Promo Videos-What Makes a Good one?

[joshmac]

If you were to have one video to represent your band, what would it contain?

Would it be live sound or studio?

How many different songs/duration of each song clip?

Organization?

Text on screen?

Testimonials?

 

Essentially, post what you think makes a great promo video for a cover band. Post examples of the best videos out there. Ive seen some super cheesy ones, I want to be able to describe a legitimate promo to my video friend so he understands exactly what constitutes a GOOD Promo Vid.

[rangefinder]

This topic has been discussed several times, for example in the Creating Demo Video thread.

 

Hope this helps.

[wardjames]

I think it's worth revisiting, since every band can use work on the video demo area.

 

It seems to me that the live approach works great for bands that are trying to gain a following in bars and clubs.

 

The high end corporate, wedding bands tend to use a professional recording they lip sync to.

 

YMMV, but one of the things I wished we did was record a live video first with us playing to a click, then go back and record in the studio, then do another lipsynced video later on. The result would have been an economical way to end up with a high end corporate video with staged and live shots while having a workable club video right from the start. As it is, we've got some great audio, but haven't got the video part down, due to a variety of reasons.

[ggm1960]

I'd imagine quick introduction of the band members then cut to two or three short live clips and out. Keep 'em wanting more.

[modulusman]

It usually helps if the actresses are really hot. Oh I thought you said Porno video nevermind.

[kmart]

 

I'd imagine quick introduction of the band members then cut to two or three short live clips and out. Keep 'em wanting more.

 

 

Perhaps for the kind of gigs your band plays/your market, but I persoanlly can think of no reason or value added by an introduction of the band members. IME, unless you're a frontman with a backing band, nobody gives a damn about who's in the band.

 

I agree with wardjames re: 'depends on your situation'.

 

If I was in a band targeting only bars & clubs, a live video is likely how I'd go (a la Grant's clips). For privates/events, a more 'controlled' video is what I'd suggest.

[wheresgrant3]

For a working cover band... live footage. I don't have a current/proper video demo available (despite having more than 150 published videos for the band) but this is one we did in 2006:

 

[video=youtube;oi5rJHnYDpI]

 

It covered booking info, showed live clips and crowd interaction. We filmed it on one night and promoted it as a demo. This is the first video promo we shopped to agents and clubs. Although it looks dated by todays standards it immediately scored us: Two regional booking agents, 3 A-list rooms out of area at our asking price, and solidified our asking price at $1200+ on the local scene. It cost us $500 and the effort of renting three buses to get people to the venue. It more than paid for itself. I'm not posting this as an example of a good video.... I'm just relaying the benefits of having a demo. With today's technology, and a creative mind so much more can be accomplished.

[Vito Corleone]

 

If you were to have one video to represent your band, what would it contain?

 

 

A lot depends on who your band is and what your target audience is.

 

Would it be live sound or studio?

 

 

Live sound is great as long is it sounds good. The problem with most live sound videos I see is that the sound is so poor that they aren't a good representation of what the band sounds like. In which case you're better off using studio sound. I've never been able to acertain to what degree the people watching the video know or care if a band is lip-syncing. My hunch is that people are so used to lip-syncing that they don't really think twice about it one way or the another.

 

How many different songs/duration of each song clip?

 

 

Song clips don't really need to be more than 10-30 seconds long, IMO. Videos around 3 minutes in total length seem to be about right.

 

Organization?

 

Again, depends on the band and the intended audience. A video for a heavy metal band is probably going to be organized completely differently than one for a pop/R&B group.

 

Text on screen?

 

Keep it readable. Easy to read fonts and large enough to be read on handheld devices.

 

Testimonials?

 

I think testimonials are great. Nothing sells a band like other people saying how much they like it. Also, video clips of people giving testimonials are a great way to break up a video that is otherwise song-into-song-into song.

 

 

Essentially, post what you think makes a great promo video for a cover band. Post examples of the best videos out there. Ive seen some super cheesy ones, I want to be able to describe a legitimate promo to my video friend so he understands exactly what constitutes a GOOD Promo Vid.

 

 

Personally, I like to see videos where it is obvious some effort has been put into the production. My sense is that any band who takes the time and effort to make a quality video will also have a quality product onstage.

 

Here's some examples of videos I ripped off pretty shamelessly when coming up with ideas for mine.

 

[video=youtube;QvGsvImIfQg]

 

[video=youtube;uZlp718Rhvw]

[Lee Knight]

Through the 90's I was working at a multimedia company in Chicago. On of the cool things we did was video promos for bands. Wedding bands, blues bands, top 40 cover bands. This was all prior to internet or DVD. The bands were sending out VHS. Our method:

 

Multi-cam shoot in studio. Could be done remotely on lit stage. And me doing a live to tape mix. We weren't going to spend a bunch of time going back and remixing. Too time intensive. So it was live mix to tape. But it sounded great because I was in my control room with good monitors and great outboard, etc.

 

So anyway, the common practice was to hit your highlights quickly. The entire vid would be no more than 3 minutes. A soul medley would consist of let's say the chorus of Tears of a Clown, Respect and I Feel Good. That's it, move on. Multiple lead singers that kill? Do a quick montage of the different vocalists to highlight the fact. Hot chick backups? Do a quick pan.

 

The point being, highlights. Nobody wants to see a band cover another band on video. We might want to see ourselves, that's it. But the buyer wants assurance you're going to help his bottom line. That's it. So sell him.

 

BTW, I think the concept of showing crowds is brilliant. So, let's say you set up somewhere and did a live shoot. Why not dole out some cool audience footage along with the studio live footage?

 

P.S. I think the audio I've been hearing on these live vids isn't up to par. If you're going to do that, do it right and record it right. Either an isolated feed for a recording mixer, or at the very least, great X/Y pair blended with board feed.

[Vito Corleone]

 

P.S. I think the audio I've been hearing on these live vids isn't up to par. If you're going to do that, do it right and record it right. Either an isolated feed for a recording mixer, or at the very least, great X/Y pair blended with board feed.

 

 

THIS ^^^ It seems that with the advent of pretty-darn-good and cheap portable video recorders (heck, even an iPhone shoots "good enough" video these days) there's been a tendency to just use the audio that comes with the video which, unfortunately, is nowhere near as "good enough" as the video is. We are all still BANDS after all and the music is a big part of what we are selling. I really can't stress enough the importance of getting good-quality audio. Unfortunately there's no real cheap-and-easy way to do this. You've either got to record it in the studio, or make sure you get a good quality live recording. The little field recorders (Zoom X4, etc) are great for what they do, but they don't do demo-quality audio, IMO.

[wardjames]

Someone else posted this. Here's an example of a really good promohttp://nation.pleaserock.com/profile/YachtRockRevue:

[joshmac]

Man some of these are awesome. giving me some good ideas

[wardjames]

Maybe it's just a personal thing, but I REALLY like the logo being shown at the very beginning. In the two videos Dave posted above, I really like how Tainted Love does the buildup at the beginning to the showing of their band logo. The Nortorius one, on the other hand, misses out, cause there's so much random stuff going on before the announcer call their name. I also liked in the Yacht Rock Revue I posted how some of the song transitions feature their logo.

[wheresgrant3]

 

 

 

These bands are identical right? Same players, for different names? The videos look well produced (except for the lame crowd sfx and the bad cable access voice over) but the bands look as generic as they come. I'm guessing both bands are corporate only?

[wardjames]

 

These bands are identical right? Same players, for different names? The videos look well produced (except for the lame crowd sfx and the bad cable access voice over) but the bands look as generic as they come. I'm guessing both bands are corporate only?

 

 

Tainted Love plays down here at the Belly Up, which is an A list venue, so I don't think they're just corporate.

[wheresgrant3]

 

Tainted Love plays down here at the Belly Up, which is an A list venue, so I don't think they're just corporate.

 

 

Both bands are good... I just thought the lineups and presentation seemed identical.

 

Must be an east coast/west coast thing. Here in the Northeast. Here bands are less 'party/variety' and more image. Doesn't make it better, just different.

[Vito Corleone]

 

These bands are identical right? Same players, for different names? The videos look well produced (except for the lame crowd sfx and the bad cable access voice over) but the bands look as generic as they come. I'm guessing both bands are corporate only?

 

 

LOL. No, they aren't the same band, but they ARE quite similar in a lot of ways. I think that sort of thing happen when bands are competing in same market--they start to mimic each other in a lot of ways. They both play clubs and corporate. Tainted Love is bit more of a "package" act that uses sub players on occasion and there's an offshoot of that band called LoveFool that does 90s stuff.

 

http://www.lovefoollive.com/index.html

 

Interestingly, LoveFool has recently added a bunch of 80s stuff to their setlist as I don't think 90s stuff says "party" quite as much as they were hoping it would.

 

Notorious also has a couple of other interesting videos they've done:

 

[video=youtube;PqNclJM3tRI]

 

[video=vimeo;13031678]

[Vito Corleone]

 

Here bands are less 'party/variety' and more image.

 

 

Well, Tainted Love IS a strictly 80's tribute band. That's pretty image-y, but I guess you were thinking about a different take on "image"?

[wheresgrant3]

 

Well, Tainted Love IS a strictly 80's tribute band. That's pretty image-y, but I guess you were thinking about a different take on "image"?

 

 

 

Yeah... most of the agency bands over the last decade have some sort of schtick that sets them apart... but most of the well booked bands (especially ones covering current Top 40) are all mainting some edgy image, like they hired a hollywood stylist. The guys look like they are from Fall Out Boy or Good Charlotte and the women are younger and mostly dress like Brittany Spears. I'd say the age range of band members at this level is early 30's to mid 40's. It's not something I particularly like and we haven't really gone over the edge. Then again the 80's tributes have mostly died out. It's a new decade and a new focus on nostalgia.

