Members New Trail Posted November 23, 2007 Members Share Posted November 23, 2007 If a band was going to put together a demo CD for booking purposes, how good must the quality be, and how live should it be? I always thought that a demo should be a pretty accurate representation of the LIVE sound of the band, and I've always thought that a demo CD did not have to be studio perfect as far as sound quality, and that even a live concert recording, as long as it was pretty decent, would be okay. However, some people think you should go into a studio and multi-track, overdub, etc. to create a full blown release quality CD just for booking purposes. Which is it? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members cephus Posted November 23, 2007 Members Share Posted November 23, 2007 I hope live recordings are good enough. I think that paying money to studio record covers is not anything that I could ever force myself to do. I did that for money bands I played with, but they wanted weddings and crap. For bookng bars, I think that the honest approach of "here is a crap tape I made of the band. You can hear that the band is tight and the crowd likes it. Sorry that it sounds like it was recroded on Bob Newhart's answering machine." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members SpaceNorman Posted November 23, 2007 Members Share Posted November 23, 2007 If a band was going to put together a demo CD for booking purposes, how good must the quality be, and how live should it be? I always thought that a demo should be a pretty accurate representation of the LIVE sound of the band, and I've always thought that a demo CD did not have to be studio perfect as far as sound quality, and that even a live concert recording, as long as it was pretty decent, would be okay. However, some people think you should go into a studio and multi-track, overdub, etc. to create a full blown release quality CD just for booking purposes. Which is it? I think it all depends on the market you're trying to sell yourself into. Around here - a decent quality video is pretty much a requirement to get looked at for private party work (i.e, weddings, cororate gigs, private parties, etc.). This requirement applies to you if you're an unknown act selling to people who don't know you. Obviously the rules change somewhat for acts with a long history and a name around town. Bar gigs on the other hand are a mixed bag. Personally, I've come to the conclusion that money spent on promo materials for bar work is pretty much cash wasted. Bank the money (and time!) you would have spent on pictures, audio demos, video demos and any other promo materials - and spend it on gas and beer. Use the gas to drive your ass to the clubs you want to play once a week - at the time of day that the person who makes booking decisions is actually there (which is usually sometime around 11:00 am...). By yourself a beer and spend time talking to the guy. Leave him with a cheap business card - something with the band name and your # on it (save yourself the cost of high end printing costs for color, pictues, graphics and logos) - at best he's gonna run a pin through it and stick it on the wall someplace. It's more likely he's going to pitch it anyway. Your objective is to be the next musician to talk to him after they've blamed the last band for the till's {censored}ty weekend. The stack of slick band promo packages on his desk are no match for you persistently making personal sales visits. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members wades_keys Posted November 23, 2007 Members Share Posted November 23, 2007 II always thought that a demo should be a pretty accurate representation of the LIVE sound of the band, and I've always thought that a demo CD did not have to be studio perfect as far as sound quality, and that even a live concert recording, as long as it was pretty decent, would be okay. Your demo should reflect what you can do in a live setting. If it's too slick, people may think you suck live (and are resorting to studio tricks to overcome that). In other words, no overdubs or studio tracks - just use live cuts. Video if you can. But don't spend too much time or money unless you're into the corp scene - like Norman said, you're better off meeting with the club owners and calling them.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members gtrjones Posted November 23, 2007 Members Share Posted November 23, 2007 We put together a studio EP - 6 original songs. We intended it to be 50% demo, and 50% product. As a demo, it's been VERY successful, because it sounds GREAT. It's gotten us a lot of work. We then recorded (and are still mixing) a Live CD. Recorded straight off the stage. We will add that to our 'presskit' and hopefully get still more work. I can't believe anyone would actually think "This CD sounds too good - I better not hire these guys"... But I can believe someone thinking "This sounds like it was recorded to cassette in some guys basement - pass." In otherwords, make your Demo sound as good as you can afford to. It will pay off. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members captain average Posted November 24, 2007 Members Share Posted November 24, 2007 as good as or better than "nebraska" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members wades_keys Posted November 24, 2007 Members Share Posted November 24, 2007 In otherwords, make your Demo sound as good as you can afford to. It will pay off. Yeah, but don't resort to overdubs or tricks to make your band sound better than it really is. If you can deliver the goods live, then yeah - make the demo kick some ass. How do you think that would go over if the slick demo got you the gig but then you show up and you're just an average or mediocre bar band? That might work for hit and run gigs though.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members DevilRaysFan Posted November 24, 2007 Members Share Posted November 24, 2007 Your demo should reflect what you can do in a live setting.If it's too slick, people may think you suck live (and are resorting to studio tricks to overcome that).In other words, no overdubs or studio tracks - just use live cuts. Video if you can.But don't spend too much time or money unless you're into the corp scene - like Norman said, you're better off meeting with the club owners and calling them.... +1 and video works best also, it helps to use edited versions of each song ---- a verse and a chorus --- just to hear the vocals and what the band sounds like..... