MUSIC LAB SERIES
The Music Lab Series
The Music Lab is UMAC’s series of hands-on professional development workshops for artists, producers, managers and other stakeholders within the urban music community. This series is comprised of a number of areas of professional development, including:
Production Techniques
Songwriting Techniques
Artist Management and Promotion
Concert Promotion
Marketing & Showcasing Yourself
Artist Imaging
Touring & Merchandising
Accessing Funding
Media Awareness
Following is a brief overview of some of the divisions of The Music Lab Series:
PRODUCER'S LAB 101
In music, the producer is an integral part of any record, but in the urban genre the producer has been elevated to the level of the artist, and the success of a record can be pre-determined by its roster of producers.
The focus of the Producer’s Lab is to provide attendees with the opportunity to learn about production equipment and production techniques. This is realized via interactive demonstration sessions from some of Canada’s premier producers, with special international guest producers adding value from time to time. Over the course of the session, the presenters execute the following tasks:
1. Recreation of one of the producer’s hit tracks
2. Creation of a brand new track
3. Integration of beats with vocals from a local artist on the new track.
SONGWRITER'S LAB
The Songwriters Lab is an intense, one-day songwriting workshop for independent local urban artists/songwriters.
The goal of The Songwriters Lab is to equip the participants with the tools to allow them to make music that creates and facilitates a compromise between true artistic expression and commercial enterprise. UMAC seeks to aid urban music practitioners in the ways of creating unforgettable and long lasting content suitable for commercial radio and mass consumption. The exercises within the labs will provide the foundation for export ready, globally competitive product.
Many Canadian urban musicians possess the musical talent to produce commercially viable music, but may lack some of the fundamentals when it comes to songwriting techniques. These techniques ensure that, as times change, the ability to make timeless music will not. These labs also facilitate networking and collaborative liaisons between artists and singer/songwriters alike from various regions of the country, potentially aiding to the individual and collective potential that exists in Canadian urban music artists.
In The Songwriters Lab, participants will be trained on the fundamentals of songwriting, including length of song, use of words/language, definition/clarity of chorus and the art of telling a story within the confines of a musical structure.
The workshop will be led by a panel of four, consisting of a singer/song writer, performing song writer, producer, and a representative from the funding agency. The panellists will offer examples of the various elements of song structure. Participants will have an opportunity via Q&A & viewing case study to seek advice and/or have specific questioned addressed by the panellists. Participants will also have the opportunity to seek ongoing support through UMAC at the completion of the lab by taking advantage of UMAC’s membership offers.
The goal of this lab is to have tangible impact on the participants by giving them one-on-one attention and opportunities to conduct the learning exercises in a hands-on environment.
UMAC looks to hold several of these annually, culminating in a huge, fully funded songwriting and studio session retreat to produce songs that evolved during the Lab experience to create tracks that have not only mass consumption viability, but timeless musical integrity.
