Analysis of a Max Martin song

[Scott Martin :)]

Hi all, as promised, here's my breakdown of a Max Martin song. In this case Ive chosen Pinks song - 'Who Knew'

Ive done this mainly for Ahmed, to (hopefully) give him an insight into record production and general song structure. Please note, some of the observations are technical, but some are my personal opinions - others may disagree.

Who Knew

Song Length: 3:28

Song structure:

intro (riff)*
1st Verse
Chorus
2nd Verse (riff)
Chorus
Bridge (riff)
Chorus
Chorus
Outro/End (riff)

*a riff is a simple melodic figure. For example, the guitar at the beginning of The Rolling Stone's 'Satisfaction' is arguably one of the most famous guitars riffs in modern music.

Intro: Song starts fairly 'small' Clean electric guitar playing the 'riff' There's a nice EQ at roughly 10khz that brings out the strumming of the strings. Drums are also quite small sounding - dry kick and snare, tight hi hats. Guitar is panned to roughly 11 o' clock (just left of centre)

Verse (Im counting the start of the verse where Pink starts singing) Verse is joined by Bass Guitar half way through. Bass is strumming simple 8th notes.

Chorus Chorus is great. This is literally where the song expands and sounds 'bigger' Why? The production of the song has gone from softly played instruments in the verse that almost entirely sit in the middle of the stereo field, to the chorus where more instruments come in and are panned to the left and right.

For example; electric guitar playing chords in the right speaker (wasnt there before) Harmony vocals on Pinks main vocal line. Big loose hi hats in the left speaker (remember the hi hats in the verse? They were tighter, smaller, and sat more in the middle of the mix)

2nd Verse The production returns to that of the 1st verse but with some small changes; the drums now sound a little bigger, and strings are brought in. This is a lovely way of expanding on the story of the lyric and carrying the listener further along.

Chorus Much the same as the first chorus except the strings are carried into it and play a supporting line.

Bridge Again a nice use of the strings, I think it helps invoke the sense of sentimentality or 'looking back' Notice the guitar riff is back, this riff is kind of the link through the whole song chaining it all together.

Chorus Strings are really prominent now - lend more emotional urgency to the story.

Outro/End the riff the song started with is repeated one last time which in a way, ties the song nicely back the beginning.

One of the reasons I chose this song (apart from being so great) is the obvious use of production in it. Notice how the chorus sounds so big? This is really because the verse is so small and intimate by comparison. And the intimacy created in the verse is a wonderful way of drawing the listener in and sharing the story of the song.

The dynamic changes between the verse and chorus really come down to two things;

- the verses are softer and quite literally narrower in the sense that everything sits toward the middle of the speakers.
- the choruses are played louder (on the drums for example), more instruments play in the choruses an they pan out further to the left and right, making the song grow in dimension. This technique is referred to as dynamics.

THats all I can think of for now, please let me know if you have any questions.

Regards,

Scott.

[turnaround]

I just moved this topic 
And thanks for the analysis.
it's so interesting to read it. it's great to know some technical details.
My fave element of the song are also the strings, they are really beautiful.

The drum is so very typical Max and Luke they used it quite often now, didn' they?

Did they do a lot on Pinks voice. Do you think they autotune her?

[Scott Martin :)]

Hi Turnaround, Im pretty sure the drums are Addictive Drums from XLN audio. I know Max had a hand in the creation of this virtual instrument, I own it, and it certainly sounds like what they are using. At the very least, there may be some real drums mixed in with the samples. Does anyone have a CD listing? Perhaps it credits the players on the song.

As far as I know, you cant really tell when someone's voice has been auto-tuned, unless its been done pretty severely. Ive seen Pink live in concert and she was pitch-perfect. She really blew me away with her vocal ability. Id be very surprised if they auto-tuned her.

Mainly it sounds like they used some compression (kind of smooths out the vocal level, regardless of whether your whispering or screaming) and some EQ to make the voice sit nicely in the mix.

Kind Regards,

Scott.

[turnaround]

Thanks again for all this information.

I just looked in the booklet and it says:

Guitars & Drum Programming: Max Martin & Lukasz Gottwald
Drums: Lasse Martén

So it has been both apparently like you said.

I didn't know they recorded an orchestra.

Btw: There is also a Additional Pro Tools Engineer: John Hanes
Is Pro Tools that difficult that only a few people can do it, or why don't Max or Luke do that?


On Cuz I can there are no drums listed

[Scott Martin :)]

Hi Turnaround, Pro Tools is not hard at all, I use it myself. I think Max and co would have an engineer to run Pro Tools, record players, get adequate levels etc, so that they can control solely on being creative and focus on what the song needs.

