Say you are an indie recording artist and will produce your own records. Is there any arranger you think is superior for this? For songs where you need more than guitar/vocal. To produce as high a quality recording as is possible without hiring other musicians. And I don't mean recording "live," I mean multi-tracking.

It would be interesting to do a studio demo with, say, a five-piece band and also do it with an arranger and see just how different the two are.

I guess an exception could be made if DRUMS or BASS are the key to making a demo sound "real." If a drummer could add that, it would be worth it. Of course, he'd have to be able to play to the perfect time of the arranger tracks. Arrangers lay down a decent bass line, I would think drums would make more of a difference.

I have produced two CD's myself. And I knew NOTHING about recording. I'm not very good at anything. But I have sold many of these CD's, have had many terrific comments and not one person has griped about the music. They think it sounds good. I did it all on a psr2000. Well, that and me on acoustic guitar.

I hear things on there that I go "ouch" but that could be fixed if I had better equipment. (Like, more polyphony.) And more knowledge.

Just wondering if anyone has any strong thoughts about what would be ideal.


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Bill
Yamaha PSR2000

Bill,
You should talk to Dean and maybe go visit his studio near Monroe.
Nobody knows any more about the Nashville recording industry that he does.
Call me and I'll give you his number.
DonM

[This message has been edited by DonM (edited 06-25-2006).]

Bill,
I use the Tyros2 for multitrack recordings.
My PC runs CubaseSX3 through a professional (simple, but fit for purpose) soundcard : M-Audio Firewire Audiophile.

Because SX has no limitations in the number of tracks, I first start recording the drums on one stereo track.
The next track e.g. the bass, the next, ACC1 etc.

You don't need a higher polyphony at all, because you record audio on each track !

It's a piece of cake to create fantastic songs with just one kb and SX.

I'd like to do that but this question doesn't have as much to do with doing top-flight demo's as it does the general question about what model arranger gives you the most for recording outstanding recordings to sell CD's.

Put it this way... I'm amazed at what the lowly psr2000 does. I love music and think I have a really good ear but heck, it sounds pretty good to me. Sure, I'd love to spend $3,000 or more per song in studio. But I'm not rich anymore, haha.

As for Nashville, I am not aware of any successful songwriters pitching songs recorded on arranger but if there are some, I sure want to know about it! Most demo's are full-scale recording projects done in studios. Occasionally, I hear of guitar/vocal but almost always, that is an established, very successful and connected songwriter doing that. It's not like the old days. That's my take on it, anyway.

But again, this question isn't about Nashville demo's.


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Bill
Yamaha PSR2000

Probably any of the top three arrangers (Tyros2, G70/E80 and PA1XPro) would make a very decent sound. as good as most any 'keyboard band'. Especially if you make the most of the Yamaha's and Korg's samplers, the sky's the limit.

BUT......... probably the limiting factor is the originality of the styles - there's something about original music that is just...... original! Most of the styles in an arranger are there to imitate stuff already recorded, you rarely get a moment of discovery, it's more 'Oh, this kinda sounds like THIS'

I often use an arranger though to flesh out the initial stages of a song, and then go through all the machine parts and replace them with my own stuff, and use some loops and custom rhythms to make the drums more original (and it is virtually impossible to get any arranger to sound as good as BFD or DFH2 software drum modules!)

Bill, I think, and Dean has told me as well, that most producers want to hear the lyrics and melody. They PREFER a guitar strum and decent vocal alone.
Another good friend of mine is a Nashville song writer, Kenny Beard, and he told me the same thing. Keep it simple and clean.
Now, if you are an ARTIST looking for a label, that's a whole 'nother story.
You could do like Kristofferson did to Johnny Cash and land a helicopter in Garth Brooks' back yard.
I know where he lives.
DonM

I just came across some info from a reputable source and this guy says guitar/vocal is fine for pitching to publishers to showcase the songwriting. Often, when people say "full-blown" demo's are necessary, perhaps they are speaking of pitching songs to the gatekeepers for artists.

I've read so many opinions on this demo quandary, it's a split decision. However, as for pitching to publishers, guitar/vocal or piano/vocal, that's certainly a LOT easier! That helps!


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Bill
Yamaha PSR2000