Producer, Engineer

Q. What advice do you have for a customer looking to hire a provider like you?

A. Music Production Tip #11
(from my blog www.ryanpoolemusic.com)

Problem: You have an Amazing song Idea that you don’t want to forget.
Solution : Just get it Down!

My good Friend Josh is a whiz Song-Writer; he is always writing a new “hit-song”.

My mom is a a great song writer too. Well at least… she says she is…

In truth, I have never heard a single one of my mom’s songs. I have no idea if she can write or not!

What does Josh have that my mom doesn’t?



a tape recorder



That’s right, a glorified piece of 1980′s technology turns a good idea into a great song!

You don’t have to be retro-at-heart to be a great songwriter, either. My secret to Songwriting is a little iPhone app called “iTalk”; it allows me to record “CD quality” memos. Mine is almost exclusively filled with song ideas (going back 2 years now).

Getting the idea down is absolutely key! By Recording your Song ideas….

1. You can Remember your Song at All!

2. You can get “outside of yourself”

When I write a new song I am almost always tempted to think of my new creation as a masterpiece. It is only because I can look at the song 3 days later, (when I am no longer in the steamy creative heat of writing the worlds next mega-hit) that I am able to realize that my “hit” is really ….

a.) a rip-off of an actual hit b.) a rip-off of another song I already wrote c.) complete-and utter crap

3. You can turn a good song into a great song!

When I set about recording my own album I wrote around 30 songs. I knew from the beginning that I only wanted about 12 complete songs on the record.

Why waste so much good material? Because most of it sucked!

I can be positive that it sucked, too. I made CD’s of the original demos for my friends, and asked them to help rate them. Very few people listened to the CD’s and fewer still responded.

But I was able to find a few “Jems” that people did actually enjoy. From there, I took the top 12 songs and recorded demos in pro-tools, and only then, I went to a real studio and recorded them “for real”.

Yes, I re-recorded all of the songs for a third time! In the end however, it was worth it because all of the drafts led to a final product that was FAR better, than my original “amazing ideas”.

What did I use to record my original demos? Garage Band. Not even separate tracks or multiple takes. Just one-pass, laptop microphone, one-track monophonic demos.

It is easy to get caught up in the details early on and loose your initial vision

Just record something, anything! Even if you have to call your mom’s answering machine and use your mouth to make instrument sounds so that you will remember.

It doesn’t matter.

As long as you communicate the musical idea in your mind in a way that is 1.Retrievable and 2.Understandable to you.

So, Write away! Make quick-easy demoes to remember your ideas, weed-out the bad songs & spend your time tweaking and pimping out your best ideas!

E-mail me at RyanEPoole@gmail.com with any questions, or if you’d like me to personally help you take your quick-demos and turn them into

Q. Tell us about a recent job you did that you are particularly proud of.

A. This fall found me at the Rough cut screening for “There’s nothing out here” downtown at “Dirty Dels” which is a concert film I did live recording for. The Film features San Diego favorites “Transfer”,”Circa Now”,”The Drowning Men”, “Lady Dottie and the Diamonds”, and many more. Can't wait to see the final product!