KVR Audio

Lunatique · Post by **Lunatique** » Mon Apr 27, 2009 4:23 pm

DocAtlas wrote:
Lunatique wrote:1) lyrical content
2) melody
3) arrangement
4) expressive performance
5) emotional honesty
6) production value
I would also add 7) chord progression (although I would place it right after melody and before arrangement)

Sometimes the right chord changes can really evoke a wide range of emotional responses. It works for me, at least!

I sort of lump that together with arrangement, but yeah, it should be separated from arrangement to be on its own.

Adambomb337 · Post by **Adambomb337** » Fri May 01, 2009 10:14 pm

What are the technicalities of a beautiful song that the audiologists discovered over at Pandora?

beatflux · Post by **beatflux** » Mon May 18, 2009 7:41 pm

Human beings like a sense of safety in the familiar, but without a balance of surprise life gets boring.

A great song is a balance between expected and unexpected elements to take us on a thrill ride. The mood that the music conveys is scenery and while it can enhance the ride, it's the twist and turns that really satisfy us.

While uplifting, more joyous songs seem to be more popular, I think more emotive pieces can be just as satisfying.

vivies · Post by **vivies** » Tue Jun 16, 2009 10:50 am

Hello,

as it has been said above, beauty is subjective.
However a good song is an ensemble of elements matching each other, such as :

melody - harmony - lyrics - orchestration.

look here this free lesson on "how to write a song" :
http://www.musiclassroom.com/cours/chanson.php?lang=en

and feel free to ask me question on this forum.

tehlord · Post by **tehlord** » Tue Jun 16, 2009 11:00 am

Naked ladies and fast cars.

Arsov · Post by **Arsov** » Tue Jun 16, 2009 11:05 am

So it's melody more than lyrics?

Usually yes, it is important to having a catchy chorus with words that can associate some feelings, but generally, how many people really know all the lyric from the songs they like? Most people remember just a few catchy sentences. ( usually from a chorus )

As D. Bowie said in one old interview: I thought at the beginning of my career that lyric should have a full meaning, but thankfully I changed my mind pretty son.

Good melody, catchy meaningful chorus with emotional honesty, but first of all, it should be the right genre. It is funny how people generally dislike good songs just because they not fit inside their favourite genre.

jancivil · Post by **jancivil** » Tue Jun 16, 2009 11:53 am

Can a beautiful song in one person's delivery of it be 'not so much' a beautiful song and just fail to convey in the wrong hands? (let's say it's a song you don't know)

does tone and touch carry the day at all? what I mean is, I've heard jazz performers clue me into the felicities of a song, which the original version crafted for mass popularity just hadn't done

wrench45us · Post by **wrench45us** » Tue Jun 16, 2009 12:01 pm

that's why they're called musicians
finding the nuanced edges of a song
popular songs used to be of sufficient matter that jazz players could do this and wanted to do this

otoh
I believe Hermann Hesse pointed out in The Glass Bead Game that even in bad reproduction Mozart is still Mozart

recently Leonard Cohen has been on tour -- great poet/lyricist, not so good singer and I'd also venture to say not so great song writer as he relies on cliched song structure so much
otoh 12 bar blues have held up fairly well in certain circles

silenthill2006 · Post by **silenthill2006** » Wed Jun 17, 2009 4:04 pm

DocAtlas wrote:
Lunatique wrote:1) lyrical content
2) melody
3) arrangement
4) expressive performance
5) emotional honesty
6) production value
I would also add 7) chord progression (although I would place it right after melody and before arrangement)

Sometimes the right chord changes can really evoke a wide range of emotional responses. It works for me, at least!

Definately, agree. Personally, I tend to make stuff in minor key due to emotional reasonance.

jancivil · Post by **jancivil** » Wed Jun 17, 2009 9:05 pm

wrench45us wrote:that's why they're called musicians
finding the nuanced edges of a song
popular songs used to be of sufficient matter that jazz players could do this and wanted to do this

otoh
I believe Hermann Hesse pointed out in The Glass Bead Game that even in bad reproduction Mozart is still Mozart

recently Leonard Cohen has been on tour -- great poet/lyricist, not so good singer and I'd also venture to say not so great song writer as he relies on cliched song structure so much
otoh 12 bar blues have held up fairly well in certain circles

That assumes one has heard, and dug Mozart. What if your first exposure to that sounds like shit?
I could also say, vis a vis (subjectivity and) taste, Mozart is still Mozart even in the best reproduction.

I thought Time After Time by Cyndi Lauper was a great song even before Miles covered it.

Caysi · Post by **Caysi** » Thu Jun 18, 2009 10:08 am

Adambomb337 wrote:slight fluctuations in tempo play an important role.

I'm not sure about this one, while most semotive songs do have tempo fluctuations not all of them do. I think lyrics play an important part as for most they give the listener a situation to connect to.

JediMind · Post by **JediMind** » Thu Jun 18, 2009 10:18 am

tehlord wrote:Naked ladies and fast cars.

Yep.

Art Noir · Post by **Art Noir** » Thu Jun 25, 2009 12:15 pm

Very simple: The use of a minor key.
Honestly: How many beautiful songs do you guys know that are in C major?!!

Aloysius · Post by **Aloysius** » Thu Jun 25, 2009 12:25 pm

Topic: What makes a song beautiful?

The chicks in the video!

That would be: Item 4) expressive performance

geroyannis · Post by **geroyannis** » Thu Jun 25, 2009 12:31 pm

Art Noir wrote:Honestly: How many beautiful songs do you guys know that are in C major?!!