Music Business Advice - Preparing to Record a Demo
band / group / musician - all
genre / style - all
OK, you have found your sound and you have written some pretty good tunes. Rock, RAP, Country, Blues, Metal, Jazz whichever style/genre of original music you play, you are looking to record a demo of your songs. It doesn't matter if you are looking for a record deal or you want to use it for a booking gigs or a Music Convention like SXSW, CMJ/CIT, or Philly Film & Music Festival. Maybe you want to sell some CDs at your gigs for a few extra bucks or maybe you want to show your 5th Grade Music Teacher how much better (or worse) you have gotten. Maybe you want to be played on GashouseRadio.com. Whatever the reason, here are some thoughts to keep in mind for you to get a good quality demo completed.
First, may I suggest that you keep profanity and graphic language off of your demo. What the f#@k am I talking about ? What if your demo ends up being played on a college Radio station or some other local or underground radio station governed by FCC rules. Your songs will NOT be played with any profanity or graphic language on it. Find the Best 4 - 6 songs you have written without profanity or graphic language. When I say the BEST Songs, I am speaking of the most popular songs. OTHER people like the Best, not just your personal favorites. You should never allow your feelings to get in the way of making a proper business decision. This is business, nothing personal. Lets say that you wrote a song about the love of your life. That song has a lot of value and meaning to you and it is, after all, your favorite song. Others may say that the same song, about the love of your life, is not your best work (if they are truly your friends they may say that they would rather have a root canal done with a power drill going through their nose instead of hearing you play that same stupid song, any more). I suggest that you allow the majority of opinion trump your feelings. It's the right music business decision. You can always write another song but, you may only get ONE chance to have the right person listen to your demo. You will never know if someone who could have help you better your music career, chose to have a root canal done instead of helping you get signed to a major record deal or someone could have helped you land a gig opening up for your favorite well known international band/group/ musician's tour. Talk about heart break.
The next, and one of the Most Important things you should do is Copyright these songs. I do NOT recommend that you do what is called "The Poor Man's Copyright." (or as I like to call it "The Dumb Ass, Waste of Time, CopyWRONG") What am I talking about ? Some dopes believe that when you mail a letter to yourself with a tape or CD or sheet music of your songs, they are protected. Real Copyrights done through the US Copyright Office are guaranteed and protected within the US Laws. http://www.copyright.GOV When you Copyright songs, it will only costs a few dollars and will protect you from theft. It would really suck if someone samples your song, makes millions of dollars from your work, and you get zero credit for it. Protect yourself before your wreck yourself.
Practice, Practice, Practice !! Rehearse the songs over & over & over again. You should want to sound like a broken record (pun intended). Practice is very important. Allen Iverson thought that only the game was important and yet with all of his talent he NEVER won a championship because he didn't understand the concept of practicing. Practice always makes you & your band/group (if you have one) play, sound and perform better. The tighter you are at practice, the better sounding and quicker you will be in the recording studio. The quicker you are in the studio the more money you will save recording your demo.
Line up your gear days in advance of entering the recording studio. Shop around, borrow, or buy any instruments &/or equipment you want to use for recording. It is always wise to bring extra strings, picks, sticks, drum heads, reeds, etc. ANYTHING that you may break or wear out during recording. You will waste time and money when you're running out to a music store and the studio clock is ticking. If you need extra singers or musicians, book them in advance. I also suggest that you rehearse with them before you go into the studio. Get them to know their parts. Don't you remember what I wrote in the last paragraph about practicing ? (for those with who forgot) Have everything lined up BEFORE you enter the studio.
Your recording choices are endless. You can go very cheaply by recording it yourself on a laptop with a recording and mixing program or you can use an 8 track recorder (the Beatles used only 4 Tracks to record early on) or you can use a portable reel to reel. You may go to a recording studio where prices vary depending on the location, equipment, staffing, and the time of the week you block out (reserve) for recording. Here are a couple of small tips about recording studios prices: usually Recording Studios charge cheaper rates during the weekday hours (9AM to 5PM your local time). Also, when you book a studio, the rates are usually cheaper if you book a couple of days in a row. Shop around. Don't just search the net. ASK other bands/groups/musicians where is the better fit for your style/genre of music. A studio with a good reputation for recording Folk music may not be the best choice for a EMO Band. Just like a Hip-Hop artist might think twice about recording at a studio known for Country music. You should tour the facility and ask many questions about the equipment and staff before you block out time with them. You should also ask about overtime charges, in case it takes longer than you think. Just because you have a 3 minute song, certainly doesn't mean it will take you 3 minutes to record it properly. It takes time to mic the instruments & set levels from a clean board. A good rule of thumb, when you add retakes, each 1 minute of recording may take approximately two to five hours to do properly. Now maybe you'll understand why I won't shut up about practicing before you enter the studio. Some bands/groups/musicians find that their best sound comes when they preform live. Another option is you can record through the sound board at your next gig. If you do record at a live gig, I recommend that your feed is raw (without sound man's mix). Some people like using an old DAT Machine (Digital Audio Tape) to do the live recording because they are cheap to buy or rent, have digital quality, and most have XLR cable ports which make it easier to couple with the sound board or straight from a microphone or two. If the console is newer, you could burn your performance to a disc. Whichever way you choose to record your music, I advise that you have someone other than the person or persons who recorded you, mix your recording. A second set of ears will double your chances of a better sounding demo.
Now that you have your 4 - 6 best songs recorded, mixed, and you can prove ownership of them because you have Copyrights on them, it's time for you to take your master recording and reproduce (aka burn) them onto some CDs & USB sticks. But wait a minute, Demos are usually 2 or 3 songs. Why did I make you record extra songs? Because, some songs sound better live instead of recorded and some sound better recorded than live and all tunes sound different after mixing polishes them off. After all the recording is done & the tunes are mixed, you can get together with a group of people for a listening party & choose Thee best 2 or 3 recorded songs. You should have people who are not involved in your band/group, but like your style/genre of music, listen to the finished project. May I shamelessly suggest http://OriginalMusicReviews.BlogSpot.com ? We will do it for FREE.
Here are a couple of pointers beyond Recording your Demo: You can burn your CDs yourself using most of today's newer computers or you could hire a company to professionally do it. Again, you should ask other bands/groups/musicians where you should go as well as surf the net. Also using USB sticks and allowing for downloads(off of the Internet)of your songs is another route for you to distrubute your music. When printing the front and back covers as well as the CD it's self, I strongly suggest that on both the CD and the front or back cover you have printed the band/group/musician's name, mailing address that is good for 3 more years (stay away from using your soon to be EX's work po box), email address, song titles and Copyright dates. Those are the most important things to have on the disc as well as the cover. Any other stuff is ok, but will be considered -blah -blah -blah to people in the music biz. Nobody cares about you giving thanks to your dog for not crapping on the floor during Hurricane Irene in late August 2011.
(no dog crap was used in the making of this blog)
-Alex & K2
Original Music Reviews
P.O. BOX 250
Maple Shade, NJ USA 08052
(updated address as of 8/1/2012)
P.O. BOX 250
Maple Shade, NJ USA 08052
(updated address as of 8/1/2012)
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