At various points in the development of your musical career, a demo recording will play an important part giving you a promotional tool with which to create new opportunities for your act. You demo recording can be used for numerous purposes……..

• To get more gigs. Perhaps out-with your area
• To send to industry reps i.e. Record companies, managers, agents
• To sell in order to make money and increase your fan-base

Regardless of the reasons for making your recording, the advantages of having one are numerous. With computers and the internet advancing on a daily basis bands now have an international platform from which to promote themselves and their music.

Once you have come to the decision that you would like to make a recording there are a number of things to think about in preparation. If you do not have access to any recording equipment you are most likely to record your demo in a recording studio with an engineer - this is a common choice for bands with little or no experience in recording. However, there are a large number of software based recording packages available today and a lot of bands are now opting to make their own recordings out-with the constraints of a professional studio. Whatever the method you should aim to do your sound and songs justice and really portray yourselves through the recording of the demo.

Some of the most important factors in producing a professional sounding demo lie in the preparation that takes place before you even enter the studio. Recording can be a very inspiring and enjoyable experience but can very quickly become stressful inhibiting productivity. If you are not relaxed when you are recording your material it will tell and you will be left with a recording that you know could have been better. After 6 months of apologising for a demo that you are not happy with you will begin to realise the importance that preparation plays in the recording process. It is wise to consider the following when you begin to think about making a recording…
 

1. Pre-Production

Choosing your studio

The recording studio plays a creative role when it comes to making any recording and every studio is different. The gear, the environment, the engineer. All of these have to be considered when you go to look at prospective studios. Consider the type of music you make and what kind of facilities you will need to recreate your sound on record before you start looking. There are various ways to source a studio - the Internet, yellow pages, adverts in music publications. The most reliable way, if you are looking to record locally, is to find out from other local acts where they have made their recordings. If you have heard a local band’s recording and were really impressed with the sound, contact them and find out where they made it. Leave messages on local music forums to see what people recommend.

Once you have a list of studios together the next thing to do is get in contact with them. See if it is possible for you to go and have a look at the studio. This will give you a chance to look at the recording space and meet the engineer - it is important to establish a relationship with your engineer as they need to become involved with the music when it comes to recording. Try and find an engineer that you can get on with and ask them if they have any examples of previous recordings they have made. It is standard practice for an engineer or studio to have examples of their work (known as a show reel) to give to prospective clients. It is the equivalent to their CV and will allow you to judge how well they will be able to work with your music and your sound.
 

Note: Once you have chosen your engineer it is a good idea to let them hear your band so that he can get an idea of what you sound like. Think about inviting them to a few of your gigs or making some basic recordings with a tape player that they can listen to. This means when you get into the studio the engineer will have an idea on how to approach things.
 

"It's pretty important to be comfortable with the studio environment and to have confident in the people you're working with"

Goron Skene - Carson
 

Choosing your songs

Choosing which songs you will record is often a difficult decision to make. It is likely that you won’t have the time (or money) to record all of your songs so you have to consider what the demo is for and make your decision on the basis of that. Your recording will give you the opportunity to promote your band and impress yourselves upon other people. The listener will form an opinion on your act on the basis of what they hear so the tracks you decide to lay down need to be your best ones. Try asking some of your friends or regular audience which tracks they like the most and which they would like to hear recorded. More often than not there will be some common songs in everybody’s answer. Considering the opinions of others as well as those of the band allow you to make the best decision. At the end of the day this will be a recording for you and others to enjoy so you want to put your strongest material on it.

Preparing your Songs

Once you have chosen your songs and studio you should begin preparing each track. It is very important that when you go into a studio that you know all of the songs inside out. Make sure that they are all well rehearsed and most importantly finished! Remember that your time in the studio will be costing you money - you don’t want to be using that time to work things out that could have been done before you got there. You need to be sure of the arrangements, harmonies etc. within your song so all of your time is spent working on producing a good recording and not finishing songs. You will end up pushed for time if somebody has to learn or change a part during the session. 

In addition, you want your engineer to know that you are serious about making your recording as they will be encouraged to do a better job as well. If there are constant breaks for you to relearn or amend your tracks it is unlikely that the engineer will be able to focus as well on what they are doing. If the session goes fluidly without any avoidable hiccups both you and the engineer will enjoy the session more and the results will inevitably be better.

