{"id":1893,"date":"2026-03-20T10:37:18","date_gmt":"2026-03-20T10:37:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/digitalspace.bradfordcollege.ac.uk\/10681461\/?page_id=1893"},"modified":"2026-04-24T10:27:26","modified_gmt":"2026-04-24T09:27:26","slug":"research-3","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/digitalspace.bradfordcollege.ac.uk\/10681461\/research-3\/","title":{"rendered":"Research"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Week 1<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Sonic targeting is a lyric writing technique I found whilst on You Tube. It is a rhyme based technique where you pinpoint a specific word in the title or some word that repeats in a song and then find plenty of rhymes for that one word. The idea is once you have the word and the rhymes you can use it as a foundation for lyrics in your song. I can imagine a lot of people use a method like this as I can see why it would be helpful.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>E.G: Long <strong>Hot<\/strong> Summer. Hot, jot, not, cot, clot, knot, rot and millions more.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">A Step by Step Summary of Sonic Targeting<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>To sum things up, sonic targeting consists of a total of 6 steps. They are:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ol class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Decide on a title or repeating line. Try to ensure it\u2019s between 6 to 8 words, and contains at least 3 strong vowel sounds. The vowel sounds also all need to be different. Otherwise, the effect of sonic targeting won\u2019t be noticeable.&nbsp;<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Pick one of the vowel sounds but ensure it\u2019s not the last word of your line.&nbsp;<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n<ol start=\"3\" class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Generate a list of rhymes for your chosen word. You should try to make the list as long as possible so that you can have various options to work with. Resources such as Rhymezone.com or a physical rhyming dictionary will be helpful.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Write a 4 \u2013 6 line section where at least one or two of the words in the other lines in the section rhymes with the word that you are sonic targeting. <\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n<p>I got this information from a helpful website by the same person who made the video.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"The Secret Lyric Writing Technique That Pros Use (and you should too!)\" width=\"580\" height=\"326\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/aktKzYLRDOg?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>In my research of Paul Wellers song writing techniques I found that a lot of his lyrics include:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>(Coutts, 2024)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Sensory Details<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>In the song Thats Entertainment Weller talks about the things that he can smell, see and hear around him. &#8220;A police car and a screaming siren&#8221; These are things he can hear and see. &#8220;Opening the windows and breathing in petrol&#8221; this is his smell. I think this is a great lyric writing technique because it helps paint a picture or build a scene in your mind about the relatable story he is telling of his everyday life. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I would love to use this technique in my writing as I feel I can definitely learn from it and upgrade my lyric writing skills.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>(genius.com, n.d.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Metaphors and similes<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>I know this is a commonly used technique in a lot of songs overall but I am quite drawn to the way Paul uses them in Wild Wood.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;High tide, mid-after noon&#8221; I feel he is talking about a busy city\/place when rush hour hits and its a busy time for all who work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;People fly by in the traffics boom&#8221; sort of makes the picture clearer of a busy life in a crowded place.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;Climbing forever trying<br>Find your way out &#8211; of the wild wild wood<br>Now theres no justice<br>There&#8217;s only yourself &#8211; that you can trust in&#8221; This to me sounds like he is talking of being stuck in the money game of work, always trying to dig yourself out to find a new life away from the work and stress of living to work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The way his songs make it easy for us to paint a picture or relate in some way I think is what makes his use of metaphors so addictive to listen to. I want to be able to use similar techniques in my lyrics so I will practice this method and see if I make any progress.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>(media, 2014)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>When researching The Beatles I found they commonly use:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">External Inspiration<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>In a lot of their songs like &#8220;a day in the life&#8221; or &#8220;paperback writer&#8221; Paul and John would often take inspiration from books, newspapers, films and even every day objects to write about them in the lyrics.       I think this is a great idea for many reasons like obviously if your stuck writing a song or need help coming up with something to write about or if your struggling to chose different topics for your songs this would be helpful.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I can easily apply this to my lyrics and see what kind of a difference it makes in my writing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">The Cut-Up Method<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>This is where you would find or write some words, cut around the words and put them in different places to see what sentences you can make. This has to be an effective method as the lyrics write itself the only job for us would be to arrange the words which is rather easy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I am exited to apply this to my work as I would like to see a range of topics in my writing and not just stick to a few that I know works, I would like to experiment as soon as possible with this.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><br>(Hess, 2025a)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"How To Write A Hook - Songwriting Tips\" width=\"580\" height=\"326\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/9okiCHkpvrY?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"How to Write Great Choruses: 3 Practical Tips That Work!\" width=\"580\" height=\"326\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/JdtQcQfEUIY?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Week 2<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>This week I want to be looking at different song arrangement methods and techniques to help with the quality of my songs making them fun to listen to instead of boring due to lack of proper structure and arrangement<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"How To Improve Your Song Arrangements Instantly (Lessons Of KSHMR)\" width=\"580\" height=\"326\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/wptfOFkvafI?