A review of MasterWriter Software and discusion about songwriting with Roger Tomhave and Dan Johnson

Roger Tomhave of New Day and Dan Johnson from Soulpajamas are co-writers and friends that make up a pretty amazing duo. Together they have penned such amazing work as Fill a Cup and Hold on to Love. They have graciously agreed to talk with us about their writing process from conception to performance and offer us some tips and techniques to make writing easier.

 

 

Hello Roger. You've told me before that you use MasterWriter in your songwriting process. That started about 2 years ago, and you've said you like the method of it but you also like the library.

 

Roger: Yes. 2 years ago Dan and I were at Blue Ridge Song Camp which was being led by Paul Riesler. It was Paul who suggested and actually had a great discount price that particular year for MasterWriter. So I didn't use it at Song Camp, just saw a demo of it. When I got back home I downloaded it to my laptop and have been using it ever since. Now I have just gotten the upgrade to MasterWriter 2. So we have used it on, oh gosh, the last 30 or so songs that Dan and I have collaborated on.

 

Had you thought about using software like this before Paul suggested it?

 

Roger: No, not really. My previous method is (and I still use this method quite a bit, because I'm a songwriter but also an artist, so I always have with me a small sketchbook). Anytime I see anything of interest, something that catches me, a turn of phrase or something like that, ideas come to me, it gets jotted down in that sketchbook. That's always with me regardless of what other technology I might use.

 

MasterWriter has been very useful to take those ideas out of the sketchbook and start putting them together into song form.

 

Roger: Since then, several of my heroes like Tom Kimmel, who is one of my favorite songwriters, is also a user of MasterWriter. I didn't know that at the time. I've done songwriting sessions with Tom Kimmel in which he used MasterWriter, and I saw it in action there and learned some tips about how we could use it better. And I showed Tom some things he hadn't gotten into yet.

 

So MasterWriter is pretty easy to use?

 

Roger: Yes, it's very easy to use. The appeal of it is that it's as easy to use as Microsoft Word, in terms of just writing, putting all of your ideas down and being able to edit them. In addition, across the menu at the top, you can go to a rhymes area, that is like a rhyming dictionary. You could also find that on the internet, but the nice thing about the rhyming dictionary is that it gives you rhymes, for perfect rhymes of the word that you're looking for a rhyme for, but it also does sound alikes, which you don't typically find in a rhyming dictionary and which are very useful. And close rhymes, not quite there, but close enough. Then it has a section on rhyme phrases, so, cliches or typical sayings that would end in the rhyme sound.

 

There's sections on phrases, there's sections on alliterations, there's sections on pop culture, the world or geography, different places or famous names, famous products or food and drink or travel. And then a really nice dictionary, a really nice thesaurus.

 

So this is something any author could use, not just songwriters.

 

Roger: Yes, though it's definitely intended for that. One of the other pieces it has going for it is it also allows you to record audio. That particular feature of MasterWriter Dan and I aren't using just because we have another method we use for actually recording.

 

It also keeps all of your song info, remember I said that it is also used as a library. So each one of the songs on my song list, I've got whether they are complete, whether they've been recorded yet, who were the coauthors on them – if there were coauthors, all kinds of information, about copyright year and all of that.

 

With all of these features, what do you like best about it?

 

Roger: I think probably when we are in the midst of working on a song and are struggling, and are looking for a particular “right” phrase or a “right” way to say something, MasterWriter can very quickly get in front of us, 20, 30 different ways that we might want to put together a particular structure. The speed of it, in helping speed along our process is nice.

 

 Now, we might have come to that as a conclusion anyway, but maybe not. So it's a big resource, I think, for songwriters.

 

Do you think it ever might hamper your creativity?

 

Roger: I don't think so, because the creative part typically comes out in my sketchbook. So this is the down and dirty writing part.

 

As I ask the next question, we're joined by Roger's collaborative partner, Dan.

Roger, do you have any tricks to using MasterWriter?

 

Roger: In our songwriting workshop with Tom Kimmel, I was showing him that when you go to rhymes, like I just went to the word “well” and got 4 pages of rhyming words - first 1 syllable, then 2 syllable, then 3 and 4 and 5 and on it goes – if I found one that I liked, if I found 10 that I liked, I would simply double click them, and it puts them into a holding area that follows that particular song. So when I go back to the song, and I show “collected” then all of those rhyme words show up.

 

It's a very convenient way of keeping a collection of words - rhyming words or other kinds of words - together for a particular song. So you can keep going back to them and back to them and you don't have to do a re-search, they're all collected to go along with that song.

 

Dan: You are the master of MasterWriter.

