We are finally getting to the point where we will be booking our own shows (looking towards march), anyways. We've started recording some "live" quality demo's and wondered if you guys had experience with using demos to help get gigs.
once we get some stuff recorded i will throw it around here and on facebook to get opinions on the recording quality and how we sound as a band. i'm assuming that bad quality recordings would keep us from booking stuff.
i won't be burning cd's in mass quantities because thats just pricey, probably just have a few laying around in case i need to hand one out.
so questions are, is it worth it? i would assume so, if i was a bar owner i'd like to hear someone before i booked them.
opinions on demo's, go!
- kayla.
Demo Questions
Demo Questions
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bassist_25
- Senior Member
- Posts: 6815
- Joined: Monday Dec 09, 2002
- Location: Indiana
It's not a bad tool in your tool belt to have. As you stated, having a good quality demo is important. A lot of live recordings and demos honestly don't capture how good a band really is.
Many bands take snippets of multiple songs and then synch them together into a quick little medley. This is a good approach as it allows club owners and clients to sample the range of the material without having to jump around on a CD or an online playlist. The truth of the matter is a lot of owners and managers are busy people and probably won't spend a lot of time listening to a demo. They just want to make sure that you're not terrible and your genre of music will fit with their clientele.
When it comes to online promotion, pictures say a thousand words. Keep a lot of photos. You should have good photos of the band, but the majority of the pictures should really focus on the audience and people having a good time. Only use wide shots if it's a packed dance floor or house.
Also, the more gigs you have, the easier gigs are to get. Showing that you're busy instills confidence in the people looking to book you. (I know, that's like employers wanting experience and then not thinking about how you'll get experience in the first place *lol*).
Many bands take snippets of multiple songs and then synch them together into a quick little medley. This is a good approach as it allows club owners and clients to sample the range of the material without having to jump around on a CD or an online playlist. The truth of the matter is a lot of owners and managers are busy people and probably won't spend a lot of time listening to a demo. They just want to make sure that you're not terrible and your genre of music will fit with their clientele.
When it comes to online promotion, pictures say a thousand words. Keep a lot of photos. You should have good photos of the band, but the majority of the pictures should really focus on the audience and people having a good time. Only use wide shots if it's a packed dance floor or house.
Also, the more gigs you have, the easier gigs are to get. Showing that you're busy instills confidence in the people looking to book you. (I know, that's like employers wanting experience and then not thinking about how you'll get experience in the first place *lol*).
"He's the electric horseman, you better back off!" - old sKool making a reference to the culturally relevant 1979 film.
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floodcitybrass
- Platinum Member
- Posts: 527
- Joined: Thursday Jan 30, 2003
We use only live audio and video recordings for our demos and website material.
It captures our live musicianship, stage presence, crowd interaction, etc.
In the market that we play, the "what you see/hear is what you get" philosophy works quite well. Not saying it will work for everyone but it works great for us.
It captures our live musicianship, stage presence, crowd interaction, etc.
In the market that we play, the "what you see/hear is what you get" philosophy works quite well. Not saying it will work for everyone but it works great for us.
I've personally never been too big into demos; it seems like aiming for mediocrity. You should try to make every song, every performance, every recording, the best it can be. But I see where you're coming from, and as a promotional tool, it makes sense.
floodcitybrass has a great point. By now, everybody is aware of the power of 'studio magic', so no one is really impressed by a great sounding demo. It IS a bit more difficult to get quality recordings from a live situation, though. Simply recording the FOH mix doesn't cut it. For a band starting out, a live demo may not be practical (we're talking about extra equipment and personnel).
As far as what's worth it, paying for your own studio time is, IMO, for suckers. When you pay for your own time, you keep one eye on the clock, which causes the work to suffer. Yeah, you might be well rehearsed, and maybe the engineer/producer are REALLY good, but bear in mind that it takes an experienced, well-paid engineer 10-12 hours to MIX (not track) 1 song in a major label environment. For what you'd pay to have an EP-sized demo made, you can buy (download) more production power than they used to make Sgt. Peppers. Then you've got all the time in the world, so take 2 days to get the drums right, if you want.
floodcitybrass has a great point. By now, everybody is aware of the power of 'studio magic', so no one is really impressed by a great sounding demo. It IS a bit more difficult to get quality recordings from a live situation, though. Simply recording the FOH mix doesn't cut it. For a band starting out, a live demo may not be practical (we're talking about extra equipment and personnel).
As far as what's worth it, paying for your own studio time is, IMO, for suckers. When you pay for your own time, you keep one eye on the clock, which causes the work to suffer. Yeah, you might be well rehearsed, and maybe the engineer/producer are REALLY good, but bear in mind that it takes an experienced, well-paid engineer 10-12 hours to MIX (not track) 1 song in a major label environment. For what you'd pay to have an EP-sized demo made, you can buy (download) more production power than they used to make Sgt. Peppers. Then you've got all the time in the world, so take 2 days to get the drums right, if you want.
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StumbleFingers
- Gold Member
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- Location: Altoona
bassist_25 wrote:A lot of live recordings ... honestly don't capture how good a band really is.
