demos: producing your own music

[plastik]

hello everyone. I am beginning the process of writing my own music and I'm considering submitting it to a record label some time in the future. I have a lot of question marks in my head and I reckon there's a lot of people here who have a huge knowledge of the subject. hence some asking from myself.

how rough are your demos when/if you submit them to a record label or to a producer? are they polished enough to be close to perfection- i.e. sounds and arrangments- or is there still room for cleaning? I have always wondered how the songs I listen to actually sound before being produced. how close is one song to how we get to hear it in the end? I know a lot of musicians in the techno field are also producers.

I heard different views on the matter: someone told me it's enough to have a few brilliant ideas no matter how rough they are. if the producer likes them, he might be willing to give it the end result according to what my idea of the song is. somebody else argued (righteously so I guess) that given all the technology that's out there today, you have to come up with a product which is already close to the final edit. how much is there of the songwriter and how much of the producer?

I have been involved in rock bands before and the demos we did were pretty close to being unlistenable at times, but still our stuff got produced by an indie label. I'm not a trained musician and have no musical education, just self taught drumming, so that's why I am speculating a lot.
making music is easy. making relevant music is another thing.

thanks.

[tone-def]

in techno music songwriting and producing go hand in hand. there are only a few techno artist like Loco Dice who have someone else produce their music and they get a lot of stick for it. Really you need to get the track as close to perfection as possible before send out a demo.

If your just starting out i wouldn't worry to much about sending demos just yet. focus on having fun making tracks it could be years before your ready to send out a demo.

[victorgonzales]

in techno music songwriting and producing go hand in hand. there are only a few techno artist like Loco Dice who have someone else produce their music and they get a lot of stick for it. Really you need to get the track as close to perfection as possible before send out a demo.

If your just starting out i wouldn't worry to much about sending demos just yet. focus on having fun making tracks it could be years before your ready to send out a demo.

There is a couple threads on this such as matered vs not mastered and another demo thread.

But as a label owner if your song sounds really rough Im very unlikelly to give it the time of day. Finish it the absolute best you possibly can before sending to a label.

Also run it by plenty of your friends too and make sure they thinks it sounds good .

If you have any doubts about whether your song is good enough it probably isn't.

[plastik]

If your just starting out i wouldn't worry to much about sending demos just yet. focus on having fun making tracks it could be years before your ready to send out a demo.

that's for sure.

If you have any doubts about whether your song is good enough it probably isn't.

mmm don't agree much. I might actually think my demo IS good enough even though it's super basic and a bit rough . and that's untill someone tells me it's rubbish (which is reasonable ).
it's not a matter of having potential, drive or enthusiasm, which are not enough to make good music but crucial if you want to have things done.
I was just asking about the "sounding" side if it. if I'm not good enough to use, let's say, pro-tools, reason, cubase or logic, should I learn how to use all that stuff or have someone help me out throughout the process?
at the end of the day, my ideas get to the final song, not the producer's.
p.s. by the way, I found that thread you wrote about. very technical but inspiring. still interested in your reply though. ciao.

[steevio]

in techno music songwriting and producing go hand in hand. there are only a few techno artist like Loco Dice who have someone else produce their music and they get a lot of stick for it. Really you need to get the track as close to perfection as possible before send out a demo.

If your just starting out i wouldn't worry to much about sending demos just yet. focus on having fun making tracks it could be years before your ready to send out a demo.

+1

relax and give yourself some time to develope a style, a few years is not too long !
its not the same as rock music, theres not really such a thing as a producer as a seperate entity, apart from at the high end of the commercial market, and they are usually working with established artists, usually DJ's who have a head full of ideas but no knowledge of the process.
be patient bro, get on the learning curve with the software.
a rough demo is a complete waste of your energy mate.

[SHAP]

Loco Dice has other people producing his stuff?

[ec50]

Loco Dice has other people producing his stuff?

martin buttrich..

[habitueE]

offtopic: buttrich also produced or helped produce lots of timo maas records or so ive heard :p ?