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>This video showed me that with a lot of modern pop, dance and many other genres the structure&#8217;s share a lot of similarities with each genre. The normal structure seen billions of times is Intro\/chorus, verse, pre-chorus, chorus, verse, pre-chorus, chorus and outro. I have and can confidently use this basic arrangement for some of my songs, I notice it makes the arrangement just about good enough to not get boring or loose some interest but I want to learn different arrangements that makes people really interested and no chance of getting bored. To do this I looked into songs by The Arctic Monkeys  and how they use a similar basic structure but really use dynamics to create clear difference and diversity between sections. Take a song like A Certain Romance for example the big differences from intro and going into the verse there is a massive drum beat with a high intensity feeling powered with an absolutely menacing distorted chord progression hyping up the tune and then out of no where all the heaviness leaves and your greeted by a soft blissful sound and calm triads it sounds like before going into a Ska sounding verse with chill lyrics telling a story. The song remains calm until the last calm either 3rd verse or the post-chorus section which leads to a slow hype up and then back to the carnage we heard from the beginning. I personally think this is one of the best Monkeys songs by far and I love it. I plan to learn this song and try and apply the structure and massive dynamics they used in the song. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-4-3 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"A Certain Romance\" width=\"580\" height=\"435\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/zMupng6KQeE?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"5 Arrangement Tips PROS Use (and Amateurs Usually Don&#039;t)\" width=\"580\" height=\"326\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/3MpVztjp-rY?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>I agree when he says too much of a good thing (like a great melody) ruins the melody or whatever it is with repetition, it tends to make your listener uninterested or bored. A good way to avoid this is move away to a different idea for the verse either a big difference in dynamics with a different melody that fit with the chords or completely avoiding every aspect of the chorus until its chorus time that way the listener can expect to the the cool part of the song again and maybe even wait for it depending on how good it is.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I like the idea of verse 2 being a big opportunity to separate from verse 1 and keep your song interesting he says you can do this by adding more context lyrically. What I take from this is for verse 2 use a different perspective on the same idea and go in a little harder than the first to push the feel on the listener. I think it would be a good idea to add different percussion and rhythms compared to the first verse to again keep things interesting I know if there is one thing that ruins a song for me its repetitive drums. He this great tip of finding other chord voicing for your same chord progressions to give a familiar feeling but to also a new feeling it may be more emotional chords in place of boring open chords or barre chords.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>When it comes to the producing side of our songs the guy spoke of &#8220;Sonic Depth&#8221; I didn&#8217;t have a clue what that meant but after researching sonic depth in music I found it refers to&nbsp;the perceived three-dimensional space, distance, and layering of sounds within a mix, creating a sense of front-to-back perspective. (picture the difference of a 2D game and a 3d game, you can move up and down as well as left and right, now apply that to sound.) So a good way for me to use different layering arrangements is by just practicing hearing what it sounds like to have 2 guitars playing the same thing with slightly different EQ&#8217;s see the impact note the impact then try change the EQ&#8217;s or add more guitars or different instruments or sounds and experiment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Another good tip is to make a clear climax to your song like give the last chorus the big push or the bridge\/build to give the most emotion or even the outro its completely up to the composer\/producer. I think if there is a clear climax to your song it gives the listener something bigger than just a catchy chorus to expect maybe thats why I think the climax may be better off closer to the end or at the end to leave a feeling after the song is over. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Bibliography <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Coutts, K. (2024).&nbsp;<em>Sonic Targeting \u2013 The Secret Technique to Writing Amazing Lyrics &#8211; How To Write Songs<\/em>. [online] How To Write Songs -. Available at: https:\/\/howtowritesongs.org\/2024\/02\/27\/sonic-targeting-the-secret-technique-to-writing-amazing-lyrics\/ [Accessed 24 Apr. 2026].<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>genius.com (n.d.). <em>\u200bThe Jam \u2013 That\u2019s Entertainment<\/em>. [online] genius.com. Available at: https:\/\/genius.com\/The-jam-thats-entertainment-lyrics.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>media, doubleshot (2014). <em>How Paul Weller and The Jam can help writers improve their writing<\/em>. [online] doubleshot media. Available at: https:\/\/efangelist.wordpress.com\/2014\/01\/10\/how-paul-weller-and-the-jam-can-help-writers-improve-their-writing\/ [Accessed 24 Apr. 2026].<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Hess, J. (2025a). <em>Re-Noted: The Beatles\u2019 Collaborative Notes: 3 Ways to Write a Song<\/em>. [online] Substack.com. Available at: https:\/\/jillianhess.substack.com\/p\/re-noted-the-beatles-collaborative.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Week 1 Sonic targeting is a lyric writing technique I found whilst on You Tube. It is a rhyme based technique where you pinpoint a specific word in the title or some word that repeats in a song and then find plenty of rhymes for that one word. The idea is once you have the [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":840,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-1893","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/digitalspace.bradfordcollege.ac.uk\/10681461\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1893","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/digitalspace.bradfordcollege.ac.uk\/10681461\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/digitalspace.bradfordcollege.ac.uk\/10681461\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/digitalspace.bradfordcollege.ac.uk\/10681461\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/840"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/digitalspace.bradfordcollege.ac.uk\/10681461\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1893"}],"version-history":[{"count":41,"href":"https:\/\/digitalspace.bradfordcollege.ac.uk\/10681461\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1893\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2115,"href":"https:\/\/digitalspace.bradfordcollege.ac.uk\/10681461\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1893\/revisions\/2115"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/digitalspace.bradfordcollege.ac.uk\/10681461\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1893"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}