How to Make a Demo

Guide Note

Your demo is the most important part of your band's press kit. It is the first impression you get to make on industry people at performance venues, record labels, etc. This page will provide you with some strategies on How to Make a Demo that will make them want to hear more!

Your Band's Demo

• Your demo will make that critical first impression of your band's music when the label A&R person pops it into the CD player. In fact, it will also be the first impression for venue bookers, managers, lawyers, etc. Therefore, it is vital that it makes an immediate impact on the listener and completely defines your band's sound in a brief listen. There are several things you should take into consideration when putting your demo together.

1. It should consist of only 3 or 4 of your band's absolute best songs.
   • Since it is used to give the listener an idea of what your band sounds like, the songs you include should be great and epitomize your sound.
2. Cover songs are usually only used for demos of cover bands.
   • If you write your own music, you probably should not have any more than one cover song, if any, on your demo.
3. Don't save the best for last.
   • Your strongest song should come first, followed by your next strongest song, etc.
4. The first song shouldn't take longer than about 30 seconds to get to the chorus or hook.
   • The people listening to your demo do not have much time and probably listen to hundreds of songs a day. They will skip to the next song if they're not immediately sucked in, and won't bother listening to more than a few tunes.
   • Ideally, none of your demo songs should take too long to get to the good stuff.
5. CDs are always preferred.
   • No one wants to fast forward or rewind a tape to get to the song they want. Save them the hassle.
6. Though the song quality matters more than the recording quality, you should do what you can to ensure the best sounding demo you can make.

Demo or Album?

Recording studios can give your demo a polished sound for a price. (Creative Commons photo by Toby Forage)

1. Most bands opt to start out with a demo or EP, but if you have the budget and enough songs, you could record a full-length album.
2. No matter how many songs you choose to record, you will still need to make a 3 or 4 song demo. Most industry people don't want you to send them a full album. They don't have time to listen to the whole thing, anyway.
3. If you're thinking of recording a full-length album, you not only have to factor in the costs of the extra studio time, artwork, and CD replication, but also the costs of making additional CDs of your demo.
4. You don't have to record a full album to make money; you can sell a 5 song EP for $5 as easily as selling a 10 song album for $10.
   • This can save you some money in recording costs, and allow you to basically sell your demo to fans.
5. Sit down with your band to discuss your budget and goals. Decide what makes the most sense as far as recording goes.

Recording the Demo

1. Together with your band, choose your best 3 or 4 songs to include on the demo. Ask an outside source for an opinion on what their favorite tunes are. This source could be anyone you trust who has heard your band perform. If you've already played live before, consider which songs got the best reactions.
2. Put in some extra rehearsal time to make sure these few songs are perfected.
3. Decide how you will record:
   • Recording studio: Renting out a recording studio guarantees you a block of time in a quality space with good equipment. While you will be shelling out some cash, some studios are very affordable ($20-30 per hour). You can also find someone with a home studio who is willing to record you for a lower price.
   • Home studio: These days, technology makes it easy for anyone to have their own personal home studio. Investing a few hundred dollars can get you enough equipment to start recording right to your computer. See your local music store for more details.
   • Record a rehearsal. If your options are slim for ways to record, there is always the option of recording the band live in the rehearsal space with a portable audio recorder. Tape recorders are cheap, but recording to flash drives is much more preferable—most people will require your music to be on CD, and you're going to want to upload your music to the Internet as well.
4. Master the recording. Mastering puts the finishing touches on a recording and increases the volume so that it can compete with commercial CDs. Mastering isn't mandatory, but it will make the recording sound nicer for a few extra bucks. You will need to pay an engineer to master your recording for you if you don't have a home studio with mastering software yourself.

Manufacturing the Demo

• Once the recording is done, the final step is making multiple CD copies.

1. You can make them yourself using a CD burner.
2. Multiple CD burners allow you to make many copies at once using a single unit.
3. Some CD burners will print labels right on the CD, eliminating the need to use a Sharpie or print stickers.
4. Clearly written on every demo should be: the band name, song titles, website, and contact info. If you want your CD to have cool artwork on it instead, save it for the one you sell to fans. The demo you send to industry people should be clean and easy to read.
5. Services such as Disc Makers, Oasis, and Diskfaktory.com will press professional CDs and have more affordable options for short-run CD-R duplication.
6. If the CD is shrink-wrapped, take it off before putting it in your press kit. The last thing anyone wants to do is wrestle with plastic wrap before they can listen to a demo.

Resources for How to Record a Demo

• Wikipedia: A&R | Hook | EP | Overdubbing | CD-R
• CD Manufacturers: Disc Makers | Oasis | Diskfaktory.com
• Expert Village: How to Make a Demo Tape
• Getsigned.com: 5 Deadly Demo Sins Every Artist Should Avoid (July 25, 2003)
• Harmony-Central: Making a Demo Tape
• BBC: How to Make a Vocal Demo | Home Recording - The Basics
• About.com: How To Record a Demo  
• Josaka: How to record a demo

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