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Keeping It Real with Blair Packham

This week SongTalk welcomed our old friend Blair Packham to our studio.

The Toronto-based artist, first gained attention for his work with ’80’s power pop band The Jitters. He is now an acclaimed solo artist and musician. Blair released two strongly-reviewed solo albums before shifting his focus to composing music for TV and films, teaching songwriting at the post-secondary level and in numerous special event workshops, and co-hosting a long-running major market weekly radio show about music (“In the Studio” on the BellMedia talk radio network).…

How Featurette add emotion to Electro-Pop

by Michael Proudfoot

This week SongTalk welcomed FEATURETTE to our studio.

The Toronto-based duo FEATURETTE, formed by singer Lexie Jay and drummer, Jon Fedorsen, makes emotionally-charged, heavy-hitting electro-pop music that has been met with international critical acclaim.

After receiving their first full recording grant from FACTOR Canada, the duo released their debut LP CRAVE in October, 2016.…

It’s a Christmas Extravaganza!

by Michael Proudfoot

This week SongTalk welcomes… Christmas into our studio.

For our Xmas Eve show, we all brought in our favourite Christmas songs and had a good chat about what makes them so great. Featuring some classics and some new songs that you may not have heard before.…

David McLachlan: That Nashville sound.

by Michael Proudfoot

This week SongTalk welcomed David McLachlan to our studio.

David McLachlan is a prolific songwriter with 7 albums released, one in the can, for release next Aug 2020. Several years ago David ventured to Nashville to record with some stellar A-list players.…

Beige Shelter: How To Write Within A Band

by Michael Proudfoot

Beige Shelter is an ambitious and eclectic five piece band from Toronto that brings fire, passion and a political conscience to their music. Through electrifying live performances, the band showcases both original songs and interesting twists on cover songs. Beige Shelter is currently working on their 2nd EP release.…

Songs by the Hosts: how we wrote ’em

by Phil Emery

For this host’s show, Michael, Neel and Phil brought in a song each and discussed how we wrote and some cool approaches in the songs. AND, Vanessa was in the house!!! What a fun episode!

Listen to the Episode

What we talked about

The 2nd Annual Holiday Gift Guide
Blog post: Creating Lyric Sheets that Don’t Suck
Neel’s process behind writing “The Wicked Queen”
Suggestions for Song prompts
Listener input requested: What do you think about the Taxi and SongTradr placement services
Song hooks: How do you make sure your song has ’em
Different approaches to choruses
The Wicked Queen lyrics
Pull Me Away From You Lyrics – Noise
Not Edwin lyrics
Writing Better Lyrics – Pat Pattison book on Amazon
101 Songwriting Wrongs & How To Right Them: How To Craft Songs That Sell on Amazon
Cubase Elements – Phil’s DAW of choice (tho he uses the Pro level)
Cakewalk by Bandlab – Neel’s DAW of choice

…

Making the most of your voice with Taylor Abrahamse

by Phil Emery

This week, professional singer/songwriter, voice actor & co-founder of Silverthorn Studios recording, Taylor Abrahamse joined us in the studio at SongTalk World Headquarters. Taylor was a Top 40 finalist on Canadian Idol, has performed on stages across Ontario, has also written & produced musicals, and music for animated series and viral internet music through Corus, DHX & Super Planet Dolan.…

Matthew Reid: Music Composition – Live, recorded and improvisational

by Michael Proudfoot

This week SongTalk welcomed Matthew Reid to our studio. Matthew is a critically acclaimed, award winning composer for film, television, games and theatre. His funny songs have delighted almost a million people during his tenure as composer for Toronto’s world famous Second City comedy theatre.…

This Is Spinal Tap: 35 Years Later

by Michael Proudfoot

This week SongTalk Radio has a special episode celebrating the 35th anniversary of the classic film, “This Is Spinal Tap”. And joining us in our trip down memory lane is one of our favourite guests on the show Blair Packham. We talk about where and when we first encountered this classic cult comedy and how true it was to our own experiences in the music business (hint: very!)…

Patrick Ballantyne: An album of longing

by Michael Proudfoot

This week Song Talk welcomed Patrick Ballantyne back to our studio. Patrick is a veteran songwriter and musician who has worked with many top-selling artists such as The Trews, Meredith Shaw and Big Sugar.

On this episode, Patrick brought in a few songs from his upcoming new release so our Song Talk audience got to hear the premieres of two tracks – Vicious in Your Vanity and Beneath Your Skin.…

Blair Packham: From song inception to development

by Neel Modi

One of our favourite guests and friend of the show Blair Packham returned to the show to share his song ideas, from titles to bits of songs, and how he develops them into full-fledged songs.

