I'VE BEEN IN THE BAT CAVE

Last week I spent the majority of my time in my home studio refining some skills.

I'm not a singer, but I love to make R&B music.  I never sang in a church or school.  It feels like the songs I've been writing have been missing something...and I figured it was harmony.  I recently bought a book on vocal harmony. I've been studying the harmonies of songs written by The Dream.  Dude is mad talented. I know he has a team of people like Tricky Stewart and Kuk Harrell.  To sit in on one of their sessions would be crazy.

I also been trying 2 get my mixing skills up.  For me its so much easier mixing Hip-Hop vocals then R&B vocals.  Hip-Hop is straight forward.  To me, R&B music always has more going on.  I notice that there are always 1,000+ rappers coming out.  Most aren't any good. There are mad people fakeN like they can rap.  But R&B...no matter how much Autotune you use...you can't fake singing.

I always compare my music to the music I like.  The only vocals I record are mainly reference vocals for songs I wanna sell. I know that don't have to be the best of the best, but they need to be close to it.  The music industry is a competition.  Whenever I decided to send music to potential clients, I'm pretty sure that they are getting music from thousands of more people.  I'm not only competing with other up-and-coming producers, but also the Timbalands, Pharrells, Maestros, and Ryan Leslies. I've gotta make my songs stand out.