There’s so much more to songwriting than just writing, recording and pitching tunes to win the imagined brass ring of fame and fortune. At its very essence, the process of songwriting is truly healing. When given enough room to freely express yourself and your feelings, songwriting is a magical, blissful experience for those who live for the simple joy of creating music.

We hear how important audio mastering is, but why? For any artist or label looking to make a career out of music, mastering is essential. In short, it’s the final (and in many ways most crucial) step of music production -the stage where dull, lifeless tracks are transformed into polished masterpieces.

Helen Austin is a singer-songwriter based in Vancouver Island, Canada. Helen’s music can be heard on MTV, CW’s One Tree Hill, and most recently on a Korean Dunkin’ Donuts commercial. She has been described as singer-songwriter with the DNA of Simon & Garfunkel and CSN&Y clothed in Iron & Wine and a folkier Feist. In the following Serve The Song interview, Helen discusses her journey into commercial music and offers candid advice to anyone who wants to successfully place their songs in film and TV projects. Learn more about Helen Austin at http://helenaustin.com.

Many Serve The Song readers have asked me to listen to their songs and give them my opinion, so I’ve decided to launch a song critique service. It’s really simple. For $4.95 I will listen to your song (it must be less than 5 minutes total in length) and send you an email with thoughts/suggestions for how to improve it. This post should answer any questions you have about the new service.