We talked about:

Song Studio
Hugh’s Room in Toronto
Songwriting Apps: OnSong, Rhyme Genie, Tunesmith, and Music Memos
Writing the lyrics or music or the hook first
Call your next song “Star Wars” if you want: You can’t copyright a title!

…

Angela Saini: Writing and collaborating on her new album

by Neel Modi

Angela Saini returned to Song Talk Radio with a new album and a fresh bunch of earnest and optimistic songs.

We talked about:

Structured vs. casual collaborations
When should an artist make a trip to Nashville?
Making a personal connections to songs you’re performing, even if you didn’t write them totally by yourself
Live performance vs studio recording
Using a “weirdo” chord change for the bridge of your song
Should melody trump the natural shape of the language in your lyrics?

…

What’s the hook of a song?

by Bruce Harrott

Ever wondered why hit songs are so memorable? You know, the ones that you can’t get out of your mind for weeks (or years). Well, it could be the hook. In this episode the Song Talk Radio team does a deep dive into the many and various ways that songwriters have created memorable passages in songs.…

The Amazing Christmas Song Draft

by Bruce Harrott

For our special holiday show we dipped into the vast treaure trove of holiday songs. You’ll hear everything from Run DMC‘s Christmas in Hollis to Frank Loesser‘s Baby it’s Cold Outside. Plus Joni Mitchell, Bing Crosby, David Bowie, Vince Guaraldi, John Prine, and Christmas carols too.…

Making the most of a three-chord song

by Bruce Harrott

On this program Bruce, Neel, and Phil, (and Linda) each brought a three-chord song to share. We looked at what each song needed to do (if anything) to compensate for the lack of chord diversity. We talked about:

Now You’re Leaving by Bruce Harrott
The Joker by The Steve Miller Band
BBC by Ming Tea
Street Spirit by Radiohead

Listen to the whole show

The lyrics

Download the chord/lyric sheets to follow along:

Ming-Tea-BBC

Now-You’re-Leaving_Lyrics

Radiohead-Street-Spirit

The-Joker…

Eric Walker, jazz/pop/blues fusion

by Bruce Harrott

Eric Walker is a singer/songwriter from Toronto and a member of the blakeley walker band. He was a founding member of the Toronto Songwriters Association which has met the second Saturday of the month for the past 17 years. We talked about:

playing Harry Belafonte songs on the ukulele
writing a song with 47 chords
master songwriting teacher Andy Krehm
composition teacher Gordon Dalimont
SONG – “Umbrella” – looking back at the beginnings of a relationship
SONG – “Renovations” – building and renovating love
short chorus – good or bad?

…

Julian Taylor – dual roots and great songs

by Bruce Harrott

Julian Taylor is a Canadian singer-songwriter formerly with the band Staggered Crossing. His songs have appeared in television series including Degrassi: The Next Generation. He now fronts the Julian Taylor Band. Julian dropped by the studio with his daughter Ella.…

Collaborating for the Good Stuff: Richard Hunting & David Meirovich

by Admin Bot

Songwriter Richard Hunting and songwriter guitarist David Meirovich met at the Songwriters Meetup and started to work together.

Listen to the show:

What we talked about:

Collaborating strategies
Artist website: https://www.facebook.com/RichardHuntingMusic/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/RichardHunting95
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCo-WaQPdbGHA3A-zEr9aKRQ
SoundCloud / MySpace: https://soundcloud.com/richardhunting
And-I-Will-Do Lyrics
All-Alone Lyrics

…

Dokter Nomi – writing the pop song

by Bruce Harrott

What a pleasure to have Dokter Nomi back in the studio to share his hooky pop tunes. This time, one of them was produced by our very own Neel Modi. During the show we talked about:

the songwriting process (melodies first)
starting with stories and poetry
music scene in Kamloops, BC
Louie, Louie
how to choose a producer
Party in NYC
nursery rhymes
Songwriters’ MeetUp
Fallen Star
performing if you don’t play an instrument

Listen to the whole show

Dokter Nomi’s lyrics

Dokter-Nomi-Party-in-NYC-Lyrics

Fallen-Star…

All about hip hop with iLLvibe

by Bruce Harrott

Toronto-based hip hop recording artist iLLvibe dropped by to share his music and his thoughts. Runner up to Drake for Toronto Rapper of the Year in 2016 and winner on “Canada’s Smartest Person” it was indeed an entertaining and informative hour!…

Songwriting across nations and cultures with Amanie Illfated

by Neel Modi

South Sudan-born, Toronto-based indie fusion singer, model and writer Amanie Illfated joined us to talk about her songwriting journeys across nations and cultures. Guest host and singer-songwriter Kayt Lucas filled in for Phil – thanks Kayt! We talked about: