In anticipation of the upcoming release of my new album Surrender to Love, I have been thinking a lot about what makes a great record. I have concluded it comes down to four ingredients.

First, always, is songwriting. It is possible to make something great with mediocre songwriting but it is an all-but-impossible hurdle to clear. Everything else would have to go perfectly, and even then it’s a long shot. Great songwriting can overcome a lot of other deficiencies in a song. Think of your favorite songs and I bet you will find they’re filled with great writing.

The second ingredient is arrangement. Is the song going to be recorded with just solo vocal with piano? Full orchestra? Guitar, bass, and drums? Do you repeat the chorus at the end? How many times? There are a lot of options, and the one you choose will define the song. Any one of them can work as long as you play it right.

Which brings me to the third ingredient: performance. A great performance can overcome anything. But don’t just take it from me. Smokey Robinson said of Aretha Franklin, “She could sing the phone book and make it her own.” Beethoven said, “To play a wrong note is insignificant, to play without passion is inexcusable.” Even the best written and arranged song will suffer from a lousy performance.

The final ingredient for a great record is the recording itself. You can have fantastic writing with the perfect arrangement and exceptional performance but if the mic is so close to an amp or singer that it’s distorted, or so far away it’s full of hiss, the magic will be indecipherable to most ears.

As with any recipe, there is one more factor to take into consideration: taste. Within the next few weeks I will be putting the finishing touches on my newest collection of songs and releasing them. I like most kinds of music but some people’s tastes are more specific. My new music might be to your taste or it might not but you won’t know until you try it. I hope you will give a listen. Salt to taste.