How Do I Record A Demo CD?

There are many ways to record a demo. Whether you’re a solo artist or a twelve piece percussion group, there are some pretty standard ways to go about recording a demo

Obviously, depending on the intention of the recording you could consider the following:

• Recording in your bedroom on your stereo - simply press record. This is a great way to demo your own material acoustically and try to figure out what works and what doesn’t.

• Buying an mp3 digital recorder - stick the mic in the middle of the room during your next rehearsal or record acoustic versions of tracks

• Recording one of your gigs and trying to edit it or cut it up yourself. This can sometimes be a little hit and miss. Depending on the quality of the PA system in the room and where the person recording it is standing, you will either hit or miss. Sometimes it’s possible to get a recording straight out of the mixing board which is done quite frequently by smart bands

• Renting or buying your own 8 track recorder with a bunch of mics, they are not that expensive these days - many guitar stores and music shops rent and sell them, however if your not sure what your doing, it could be quite time consuming setting up and getting all the levels right

• Buying computer software like pro-tools or Q Base and recording onto a computer - you’ll still need mics for this

• Hiring a studio and getting the job done professionally. Costly, but if you know what your doing and have a clear idea of what you want before you record, it could be well worth the exercise

It goes without saying that every option above comes with pluses and minuses. However, the bottom line is that recording and distributing a demo these days isn’t really that hard, the more challenging part is to really know and understand what the purpose of the demo is actually for?

All too often people get caught up in the whirlwind of thinking that they need a demo when in reality what they really need to be focusing their efforts on are other, more effective self promotion tactics.

Tags: Demo's

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