making my first demo, and i need help

Post recordings you have made here and get feedback from the community. Songwriting topics would also reside here.

Moderators: onid41, jkanter

User avatar
seanbryantkbq
DMBTabs.com Authority
Posts: 2158
Joined: Fri May 16, 2003 6:31 pm
Location: Marietta, Ga
Contact:

making my first demo, and i need help

Unread post by seanbryantkbq » Thu Aug 19, 2004 6:41 pm

can anyone help me, im about to start on my first demo, and i wanted to knowthe steps i should take.. it will be a home made demo, but i want it to have the qualoty of professionals. what steps should i take, and where can i get software to master the demo

PEACE!!! :wink:
don't kid yourself and don't fool yourself
this love's too good to last and i'm too old to dream

don't grow up too fast don't embrace the past
this life's too good to last and i'm too young to care

don't kid yourself and don't fool yourself
this life could be the last and we're too young to see

MWR
DMBTabs.com Authority
Posts: 2085
Joined: Sat Apr 19, 2003 3:28 pm
Location: Anytown, USA

Unread post by MWR » Thu Aug 19, 2004 10:32 pm

I hate to break it to you but making a professional sounding demo requires a lot of knowledge and even more money. You might be better off buying some studio time otherwise you have to invest the time and money just like the rest of us. There's a lot more to recording than just pushing record.

User avatar
onid41
DMBTabs.com Authority
Posts: 22986
Joined: Mon Jun 28, 2004 2:30 pm
Location: long island
Contact:

Unread post by onid41 » Thu Aug 19, 2004 10:36 pm

nah just get a good recording program..a decent mic, and your set
-dino

MWR
DMBTabs.com Authority
Posts: 2085
Joined: Sat Apr 19, 2003 3:28 pm
Location: Anytown, USA

Unread post by MWR » Thu Aug 19, 2004 10:46 pm

onid41 wrote:nah just get a good recording program..a decent mic, and your set
I think our definitions of "professional" must be very different. :)

A quality demo that your actually going to hand out in hopes you'll get signed cannot be had with a decent mic and a good recording program.
Far too many people around here underestimate the recording process.
Last edited by MWR on Thu Aug 19, 2004 10:49 pm, edited 1 time in total.

User avatar
onid41
DMBTabs.com Authority
Posts: 22986
Joined: Mon Jun 28, 2004 2:30 pm
Location: long island
Contact:

Unread post by onid41 » Thu Aug 19, 2004 10:49 pm

yea i guess your right..i never made a professional demo so i shouldn't be talking..
-dino

User avatar
Beauford33
DMBTabs.com Authority
Posts: 19055
Joined: Sun Jun 29, 2003 11:08 pm
Random movie quote to make you seem hip and "with it": A little bit of column A and a little bit of column B...
Location: Denver

Unread post by Beauford33 » Thu Aug 19, 2004 10:52 pm

My only advise is to keep your expectations low...that way less can go wrong
-BK

MWR
DMBTabs.com Authority
Posts: 2085
Joined: Sat Apr 19, 2003 3:28 pm
Location: Anytown, USA

Unread post by MWR » Thu Aug 19, 2004 10:53 pm

If all he wanted was to make some good recordings of just him and his guitar then your advice would have been perfect. As soon as "professional" and "demo" pop up it's a different strory.

User avatar
onid41
DMBTabs.com Authority
Posts: 22986
Joined: Mon Jun 28, 2004 2:30 pm
Location: long island
Contact:

Unread post by onid41 » Thu Aug 19, 2004 10:56 pm

very well....
-dino

User avatar
dmb_tatertot
DMBTabs.com Council
Posts: 910
Joined: Sat Feb 07, 2004 2:05 am
Location: Louisville, KY
Contact:

Re: making my first demo, and i need help

Unread post by dmb_tatertot » Fri Aug 20, 2004 12:55 am

seanbryantkbq wrote:can anyone help me, im about to start on my first demo, and i wanted to knowthe steps i should take.. it will be a home made demo, but i want it to have the qualoty of professionals. what steps should i take, and where can i get software to master the demo