If I had the budget, Id have someone else running Pro Tools for me tomorrow. 

Oh, and those strings are definitely real - Ive written a lot of orchestral music for computer games, with the worlds most advanced sample libraries, and they still dont quite sound like they do in 'Who Knew'.  I wouldnt be surprised if they called in someone to write the string arrangements.

[Rebecca]

wow, thank you Scott, it's a very interesting read. I'm listening to Who Knew now.

[malcolm hogg]

Cool!! Very interesting.
Hey, i've never done it, but how do you think it would sound in mono? I think the whole stereo and panning thing when used minimally as they do in this is great at pulling you into the sound.
They use panning to the absolute extreme on some of the more dancy bsb stuff, overprotected by britney, and another really far out example would be when you're looking like that. They are obviously  different types of pop.
I think if they used that level of panning in who knew it would destroy that song.

I think the programmed drums runs the same loop all the way through, and live drums are played over the top. They start at the first chorus, stop briefly and then the live snare starts again (possibly the bass drum too) when she says 'Remember when.....' ie second verse, then full live kit back into the chorus. I think it is only in the choruses that there is any live cymbals. Pretty sure all the live drums leave right at the start of the outro 'my darling, i miss you' etc etc.

I've been meaning to domething similar to what Scott did, i was gonna use How will i know by Jessica folker.

Will post it in here when i'm done.

Cheers for that Scott

[turnaround]

Can't wait! 

[ahmed]

thanks scott,good analysis

[Linda]

wow.. thanks for that scott

[malcolm hogg]

Structure of How Will I Know, as follows.

Intro/first verse.

Chorus 1

Verse 2

Chorus 2

Bridge (middle

Chorus.

I haven't done anything in relation to panning etc, just the instrumentation i hear.


Intro/verse1----- Piano, Pad Synth ---- until the line 'Though we've come this far'........ At this point the hi hat is added, and an acoustic guitar playing arpegiated chords. It stays this way (4 tracks) until the first chorus.

Chorus 1-------A pad 'ooh aah' synth is added. a second acoustic is added that single strums the chord (only 1 strum). A tambourine tap is added to every second beat. A bit of acoustic bass quite low in the register but it fattens everything up all the same. Into the 2nd verse..

Verse2-----Pad 'ooh aah' synth drops out. Regular electric bass comes in, regular drum pattern starts. Acoustic guitar with a regular strumming pattern starts asell as the single strummed chords. There is also an electric guitar comes in and plays arpegiated chords during the first 2 lines of this verse, it then plays regular strummed chords higher up the guitar neck giving the chords higher more sparkly notes, this guitar is played quite quick and gives a kind of 'whacka whacka sound'. There is also another sound i hear almost like a really staggered 'bing   -----    bong', kinda like sound you hear in submarines?!?!?!

Chorus2-----This is the same as the last verse, however the pad 'ooh aah' synth returns, and the srummed electric guitar chords become a little more noticeable. The bass line becomes a little more involved (ie more notes, more noise, more being played) in this chorus and also the choruses after the bridge.

Bridge/middle8------A tambourine shake pauses the drums and brings in the bridge. The track is stripped down to Drums, Bass, Piano, Pad synth 2 acoustic guitars and one electric. The instruments are being played pretty light here, not a lot of notes, really simple playing, a bit of melody, light chords, just enough to keep things going until another tambourine shake pauses the drums again, the bridge then closes with pad 'ooh aah' synth added, piano, pad synth, bass one acoustic and one electric but no drums.

Final choruses----- Drums start again. There is the same instruments as the other choruses, but now there are 2 electric guitars playing the same part, quick strumming higher up the neck, these are much more prominent in the mix, the 2 acoustics are also regular strumming chords also. The bass line becomes much more involved, it is this and the 2 electric guitars that fattens the sound for the fanil choruses.

Ending----towards the end when she sings 'oh oh oh ooh, how will i know?' And we get the augmented 7th chord the electric guitars leave and the pad 'ooh aah' synth leaves. We are right near the end now, a final tambourine shake ends the drums and at this point everything else leaves the track except for the pad synth, piano and acoustic guitar, therea are also a handful of bass notes too.


I haven't done anything with the vocals yet, will do later.


My terminology is most definately not text book, hope you can understand it.

[Linda]

nice Malcolm!

very interesting to read

[turnaround]

Well done. That's really something exciting to read. Such a great song. And great description. 

[Rebecca]

Thanks Malcolm, I'm listening to the song now, reading your summary made me hear things I missed before.

[malcolm hogg]

I think the bing bongs are the only thing that people mite not hear. Don't know how to describe them anyother way!