Blaming the equipment

I think what you’re saying is that it all basically comes down to the song and performance.

For me it comes down to the ….

Arrangement.

If I’m proudest of any of the musical and technical skills I have develop of the last 41 years since I turned pro as a musician it’s I’m a darn fine arranger.

The presentation of a song is everything.

Listen to the two recordings of Joni Mitchell’s
“Both Sides Now”

First recorded by Judy Collins and presented as a 60 ‘s vibe “pop” song.

And the Mitchell’s version on her superb “Clouds” album presented as a beautiful ballad with haunting strings and Smokey jazz vocals.

I use this as an example when teaching students arranging.

Judy Collins version does nothing for me - I feel nothing.

Mitchell’s version is possibly my favourite ever song and can move me to tears.

Arrangement, it’s THE most critical element of a recording and performance.

I have a little saying.

All Art Makes a Statement.

So everything you do, every little element, every decision is making a statement about you, your song, your production, your art.
It’s so obvious yet sometimes it gets hidden in clear view.

Another arranging tip.

Careful about going down a dead end when the excitement about the arrangement (as a thing in its own right) throws the song out of the window.

I was working on an arrangement of a new song (and it’s a very good song) and I got into this big Bollywood arrangement thing, big strings - fancy percussion. My wife walks into the studio and say “what are doing to that song!” her outside perspective snapped me out of my arrangement hypnosis and I stepped back.

I thought ok what would Eric Clapton do on this track and I reached for a nylon string guitar and started again with a lovely little “simple” dotted quaver rhythm and “boom” perfection. It was yet another “Both sides Now” moment.

Find the perfect arrangement and tracking, performing and mixing will be like falling off a log

I once read about a producer who was working on a Sting album and he said the production team of about 20 people all has ipods and on those ipods was 40 different verisons
of every song on the album.

In total they had 65 hours of music recorded for one 10 track album!

I mean yep that's the way to do it, and as the saying goes "the rich get richer" so we can't all afford that level of creative output.

It's the reason an album takes me several years to produce (partly because I also have to work as a musician to earn money) but also because the first 6 months is writing the 12 tracks and the next year is arranging them in many different musical settings with a lot of time spent experimenting and then 6 months tracking, editing and mixing.

I'm a bit OCD about this stuff and I can't leave a stone unturned - the road less travelled and all that - I have to get to the single universal truth of each song.

Whether people like them or not is a totally different point 

Well, it's good to know I'm not the only one taking this slowly. I did rush that demo and it didn't pay off, this time around I'll take my sweet time and do it right. For example if fake drums don't work I'll hire someone with a kit / good mic's to mimic the song. I mean we put all this money into equipment but it doesn't matter if the source isn't the best it can be.

But I don't mean just traditional structure variations.

Do you try the Reggae version, the Country Rock version, the EDM version, the Rock version the Pop version, the jazzy version, the 6/8 version the 3/4 version :-)
Ok in truth I don't try an EDM version (that's not my scene) but you get the idea.

These days I can listen to some of these variations in my head which is of course quicker, but I have to get in the sand pit and play and make castles I never know 
where the truth lays.

But you're 100% correct having a DAW is fantastic for quick trying out ideas.

Yes, DAW's are great for that.

Cubase, like Logic, has an arranger track that let's you try stuff on the fly.

The only people who pay for quality of recording over song and performance are audiophiles and while the will pay far more than the average consumer the act see’s very very little.

The above two replies are all the honest and common sense/advice you'll ever need.

It's the song first!! Then it's the delivery of the song. The delivery is the vocal. The vehicle is the music under the vocal.

Everything else is varying degrees of spit and polish. We should all make records in 4-8 weeks and be done with them. Most of the great records in the classic era from 65-92 were done like this.

It can be done. And never be afraid to bin a song if it just doesn't work.

Sorry Ward.  Shortsighted.  What about instrumental music?  Pure music IS instrumental music.  

No worries bro.  Just trying to keep it real.  Haha!!!

Instrumental music has to stand on it's own without lyrics.  It's the true artistic musical experience.   . LOL (Of course, 95+ % of the music I write has been instrumental and put my kids thru their *lower* education as well).

Stopid Equipment. Keeping me from being rich and famous.

Well, does it? The mix, master wasn't the issue here. At the time I'd overcompensated due to awareness of my lack of experience and wouldn't let it go until it at least competed or beat other tracks in my playlist. That was a mistake, in hindsight I'd rather the song be decent as opposed to technically correct. It's almost like I was so focussed on the production that I forgot about the songs themselves.

I know my experience is probably opposite to most, many have better songs but struggle with the mixing side. Although over the years I've seen people cyclically go round in a loop of equipment hoping that it'll make enough difference to fix the performance and arrangement (I was one of them) which it never will. What makes this even more odd is years later when I was doing on location or field engineering I used all sorts of crap and if I didn't do a good job with said equipment I wouldn't have been paid. So no, having an SM58 direct to interface isn't much of an issue in the grand scheme.

I realised later that I very much suit 251 or C800 style mic's and yes, my word the Core 59's, Shelford's, racks of 500's, modern plugins and high end condensers make my life considerably easier and I've developed a style to my mixes decades on. That's cool but it's a benefit not a necessity..