Column by HaydenBlaney

Ever since I was a little girl, I was dressing up in my princess dresses and singing into my hairbrush. Music has always been huge part of my life, so it’s no surprise I found a passion in songwriting. 

The best part of being an artist is the songwriting. I’ve been writing music since seventh grade. Currently, I have 62 full songs written and ready for recording. I mostly write about personal experiences in many different kinds of relationships. Personal songwriting is my perfect outlet for emotions and helps me process what I’m feeling. Sometimes, I like to write in a more storytelling sense. I’ll take situations from other people, characters in movies, TV shows or even celebrities and make a song out of it. 

My favorite way to write is by using a metaphor. One of my favorite songs I’ve ever written uses the metaphor of a shipwreck for a relationship that is on the verge of collapse. In another, I used the idea of secondhand smoke to portray how one person’s actions can inadvertently affect someone they care about. This kind of songwriting is what I consider my specialty.

Typically, my songwriting process takes anywhere from 15 to 45 minutes. Once I have an idea and a sound, it’s pretty easy to turn it into a whole song. The full process of writing, recording and producing a song takes me around five hours. 

For my 17th birthday, my parents bought me a recording interface and a microphone. Using these, I set up a recording space in my basement with an iPad and a software called Bandlab, an easy-to-use app where I can combine my instrumentals and vocals as well as mix and master. 

All three of my current songs are just my vocals and an acoustic guitar. However, the recording process still takes a few hours. I record in the basement of my house in order to have a private space without any background noise. I find recording the instrumental part first is the easiest. I typically try to record all the guitar parts in one take, but occasionally have to go back and re-record certain parts. The same goes with vocals. I tend to redo vocals more than instruments. The hardest part of recording vocals is focusing on timing with the instrumental track while also focusing on sounding good. Emotions make a song easy for people to connect with and I try to make sure that comes through          in the vocals.   

Mixing is editing the fine details of the sound of the music and mastering is the final enhancement before the track is ready to be shared. Mixing can be done through filter-like tools on the Bandlab program adjusting the pitch and range of the song. On top of that, I have to go through and clean up the actual recording by cutting down parts where the vocals are silent so background noise doesn’t sneak in. Mastering is a final setting I choose when the mixing is done. 

When it comes to releasing music, artists need a distributor. This is a service that acts as an intermediary between an artist and the streaming platforms. I use one called DistroKid. After I upload my music into this system, DistroKid takes care of sending the music to various streaming services and social media apps such as Apple Music, Spotify and YouTube. 

As of now, I have released three songs, “Delete After High School,” “Meant It” and “Headliner Heartbreak.” All three explore difficult relationships and the emotions that come with them. I’m incredibly proud of each one. 

This year, I have quite a few songs lined up for release. I’m excited to start experimenting with new sounds and production and can’t wait to see what the future holds for my music and me.