Britney Spears' production has got me wondering...

[chrispick]

Most of these sorts of pop dance diva tracks are composed by multiple writer/producers. They supply elements (e.g., beats, lyrics, samples, etc.)that comprise the final song. And often the song goes through many editorial permutations before final release.

Here's what Wiki says:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gimme_More

Timbaland proteges, looks like.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timbaland

[Shooshie]

I wonder if "It's Britney, Bitch" will ever figure out that she can actually write about her life? She could write songs forever about cutting off her hair, getting her picture snapped with her exposed crotch plastered all over every internet daily and supermarket tabloid in the world, or having her kids taken away while the whole world watches and hisses at her "bad mothering." Running a stop light makes headline news. "Britney Spears, the BAD MOTHER ran a stop light today with her kids in the car!" Oh dear. I'm glad I've never done THAT before!

She's a better man than me if she can stay sane after all this media crap she either has been through against her will, or that she voluntarily goes through to boost sales. I don't know which it is, really. Gimme, Gimme certainly didn't make it to the top of the charts based on the lyrics. No, people bought it because it was by that girl who cut off her hair. Heck, she's the Van Gogh of her generation. (He cut off his ear, you know.) Maybe she'll start cutting off body parts and sending them to her friends. I guess Madonna could give away old boobs when she gets herself re-treaded. Britney should at least sell her hair, strand at a time.

Anyway, not to digress. The girl should take advantage of her position and commit some real art on her own. Or would that break the spell? What a gas if she actually wrote a song! Instead, we get "Gimme, Gimme," written by a committee. What did they have, 5 people with writing credits on that song? Geez. Man, I can't figure this thing out.

Shooshie

[emulatorloo]

Tripi:

Thanks for the BT tip, man. I'm diggin' it

I didn't know he did the soundtrack for Stealth.

See if you can pick up his score for "Monster" -- it includes a stereo mix and a DTS disc which was his first 5.1 surround release. Great music, and with that guitar and synth mix that I love so.

--

A good interview that you will like if you haven't seen it before:

http://www.keyboardmag.com/article/mind-bt/dec-05/16024

The Mind of BT
Electronica••™s visionary takes off in a new direction.
By Stephen Fortner | December, 2005

In every interview I have ever read he is very happy to talk about his technique -- seems like a real generous person that way.

-=

So you seem to like some spanish-sung music, uh? She has all those albums you mentioned. Am I crazy, or I remember correctly that you have someone in your family (brother-in-law??) that is from Central-south America??

You are right -- my nephew's wife's parents are from Mexico, living in the U.S. now.

I developed a love for Spanish-language pop when I was lucky enough to spend 4 or 5 months in Mexico in the mid-eighties . . .The record stores were blasting "Amante Bandido," and the jukeboxes everywhere played Juan Gabriel's "Querida" non-stop. Do you remember FLANS "No Controles"? -- I ate it all up.

A big thrill for me was seeing Juan Gabriel in concert in Texas in the early '90s -- he put on an incredible show, singing for hours. I think I cried too!
---

[timriley]

I think i prefer rihanna to britney.... Better voice, better melodies! Similar production.... Less ego-maniacism (so far)!!! Also, does anybody remember 'Feel Good Time', the Pink/william orbit/beck collaboration? Very underrated!

Britneys album sounds too perfect for me.... Where's the humanity?

[timriley]

Where's the humanity?

Time to book myself into those Hopeless Romantics Anonymous sessions i think!

[FMiguelez]

Where's the humanity?

Time to book myself into those Hopeless Romantics Anonymous sessions i think!

I know what you mean, but that lack of humanity is part of the sound, I think. It gives it a powerful modern edge. Maybe it reflects the times we're living in...

Guess it sounds human enough to me

[timriley]

I know what you mean, but that lack of humanity is part of the sound, I think. It gives it a powerful modern edge. Maybe it reflects the times we're living in...

Very well put!

Guess it sounds human enough to me

That's fine, but you're a lizard!!!!!

