Advice Needed

[emdub123]

I'm located about 2hrs from Austin, TX and I'm looking to make a four or five song demo. The demo will be used to get the occasional gig, but will mostly be my "business card" for networking with other songwriters and musicians that may be looking for material.

I'm proud of my songs, but not very proud of my recordings, which really affects my confidence about networking and giving out my demos. While I'm sure that any studio could help me eliminate errors in the recordings, I'm looking for someone that can provide more creative input regarding arrangements, instrumentation and maybe even phrasing and melody. Isn't that more of what a "producer" would do?


So, the advice: Do I need a producer? How do you locate producers? How do you know when you've got a good fit? How does a producer get paid?

I've got a link below to some of my work on MySpace, if anyone can offer any tips, recommendations or referrals...

Any and all feedback is welcome, thanks!!!

[emdub123]

Ok, let me try a different question, since the previous post started such a firestorm.

To those of you who own/work at recording studios, how much creative input are you giving the client?

[The Byre]

Originally Posted by emdub123

Ok, let me try a different question, since the previous post started such a firestorm.

To those of you who own/work at recording studios, how much creative input are you giving the client?

The question should be "How much creative input does the client give me?"

The answer is usually, not very much!

My job as engineer is to

1. Get a good and clean recording, with a minumum of fuss.

2. Edit the whole thing together into one tight performance.

3. Mix the result, so that it sounds as it should.

It sounds to me that you need an arranger, more than you need a producer, or possibly someone who embodies both roles.