Quote:
Originally posted by Diki:
The thing is, Larry... what are you trying to achieve with these recordings? Are you looking for a songwriter deal, are you looking to have another signed artist record them, are you looking to have them picked up for inclusion in TV or film work, or commercials or industrials? Or do you want to get a recording deal for yourself as a performing artist?

Being VERY careful about what you are trying to achieve, and the likelihood of achieving them (to be honest, the record companies are not signing many people over forty ) will help you decide just how much care and money goes into producing these tracks... For a writer's deal, as different as these are to most of what is contemporary, you may not have to put much more into them. Spending a bunch of money to get them done in a pro studio with live players only benefits you if you NEED a demo that high quality, or you want to release the CD yourself or have it directly placed on TV as is. And you probably need to have someone in the business on your side before that is likely.

Your demos are getting better all the time, and for now I would stick to what you have done, and see if you can get any face time with someone in the industry. But beware of studio producers. It will be in THEIR best interest, not necessarily yours, to get it recorded expensively (on your dime) and the biz is rife with these scam artists. If they are willing to front the studio and musician time, OK (but get a lawyer to look over the deal), but I wouldn't spend much at this point of your own money when your demos are good enough to get the song over to an A&R guy.

Just keep writing more like this one, and keep it up with attempting to get your software drums bedded in (have you considered using Ozone on just the drums submix, to compress and EQ it so that it matches the tonality of the S900 tracks?). You are already there for many things you might want to do with your songs...


What I really want is some money - and to write beautiful songs. A songwriting deal comes very close to my utopian vision. Being a recording artist who doesn't perform, a la Steely Dan would be great too. But I would do anything to have someone with a superstar voice sing my songs.

I know that many of my songs have much more production than is necessary for a songwriter demo, but I had two reasons for doing this: 1) the personal fulfillment of hearing my songs close to how I dreamed them, and 2) to have a product that leaves little to the imagination for how good it sounds.

If I had played this song for you on the piano or acoustic, it would take an incredible ear to hear how good it could sound.

By the way, even though this is, admittedly, my best song, my other songs that I have posted on Synthzone now sound a lot better since I applied Melodyne and Ozone to them. Nevertheless, the software doesn't remove the '70ish sound.

I only harbor a very faint hope that I could be a recording artist.

But I hear you, Diki. I'm not going to spend a penny on studio time.

I will try to use the Ozone on EZDrummer and/or Session Drummer. I wonder if there's a way to apply effects individually to each drum without putting them in separate midi tracks.

Thanks so much for listening.

Beakybird