Members Givati Posted January 21, 2008 Members Share Posted January 21, 2008 This is a question for those of you who have or have ever had demo recordings for your bands promo kit.In your experience what quality should these recordings be? We are in the process of recording a demo for use as a tool to get local gigs. NOT in order to get signed, or anything like that.3 of the 4 tunes on our myspace page are recordings we intend to use on our demo. Are they good enough? Thanks all. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members PaulyWally Posted January 21, 2008 Members Share Posted January 21, 2008 Are they good enough? If it were my demo... no. But I'm a perfectionist. If I am a club owner... maybe. You guys sound really good. But suppose you're up for a booking against another band. All other things being equal... the band with the better sounding demo would probably get the gig. And many times, that could be you. I don't think it sounds bad. And I've heard a helluva lot worse. But, I believe in putting your best foot forward with a demo. It doesn't have to sound like you spent $2000 in a recording studio... but everything should be well-balanced and clear. If you guys have nothing pressing to work on... maybe consider putting a little more time into a better recording. But if you're still working on other priorities in the band... I think it'd be fine for the time being. That's kinda where my band is at right now. And we'll be re-recording demos in a week. my .02 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members bassred Posted January 21, 2008 Members Share Posted January 21, 2008 I' m much more of a fan of a real demo, a demonstration of how your band is going to play and sound live.... I think your tunes sound fine, but a 'studio' recording is just that, something done in a studio with the possibilities of overdubs and re-cuts and nice and easy polishing tools.... Now, this is all made easy by the fact that my drummer has a rig that we can patch into our live rig and get 24 channels of great quality digital recordings of us playing live, so that's what we use for our demo material. we even kept in some flubs, because they are only natural (as long as they don't derail the tune, then it doesn't get put onto the demo).. you can check out our tunes on our myspace or our website, there's even a video too! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members T. Alan Smith Posted January 21, 2008 Members Share Posted January 21, 2008 A recording is a recording is a recording. This isn't the 80's. People aren't expecting cassettes done on your 4 track Tascam. They are expecting disks that sound as engaging as anybody else's. And that is the key- does your disk sound engaging? It's not about how much or h0w little noise there is. It's about whether or not the noise is distracting from the performance. It's about if there's anything distracting from the performance. Finally, is the perf0rmance engaging? We all know the interwebs is chock full of recordings that leave one with little interest in listening to a 2nd time. For example, instead of playing that 8 bar intro/outro/bridge, give the listener 1 or 2 bars and hit 'em with the change. Keep the hits coming. Make it stimulating. Produce something that will make the listening want to hear it again. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members been_effected Posted January 21, 2008 Members Share Posted January 21, 2008 This is a question for those of you who have or have ever had demo recordings for your bands promo kit.In your experience what quality should these recordings be? We are in the process of recording a demo for use as a tool to get local gigs. NOT in order to get signed, or anything like that.3 of the 4 tunes on our myspace page are recordings we intend to use on our demo. Are they good enough? Thanks all. My philosophy? Make the demo quality as best as you guys can afford, and as best as you can do. There's never any disadvantage to having a kickass sounding demo over an average one Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Givati Posted January 21, 2008 Author Members Share Posted January 21, 2008 So far these are all great points. The main issue for us is time and money. That's why we are recording with a firepod in my studio at home. Cheap for sure. Quick as well. As far a studio tricks I will not employ any. Eq, verb, separation, etc. in my opinion are not tricks, we use these live T Allen, your comment is a bit vague to me. I am not sure what you mean by engaging. If I hear you right I am thinking your saying this: if the music sucks, it sucks even if it is the best quality recording there is. Am I right? If I am then the only judges will be the venues that listen to the demo. If they like what they hear we're in the door. Judging your own music is a tenuous business. Few can be completely objective with what they own. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Givati Posted January 21, 2008 Author Members Share Posted January 21, 2008 Now, this is all made easy by the fact that my drummer has a rig that we can patch into our live rig and get 24 channels of great quality digital recordings of us playing live, so that's what we use for our demo material. we even kept in some flubs, because they are only natural (as long as they don't derail the tune, then it doesn't get put onto the demo).. We have a similar situation. Our new keyboardist has a 20 track program that we used Sat night at our gig. We haven't listened to it yet to see if any of it is useable or not. We ran short on setup time before the show so we couldn't tweak at all, so I will be surprised if any of it will work. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members basste Posted January 22, 2008 Members Share Posted January 22, 2008 +1 about the best you can do. Sweet sound is better. if your band kick ass but with a poor sound, the "kickasseness" will be lower than if sound kicks ass too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members guitargod0dmw Posted January 22, 2008 Members Share Posted January 22, 2008 My philosophy? Make the demo quality as best as you guys can afford, and as best as you can do. There's never any disadvantage to having a kickass sounding demo over an average one Huge +1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Azz301 Posted January 22, 2008 Members Share Posted January 22, 2008 Spend the money, mate. Even run at a loss. Consider it a form of advertising.... in every other industry, people pay to get their product out there, and they pay big dollars too!! One of the bands that I manage just put out their demo. Two of the four tracks are on their myspace. (http://www.myspace.com/fromdayonexxx) Check out the production that has gone into them (particularly After The Storm)... I even sorted them out with graphic designers to fix up their myspace page, and do cover & cd art for the demo, and then got them all professionally printed. Like been_effected said: There's never any disadvantage to having a kickass sounding demo over an average one I'll add to that and say there is never a disadvantage to having a kickass LOOKING demo as opposed to a CD that looks like you burnt it yourself and wrote your band name on it with felt pen. People won't pay money for that, but they have no qualms forking out $5AU for the From Day One demo, because it looks professional. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members T. Alan Smith Posted January 22, 2008 Members Share Posted January 22, 2008 T Allen, your comment is a bit vague to me. I am not sure what you mean by engaging. If I hear you right I am thinking your saying this: if the music sucks, it sucks even if it is the best quality recording there is. Am I right? If I am then the only judges will be the venues that listen to the demo. If they like what they hear we're in the door. Judging your own music is a tenuous business. Few can be completely objective with what they own. The music doesn't even have to suck. Sure, there's a lot of sucky music out there, but there's at least as much mediocre music out there with big production budgets. I believe, the better the song/performance, the less need for production. There are always exceptions, for example, if your writing/performing concept material. By engaging, I am simply referring to how the music grabs and holds the listener's ear. Will the "judges" start looking around the room, looking at their watch, start talking about other stuff shortly after your 1st song begins...or will the sound recording be engaging enough to where it will hold their attention...at least thru the 1st chorus. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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