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BOSS BR900 for decent demos?

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  • 04-02-2014 10:41pm
    #1
    CheezePleeze
    Registered Users Posts: 231 ✭✭


    I am a songwriter, and I am getting some good reaction from producers in London to my stuff. Unfortunately, my recordings are home-made and pretty dire!
    So, I'm on the horns of a dilemma, so to speak. I need to improve the quality of my recordings, but don't have a lot of dosh. My options are:
    1. Spend all my money on one recording of one song in a studio, and hope it is a success
    2. Improve my home studio, and the quality of my recordings.

    Currently I am using Audacity and a TASCAM US 122 sound card into my laptop. But the engineering of the sound is beyond me - WAY beyond me.

    So what about one of these BOSS BR900s? They seem to be very good. I know I can get the arrangement right in one of thee, but will it produce a FANTASTIC sounding demo, superbly engineered with perfect levels, which might raise eyebrows?


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    #2
    fitz
    Hosted Moderators Posts: 7,958 ✭✭✭fitz


    CheezePleeze wrote: »
    I am a songwriter, and I am getting some good reaction from producers in London to my stuff. Unfortunately, my recordings are home-made and pretty dire!
    So, I'm on the horns of a dilemma, so to speak. I need to improve the quality of my recordings, but don't have a lot of dosh. My options are:
    1. Spend all my money on one recording of one song in a studio, and hope it is a success
    2. Improve my home studio, and the quality of my recordings.

    Currently I am using Audacity and a TASCAM US 122 sound card into my laptop. But the engineering of the sound is beyond me - WAY beyond me.

    So what about one of these BOSS BR900s? They seem to be very good. I know I can get the arrangement right in one of thee, but will it produce a FANTASTIC sounding demo, superbly engineered with perfect levels, which might raise eyebrows?

    This probably won't be what you want to hear, but...
    No, it won't.
    Nothing will. You need to learn how to engineer, simple as that.
    What instruments do you usually use for your demos?
    If it's purely for demo purposes, the Tascam and a single mic should do the job for you. If you're just recording some guitars and vocals, there's no reason for the engineering to be beyond anyone. There are so many tutorials out there on YouTube.
    Audacity is very limited from what I remember though.
    Try something like Studio One (there's a free version), to get a more fully featured DAW.

    As to whether you're better off pitching with something that's release standard versus a home demo....I think if pitching anything to anyone for commercial purposes it needs to release quality. Some people can't see past a rough demo to the potential of a track. Going into studio again and again to record tracks you'll pitch on a speculative basis is a fools errand though. Financially unsustainable.

    Having said all that...if you're pitching tracks to any producer worth their salt, the demo quality shouldn't need to be releasable. Seeing and realising the potential of a track is their job, so without knowing the context of what you're pitching these songs to the producers for, if they're telling you the recording quality isn't up to snuff, that may just be a convenient brush off.


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    #3
    Eircom_Sucks
    Registered Users Posts: 3,193 ✭✭✭Eircom_Sucks


    Im selling a br1600 if interested

    Google it and see if its what u want then pm me

    Ive used this for full band recording.


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    #4
    CheezePleeze
    Registered Users Posts: 231 ✭✭CheezePleeze


    fitz wrote: »
    This probably won't be what you want to hear, but...
    Seeing and realising the potential of a track is their job, so without knowing the context of what you're pitching these songs to the producers for, if they're telling you the recording quality isn't up to snuff, that may just be a convenient brush off.

    Thanks for taking the time to answer my enquiry.

    I think I'll invest some money in two or three songs in the studio, and from them, see if I can get some producer on my side. If I can't impress at that stage, I'll see where I go from there.


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    #5
    fitz
    Hosted Moderators Posts: 7,958 ✭✭✭fitz


    CheezePleeze wrote: »
    Thanks for taking the time to answer my enquiry.

    I think I'll invest some money in two or three songs in the studio, and from them, see if I can get some producer on my side. If I can't impress at that stage, I'll see where I go from there.

    What are you trying to achieve with sending tracks to the producer?
    To get them to use the song for an established artist or something?


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    #6
    CheezePleeze
    Registered Users Posts: 231 ✭✭CheezePleeze


    fitz wrote: »
    What are you trying to achieve with sending tracks to the producer?
    To get them to use the song for an established artist or something?

    That's right. I have already sent them five, and they like two, but the production is letting the songs down.

    I'm new to this game (can you guess). It would be great to get a song to an established artist, but I'll sell to anyone! Apparently, if I want an established artist to consider the song, it has to be produced in his/her style. That's a big ask.
    Anyway, I'll keep plugging away til I get to Number 1!


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    #7
    fitz
    Hosted Moderators Posts: 7,958 ✭✭✭fitz


    CheezePleeze wrote: »
    That's right. I have already sent them five, and they like two, but the production is letting the songs down.

    I'm new to this game (can you guess). It would be great to get a song to an established artist, but I'll sell to anyone! Apparently, if I want an established artist to consider the song, it has to be produced in his/her style. That's a big ask.
    Anyway, I'll keep plugging away til I get to Number 1!

    Sounds like they're looking for you to do their jobs for them tbh...


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