 

Roger: Thanks Dan!

 

Dan, what do you like best about the MasterWriter Program, or do you have any tricks or tips that we could use?

 

Dan: I don't think I have any tricks. I'm an off and on again user.

 

Roger: In our songwriting pair, I'm the librarian. I keep all of our files on my laptop. I guess that could be a tip or a suggestion. You don't want to have all of these things in two places. You want to have a backup but, it's good to keep a library together.

 

And then, like you said, you can keep track of all of the copyright and bibliography information.

 

Roger: Right, right. Who was involved in the project. Connected with it there are other kinds of sketch pages and song info pages where you can write down a little bio of the song. Where did the idea come from,all the things that go along with it. It's just good a good library as well as a good tool to write with. It's a good way to catalog (your work.)

 

Dan, Roger says that he keeps a sketchbook with him all of the time. I'm the same way, myself, I don't go anywhere without more than one writing implement and scrap paper, and I still use napkins... do you do the same sort of thing?

 

Dan: I do. And if I had one technology hint to give: before you spend any money on technology or any time, get yourself a little recording device.

 

Roger: That's right.

 

Dan: It could be as simple as calling yourself at your home phone or your work phone or where ever you are not at the moment and leaving yourself a message, because you can record your brilliant insights and your rhymes, your phrases, your melodies, you know, your concept, whatever is hitting you when you're in the middle of traffic or the middle of waiting in line at the DMV and you don't have a piece of paper. Of course, paper is difficult to record a melody on unless you're really good with...

 

Roger: Notation.

 

Dan: And music theory.

 

Roger: It's a very simple thing to do and we use that quite a bit too, calling either home or the office number and leaving a message with that little nugget of an idea.

 

 You're the guy at the Social Security office standing ahead of me in line, calling your home answering machine and singing to yourself!

 

Roger:Exactly! But you know what? What are you going to do? You don't want to lose that idea.

 

So you really have done that, then? Called your answering machine and hummed a melody?

 

Dan: All the time.

 

Roger: Me too. Or sometimes I call Dan... when I'm in traffic and say, “Hey Dan, can you write this down?”

 

Dan: They have these little digital voice recorders that aren't even meant for music. They're really inexpensive, and much smaller than even the smallest micro-cassette recorder – almost the size of a pen. You can plug it into your computer and copy that as an MP3 or whatever format. Then you can use your more sophisticated computer tools to organize them.

 

(Dan has talked about this in more detail in his blog Songwriter's Tip Jar. Check it out here!)

 

Is that better than your cell phone then, or because the cell phone's handy that's what you've used more often?

 

Dan: The cell phone is what I used before I got my digital hand held recorder, and what I use if I've left it at home. The thing with voice mail, most people's residential voice mail there's no way to do anything with those...

 

Roger: Once they're recorded, yeah. So both Dan and I carry little recorders with us. So like when I'm traveling in the car I have that little digital recorder with me. Also when you're in a place where it's not convenient to call office or home, it's nice to be able to put that melody down on a recording. Like Dan says, then it's useful as an MP3 and you can actually do something with it.

 

So where does it go from there? I'm interested in your co-writing methods, could you tell us a little about how that process works?

 

Dan: Sure.

 

Roger: See if we fight?

 

Do you fight?

 

Roger: Always. (laughing)

 

Dan: No!

 

Roger: No, we get along really well.

 

So how did you two get started co-writing?

 

Roger: Go ahead, Dan.

 

Dan: Well, I'd been going to this songwriting summer camp, called an Intensive held by Paul Riesler, just about every summer for the last five or six years. Once I went to the first one and had a blast, I started inviting everybody I knew, all my friends to come. That year, Roger, who was actually more an acquaintance than a friend, said sure.

 

So that year is the year we got to know each other on the ride down. We carved out a little time in the busy week at the songwriting camp – that was our first time trying to write together. Neither one of us, I believe, had written much with anyone, before.

 

Roger: That's true.

 

Dan: So we were just beginners and didn't know how it was done. So we just kind of made our way.

 

Roger: In terms of co-writing, both of us had written, you know, for a long time. But not in a co-write. So finding our way in the co-write is a different kind of a process. But one that we've liked a lot.

 

Dan: I'd like to say that the way we write together is very different than the way I used to write by myself.

 

Roger: Yeah, very different for me, as well.

 

Can you contrast the two processes, writing on your own verses co-writing?

 

Dan: For one thing, as far as contrasting it for me, is the songs just get finished a lot faster. The whole process moves along a lot faster. I don't know if that's going to be true for everybody.

