How to Record your Demo CD

Well today I want to tell you how to Record your Demo CD.

Demo stands for demonstration, which is exactly what it is-a demonstration of your band's songs. It's not master quality, but it just shows what you as musicians are able to accomplish.

STEPS:

1.     Write Songs. Your demo needs to be 2 to 3 songs. You can add more if you like, but don't over do it. I NEVER Do more than 4 songs – ever! They can be original or cover songs but at least a couple of them should be original.

2.     Choose your best songs. Best isn't your most popular songs, it's your best. Best means the best performed, best sung, best written, with the strongest chorus and the best structure and format. Now some say the songs should be all the same genre, this where I strongly disagree – my best success in getting gigs was on my CD that had 4 completely different styles of songs. This way, using just the same Demo CD, we could get booked in a Blues Club, or a Rock Club etc.
Where is your band is going to record. For bands just starting out, paying 500 to $1, 200 for a Demo CD is not practical, so therefore I highly recommend you Record your Demo CD at home. With today’s Computers and software, recording quality is quite impressive.

o    Obtain some recording software. Audacity is a great program which you can get for FREE. If you can afford it, buy Pro Tools. Version 8 cost around $300, version 9 cost $600. Because Pro Tools is the standard and so powerful, it does have a learning curve. Audacity is FREE  and very powerful, I'v heard several great Demos produced with it.

o    Make sure you have the hardware Mics, stands, windscreens, amps, a mixer (if you can) and lots of cables! And please Buy Good Cables, not the Radio Shack crap. (I buy Monster cables from Guitar Center)

o    Keep it as simple as possible. For best playback quality run from the sound card into a mixer or amplifier and then to your monitor speakers. For best recording quality, run instruments/mics into a mixer(make sure you are getting a clean, clear, undistorted signal) then run from the mixer into the sound card. (I've recorded numerous Demo CD's this way, with impressive results.

o    Learn to record into an .mp3 or .wav file. The MP3 format is a nice compressed file size, standard recording an mp3 is usually 16 bit at 128kps at 44khz is the standard. WAV files are fine too, just know that storage wise, they are alot bigger Eat up Hard Drive Space.

o    Record the drums first. The rest come easier with more precision.

Tomorrow I’ll talk about how to mic a drum kit. This week I'll talk about recording ALL your Instruments. Next week I'll talk about putting it all together with impressive graphics and packaging.

* I love recording, so I hope you will too, it's where the magic happens!
Rory
http://www.thenextsoundyouhear.com/