Originally Posted by Colin Ward

finally finished his song and possibly spent hundreds of dollars on a demo, what if everybody hates it? Oh crap - they don't understand the lyric


As I said, I don't offer advice on peoples songs, because it's a touchy subject, but I offer plenty of advice about the business and recording to any and all, pretty much all the time. Even questions about the process of writing songs themselves. I am not a teacher, that's not my function, but I do get asked alot for advice, my opinions, and how I do things. I have been through alot in the business so far, and I certainly don't mind sharing my thoughts on what it takes to make certain things happen. One thing that I never do, and it may not be common knowledge here, is I never leave a tracking session without the session files. If only because I want them for backup, or maybe I want to do an (alt) mix, or maybe I need to add stuff to the track. Maybe I want to sing a vocal, or get somebody else to. I may need to send a rough out for whatever reason, or send the track for somebody to play on, or sing on.

Also, to avoid having to do a recall every time you change a lyric, I suggest when getting your final mix, to also get a final mix without vocals, and maybe an additional one with just background vocals. That way, if your lyrics changes, all you have to do is put a vocal on there. I do realize that not everybody has the equipment and knowledge to just put another vocal on a track, but if you know somebody that does, it's easy enough to change the lyric of a song. Not that a recall is hard, but if you live in Poughkeepsie and your song was recorded in Nashville, than this could be a problem. Always get a final mix of just the track. That way, you never have to be sorry about whats on tape...it can always be changed.