[TOD]

I look at the lack of humanity as a deeper marriage of 'Man and Machine"

Utilizing technology as the primary tool to achieve this type of production.

The union of carbon and silicon. (no, I don't mean breast implants, although that is also probably appropriate here )

[tomeaton]

Paul Simon once spoke about popular music moving away from melody and towards rhythm by itself... there's some truth there.

One thing that has not been mentioned in this thread is the midrange. In my world the vocal, guitars, keys, etc. all need some of this space to be heard. In many of these dance tracks there is NO sustaining midrange sound other than the lead vocal. That alone generates TONS of room in the mix. Try it... use pitched percussion, or sounds with quick attacks and decays instead of pads... suddenly all this space opens up and you can place multiple snare/tambs/electonic fx in REALLY specific locations without anything getting trampled. An empty midrange makes for a huge bottom and open top.

It's very easy to pile sustaining sounds into a mix, and very hard to get them to gel well unless the arrangement (inversions, especially in competing instruments) are carefully under control.

I used to do LOTS of electronica!

tom

[FMiguelez]

Guess it sounds human enough to me

That's fine, but you're a lizard!!!!!

I resent that. I'm a GREEN IGUANA!!

[Guitar Gaz]

I just wanted to speak up and give the rationale for using processors freely and without guilt.

No guilt intended Shooshie ! I use them too - but I used to work in a studio (IBC) in London in the mid 70's when all these processors did not exist - we had limiters and basic compression and real tape delay and echo plates. And I find myself listening to a lot of classic stuff from that era and compare it with stuff today. I mention Alter Bridge as an example of modern production techniques - I'm sure its side chained and compressed and mangled etc - it just doesn't sound that good to me. Its all very clever stuff but I just find it unsatisfying in a musical sense. Its me I know - I just am not sure what is being done is better . But there are still a lot of very good records being made today - but the very processed ones are hard to listen to for me.

[aizo]

I wonder if "It's Britney, Bitch" will ever figure out that she can actually write about her life? She could write songs forever about cutting off her hair, getting her picture snapped with her exposed crotch plastered all over every internet daily and supermarket tabloid in the world, or having her kids taken away while the whole world watches and hisses at her "bad mothering." Running a stop light makes headline news. "Britney Spears, the BAD MOTHER ran a stop light today with her kids in the car!" Oh dear. I'm glad I've never done THAT before!

She's a better man than me if she can stay sane after all this media crap she either has been through against her will, or that she voluntarily goes through to boost sales. I don't know which it is, really. Gimme, Gimme certainly didn't make it to the top of the charts based on the lyrics. No, people bought it because it was by that girl who cut off her hair. Heck, she's the Van Gogh of her generation. (He cut off his ear, you know.) Maybe she'll start cutting off body parts and sending them to her friends. I guess Madonna could give away old boobs when she gets herself re-treaded. Britney should at least sell her hair, strand at a time.

Anyway, not to digress. The girl should take advantage of her position and commit some real art on her own. Or would that break the spell? What a gas if she actually wrote a song! Instead, we get "Gimme, Gimme," written by a committee. What did they have, 5 people with writing credits on that song? Geez. Man, I can't figure this thing out.

Shooshie

you ever seen that movie she devil? with roseanne barr and meryl streep? meryl was a paperback passion writer. wrote about bullsh•• love stories. anyway, when she got married and those kids moved in a she had to turn into a mom. she started writing about her bad personal life. nobaody gave a ••••. her sales dropped and she was almost dropped from her publisher. i have a feeling it would have the same effect. they are drawn to her shallowness. everybody's lives suck enough. thats's why everybody love pop stars. they dont have real problems. the problems they have are frabicated to keep them edgy and in the tabloids. •••• i wish my only problem was someone seeing my cooch on the intrawebs. she is ridiculous and shallow becuase she loves that life. she could easily pull it together. but who would buy her cd then? let alone the magazines that she is spread(cough) all over.