 

Roger: It's true for me, too. I think part of it is just the synergy of the whole thing, because - Dan and I have talked about this before – for me, I'm always writing lyrics and lyrics are always kind of floating in my head and going into my sketch book. I'm attracted to lyrics. So I get the lyrics down and I might have in my sketchbook 5 sets of different lyrics that may get put into a song someday. Then, I work on the music. Actually, my wife Carol is a music director at Unity of Fairfax Church, so she can help with that as well. But for me, the music comes a lot more slowly and is much more of an effort.

 

The opposite is true for Dan. So, where I'm really quick on the lyrics, Dan is very quick on getting chord structures and chord progressions together. So building on both of our strengths is what makes the synergy of it go so quickly.

 

Dan: Absolutely. The words to me, can be frustrating or just take a long time, and I'm okay with that. It sure is fun to let somebody else handle that altogether and just start on the next song, Keep moving.

 

Roger: The thing about it, when it comes to both music and words, when we're working together, we're both editing the words, we're both editing and playing with the music, the melody line, the chords and all of that. But we draw on our strengths and it just goes much more quickly that way.

 

Have you ever come up with an idea, gone to your co-writer and had it take a surprising turn?

 

Roger: (laughing) Always.

 

Dan: Yeah. (chuckles)

 

Roger: And it's fun. It's very fun to see what happens to an idea as it gets played out in front of your co-writing partner, because they hear it with different ears than you intended to say it, perhaps - either musically or the lyrical piece. It's like a one on one audience that gives you feedback immediately and that feedback, from the ears with which they've heard it, and interpret it, sends it in a new direction that you maybe hadn't thought of. But it is an important direction.

 

Dan: It's a good thing to learn. You know, you can go in with an open mind, instead of holing yourself up and trying to complete the song as much as possible. In a lot of cases, I'll take a very raw idea, knowing that Roger may take it in a completely different direction. A lot of times it is a better way to go, or seems to flow more easily that way. He thinks of the things I hadn't thought of.

 

Roger: And the opposite is true; Dan will think of things that I would never have considered, even, on my own. It makes the song stronger. It takes it in a very fun direction, that when it's all said and done, at the end of a session and we have a song. We both look at each other and say, “That isn't where we started, but we like it!” It's a fun process to see what comes out of the collaboration.

 

I know it can be very gratifying to get that feedback from a co-writer. Have you ever had times when perhaps ego gets in the way?

 

Roger: No, we're both pretty mild mannered. We initially set up – and I don't know that we've hardly ever used it – but we do have a fallback position. That is whoever initiates the song has the final edit rights. So we do have that if we disagree about the direction a song is going or what it's going to be like. You know, whoever brought the song to the table in the first place has those final edit rights and the final decision when it comes to it. It's good to know that's there.

 

A safety net.

 

Roger: Yeah.

 

Dan: We also have another kind of safety net. Roger's band may record one of our songs and as a band, they can make lots of choices - where the bass line is going to go, or where the harmonies are going to be – and that is sort of above and beyond what we've done in the songwriting. Then for my band, we can also chose to record the song and once we get in the studio who knows what kind of other ways the song is going to evolve.

 

Roger: Usually in the arranging of it and the way Dan and Erin, his wife, take it with Soulpajamas might be completely different than the way New Day, our band, might take that same song. So in terms of arrangement it could be two completely different songs, too, in the way they sound.

 

Dan: If Roger's singing the song, he's got a different range than me, he has different strengths than me. I'm not really a singer, so I might, just for my own delivery ability, have to improvise with the melody a little bit. Usually we don't change the lyrics.

 

Roger: You know, it's all a part of performance. It gets done differently between our two bands.

 

How do you decide who gets ownership of a song that you've co-written?

Dan: What do you mean who gets it?

 Roger: We both do.

 

Who is going to perform it though? Is it going to be a Soulpajamas song or a New Day song...

 

Roger and Dan: Yes.

 

Dan: There's very little overlap. New Day does a lot of Unity Fairfax and Soulpajamas performs... everywhere else.

 

Roger: Right. So we're a church band and although we play out as well, most of our performances are at Unity of Fairfax. We perform the songs there, and Dan and Erin and Soulpajamas perform them in many other venues.

 

This really isn't fair. You guys don't have any dirt to dish on each other. You aren't fighting... 

 

Dan: That's why we've never written an angry song. Because we don't get angry.

 

Roger: We write Positive Music!

 

That you do! Thank you guys for taking the time to talk with us!

 

Dan and Roger: Before we go, we want to thank emPowerMA for all the support they are providing artists and fans of positive, empowering music and arts. We’re looking forward to more Posi concerts and other events, and we encourage everyone to participate on the emPowerMA web page.