PEACE!!! :wink:
hey if you want i just got done making my own demo cd... i did have the actual cds professional done with cases, but the audio was recorded and mastered in my home studio. I can give you a couple good suggestions and software ideas if you interested. Hit me up on aim.
-Chris

User avatar
charliemike
DMBTabs.com Authority
Posts: 1965
Joined: Sat Mar 20, 2004 6:56 pm

Unread post by charliemike » Fri Aug 20, 2004 9:34 am

Check out the French guys' DMB covers ... They were done in a studio by an engineer that knows what he's doing. Unless you have that kind of setup built at home you cannot possibly duplicate that IMO.

You can get decent results but nothing like that.

User avatar
juineaux
DMBTabs.com Council
Posts: 956
Joined: Thu Jan 30, 2003 1:30 pm
Location: ohio
Contact:

Unread post by juineaux » Fri Aug 20, 2004 9:49 am

Ive made a couple of pro demo's, one in a home studio and one in a big name studio. My suggestion is to keep everything very basic and simple. If you play live with just an acoustic guitar and vocals, youre demo should sound like that.

BTW-
are you using this demo to get gigs, or are you sending it to record companies?

User avatar
seanbryantkbq
DMBTabs.com Authority
Posts: 2158
Joined: Fri May 16, 2003 6:31 pm
Location: Marietta, Ga
Contact:

Unread post by seanbryantkbq » Fri Aug 20, 2004 5:30 pm

BTW-
are you using this demo to get gigs, or are you sending it to record companies?
im using it for both, thats why i want it very professioanlly done,. and ill probably use it to sell also

PEACE!!! :wink:
don't kid yourself and don't fool yourself
this love's too good to last and i'm too old to dream

don't grow up too fast don't embrace the past
this life's too good to last and i'm too young to care

don't kid yourself and don't fool yourself
this life could be the last and we're too young to see

User avatar
GreyBlueAnt
DMBTabs.com Regular
Posts: 249
Joined: Tue Oct 07, 2003 11:49 am
Location: Las Cruces, NM
Contact:

Unread post by GreyBlueAnt » Thu Sep 09, 2004 9:17 pm

I've always been a fan of direct feed, live performance demos. It's good to feel the energy of a live performance. but that's just me.
A word to the wise ain't necessary - it's the stupid ones that need the advice.
-Bill Cosby

User avatar
seanbryantkbq
DMBTabs.com Authority
Posts: 2158
Joined: Fri May 16, 2003 6:31 pm
Location: Marietta, Ga
Contact:

Unread post by seanbryantkbq » Thu Sep 09, 2004 9:31 pm

how exacltly do i connect a recorder or whatever to a power mixer to get this live feed grey blue ant?
don't kid yourself and don't fool yourself
this love's too good to last and i'm too old to dream

don't grow up too fast don't embrace the past
this life's too good to last and i'm too young to care

don't kid yourself and don't fool yourself
this life could be the last and we're too young to see

User avatar
GreyBlueAnt
DMBTabs.com Regular
Posts: 249
Joined: Tue Oct 07, 2003 11:49 am
Location: Las Cruces, NM
Contact:

Unread post by GreyBlueAnt » Thu Sep 09, 2004 11:51 pm

depends on the board or amp you are using, most powered mixers have a tape output (RCA) that you could connect whatever recorder you are using to ie. DAT, CD-R. The only downside of that is that you can't adjust levels to the recorder, but if you have things mixed well to start with it shouldn't be a problem. I guess theoretically you could go from the tape out to a computer input and use a sound recorder (Cool Edit/Adobe Audition) to record the song. You need that anyway to seperate the tracks. Some live open mic places i've been to give you a CD-R of your gig after you're done playing (if you take them a blank). You might check around, that'd save you some of the trouble.
A word to the wise ain't necessary - it's the stupid ones that need the advice.
-Bill Cosby

Post Reply

Return to “Recording & Critiquing”

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 155 guests