… that being so, another issue immediately came up for me during listening to your demo: my preferences came into play. I noticed things I would do differently; lots of detail needs to be filled in, what would that be? etc. etc.
So we need more discussion about how you want this project to go from here, and what role you want me to play.
One scenario could be that we just re-record what you have, higher quality, and I add basic arrangements around it. That of course would take the shortest amount of time and money.
Another scenario could be that I take more of a producer’s role. But a producer role is pretty open ended. If I look at it that way, I’m constantly asking myself “how does this compare to what I’m hearing on the radio, or what CD’s I’m buying?”. And it has to compare, side by side.
So a producer takes this approach, and does whatever it takes to make it happen- but sometimes it may not be…simple.
Production can reach the scope of arrangements, rearranging sections, totally omitting certain things, chord changes, lyric changes, sounds, what instruments? etc.
So the biggest question I have for you is: How far do you want this to go, and how attached are you to what you’ve got so far? (this will also determine how much it will cost; something which I’m not sure of at this point.)
Think of how you envision the arrangements; how full? what instruments? Real drums? or drum machine type sounding loops (what radio stations would it be friendly to?). What other artists would you want to be similar to? (I’ve just heard voice and guitar- it could go many different directions now…)
You leave a lot of room for, I’m presuming, solo sections. What instruments do you envision soloing? (electric guitar, nylon string guitar, harmonica, sax, piano…?)
Also, if you want a full blown CD to print up and release, always consider 1 or 2 cover tunes; other artists’ tunes that you totally love and which really suit YOU. This adds interest in many ways (airplay, sales…).
Having said all this, I’m not sure how much we can do on this first weekend, but whatever we do will be great!
Note: The client opted for full production, and now has a fabulous CD!