What I Look For When Screening Music

One of the tasks of my job at KWFC is the duty of screening our incoming music to see if it is worthy of airplay. Today, I would like to share some of what I look for when I approve or chuck the music I receive.

I'll have to be honest, Simon Cowell has done more for my ability to discern and choose good music than any other resource. Here's how. Simon was part of American Idol for several years. His opinion, while often brutal, was also correct and honest. Rarely did he ever miss it.

I have actually taken a lot of what he has had to say in critiquing music, and applied it to how I screen music. I'll list a few of the things I now look for in music albums and singles.

• Production quality is key. If the artist hasn't made the investment in the production, it will show in dreadful ways. Great production costs money. If an artist will not put out the money, they will never have great production.
• Over production can have a negative effect. Most studio production is done on computers these days. This has made the job of a producer much easier, but has also created a new realm of problems. Over production is one of them. Music that uses too much auto-tune or compression can sound down right awful. I like music that is moderately produced.
• Low bit rates will bite you in the butt. Ever since the first iPods and mp3 players hit the market, users have ripped their music at lower bit rates to save on space. But, when you encode music at lower bit rates, especially with mp3s, you sacrifice quality. Take this space-saving concept into the recording studio, where music can get encoded, then decoded and encoded again, and artifacts will get introduced into the music. You can usually detect these artifacts in the higher frequencies on drums and vocals (especially when someone sings an S). Bit rate artifacts will draw my immediate ax without further consideration.
• Shoddy vocals. A lot of artists have friends and family that tell them they can sing really, really, really good. These artists have liars for friends and family. Vocals that are pitchy, cracked or cannot stand up to the musical arrangement stand out in bad ways. Bad vocals will get you chopped from my screening process.
• Pick the right song. You see this all the time on American Idol. Artists with good vocals choose a song that doesn't fit their abilities. The result is a train wreck. Artists should beware of songs with magnificent arrangements if they personally cannot deliver the goods vocally.
• Good enough is never good enough. When making music, an artist should never settle for good enough. They should always be trying to deliver the best possible product. Excellence is enjoyable to listen to. Sometimes I'll give an up and coming artist a chance, even if their product has some issues. But, if they don't show improvement over time, they move to the naughty list.
• Lyrics mean everything. I'm in Christian radio. As a result, we screen the lyrics to make sure there aren't any major issues. Lyrics that are counter to basic biblical teaching are problematic.

The best advice I can give artists is to go out there and continue getting better. Always look for ways to improve your sound. Spare no expense on production. Make your next recording something you'll be proud of 20 years from now.

If you're an artist and would like me to critique your music, contact me. I'll give you the Simon Cowell treatment, and you'll be better for it.