Last Saturday I was incredibly honored to be a guest speaker at the SongShop event in association with PRS and BASCA. I have to say, it was a superb experience and truly emphasised that there is so much talent out there yet to be discovered!

Over the course of the day I met and heard the work of over 30 talented songwriters and in the afternoon I did my own presentation. The topic I spoke about was songwriting and the production of an effective demo.

The areas I focused on were lyrics, melodies, structure and most importantly the overall commercial sound of a piece. One question I always get asked is whether the actual production is important in terms of the quality and how professional it sounds, and so I wanted to address this. The talk went well and I thoroughly enjoyed sharing my knowledge and experience that I hope will be of benefit to the songwriters.

Each delegate on the course then had their songs voted on by the others. It was quite apparent that the most popular pieces were the ones with the most professional production. So coming back to the topic of production and its importance, the answer is yes. There is no question that we are now in an era where production plays as important (and recognised) part on a composition as the lyrics and music.

The course was incredibly useful for all the delegates as it gave them the opportunity to meet up with other writers, compare songs and, above all, get a sense of encouragement from participating in the event itself.

On that note (no pun intended!), I would highly recommend that all songwriters join BASCA and for members to attend as many of these networking meetings as possible. I saw for myself what a difference they make and when trying to break into the music industry, making contacts and connections are vital.

In other EQ news, I’ve just finished a session this week with the amazing Dean Dyson on vocals. Dean is not only a wonderful singer, but goes out of his way to make everyone in the room feel completely at ease, which is important in a studio situation when it can sometimes get quite tense!

Dean gigs at The Hardrock Cafe every Thursday evening, and next week he is doing a set at the Green Note in Camden on Wed 5th. I shall be there so it would be lovely to see you if you fancy coming along!