Mix With The Masters – Songwriting Techniques #1 – Alex Kapranos (TUTORIAL)

Year of issue: 2021
Manufacturer: Mix With The Masters
Manufacturer’s website: Link
Author: Alex Kapranos
Duration: 1h 28min
Handout Type: Video Tutorial
English language

Description: We are thrilled to release our first episode with Alex Kapranos, frontman of Scottish rock band Franz Ferdinand! We joined a renowned musician at Motorbass Studio to explore his diverse influences and unconventional approaches to songwriting. Alex reveals his most notable sources of inspiration in music, literature and visual arts. Referring to original compositions and the work of others, he discusses the relevant elements of effective songs – vocal performance, phrase repetition, wordplay, vulnerability, and more. With his own voice and guitar, he demonstrates how the chord progression, melody, song key and arrangement can be altered to evoke a specific response from the listener. He shares alternative methods of stimulating creativity, which include setting limits and encouraging non-literal interpretation of text set in a specific way. Using Ableton Live and Novation Launchkey, Alex demonstrates his process of creating a track base, developing melodic ideas, and many more aspects of his songwriting workflow!

Content :
1. Inspiration, vulnerability, collaboration, breaking patterns, taking notes, repetition, phrasing
2. Building on a premise, storytelling, listener interpretation, wordplay, creativity levels, triggers
3. Altering lyrical delivery & mood, introspection, modulation, key changes, discarding ideas
4. Arrangement, chord progressions, setting parameters, minimalism, idioms, metaphors, clichés
5. Ableton Live composition workflow, leaving the computer, new directions, top-line melody, phrases
6. Layering loops, melodic ideas & development, color-coding, dismissal, rejecting external stimuli
There are subtitles in Russian, English and Spanish.

Sample files: not provided
Video format: MP4
Video: AVC, 1920×1080, 16: 9, 30 fps, 1500 kb / s
Audio: AAC, 48 kHz, 128 kb / s, 2 channels