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members wades_keys Posted November 24, 2007 Members Share Posted November 24, 2007 WBut I can believe someone thinking "This sounds like it was recorded to cassette in some guys basement - pass." True - you're better off with no demo than one that sounds like ass. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members bassred Posted November 24, 2007 Members Share Posted November 24, 2007 Here in Vegas demos need to be slick, but real. Ours is live audio, mixed but not edited (no overdubs or anything like that) and we cut it into parts and made a loop and shot a video to that loop, so even though the vid isn't us playing the song AT THAT EXACT MOMENT it is still a damn good representation of what we are like live. We dropped some bills to get it done, and we had the drummers wife do the promo pics, she is a real estate photog and had the equipment around the house... business cards are great and cheap (even for full color nowadays)... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members BlueStrat Posted November 24, 2007 Members Share Posted November 24, 2007 I agree that demos are different than CDs. One is a 'demonstration' of what the band does live, the other is a piece of art. I produced a demo for a young kid this summer, and though we multi-tracked it, it was still all live, i.e, no overdubbed parts added. The kid played guitar and sang, I did the electric and dropped out the rhythm when the solos came alomg, and so on. So he got a good studio quality demonstration of what he can do live. My CDs, on the other hand, are a mix of live and artistic expression-overdubbed vocals, 2nd and 3rd guitar parts, etc etc. A demo should represent what the artist/band can do live, but it also should be as close to studio quality as you can get, because you are leaving an impression with a prospective client that goes beyong just your ability to perform. Video is great, too, though most places I've dealt with don't want to take the time to look at it and just want to pop a disc in in the club system while they're puttering around the bar during the day. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Dave Martin Posted November 24, 2007 Members Share Posted November 24, 2007 Your demo should be good enough that you don't have to make ANY excuses for it - no apologies, no explanations, no nothing other than "Here's what the band does." it seems like every week or so, someone sends me a link (or an MP3) and, before I even listen, explains that they didn't have any budget or time, or they had to do it at a crappy studio, or the lead singer had a cold that week, or the bass player had problems at home or something. And you know what? I don't wanna hear it. I simply do not understand why in the world people will send out anything less than their best work when they're trying to make a good impression - especially a good FIRST impression. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members wades_keys Posted November 24, 2007 Members Share Posted November 24, 2007 Your demo should be good enough that you don't have to make ANY excuses for it - no apologies, no explanations, no nothing other than "Here's what the band does." it seems like every week or so, someone sends me a link (or an MP3) and, before I even listen, explains that they didn't have any budget or time, or they had to do it at a crappy studio, or the lead singer had a cold that week, or the bass player had problems at home or something. And you know what? I don't wanna hear it. I simply do not understand why in the world people will send out anything less than their best work when they're trying to make a good impression - especially a good FIRST impression. Yeah, isn't it funny how that works? That sounds like one of my old bands - they went into a studio all gung-ho - and what came out of the studio was a very lo-fi crap recording. But the thing is - you can't polish a turd - this band I'm talking about has serious issues with the vocals and that can't be fixed in the studio (without AutoTune) So now they go around making excuses about the CD - calling it "low budget" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members stegre Posted November 24, 2007 Members Share Posted November 24, 2007 There are two ways you should persue: First make an audio demo, about 4 minutes, of snips of your songs put together smoothly, a voice over is nice. Live is OK if you have a great mix. I prefer studio. Use that demo as the musical background for a video. Play it over and over, lip sync or play along. Shoot from several different angles. YOU CAN DO THIS ALL YOURSELF! Mix it down, with the best shots from the best angles. Video editing software is cheap. Use you audio demo track as the guideline and lay the video on top. Make DVDs and CDs take both. Have both on your website. Have the site address on you business card (make sure the card also says : For audio and video demo...) Regardless of type of gig, the better promo you have, the more persistance and personal contacts you make, the more your band will work. Stefan--www.coverbandbook.com Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members BlueStrat Posted November 24, 2007 Members Share Posted November 24, 2007 Regardless of type of gig, the better promo you have, the more persistance and personal contacts you make, the more your band will work. + 1000 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members bassred Posted November 25, 2007 Members Share Posted November 25, 2007 Our demo has only been handed to a few people, and we've already got some dates that are far beyond our typical bar band stuff, so I think it may work.... I'll post more about these as we get a little more confirmed with them! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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