[lz4005]

 

THIS ^^^ It seems that with the advent of pretty-darn-good and cheap portable video recorders (heck, even an iPhone shoots "good enough" video these days) there's been a tendency to just use the audio that comes with the video which, unfortunately, is nowhere near as "good enough" as the video is. We are all still BANDS after all and the music is a big part of what we are selling. I really can't stress enough the importance of getting good-quality audio. Unfortunately there's no real cheap-and-easy way to do this. You've either got to record it in the studio, or make sure you get a good quality live recording. The little field recorders (Zoom X4, etc) are great for what they do, but they don't do demo-quality audio, IMO.

 

 

It can't be overstated how important really good audio is for something like this, and how bad video camera onboard mics are, especially when it comes to live music.

A relatively cheap and easy* way to do good live audio would be to send a separate monitor mix into the line-in of a field recorder and then sync the audio with the video during editing.

 

*if everything is going through the PA and you've got a monitor send to spare and a good sound guy and a decent video editor

[kmart]

 

 

 

Maybe it's just me...

 

I don't think I'd be posting that video as a means to promote my band, despite the 'star power' it displays. At least the front half of it, each subsequent clip sounds like...a really bad cover band barely handling the songs they are attempting. Their 'real' promo clips come off much better to me.

 

The audio quality, or at least the mix on most of it is...not so great, and honestly, if I want to hear a band going through the motions and playing a half-ass, no soul, cookie cutter version of "We Want the Funk", I'll just go see Clinton/P-Funk All-Stars themselves...

 

 

 

(Seriously speaking, what I'd say those clips capture is a band that's talented and successful enough to be able to get some high-level names to do a song (or set) with them, but that has little/no prep time with the singer, and the result is absolutely zero cohesion/chemistry on stage).

[Lee Knight]

 

 

 

These are really clever. They both use studio recordings of the band. None of it is live audio. Like I said, clever stuff. The 1st appears to be live footage and some sneaky free syncing to the studio audio. The second is totally staged footage of lip syncing. There are live audience and band shots but at a distance to disguise the sync issues. Any close up band stuff is lip sync and no audience. They're miming to an empty house.

 

Pretty slick stuff.

[Vito Corleone]

 

Maybe it's just me... I don't think I'd be posting that video as a means to promote my band, despite the 'star power' it displays. At least the front half of it, each subsequent clip sounds like...a really bad cover band barely handling the songs they are attempting. Their 'real' promo clips come off much better to me. The audio quality, or at least the mix on most of it is...not so great, and honestly, if I want to hear a band going through the motions and playing a half-ass, no soul, cookie cutter version of "We Want the Funk", I'll just go see Clinton/P-Funk All-Stars themselves... (Seriously speaking, what I'd say those clips capture is a band that's talented and successful enough to be able to get some high-level names to do a song (or set) with them, but that has little/no prep time with the singer, and the result is absolutely zero cohesion/chemistry on stage).

 

 

Totally agree it's not a great video from a technical perspective. But if I had done a gig(s) like that, I'd want to use it to promote my band as well. And I'd have to work with whatever audio/video existed of the gig.

[Vito Corleone]

These are really clever. They both use studio recordings of the band. None of it is live audio. Like I said, clever stuff. The 1st appears to be live footage and some sneaky free syncing to the studio audio. The second is totally staged footage of lip syncing. There are live audience and band shots but at a distance to disguise the sync issues. Any close up band stuff is lip sync and no audience. They're miming to an empty house. Pretty slick stuff.

 

I thought so too. I looked at a LOT of promo videos from different bands and these two caught my attention as being the best compromise between the totally slick/staged videos and the full-on-live/often poor quality videos. So I used these two as templetes for doing mine. Also knowing I'd be going DIY and having a limited budget and video/editing skills was a big factor too, of course.

 

For anyone who hasn't seen it, here's my band's demo. I recently re-edited it to add clips of the 2nd singer into the shots. At 6 minutes it's almost certainly too long for getting club gigs, but I think it is fine for private events. Still, I've always intended on cutting it down further and may still do that. The next step would be to record some songs with Amy singing so we have some better footage of that.

 

The audio in the video was all recorded in the studio, but with virtually no overdubs. With the exception of recording the vocals seperately to get better quality, it's all "live". The video shots are a mix of staged lip-syncing and actual live footage. Watching our video you'll see how much I "borrowed" from those two vids.

 

[video=youtube;_15ffDtybnM]

[Lee Knight]

Nice work David^.

 

If you ever decide to revisit it, I'd cut the length of each song by half. I know the temptation is to let the music be heard but I think in the case of a promo like this, the more you suggest, and the less you tell, the better. It sounds great, don't get me wrong, but shorter will keep the original recordings in the minds of the buyer. Just move through them, they sound great, bambambam = WOW!