Think Like an A&R
Since I've started my internet radio station in the past two weeks, I have been asking indie artists to send me their best songs for rotation. I've been recieving some great songs but poor quality recording. One thingyou must keep in your mind when recording a track that has great potential is to THINK LIKE AN A&R...
Would You Play this song on your radio station?
Would you spend tens of thousands of hard earned dollars to promote and market this material?
Would you want to associate your name to this song?
Does it sound like whats on the radio now (QUALITY WISE)?
Can you compare this recording to the recordings of the likes of T.I., Jay Z, Kendrick Lamar, or Lil Wayne?
You see a great song isnt just good lyrics on a great beat. Because poor recording, no matter the mixing and mastering, can turn a great song into pure scrap. If the vocals seem hollow and is automatically coupled with an reverb that can not be removed, if the vocals sit on top of the beat and not into the beat, if the studio is not properly setup for vocal recording then the desired result can and will not be achieved. You will be stuck with a recording that can not be mixed down nor mastered for playback on multiple platforms.
The first step to proper recording is finding a proper studio. As long as the recordings come out crisp and clear with a descent engineer, then your part will be accomplished successfully. All that is left is finding a great producer for mixing and mastering. There are plenty out there that will Mix and Master (which will be discussed in another post.) But the ones that are worth the money are the ones who will turn a horribly recorded song away. Why is that you may ask? because their NAME AND TALENT are their money makers. They have built a reputation with their talent that has given their name cache. So they will not let a low level artist (because lets be frank YOU ARE A LOW LEVEL ARTIST UNTIL THE STREETS OR THE INDUSTRY SAY SO SORRY) destroy what they have built.
So my advice is to find the hottest artists in yur city and utilize their resources especially their studio and engineers.If money is your concern then your are not ready to invest in your art, which means that you are not ready to advance your career. In that case get your grind on find ways to make money other than the music industry. Because the industry clowns on those that are not ready.
