"Space - It's Not Just For People"

Living in the Northern California Bay Area has many benefits: Fabulous weather nearly year-round, unsurpassed access to high tech, high tide, and high culture, and as diverse and interesting a popluation as you can find anywhere. It also has its drawbacks: millions of other folks appreciate these benefits as well, consequently, housing prices are among the highest in the nation. It's not that the houses here are exceptionally big or fancy - it's that there are too many people for the number of available houses and in many parts of the Bay Area there isn't room to build more. In other words, we're running out of space.

Most people don't like to be crowded. Even if you aren't particularly claustrophobic, not having enough of your own space can lead to frustration and irritability. And here's an interesting fact: your music doesn't like to be crowded, either. Or, rather, your music will be better appreciated if it's not crowded.

OK, so what do I mean by "crowded music?" A crowded song is like a "Where's Waldo?" picture - there's so much going on at once that the art (Waldo) becomes hard to find. With crowded music the result is that the listener becomes overwhelmed and isn't able to connect with the artist through the art. Instead of being pulled in, the listener is, to some degree, pushed away. As you might have guessed, this is a *bad* thing.

What we really want to do is make some space - breathing room - in the music to let the art emerge and draw our audience in. Let's examine the primary factors that determine how crowded a song is:

How the song is written
How the song is arranged
How the song is recorded and mixed

Music itself is made up of sound and silence - notes and rests - and it's the silence that gives definition or clarity to the sound, just as consonants in speech give definition and clarity to words. The songwriter controls the space in a song by his choice of lyric, rhythm, and melody. If he or she wants to emphasize or set off a section of the song, one of the most effective ways is to put silence before and after that section. The contrast between silence and sound causes the listener to focus on the section.

Similarly, an arranger can affect the space in a song with his choice of instruments and how and what they play, and the recording engineer and mixing engineer affect the space by their choice of effects like reverberation and EQ, microphone placement and position of each instrument in the stereo mix. If you think of each instrument or voice as occupying physical space in the soundfield, you can see how "large" parts - for example a full, rich distorted electric guitar - could crowd out a lead vocal if both were sounding at the same time. There would be far less crowding of the lead vocal from an instrument like a bass guitar, even if it were mixed loudly, because the bass guitar occupies a different frequency range (space) than the voice. However, the bass guitar could mask other parts like a kick drum because both are competing for the same frequency space.

To get an idea of song space, listen to some classic Gilbert and Sullivan songs. One that comes to mind is "A Modern Major General" from "Pirates of Penzance." The singer barely has time to breathe, and the listener barely time to listen. Fortunately, the song is so well written musically and lyrically that it can get away with minimal space, but most people feel worn out after they listen to it.

As a point of contrast, listen to the classic ballad "People" sung by Barbra Streisand. The spacing draws you in and allows you to live inside the song, and the result is a classic that is known and loved world wide.

Please don't get the idea that I'm saying a song has to be slow or old to have space. I'm just saying it has to have space. Resist the temptation to fill every split second of your song with sound. Give your song some room to breathe. Both you and your adoring public will be happier for it.

There are many more things I could say about space, but having run out of it myself, I must now stop!

Gary Dugan
Vice President, Do Good Music
gary@dogoodmusic.com

(If you have questions or comments about this article, please send them to the author or to info@dogoodmusic.com.)