Thats about 50% of it for me, the music has to really be something awesome for me to listen to a poorly produced track or album. The best thing I can suggest to anyone who is recording locally is to send off their raw tracks to be mastered by a pro (or at least someone else other than the engineer who recorded it).bassist_25 wrote:I think something else that many people are failing to take into account are the production values on most local recordings. I don't purport to be an expert on the radio business, but I do know that radio expects a certain threshold of production quality on the stuff it plays. There are some really well produced local albums, but honestly, they're in the minority. Majority of local recordings probably sound like demos. I can't imagine a big name station playing a track recorded in a top-shelf LA studio and then turning around and playing something with poor mastering and a muffled guitar sound. That's not a slam on local engineers, because again, there are some well-produced albums coming out of the area. However, there aren't enough to be played on the radio on a constant basis.
For the masses though, I really do think as long as it sounds good in a car stereo, the mainstream consumers of music don't care beyond that (as far as the production goes). If you start talking 'gear' (as in listening) with the average person, you can watch them slowly retreat and drop into 'head nod' mode 9 out of 10 times.
Catchy content that sticks with them, on the other hand, is a little more difficult to nail down let alone pull off. If you look at the amazing amount of garbage that the labels back just to find 1 song or group that sticks, its easy to see this is the hardest part.
But JP really put some good words to my feelings about local music. But I also think the landscape (from a band's point of view) is vastly different depending on the genre you're in.