Producer Vs Muscian: What are you?

[EnSkorSang]

Ive been thinking (and maybe im wrong) that in a world where recording equipment is becoming better and better, cheaper and cheaper, Orchestras are available at the touch of a button, and 1 man can create the sounds of 1000, that maybe more and more musicians are blaming there lack of success not on a poor standard of song, but rather a poor standard of production?

I often talk to people whose ambition is to be in a succesful band, or write hit songs and they are nit picking over the high end of a cymbal on their demo, or the tone of their acoustic.

How far should a musician go to make sure his demo sounds good? How much time should he devote to recording his songs, and how much to trying to write something good?

And vice versa; if someone wants to be a producer/engineer, at what point should they put down their own guitar and try and find some band that they think could go far?

[cakewalkgg]

Originally Posted by EnSkorSang

Ive been thinking (and maybe im wrong) that in a world where recording equipment is becoming better and better, cheaper and cheaper, Orchestras are available at the touch of a button, and 1 man can create the sounds of 1000, that maybe more and more musicians are blaming there lack of success not on a poor standard of song, but rather a poor standard of production?

I often talk to people whose ambition is to be in a succesful band, or write hit songs and they are nit picking over the high end of a cymbal on their demo, or the tone of their acoustic.

How far should a musician go to make sure his demo sounds good? How much time should he devote to recording his songs, and how much to trying to write something good?

And vice versa; if someone wants to be a producer/engineer, at what point should they put down their own guitar and try and find some band that they think could go far?

This one has been avoided for a bit.. my take is this

I think the demo should be as good as you can realistically make it. As far as production goes, I think the goal is to make it sound as "not like a demo" as you can. Of course this entails a lot of preparation. If your not spending tons of time re-writing parts because it doesnt sound right when recorded then youll have more time to polish production.

That lends to the 2nd part of your 1st comment.. I think you should have a clear idea of what you want it to sound like before recording. So you should stop spending time writing the partwhen it is at the point you know what its going to sound like and want to record it.

the 2nd part of your post I can't think of a realistic response to. If youve spent 10 yrs in bar bands.. but are a brilliant engineer that has stumbled on the next Linkin Park that is begging you to produce their debut... then.. well you get the idea

[TonyB]

First, the producer tends to find a way to get his musicianship on the artist/band's compilation anyway. Paul Worley who produced Lady Antebellum's first CD comes to mind. He played the bulk of the guitars on that because "he wanted to" (his words).

For a demo you need to focus on what you are trying to sell. If you're producing a vocalist (i.e., Faith Hill, Carrie Underwood, etc) you'd want to be sure the vocals come out and are not covered up with extraneous background musicians (i.e., music is supporting).

For a Keith Urban type of artist you definitely want to do your best to capture his artistry of guitarmanship.

[garww]

Lot's to the question.

A artist with talent only needs a crappy cassette recording. Maybe that is more suitable for pirate radio, too : )

Can't make a silk purse out of a sow's ear. With self marketing you do need great quality but that is not going to sell the product in it's self. They need to get a grip.