The first song that made you a Max Martin fan?

[Rebecca]

Thanks ITSALIVE and welcome. Turnaround started this forum for the site.

[Littlemy]

All That She Wants/The Sign back in 95 made me a fan of cheiron, and subsequently Max Martin.

[jezusmarie]

it's really hard to tell for me, i really found alot of max's early stuff sort of annoying, yes hard to believe, posibly coz i always found r&b light not really my cup of tea, but i think i would have to say, 'i'll be there for you' by solid harmonie, really loved the abba melodies, and pretty much back tracked from there, and discovered just how wonderfully consistant his material was, and how much catchier and brilliantly composed it was compared to other tracks on artists albums..........

[ANJ600]

I have been a huge fan since 1994 when Ace of Base's "The Sign" exploded onto the music scene.  Since then I kept an eye out for anything produced by Denniz PoP and just about a year later I saw that Denniz had brought some new, namely Max Martin, to work on "the Bridge" and the songs sounded even better!  So then, I kept my eye out for anything produced with Denniz and Max.  About a year later, BSB was introduced to the world with a smash hit, "We've got it goin on".  And I knew it was Denniz/Max hit and from there it all took off.

This site is truly amazing - I have learned that there are so many other amazing artists which Max has made hit songs for which I had no idea.  Some artists are bigger in other parts of the world because the fanbase is there.  But thanks to this site, all the great music is "connected to each other" and it's great!

[Rebecca]

wow, so you are a fan from nearly the beginning!

[BennyJ]

I think it was "Show Me The Meaning", i heard it on the radio and just loved it. I already knew other Max songs like "I Want It That Way" but at that time I didn't know they were written by him. I ended up ordering sheet music for the whole Millennium album and once I received it, I noticed the line: "Words & Music by Max Martin" on many of the pages. So it was clear this guy had to be someone special

[turnaround]

Hehe, do you play an instrument? 

[BennyJ]

yep I play the keyboard. I've also experimented with computer based music production for a long time, but only as a hobby.

[turnaround]

Nice.
Oh I have a question, as you know own the sheets.

Are the chords really that simple as one might think?


I personally don't think so. Would be interesting if they use standard chords or quite extraordinary ones.

[BennyJ]

I'll have a closer look at them tomorrow and post some chords. But as far as i remember, the chords are not that simple. They use many "sub types" (dunno in english) like "sus4" "Maj7" etc. It's not necessary to play them this way, you can omit some notes and play the chords in a simpler way, but the complex ones add more richness to the sound. I found it not so easy to learn to play the songs, but - of course - I'm not a pro. Many Max songs are written in A (like I Want It That Way) and then modulated ("transposed") to B (1 key up) for like the last 2 choruses.

But it's true that they usually don't use many different chords in one song (which makes sense in pop music anyway). The verses of Don't Want You Back for instance consist of only 2 chords. But that's actually great cause it keeps the verses simple so the chorus can stand out with its unexpected harmonic sound. Some other things are pretty clever, especially how they modulate the songs to a higher key. They use some intermediate chords to lead to the higher key so the listener hardly notices it. Like in Show me the meaning there is a modulation right after the second chorus when the bride part starts. In I Want It that way it happens at the end of the bride, when Nick sings the "Don't wanna hear you say...".

One interesting thing i noticed is that Shape of my heart must have been pitched up a little bit. Try playing along to it, it's impossible, the tone doesn't really fit. Dunno why they did this, maybe to create a fresher sound.

[*Sabine*]

I flashed for Oops i did it again on the radio, and when i bought the album fell in love with Lucky! Then, got myself the first britney album, noticed the same names in the credits, checked the Cheiron site and the story had started!!

BennyJ, i play the piano and i'm thinking of buying a keyboard. I'm very interested in what you're doing. Could you give me some more details, like what program do you use on the computer... I would also be very curious to hear the midi files you play ont he piano!

[BennyJ]

@Sabine,

here's a brief summary of my little setup:

I got one keyboard and one synthesizer (a keyboard without speakers if you will  ), both Yamaha. I also own some of the same rack synthesizers that they used at Cheiron, including the EMU Proteus 2000, EMU Planet Phatt, EMU Extreme Lead, Roland JV2080. I also had a EMU Procussion but i sold it. Max' songs from late 90s had a lot of EMU sounds in them and I think they still have some EMU gear at maratone (check the website).

I also have a mid-quality microphone and a tube pre-amplifier/compressor, but i don't use it that much since I'm not a good singer . For monitoring I got fairly good speakers (Event 20/20 Bass, though not far as good as max's "snakes"). For connecting my external gear to my PC, I use an audio-interface by ST-Audio with 8 inputs and 8 outputs (i will replace it soon with some MOTU unit) and I use a steinberg midex unit with 2 x 8 midi connectors so i can control all untits using my pc.

The software I use is Cubase SX. As you already mentioned in the other thread, it's a complex software and it's mainly used for music production - maybe too complicated to begin with. I use it to record stuff from my external instruments or from "virtual instruments" inside cubase. I also use it to program MIDI tracks and for mixing (in combination with a lot of so-called VST effects). Cubase is basically a virtual studio environment.

If you wanna get more into the details, I'd suggest to do this in another thread or via pm or something

[*Sabine*]

Thanks for all these details.... Your mini studio sounds really exciting!
Too bad you don't like singing, you could make nice demos!
I'll send you a PM...wanna know more concerning that cubase...

[Raul_esp]

I knew I was max martin fan when all the songs that liked me had been done by him.

baby one more time , as long as you love me or its gonna be me

[Guy]

Hit Me Baby One More Time was a turning point for me... I never paid much attention to current pop before that song.  It was SO GOOD, SO PERFECT I had to find out more about it, my world exploded when I tracked down the writer and found out what else he wrote...  now I can't get enough POP!!!