Instrumental vs. w/vocal, how many versions do I need?

[burkeproductions]

Hello all,

I am in the studio recording a piano piece that I hope could be the next wedding hit (think Endless Love). It has lyrics and a melody line but could certainly stand on its own as an instrumental. I realize an instrumental version would be more usable for film (under dialogue, etc.) but as I started to add accoustic guitar/rhythm parts it seems I need to create 2 completely different versions (i.e. the guitar parts would step on the melody if vocals were present. I guess my basic question is does everybody make both versions for potential submissions and if so, are you literally making the full production then just stripping the vocal and calling that "instrumental"? Or do you compose each separately creating different soundscapes, etc.?

Hope this makes sense, if it does, your advise is greatly appreciated!

Lisa

[Casey H]

There is no one answer but multiple versions are very useful. I absolutely make multiple instrumental mixes for vocal songs. One is the exact no-vocal version. Others vary widely in length and content depending on what I'm targeting. Sometimes I'll do a mix that focuses on the acoustic side of a track that has both acoustic and electric... Maybe a mix with no drums... or no lead guitar... I may do short edits which vary from the full instrumental so that they make sense in short form (can depend on where the start and end are-- when to bring in various instruments).

Some of the most useful variations (all should have button ending) are:
30 seconds
60 seconds
Stinger (5-15 seconds)

There are other discussions on this forum about making 30 and 60 second versions from existing tracks... http://forums.taxi.com/topic31527.html

One thing I never do anymore is have a vocal song recorded with a fade out. Always do a button ending. For film/TV, that's almost always required.

Casey

[burkeproductions]

Hey thanks Casey, that is exactly the clarification I needed! Creating multiple mixes for various uses, I think its clearer to me now..... I'm at the mercy of a few engineers in THEIR pro studios so since I'm not tracking at home, I don't have access to making changes on the fly. I suppose that's where stems would come in? I get a great rate of $20/hr but to demo 1 song with additional mixes I just wanted to plan ahead with what parts/instruments to track while I'm there. That link you posted was a great read......pardon my 'noobyism' but what's a "Stinger" exactly?

[mojobone]

A stinger is a button ending, minus the rest of the track, basically. (when editing for time, the post-production gal might delete the final pre-chorus and chorus, in favor of going straight to the button, for instance) It's a good practice to get all the individual tracks from any demo service, so that you can remix and stem your songs out as required by different entities that may hire your music. (so long as you're comfortable with making your own edits, which is nowhere near as difficult as performing, nor mixing, imo)