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And there's such a wide range of styles, from Black Eyed Peas, to ColdPlay, Nickleback, Christina Aguilera, Kayne, Kelly Clarkson, Sheryl Crow

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Damn, if I read one more reference to Jackson Browne from Popmang, I'm gonna puke

Seriously..I have to hear some of this stuff I guess but I ain't gonna buy it. I'll keep my ears peeled to see if I can catch some

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Originally posted by Dot:
I listed 10 reasons in a topic, What musically separates home recordings from major label releases?

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I'd say it's mainly the arrangements.

I hear quite a few people who are good musicians who post MP3's here and in other forums. I hear very few people who are actually good arrangers.

Many bedroom/home recordings have a few things in common:

1. Showing off/Overplaying: The players are too busy showing you that they can play their instrument and that they're good, and forget to come up with perhaps the simple part that works for the song.

2. Holding it together: The lack of counter melodies and musical hooks. What many people tend to do is write a song, and then when they record it all the instruments just sort of comp to the root. No real tension is introduced. No additional musical ideas. I hear this a lot.

3. Insecurity: [ This is also true of live bands. ] People often do not explore their instrument enough to be secure enough to develop their own style. So, often it just ends up as the sort of boring, take-no-chances MOR stuff. [ personal and spiritual development might also be included here ]

4. The Silence: I don't think people realize that it's often what you don't play that can make a song really work. Home recordists tend to cover up the canvas completely in an effort to make something sound big and full, and miss the idea that the space in the music is a huge factor in making something truly palitable and tasty.

5. Doing too much: People who record at home often try to do too much by themselves rather than enlist help with the project. Too many people now "play everything", not really because they actually do play all the instruments well, but rather because they're too lazy or lack the skills to work within a larger group towards a common goal. Let's take the average major label CD release - and we'll say that everyone who worked on it has an average of 10 years experience. You've got a band of 5 people. 2 engineers. 1 producer. 1 mixer. 1 mastering eng. That's 10 people! Multiplied by 10 years each - and you get a total of 100 years total combined experience. That's 100 years [ and in many cases in the real world, it can be 200-300 years ] of sweat and experience competing with the average home recordist - who may have several years experience with a few instruments and a few years recording experience.

6. Lack of experience: Plain and simple. This part's OK, and everyone has to go through it. Everyone has to start somewhere.

7. Tones and timbres: Another very common "home" problem is that many people just simply don't know how to get the "right" sound on any given track to work with all the other sounds that just aren't quite right. A song has to be this kind of one world/thing that all works together as a single creation. This is an art and a craft unto itself - and takes years and years to learn how to do well.

8. The "seams": Just like a finely-crafted coat - all the seams need to be in place. Home recordings often have lots of seams showing and rough edges that don't match up well. And learning to make seamless music goes all the way back to the arrangement.

9. Living in the past: I notice this, especially with some of the older crowd. They just get stuck in some timewarp in a certain period or genre that has come and gone.

10. Listening: People who make the average home recording often haven't learned to listen. To just listen is probably the hardest part.

Just some thoughts and stuff I notice.

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Living in the past: I notice this, especially with some of the older crowd. They just get stuck in some timewarp in a certain period or genre that has come and gone.

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the SONGS were timeless, not the production.

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i think the reason for that is music is no longer art but product with short term recoupment focus... failing to consider the long term investment [the key to timelessness].

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so, if a tree falls in the woods...know what I mean?

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Keagen and Sara