Here is a recent interview with Max Martin. As a general rule, he doesn't give interviews often at all.

For those who are interested...

Max Martin Interview

Nice article..... plenty of take away quotes. The trivia facts about Paul McCartney were fascinating and the whole article for me is the cocoon for the advice my brother Harold tried to drill into me that while longevity is a nearly unattainable and unlikely goal, getting it right just once brings a euphoria and payoff that is forever worth all the work and effort.

Harold believed everyone has at least one hit song in them, it just had to be worked and drawn out of them and the opportunity seized the moment it arises. He saw many many examples throughout his career of unlikely songs by unlikely writers having the stars align for them through exactly the right circumstances and people coming together at just the right moment for the magic to happen. Most times, that magic never happened for that person again -- but the lesson was always -- that the unlikely can happen and it can happen to me.

I also got carried off on rabbit trails with some of the side videos and was really intrigued with one about all the rip-off hits produced by Dr. Luke.

Charlie

Interesting that he says that songwriting it is all about "the sound" rather than the lyrics, melody, chords etc. Biab is a fantastic way for songwriters to create that "sound" without all the expense. During FAWM there were plenty of very good writers and singers and good guitar players but very few people who could create "the sound". I think a few of them would benefit from learning to use Biab!

Just as in film and television it's the image.

Ol' Harold could really play:


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wcFsOggtJ80



Regards,

Bob

Bob, that' pretty cool and very nice of you to look up that post. Thanks, I really appreciate the thought.

Charlie

You are quite welcome. You should be proud of your brother.


Regards,


Bob

Just watched the video. Loved it! Harold could really play! I was good friends with Dewitt Scott (Scotty) who who hosted the International Steel Guitar Convention in St. Louis for many years. He passed away about a year ago. He always brought in great players. I'm a huge fan of pedal steel. Harold would have fit right in. That was some nice entertainment.

Alan

videos on Cheiron deniz pop etc

What a fascinating video - there's some real pieces of gold in here! I definitely got this one bookmarked to finish reading later.

You guys really find the neatest stuff. I love that you guys share gems like this with the rest of us. I've learned some really cool things, and I can't wait to see what else gets shared and posted up in the forums.

I think that's always been a really interesting debate ... sound versus lyrics. I feel like music is so personal that it really depends on the individual. For me my preferences fall somewhere in the middle, but I do find it is almost always one or the other that makes me fall in love with a song -- lyrics or the sound. Really well written lyrics can make me look past the faults in a song and leave me listening to it on repeat, but a really good sounding song can also make me overlook weaker lyrics while the song gets stuck in my head for a few days.

Also, something to consider for the pro sound debate -- instrumentals. Songs that don't have lyrics can be just as powerful as really profound and emotionally vulnerable lyrics. I probably have just as many instrumentals as I do songs with lyrics in my personal music library for that reason alone.