A good idea when preparing your songs is to make recordings at your rehearsals. This allows you to listen back and think about how they could be improved. Even a simple recording using a basic tape machine can be very useful. Some people can be surprised by their band mate’s part when they go into the studio. It can be quite off putting when you listen back to your recording and you find yourself surprised by what everyone is playing. The mix brings all the parts in the song out so that you can hear them and you don’t want to be surprised by what you hear. Make sure you have experimented as much as you want to with your songs so that you know that the version you record is the best one. Again recording different versions of the same song will help you decide on the best way of playing it. The majority of big name artists can spend weeks in a separate studio preparing songs for a master recording session. It is a vitally important part of the recording process.

"Once the band are well rehearsed, when they get to the session they will not just be able to play their song - they will be able to perform it."

Nick Turner, Watercolour Studios

Setting up your gear

In the days running up to your recording session it is advantageous to make sure that all of the gear you are going to be using is in good working order. The following are examples of things to check before entering the studio:
 

Make sure that if you are using your own drums that all of the skins are in good condition and that your drum kit is tuned and producing the sound that you want. No matter how good the studio, if your source sound is of a low quality the recorded sound will not be any better.

Guitars and Bass. Before you go into the studio make sure that you have fresh new strings on your guitar. Old, dead strings will sound lifeless whilst new strings will sound clear and warm and make it easier to get the sound that you want. Make sure that your guitar is set up properly (your local music shop should be able to offer this service) so that the frets or pickups don’t buzz and your guitar sounds the best it can. The same applies to your amps, leads and pedals. Make sure that there is no electrical buzz off these and that the only noise is that which is being made by you and your guitar.
 

Make sure that you leave yourself enough time to prepare yourself. Consider all of the above when you go to book your session and make sure you are left with enough time to prepare.

Now that you are ready it’s time to start the recording!
 

The Recording Session

Methods of Recording

There are various different methods of laying down the individual tracks for your recording. There really is no standard practice when it comes to this. As previously stated, recording is a creative process and should be treated as such -ideas are encouraged. In terms of recording all the parts of the songs, there are two main ways of doing this - live or overdubbing.
 

Live Recording

Lot of bands prefer this method as it can make the recording a lot tighter. Live recording involves everybody playing and recording their parts at the same time - as you would if you were to perform the song. Depending on the studio and the engineer there are various ways to approach live recording. The most basic way of doing things is to have everybody set their gear up in a room, mic it up and just record. Unfortunately there are problems with this approach. If all of the amps etc. are in the same room the mics being used to record each individual source will pick up sound from all of the other sound sources in the room. This is known as spill.

Spill can result in the sound losing a lot of its character and has a detrimental effect on the recording. To avoid the affects of spill, some studios have a number of small enclosed areas known as ‘isolation booths’. These allow the different sound sources to be placed in their own individual space thus isolating each sound from all of the others. When it comes to mixing this makes it a lot easier to get the sound you want from each instrument .

Overdubbing

This process involves all the tracks in the songs being built up gradually. For example, the drummer will record the drum parts first. Often this is done playing along to an artificial click track perhaps with other members of the band playing a "guide track" along with him so that he knows where about in the song he is. Once the drums are recorded the other musicians will each put their tracks down until all the tracks are recorded and the song is ready to be mixed. This method eliminates the problem of spill and produces a recording with a strong and constant tempo throughout. 

Mixing

Once you have your tracks recorded you then have to mix them so as to give the recording the characteristics that you are looking for. There are various processes involved in mixing. These include adding effects to individual parts or the whole sound, using eq to bring certain sounds and characteristics out and making them more prominent to the listener, using panning controls to produce a true stereo (L + R) mix of your songs. Once the mixing process is complete you will have a "master mix" of your recordings

Note: It is a good idea if possible to leave time between recording and mixing. You will find it is a lot better to mix on fresh ears than to go straight from your recording to mixing. When you mix you have to listen to the same song repeatedly and at times this can become frustrating so remember to take breaks and relax as you go through things.

If there is something that you are unhappy with or think could be better don’t be afraid to say so to the engineer. He is there to help you get the sound you want. If you keep quiet you will be stuck with a recording that you are not happy with and will never be fully content with it. If you have an idea of what you want to sound like explain this to the engineer or if you have any recordings of other bands that contain sounds similar to the ones you would like to recreate play it to the engineer so that he has a point of reference when mixing. 

The advice in this tip sheet is only a guide to help you avoid some of the common problems that can be encountered when making a recording. The more you can prepare yourself the less chance there is of something going wrong. However, due to the nature of the business you have to be prepared for things going wrong and try and deal with them without it having too much effect on your session. Try and stay calm and take breaks if necessary and make the best of the time that you have. A good quality recording that you can enjoy is a very satisfying thing to have and something you can take pride in for a long time to come.