Members cavemanic Posted June 10, 2002 Members Share Posted June 10, 2002 O.k just want some opinions ,obviously as best as possible ,but what is the cutoff point? Unmastered?Home recorded?Drum Machine/software? (for rock style stuff ,sounds decent though) Can you get away with this?I guess the quality would have to be alot better for a major though. Also how would you go if say you are the only person that writes, sings ,plays/programs all the instruments but wanted to get some attention first and look for people later. As much as i hate put together bands ,it seems like if you had some label attention better muso's would be more interested ,thus weeding out the flakes easier. What ya think? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members glad_star Posted June 10, 2002 Members Share Posted June 10, 2002 Here's the deal...The music-biz is just that...a business. If you want to be a part of it, you need to be able to make other people money. Period. If you don't like this fact, fine, no problem...then you will be happy playing your Casio in your basement, occasionally breaking it out for the family reunion, for the rest of your life. The hardest part of being a serious musician is finding other serious musicians who realize that being in a band is just like any other JOB (yes, I said it). It takes lots and lots of hard work and dedication, sacrifice and emotional investment...but the payoff, you will agree, is pretty damn cool. So...in answer to your question:Do as much as you can upfront (before they hear it). When a lable looks at a band, they ask themselves one question, "How much money will this band add to my fat-ass bank account?" Guess what? That's a good f'n question. The more they make, the more YOU make. But here is the follow up to that question, "What is my front-end investment going to be?" Another good question (and the one that relates directly to yours). Front-end investment being the amount of money the lable is going to have to spend before they start getting any back. Risk vs. Return. If the lable likes your band but they have to re-record your songs, fire the drummer, the singer needs to work on his pitch, the guitar player is fat and ugly (and if you think I'm kidding...quit now) and the bass player has no sense of time...well, that's a lot of time and money to spend on a band who, by the time they are ready, might already be out of style. If I were a lable, I'd take a pass.The trick is to make a lable need YOU, not the other way around. (DMB did this best in recent memory. They were selling 10,000+ albums per year before they got signed.)Here are some steps before you can expect to get a call from SONY...1. Make sure your bandmates are dedicated profesionals and in it for the long haul.2. Keep your goal in mind when writing songs. (If you want to be on Mtv, lose the 5 minute conga solo)3. Rehearse your balls off.4. Rehearse more. Be super tight and keep your music simple but interesting, supporting the lead (probably vocals).5. Play out, be profesional and remember, you are in the ENTERTAINMENT industry. Give the audience something to remember you by.6. When you do go into the studio, don't blow all your cash on documenting every song you've written since pre-school. Record 1 or 2 songs and spend the money making sure they are "Radio Ready" Don't worry about making your studio money back, that is very short sighted. 7. Sell, sell, sell. Get out there and push your shows, then sell all your EPs and T-shirts and give out all your stickers and get a web-site and follow up with your "customers" and keep records that you can show a record exec if you are lucky enough that they are curious. And all this is the easy part. That's all I can think of for now. Pleas feel free to respond and make additions. Very curious to know what experiences you all have had.Good luck, hope this helps. Geoff Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members drummerjoe Posted June 10, 2002 Members Share Posted June 10, 2002 I actually kind of disagree. You need the best recording you can afford, yes... but.... It really needs to be a good song. Record companies are looking for potential. A diamond they can shine up and market. A great recording IS important, but you can have the best recording of a unoriginal non marketable song and get no where. You should write a great song, with great words, and great music.... and record it as best as you can. Like I said its potential.... Record comapnies have to INVEST in you. Money and time. Having a good recording shows you are serious and dedicated more than anything. It cant be so {censored}ty that the point of your song dosent get accross, but you dont need to go overboard. I know bands that have great songs, and a 500 dollar recording get snatched up in seconds because of talent, drive and selling tons of tickets for local venues. AND I have known bands spending 8,000+ on digital recording, pro tools, engineers, pre amp tube recta thinga deelies, and gotten NO WHERE. Usually, I would reccomend going somewhere to record. Not that you cant do an awesome demo at home, but...... Its good to have someone else like a studio owner critique you. Its also good to be familiar with studios (if you arent). You meet people, and sometimes studio engineers work sound for locals so it cant hurt to get some networking points. Plus if you get out of your home to record, you are on a budget and someone elses time, so you tend to be a little more professional than you might be at your home, or the home of a friend. Also I feel you need to pay to record, rather than getting too many "Hook Ups". I know of one band in particular that had some trouble with a demo that a freind recorded but wouldnt give the masters too... and when a larger label wanted to sign them, the recording "friend" wanted some money kicked back his way. So I would say a good recording is important, but there is a ton more to consider. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members agt5 Posted June 11, 2002 Members Share Posted June 11, 2002 Originally posted by glad_star 1. Make sure your bandmates are dedicated profesionals and in it for the long haul.2. Keep your goal in mind when writing songs. (If you want to be on Mtv, lose the 5 minute conga solo)3. Rehearse your balls off.4. Rehearse more. Be super tight and keep your music simple but interesting, supporting the lead (probably vocals).5. Play out, be profesional and remember, you are in the ENTERTAINMENT industry. Give the audience something to remember you by.6. When you do go into the studio, don't blow all your cash on documenting every song you've written since pre-school. Record 1 or 2 songs and spend the money making sure they are "Radio Ready" Don't worry about making your studio money back, that is very short sighted. 7. Sell, sell, sell. Get out there and push your shows, then sell all your EPs and T-shirts and give out all your stickers and get a web-site and follow up with your "customers" and keep records that you can show a record exec if you are lucky enough that they are curious. What if I'm fat and ugly? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members cavemanic Posted June 11, 2002 Author Members Share Posted June 11, 2002 Originally posted by agt5 What if I'm fat and ugly? Thats not a problem and heres proof http://www.metal-sludge.com/Exposed.htm You can always join crowbar too.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members cavemanic Posted June 11, 2002 Author Members Share Posted June 11, 2002 Seriously though , thanks for the advice glad_star what you said about the conga is funny! i actually have this really ambinet introduction to one of my songs (bongo's and all) then it breaks into a rock song ,it is kinda sad that attention spans of the mainstream seem to be getting less and less and hopefully someone will break through and buck the system. But i pretty much decided to leave it out but make it a seperate track that seque's (sp?) into the song. I like to write stuff that does break the tranditional structure ,but in the back of my mind have got the "radio" version in mind ,still writing the song the way i want it but thinking about what parts I could edit if I had to do a radio edit. I also like to write in a few different genres (not in a mr bungle way) but have been trying to streamline that a bit to ,the average person doesn't seem to respond to that ,but thats probably out of conditioning more than anything. Idea there is ,to maybe make the demo more straightforward but include some of the more out there stuff on a c.d , i think once you can break down the wall then people are more likely to (hopefully) listen. I think the best thing though is as much as there seems to be rules ,there honestly is no set pattern of success (and it all depends how you define that) with bands or musicians ,you can look at bands like smashing pumpkins ,NIN,older metallica,moby etc who sometimes don't "fit" but can have massive success and generally the ones that "break" most of the rules are the ones that make it big (with the thousand immitators following...). That is why i feel guilty for wanting to change to fit ,when others don't change at all or very little (this isn't including having a tight band, more in the writing for radio) One thing I have to agree with is what drummerjoe said about the quality of the songwriting vs the quality of the recording ,it makes perfect sense to have the best sound possible (or one that suits your band or vision) but i would like to think that the songs are what gets you through the door. No doubt if someone sent in a package of a band that looks like a group of models with a slick sounding demo but mediocre songs ,companies will know that the can sell on looks alone. Its easy to see if you hype thinsg enough that they will alot of the times sell (thankfully it hasn't worked for andrew w.k or at the drive in!) I guess the 2 big questions i have is this. 1.I am not against getting into a band that I see and like ,but i have set in my mind that it may not happen (find the perfect people etc) so I have been doing everything myself ,now bands like VAST ,filter or NIN(not a fan of NIN but just as a example) really are just one person (obviously talented) but they only have a "band" for touring purposes (sometimes recording but I would guess for the first demo/album no "band" was involved ,other than a producer and maybe session musicians I maybe wrong here but just generalising) ,these guys obviously got signed THEN put the band together , I'm thinking along the same lines but in a more rock context , of getting the attention FIRST then getting