[FMiguelez]

you ever seen that movie she devil? with roseanne barr and meryl streep? meryl was a paperback passion writer. wrote about bullsh•• love stories. anyway, when she got married and those kids moved in a she had to turn into a mom. she started writing about her bad personal life. nobaody gave a ••••. her sales dropped and she was almost dropped from her publisher. i have a feeling it would have the same effect. they are drawn to her shallowness. everybody's lives suck enough. thats's why everybody love pop stars. they dont have real problems. the problems they have are frabicated to keep them edgy and in the tabloids. •••• i wish my only problem was someone seeing my cooch on the intrawebs. she is ridiculous and shallow becuase she loves that life. she could easily pull it together. but who would buy her cd then? let alone the magazines that she is spread(cough) all over.

You certainly have a point here. But after all, we as musicians, should not care about her personal life. I, for one, could not care less if she says idiotic things in her interviews, or she's preagnant or not, or whatever. In general, artists should be taken for what they are, Artists, NOT models, not role-models, not anything outside of what they supposedly are.

If this album was sung by Marry-Lou Johnson instead of Britney, I would still have liked it the same, admire it the same, and bought it the same. In other words, Britney, as an image, has nothing to do whatsoever as to the quality or merits of the album. Thas secondary, at most. At least here...

She can have sex with an allien, for all I care (or with me ), but that won't have an effect in terms of how good or crappy her production is. Her personal life couldn't matter less. They can market her however they wish, but as long as her productions sound great, it'll make no difference to me at all.

I mean, you are buying a SINGER'S CD, not a role-model's behaviour patterns. Who cares about her personal life?? That's material for the masses, the tabloids, and sad people who have nothing better to do with their lives than to gossip and mind about other's lives, just to feel a little better about themselves by comparison...

And I didn't mean YOU as in you the person. I mean that as a general statement.

[James Steele]

Well that really goes to the point of what you expect music to do and why you listen to it. Some people want to simply entertain and write music that does that. Other's feel music should "say something" and they want the artist to bare their soul and their deepest personal feelings and tackle profound thoughts and emotions. There's obviously room for both kinds of artists. Frankly if someone doesn't want to bare their soul and private life to millions of strangers, I see nothing wrong with it. In fact, I find it refreshing today in a world where people you don't know will quickly tell you the most intimate details of their life within 5 minutes of cracking a beer open... at least out here. There was something to be said for the days when people kept their private lives private.

As usual, I digress.

I personally sit somewhere in the middle, but lean toward the "music as entertainment not catharsis" camp. I lean HEAVILY in that direction. I grew up on a whole bunch of fun and shallow music. I like it. I like fun and shallow movies as well.... adventure, etc. If I want to be reminded of how much unhappiness and anguish is in the world, I can crack open a newspaper or turn on the evening news for that.

It's funny that people I know want to believe that songs I write are about my personal life and I enjoy telling them that I might draw on a tiny grain of a personal experience, but by and large I might have chosen a lyric because it "jut sounded good for the song" and it's largely made up and meaningless. Often they just refuse to accept the answer. Some words just "sound right" in a rock song in particular and you KNOW when you hear them set to a particular piece of music.

I guess what I'm trying to say is that there's a place for music that's just "for fun" and devoid of deep dark personal anguish or a "message." I think if you're going to do it, since people don't like to be preached at, being subtle and cloaking your message is a better way to go. For example, I loved the tune Nickelback did called "Never again." Catchy as hell, but it was about domestic violence.

[Tripi]

So i did a little searching to see who actually was the 'mysterious master engineer(s)' behind this. Looks like a lot of people, but Danja is the most credited producer. You can take a look at his myspace page (if you dare), and try to figure out what the hell is going on:

http://www.myspace.com/danjahandz

I found this interview / video more interesting though:

http://www.cratekings.com/danja-gives-h ... tudio-tour

He shows his studio, and surprisingly, its just a laptop and some keyboards. Basically a laptop, Edirol MIDI controller, Akai MPC 4000, Yamaha Motif, Korg Triton, and Alesis Adromeda A6 Synthesizer.

I spend so much time doing orchestral film scores, that I forget what a little analog synth lovin' will do for you.