Question for songwriters who know about engineering......

[georg_e]

               I have a question for any songwriters/producers who know about audio engineering......I've been reading where Dr. Luke has said that songs like "Till The World End" used over 150 audio channels for the finished record.  Anyone know approximately what would be the difference on an official rough demo like this one they made for "Hold It Against Me"?  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bcr2aRfsBbo     I know it sounds alot rougher than the record, but does something like this use way, way less tracks than the finished version?  Or would even this version use alot of tracks? (The vocals sound pretty good here ;-)   Trying to learn how much engineering work goes into producing a demo on this professional level, thanks for any info!

[klukan]

If you're not a "somebody" in the business your demos have to sound completely finished and professional to catch any A&R's attention.

In this case, I think the track is pretty close to the final production although a lot of details are not added in this version. My guess is that this demo have 1/3 less tracks than the finished version.

But it's very hard and diffuse - even impossible - to guess about the number of tracks in a song, since a lot of times you will bounce groups of tracks to one single track (e.g. 4 guitar tracks to one stereo track). It also depends if it's from the producer's perspective or the mixer's perpective. The mixing guy will probably split up a lot of tracks to add different effects and so on.

[georg_e]

                Thanks, Klukan, that's very helpful, and I agree it's impossible to guess at the number of tracks by ear.  I've always worked with an engineer on my songs (and had 'em mixed/mastered), but even so, and even with striving to get them as close as to a record as possible (to MY ears ;-) I'm finding there's a whole 'nother level  above that which needs to be reached, which even those guys I worked with (and I) didn't quite make. So now I'm trying to figure out how to do that in the future......it's an enjoyable challenge, once you know what the level you need to reach is....sometimes it takes trial and error to even figure THAT out!!