JPF Home Page Forums General Messages Mentor Questions Forum QUESTION: Leadsheets

Hi Mr. Dunbar or whomever can answer this question:

Is a "leadsheet" something a writer should have in his/her possession before signing a deal with a publisher? I am sure it is something that is good to have anyway, but is this something that is required or does usually the publisher PAY to have this done if you don't have one? Have been quoted a price per song to get a leadsheet done is around $85.00 ... Thanks a lot !!!

~~Shelia

Just to clarify, we've got a publisher intereested in signing a song, but he asked us to supply the lead sheet, saying he could give us the name of a guy who could do it for $85. I've always thought this is the responsibility of the publisher, not the songwriters. Has anyone else been asked to do this?

Bill

I bet you could find a JPF member around here who would do it for less. = )

Brian

Hi All,
No Publisher, (Except one) I have delt with requires a Lead Sheet. All they want is a lyric sheet printed out by some medium of which can be done easily in a computer program. In fact some have stated that they DON'T want a lead sheet. I suppose that when a song is picked for recording and release a lead sheet is prepared by the ones that do it in process. I woud not worry about getting lead sheets prepared. I have all my song lyrics saved in a program of which I can print out when sending a submission.

$85? Heck, I'll do two leadsheets for that!

Just kidding. That's a lot. You can probably buy a midi program (what's the big one? skipped my mind, but someone will know) for less than that.

A leadsheet is the melody written in notation with the words under and the chords over. It gives you the "lead" without the added instrumentation. Last year I did some lead sheets as a personal favor for a guy (actually, I don't do lead sheets any more, too much work for too little money...but at $85 a song I might start again ) It used to be, folks used lead sheets to register coyprights with the Library of Congress, but I haven't heard of that in years. They still might use them on the Coasts, but you only very rarely see them in Nashvegas.

For $85, they'd better be done in beautiful calligraphy, camera ready, on scented paper.

Aargh, still can't think of that famous program (I can print notation out in my cubase, so I don't need another program). Well, I'm too lazy to do a search right now, and my studio down the hall is calling me..."Mike, Mike, come to work, you have pennywhistle and mandolin parts to do..." "Okay, cubie (my pet name for cubase) I'll be right there!"

All the Best,
Mike

Thanks for the information on lead sheets Our main concern really is if it's standard procedure for a publisher to ask the songwriters to supply it, or if it's the publishers' job to take care of it himself.

Bill

Mike, are you thinking of Cakewalk?

The studio I use, wanted leadsheets until I started submitting midi files.
I still do leadsheets and believe they should be made available even if whoever is using them bends the progression a bit to suit them, it gives them a starting point as to where the write is comeing from and aiming for.
I have heard so way away from my targets when I gave them no direction in this manner.
If it is being done live, I can't imagine them not wanting a leadsheet.
it used to be standard proceedure to the best of my knowledge.
Graham

I don't know if it's the one you are thinking of, Mike, but Finale has been around for a long, long time.

Truman, Bingo. Finale...finally. If I recall correctly, you can play something in midi form and it will print notation. Play a simple melody and it will print it out.

Graham, I remember lead sheets. And rotary phones, and slide rules.

Actually, they still use them a bit, but I very rarely see them here in Twangtown.

Mike

Unless you planning on doing an obscene number of lead sheets, you don't want to pop for $600 for Finale. Besides, the current version is buggier than a flop house bed. PrintMusic, a stripped down version of Finale, is more resonably priced at $100 but, again, the current version is buggy (although not near as bad as the full blown version). Neither program is simple to use first time out.

It's not quite as simple as Mike makes it out. The midi output has to have been played perfectly or the variations will show up in the notation. Anything more than a melody only may result in confusing notation that would have to be cleaned up. Chords symbols or tabs have to be entered by hand.

Finale puts out a free notation program called NotePad. It won't take midi input and any chord symblols you put in (it won't do tabs) won't playback (they have to be entered as text). Still, the price is attractive.

Lead sheets are fairly simple to manually notate by anyone with a fair knowledge of music theory. Shop around before you drop $85 for one. You might get lucky enough to find someone with a notation program to do it cheap or even free.

Hi there,
I can't answer the "industry standard" or not question.
But wanted to point out the current versions of Finale NotePad (2004 & later) will do tabulature. It will also convert tabs to notation, and vice versa.

I like the free version myself. Thanks for the input that the current full version is buggy--I was thinking about buying it eventually.

The only thing the free NotePad won't do for me (that I wish I had--which is why I'll want to buy a version eventually) is modulate a key change mid-score. Other than that it works VERY well--will do what you need it to do, so long as you can notate a melody--and it will play back the notes you entered. It will transpose your entire score to any key you like, though.

Go to http://www.codamusic.com to download it.

Linda

Thanks everyone!!!

~~shelia

Lead sheets are what the publisher does and is his responsibility..
the publisher supplies the lead sheet, if the producer recording the song requires one.
The publisher needs to control who does the lead sheet to make sure it is a true rendition on paper, of the song,this is a copyright issue.

A real publisher will not charge you up front for the lead sheet...But it will be charged back against you, just like the cost of your demos are when the bucks come rolling in.

Doing demos of a song that I published we never did lead sheets . But we did the songs by the numbers..

At the point the song was going to recoreded is when the lead sheet was done..

Thsi is pretty much industry wide ...

I would be very suspect of any publisher who wants you to do the lead sheet, and then suggests so and so to do it.
The publisher doesnt need a lead sheet to 'pitch" the song.

Dude

Dude,

Thanks for sharing your experience. Welcome to JPF. I hope you like it here and continue to post.

All the Best,
Mike

I do my lead sheets in Band in a Box - input your chords, input the melody line, input the lyrics... voila. You can print it off or even do it as a PDF if you have Adobe Writer. Of course... you'd have to know a little music notation to do it. But it can be done.
H

Mike Dunbar... Thankyou for the welcome...

Dude

There are several programs called virtual printers available on the internet, ranging in price from free to inexpensive, that will create PDFs from the output that normally would go to a printer. CutePDF is the one I've been recommending lately for reliability and ease of use. Except for their free reader, Adobe products are not exactly inexpensive.

Hi all,

Just wanted to drop by to let folks know that Songwriter Services offers guaranteed correct lead sheets for $35 + mailing if hard copy is needed or we can send it thru email via PDF file. Turnaround is about 2 days. Recently had a jazz producer from CA contact us with a request for a lead sheet (he was testing us to make sure we were accurate). When the sheet turned out to be perfect, he has now signed us to do his whole catalog. The fellow who does the sheets has a PhD in music. (you KNOW it's not me, Mike! LOL) and uses a combination of his own impeccable "ear" as well as the full version of Finale.

So if anybody is interested, please feel free to contact me. I knew our price was decent.

Bobbie
bgallup@aol.com