One of the important things about a quality demo (live or studio) is that you're making sure that a decent recording of your band exists at all. An audience member can take a poor quality cell phone video and spread it all over the web in seconds. Look on YouTube and you'll find terrible recordings of the best bands in the world.Jasaoke wrote:Simply recording the FOH mix doesn't cut it.
If a club wants to book you and all they can find is a crappy cell phone clip, that doesn't do you any favors. If you have some decent recordings, get them out there and spread them around.
Back in black, I need a snack...
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RobTheDrummer
- Diamond Member
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- Joined: Tuesday Dec 10, 2002
- Location: Tiptonia, Pa
thanks for all the advice guys! we do have a few vids on youtube. the youtube vids are from a few months ago and we've progressed a lot since then though.
i like the idea of meshing small clips of different songs together. i have decent recording equipment that makes a pretty solid mp3 file. i was thinking a 4 to 5 song demo cd would be a good start.
- kayla.
i like the idea of meshing small clips of different songs together. i have decent recording equipment that makes a pretty solid mp3 file. i was thinking a 4 to 5 song demo cd would be a good start.
- kayla.
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bassist_25
- Senior Member
- Posts: 6815
- Joined: Monday Dec 09, 2002
- Location: Indiana
There is a lot of truth to this. I've always respected that bands like The Dead and Phish were so open to having audience members create their own live recordings. That's really putting yourself out there - especially considering that those bands are highly improvisational, so not every performance is going to be brilliant perfection. Sometimes improvisation can be uninspired at the least and a complete circus train wreck at the worst.StumbleFingers wrote:
One of the important things about a quality demo (live or studio) is that you're making sure that a decent recording of your band exists at all. An audience member can take a poor quality cell phone video and spread it all over the web in seconds. Look on YouTube and you'll find terrible recordings of the best bands in the world.
If a club wants to book you and all they can find is a crappy cell phone clip, that doesn't do you any favors. If you have some decent recordings, get them out there and spread them around.
Like every musician, I've had performances that I'd rather forget about, and I wouldn't want them memorialized with an audience recording on YouTube. But I guess there's not much you can do about that. You don't want to become Metallica and start sending cease and desist orders to your fans.
"He's the electric horseman, you better back off!" - old sKool making a reference to the culturally relevant 1979 film.
Reverbnation, Soundclick, and Youtube.
Before Facebook got popular, I gave out hundreds of CD's of live board mixes (You can get away with it more in a bluegrass band, because there are no drums or amps skewing the levels, everybody's closer to the same volume... I don't recommend it for your band, Kayla) to anyone who would take one. It wasn't as expensive as I thought, I treated each CD as if it were an unauthorized bootleg of a show, limited edition, "you're holding something very few people have," that kind of thing. People still tell me they wore those out and ask for new ones, but I seldom oblige.
We went to Bill Filer's studio about 8 months into it and recorded a demo that turned out okay for being done on the cheap, but as much as I like Bill and recording there, I still like recording at our own pace.
We still sell an occasional copy of that demo (cheeep!), but mostly it got us something else we wanted, airplay on bluegrass radio and podcasts. To me, it's worth it to have something you can give to JP for the homegrown show, and even a tiny bit of airplay helps feather your nest. My advice for demo's is not to be too much of a tone-Nazi, or nail everything to the Nth degree, though you should do your best. If you self-produce, PLEASE get someone who's already done it a few times to help... it saves countless hours figuring it out on your own. If you do want to do it all yourself, don't make your demo the first thing you try. Do a few songs first, to learn your process.
Once you have something, do a Reverbnation account, or Soundclick, something you can link to on social media. It saves bigtime on the CD blanks, your time, and everybody who books you wants online presence, anyway. Facebook, while annoying and intrusive, is still the best thing to happen to band promotion, pretty much ever.
Have fun with it. It's supposed to be fun.
Before Facebook got popular, I gave out hundreds of CD's of live board mixes (You can get away with it more in a bluegrass band, because there are no drums or amps skewing the levels, everybody's closer to the same volume... I don't recommend it for your band, Kayla) to anyone who would take one. It wasn't as expensive as I thought, I treated each CD as if it were an unauthorized bootleg of a show, limited edition, "you're holding something very few people have," that kind of thing. People still tell me they wore those out and ask for new ones, but I seldom oblige.
We went to Bill Filer's studio about 8 months into it and recorded a demo that turned out okay for being done on the cheap, but as much as I like Bill and recording there, I still like recording at our own pace.
We still sell an occasional copy of that demo (cheeep!), but mostly it got us something else we wanted, airplay on bluegrass radio and podcasts. To me, it's worth it to have something you can give to JP for the homegrown show, and even a tiny bit of airplay helps feather your nest. My advice for demo's is not to be too much of a tone-Nazi, or nail everything to the Nth degree, though you should do your best. If you self-produce, PLEASE get someone who's already done it a few times to help... it saves countless hours figuring it out on your own. If you do want to do it all yourself, don't make your demo the first thing you try. Do a few songs first, to learn your process.
Once you have something, do a Reverbnation account, or Soundclick, something you can link to on social media. It saves bigtime on the CD blanks, your time, and everybody who books you wants online presence, anyway. Facebook, while annoying and intrusive, is still the best thing to happen to band promotion, pretty much ever.
Have fun with it. It's supposed to be fun.