants then you can too (just don't hit your girlfriend cause that's called domestic abuse). A moment of vulnerability in between moments of violent acts and ignorant behavior is incredibly important to building up people's mindset of you as an artist. You seem a lot less like a robot just talking about partying and getting fucked up if you've got some evidence that you're an actual human being with emotions.

IN CONCLUSION

Never underestimate the powers of your emotions. We live in an era of music where people like Lil Pump shine for just talking about how hot is fucking life is as emotion doesn't mean that much to people nowadays. But here's something to keep in mind: no matter how much money you make off of music, the main thing you want your music to be successful in is in personal individual connections. If I could see someone crying, letting off rage or just having a great time to one of my songs, that's worth a fucking lot more than the number of zero's in my paypal after the first one. You can be a millionaire and still be unhappy with your music and you can be dirt poor and on the verge of homelessness and have a huge admiration for your music cause your best friend really likes it. Do the music that's gonna make you happy, make the money you want to make and put yourself before any material things or you'll either be unsuccessful, unhappy or uninteresting.

i think we call that a mic drop

Thanks for reading this far into my tutorial and I hope you've picked up at least a good bit of advice or even a good joke from here. Please leave your comments and tell me your thoughts and opinions, would love to chat about this topic more. Be as harsh as you want with criticism but please be constructive. I only want to get better at this so I can satisfy you loving people of steemit. Have a good day or night or evening or morning depending on your current timezone/planet.

I love you all <3

-poorkid