The Demo

Demo recordings are bedrock in our industry. Lifeblood. Central. At the core. Etc. Everybody who wishes to make commercial recordings has to make demo recordings. They are Part Of The Business.

So, naturally, at one point in my life, I made a lot of demos for people. Recording demos turned out to be a primary part of my studio business, back when I had a real studio. As you can imagine, I came to have some strong opinions about what makes a good demo. Since then, I’ve been on the other end of the stick. I’ve had to listen to a lot of demos that people have given to me for one reason or another, and I’ve come to have further opinions about what constitutes a good demo.

But before I share those opinions with you, we ought to get in mind exactly what a demo is. A demo is a recording that demonstrates an artist’s or composer’s talents, created specifically for the purpose of convincing a potential employer (record company, club owner, publisher, whatever) that they should hire said artist or composer. It should do this selling job quickly, succinctly and economically.

Naturally, the ingredients of a good demo depend on who that particular demo is designed to reach. Different styles, different types of potential employers all require specific handling, and these are features you are going to have to suss out for yourself. For the purposes of this article, let’s talk about a singer/songwriter demo designed to interest producers in developing the artist.

The Format

The musical format for such a demo is, obviously, a group of songs. Equally obviously, you use the best songs and the best performances you can possibly generate. Not too many songs. Four, five, six maximum. Four may be best. The best song, the one with the most impact, goes first. Then, greatest variety song-to-song.

Which medium (DAT, CD-R, cassette) you choose for the demo depends, of course, upon the recipient. DATs are convenient, but not everybody has one. CD-Rs are a really nice way to go and these days pretty inexpensive. Cassettes are everywhere, but the quality is a little, er, variable, and the cassette costs just about as much as the other media, so it’s a poor third choice, in my opinion.

Lyrical Quality

The impact of the lyrics and the clarity of the lyrics in performance are, to my mind, absolutely central. I don’t know of any other more useful way to put this, but the lyrics have to be, well, strong! The words have to work for you – they have to speak to the listener. If they don’t, then the burden of selling to the producer is loaded onto just the music and production qualities of the demo, and it is usually too much of a burden to be carried by just those two elements alone.

Musical Quality

Musical quality is, of course, equally essential. This includes craft things like great intonation, rhythm and tonal qualities. But, it should transcend those as well – musical quality must also include performance intensity, emotion, focus and commitment. In short, the music must be compelling. It should be as intense, if not necessarily as polished, as what’s going to come out on a recording for commercial release.

Actually, I often enjoy the demo performances more than the releases that come from them, just like I often prefer the basic tracks to the mix. Some years back, Billboard released a CD of demos (DemosWith A Bullet, I think it was called) of a bunch of singles that had gone high on the charts. It was fascinating to compare the demos with the finished hits that came from them. Often the demo was more compelling, musically, than the version that hit the charts. And that, troops, is the kind of performance you should be trying to get on the demo.

Audio Quality

It used to be, audio quality wasn’t so important on a demo. For the above singer/songwriter, the advice used to be, “Hey, just get the stuff on cassette. You ‘n your guitar. Don’t worry about sonic quality. As long as they can hear the words, the chord changes and your vocal quality, you’ll be fine.”

For better or for worse, those days are probably gone forever (they used to cut records in motel rooms, too, using the bathroom for a control booth – which should give you an idea of how far we’ve really come!). Basic audio quality has gotten good enough that you can’t really afford to have anything less.

So what does good basic audio quality mean? Good microphones (especially!), a reasonably quiet studio, followed by good mixing, editing and postproduction. You don’t have to be obsessive here, but this is definitely not the place for a PortaStudio or your garage. You use that to get ready to cut the demo!