Gear won't get you a record deal

[arth]

Even with the above add-ons, I don't think we ever stood a chance for a record deal! Nope, even fine music won't get you that! Somehow, I don't think the world outside of the arts is ready for a sax/clarinet classical duo.

Unless you're already famous, in which case doors tend to squeak open easier. Since you mentioned sax and clarinet, David Bowie and Roger Waters have less problems getting their non-mainstream music out there.

And in the case of Waters, his latest work, the opera "Ca Ira", isn't half bad either, considering how little experience he has with the genre. Worth publishing, at least, even though I doubt it did more than break even. It's not great, but I've heard worse *cough**cough*andrewlloyd*cough*cough*webber**cough*.

[arth]

The following make a very real difference in the vibe and end result:
Scratchy pots.
Intermittant cables and mixer channels.
Half-dead monitor speakers.
Blown mic diaphagms.
Broken keyboard keys.
Guitars that don't tune up and amps that rattle.
Old cracked reeds and drum heads dented beyond playability.
Crashing computers.

You forgot one:

hangovers

[chrispick]

What's a record deal?

[James Steele]

What's a record deal?

Depending on who you ask, "indentured servitude" is one of the common themes. However, if you go this route, you want the richest master and then you might still get wet from the trickle-down economics.

[danworks]

Nowadays almost everyone out there has the possibility to build a decent project studio with little money, able to produce music at "pro quality" level; this is something that years ago was even impossible to imagine. In the last 50 years some amazing stuff has been composed and it became our life soundtrack, while now - strangely enough - with all this technology at our fingertips, it's quite rare to ear something decent, especially among all those artists with a record deal. We got few solution for this problem:

1- focusing a bit more on music instead music toys or ...
2- ask to a software house for a "Talent Simulator" plugin, or ...
3- pretend a "music license" for all the record company producer-director-marketing people, or at least hope for a "ears transplant" for them.

[markwayne]

if you go this route, you want the richest master and then you might still get wet from the trickle-down economics.

Saddly, in my experience, that wettness you feel trickling down on you is not money.

My take on this thread is that I don't think record companies want artists who are too savvy. I have a friend who submitted the exact, same material to several companies. One submission was a pristine, demo that was close to final product. The other were rough versions recorded live on a cheap cassette deck. Guess which version got her the most interest?

Yup. The crappy cassette recording.

The only thing I could figure was that the companies hoped that a submission on cassette meant they could negotiate more points on an eventual release since the artist would require more "help".

Wayne

[David Polich]

Ehhh - who knows what the reason was. That was one specific instance.

In my experience, industry "people" as a whole have zero imagination. They want to hear the fully produced track. Their first concern, no matter what they might say about artistic integrity or quality music, is numbers.

But that said, it does go back to your creative ideas exercised in a way that will give your track the impact you envisioned. It's always down to what "you" are doing with the tools.

High-end converters and clocks fix technical problems. They don't address creativity problems. If you have money to burn on these things, great, go ahead. But if you're strapped financially and think the addition of that Apogee converter will lead to more financial success - I say save your money and work on your creative issues. You can create a completely successful "major label" product using the "cheaper" stuff.

[Resonant Alien]

I think part of it is that a good many people here are not only creative musicians, but are also engineers/producers/gearheads/tweakers. So, while the creative side of us understands that you don't absolutely "have to have" this or that piece of equipment, the engineer/tweaker side of us really wants it and can put it to good use.

I certainly know that my mixes sounded much better and were greatly improved when I started using UAD plugins than when I was using DP's included plugs - same mix, same song, same engineer - just different plugs, and the difference was night and day. Not to say that I couldn't have made a decent mix without the UADs, but it certainly made a better mix having them.

So, again, it is all about balance - getting the right type and amount of gear to fit the project and to fit your needs as both a musician and an engineer.

And you are absolutely right to say that no one should be sitting around NOT being creative because they think they can't record anything until they have (insert piece of gear here). That's insane - you use whatever you have at the moment. But there is nothing wrong with admitting that a mix can be made to sound better by using certain pieces of gear - not saying that it will sound like crap without that gear - just saying that the gear can make it better.

[solar]

My first set up.

7100/AV 96MB Ram, 700MB Boot
1 Gb Jaz removable HD
1 Gb seagate HD
Protools 3.4
Audiomedia II (until I started recording bands than I had to get the 882)
16 channel playback, 3 inserts (I think for the whole digi mixer)
Mackie 1202 (not the vlz but the tank)

I remember fully miking a drumkit (well as full as I could for the eight inputs) and only recording the drums, and only being able to listening to the guitar, bass and vocals because I couldn't record them. At that time I used to pray for this day, but looking back at it sometimes working harder was fun because I was working hard on the music, now it seems I just get caught up working harder on the gear.

Sorry for the flashback

[markwayne]

In my experience, industry "people" as a whole have zero imagination. They want to hear the fully produced track. Their first concern, no matter what they might say about artistic integrity or quality music, is numbers.

I don't disagree with the fact that a lot of people in the industry don't care about artistic integrity and have some good reasons to fear integrity and quality. However, I have watched a label rep. "hear" into a couple of rough demos some trendy production that they wanted to hear and express intense interest. They then turned up their nose at the finished tracks because they did not bear the markings of the trendy genre they had "heard". In other words: they did not have enough imagination to seperate the song from its production to hear how it could work in a different market.

Wayne

[twistedtom]

Presentation is a big part of it.