Members TeRM Posted December 13, 2005 Members Share Posted December 13, 2005 Hey Guys,My current band (an original hard rock act) is in the phase where we are about to record a demo, because basically everywhere that we want to play wants a demo CD from us. We're on a tight budget, so we'll be recording this at home. Therefore, our quality will not be "professional," but it will hopefully be good enough to give booking agents a sense of our style and how we perform. Is this okay? My main question is: How many songs should be on our demo? 3? 6? Does it really matter? Any other suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Thanks! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members TeRM Posted December 13, 2005 Author Members Share Posted December 13, 2005 bump. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members ending_zero Posted December 13, 2005 Members Share Posted December 13, 2005 You might get a response over in The Music Biz forum. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members curseoftruth Posted December 13, 2005 Members Share Posted December 13, 2005 Where are guys located? My old band gigged regularly without a demo. Of course better clubs came our way once we did our CD. My new band will do the same. My opinion its best to get the live stuff tight bbefore hitting the studio, but that's just me. After playing local for years though, I know most of the club booking people, so a call or email will suffice for a gig. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members TeRM Posted December 13, 2005 Author Members Share Posted December 13, 2005 We're in northern NJ, and we'll be looking to play mostly in NJ and NYC. So far everywhere I've called has wanted a demo, so that's why we need to make one asap. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members mateo150 Posted December 13, 2005 Members Share Posted December 13, 2005 3 songs is fine, don't need an album, just a taste. Send it to pub owners... chances are someone will like it if it doesn't totally suck. Take anything to start, then ask for money. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members TeRM Posted December 13, 2005 Author Members Share Posted December 13, 2005 Originally posted by mateo150 3 songs is fine, don't need an album, just a taste. Send it to pub owners... chances are someone will like it if it doesn't totally suck. Take anything to start, then ask for money. Thanks for the info! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members k4df4l Posted December 13, 2005 Members Share Posted December 13, 2005 Originally posted by mateo150 3 songs is fine, don't need an album, just a taste. Send it to pub owners... chances are someone will like it if it doesn't totally suck. Take anything to start, then ask for money. 3 especially stong songs that you think represent your material/performance is good for most people. Keep in mind that if the recording quality is subpar, it may keep a number of folks from listenting past a few moments. You can also try getting feedback from bands that have been booked at the same places too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members rider of time Posted December 13, 2005 Members Share Posted December 13, 2005 I'm with mateo150, we gave 3 song cd with a promo pack. A little Bio info with some pics. Dont forget the local Colleges. We get our best gigs at Fraternity houses or better Sorority houses. Best of luck man!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members killyridols Posted December 13, 2005 Members Share Posted December 13, 2005 3 songs should be fine, definetley don't do more than 4. I think it helps a lot if you have a semi-professional press kit, (write-up + decent band picture) Make sure your contact info is on everthing. Definetely don't go to a booking agent unitl you bookedf some shows of your own. You have to think of it like a job interview, and your press kit is your resume. Some places you have to endlessly bug until they let you play. It helps if you're versatile too. Some of our music is verycrazy and heavy, and simply too loud for some venues. Yet we have doulbe our amount of gigs by being able to play all acoustic sets. Were now booking about 5 or so gigs a month, which is a big change form a couple months ago. Hope this helps, we're going through the same thing right now!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members TeRM Posted December 13, 2005 Author Members Share Posted December 13, 2005 Thanks so much for the info & support guys!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Jacek Posted December 13, 2005 Members Share Posted December 13, 2005 Yeah, it's better to do a well done 3-song demo than an average 10 song album.If you have a decent PC with decent sound cards, try Cakewalk Sonar. I have been recording at home for a while and have perfected getting a really pro-quality sound.For the sake of it, it might be helpful to (gasp) borrow something like a POD or a V-Amp Pro (or whatever you can get your hands), find a sound reminiscent of what your regular tone is and direct record using that...the fact it doesn't sound exactly like your full setup will be more than offset that you will be able to get a decent recorded guitar tone instead of wrestiling with miking a regular amp (a daunting task if you've never done it before).Good luck...I've spend a lot of $$$ in recording studios and hated always being hurried by the bills piling up with every hour of studio work...invested in the proper PC equipment and can now work in peace without losing cash every hour...took me a while to learn the ropes of recording and mixing, but it's a great skill for any band to learn. Until you can afford Rick Rubin to give you that coveted sound The Cult had on "Electric" (or something along those lines... ) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members orourke Posted December 13, 2005 Members Share Posted December 13, 2005 What kind of recording gear do you plan to use for the demo? It dosen't have to be radio ready, but you shouldn't use a demo that you think is crumby. So unless you have a few good mics for the drums and some kind of digital recorder or computer program, I'd consider finding a cheap studio, that can get you a decent drum sound. There are tons of people in the metro area with little studios that'll record fast and cheap. As long as the band has the material totally down. As far as getting gigs are conserned, you should have your songs available online somewhere. It could be a band website or Myspace or Soundclick. But you can get gigs by just e-mailing clubs and sending them a link to your site where they can listen to your tunes. You don't even have to talk to anyone on the phone or in person. I think {censored} Cat Lounge and Sin-e work like that, though my bass player manages my band, so I'm not 100% knowlegeable on this stuff. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members tlbonehead Posted December 13, 2005 Members Share Posted December 13, 2005 Nothing better than WOM. Find a way to get people to hear you. Open for popular bands,do stuff for cheap where you know you will have a crowd. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members M-1 Fan Posted December 13, 2005 Members Share Posted December 13, 2005 Here's a 180;One band I was in went to the trouble and money to produce a CD demo with ten songs on it. The area clubs didn't even want to hear it or hire us. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Chicken Monkey Posted December 13, 2005 Members Share Posted December 13, 2005 A good set of drum mikes would definitely help, but if you have more time than money, you CAN get a decent sound from a mike in a room--there are thousands of hit records to attest to that. It just takes a lot of time--recording, listening, moving the mike, recording, listening, turning down the amps, recording, listening... Club owners aren't going to offer you a record deal, so you don't need to give them a testament to your studio genius. The demo just needs to show that you are a kick-ass band, and you can do that with a less-than-crystalline recording. As long it is not difficult or distracting to listen to. One tip--make sure your first song has a quick payoff--save the long intros for the end of the demo, or, better yet, for your set. And three songs is perfect--you want the club owner to want more, and people these days can hardly stand to listen to ther favorite artist for an entire album. Thank you Ipod. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members loner22 Posted December 13, 2005 Members Share Posted December 13, 2005 A good budget solution would be to record drums the best way you can, and if you're not really familiar with recording, track guitars through a modeler. Keep costs to a minimum. A "live" 3 song demo is enough, normally, but even if you want something cleaner, do not spend a fortune on it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members mateo150 Posted December 13, 2005 Members Share Posted December 13, 2005 you should be able to record, and mix your 3 songs in about 3 hours if you purchased studio time. Depending on where you go, studios are about $50/hr. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members ihave27frets Posted December 13, 2005 Members Share Posted December 13, 2005 3 songs are an industry standard. Remember, your only as good as your worst song...when someone hears something they dont like...thats what they remember no matter how good the rest of it was so make sure you take the time on pre-production and getting the songs where they should be. Hope that helps. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Brocken Posted December 13, 2005 Members Share Posted December 13, 2005 If you want it sounding perfect you could program the drums in and use Battery or something, run the guitars through something like a Pod2 or Guitar Rig etc, and record the vocals at a studio :E Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.