the band together ( I guess i'm just sick of trying to weed out the flakes) 2. The other thing is whether or not I should stay in Australia , I've seen a few musicians go overseas and have alot of success that they wouldn't get if they stayed here (two guys in VAST ,one guy in Dimmu Borgir ..hehe only one aussie is still playing in those bands now though) and I was overseas for a year and noticed how much better it is and almost got to tech for a band that looked like it may have got signed and went on the ozzfest (didn't happen though ) , It just seems in this country aside from silverchair every other band just bust's its ass for years but never gets the chance to expand its market ,not to mention the total lack of decent muso's ,decent scene and decent international touring bands. I've got a visa for the UK (3 yrs) and am almost ready to jump ship (would rather go to the states anyday though) but then the problem of having no gear and the time to start over again doesn't appeal to much. Plus I think it wouldn't take to much to get noticed here in Aus and then i already have gear here.Hmmmm I'm gonna do a bit of travelling in August to think things over about what i should do ,its also just the openings for tech work and stuff as well which aren't here. Oh well thats my rant ,thanks for all the advice ! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Scheming Demon Posted June 11, 2002 Members Share Posted June 11, 2002 There are so many variables that go into this equation. For the most part I agree with everything that Glad_star said. Drummerjoe also made some good points. There's a saying "You can't shine {censored}." I look at it this way, you want to make your demo as attractive as you can possibly make it and give yourself every advantage you can possibly give yourself in order to get that "yes" from some label somewhere. The next step is send it to every and I mean "EVERY" label that handles the type of music you're doing. Don't send a death metal song to a label that specializes in pop music. If you're a singer/songwriter than you can get away with a home recording with just vocals and a guitar or vocals and piano. If your a rock band or metal band, you pretty much need to go to a professional recording studio. You don't have to pay $200 an hour like the big boys but it will probably cost anywhere from $500 to $4000 to decently record 3 or 4 songs in a reasonably priced studio. Like it was said before, make the best quality you can possibly afford. It's not easy to get a deal so you want to give yourself every advantage you can to stand out from the rest. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members plastic Posted June 17, 2002 Members Share Posted June 17, 2002 The recording quality isn't as important as a lot of people think. Of course, the quality has to be at least listenable quality. When sending stuff out, you must contact the A&R people first through your own connections or management of some kind or other channels. If they are not contacted first, your chances of having an unsolicited demo listened to are real low! Also, A&R reps aren't the only peple to send your stuff to. Any person in the music business could be helpfull, from band members to music lawyers to managers to radio DJ's, etc...The important thing is getting your stuff in the right hands. You can have the best sounding demo that could be released without a re-mix and all, but if you don't get it in the right hands, it will never get noticed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Nza Posted June 18, 2002 Members Share Posted June 18, 2002 Who knows what record companies want? Beck got signed on a demo he made on a boombox. Ani DiFranco released 8 CDs on her own before she got signed to a record company. The band Candlebox got signed without even having a demo, Madonna just thought they looked cool, and she wanted a rock band for her label. Record everything. Send it to everyone. There is no right or wrong when it comes to trying to establish yourself. My buddies have been working excruciatingly hard for years trying to get signed as a rock band, only to have the singer/guitarist get signed doing movie soundtrack/score music with a homemade CD of his solo computer music. Who knows where any "fish" will bite. So, drop your line whenever and wherever you can, and, once you feel a bite, don't stop tugging. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members station Posted June 23, 2002 Members Share Posted June 23, 2002 its realy all in how you sell yourself i think. I would make sure that its as good as possible. As far as what to put on it, mostly your style for the majority of it but, and i hate to say it, put some hardcore stuff on it thats closer to your style. Just try to play yourself up as sellable, get popular and then change to what you like to play. THe beatles did it, so did zeppelin. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Terry Allan Hall Posted June 25, 2002 Members Share Posted June 25, 2002 Originally posted by Nza Who knows what record companies want? Ani DiFranco released 8 CDs on her own before she got signed to a record company. Actually, DiFranco IS her own record company (Righteous Babe Records). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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