how may i get a deal?

[musicsdarkangel]

hey, my band, we have a huge chance, and I know that if we put a cd out it wouldn't do bad. Unfortunately I have no clue what i'm doing. What are a few nice ways of getting discovered? Can we just go to a record company dude and show him the stuff we've written up or the cd we've made? I'm not sure. Anything that I can do I will do. How do I communicate with them? Just call em up?

[Gidge]

Go here :

http://www.itrstudio.com/1997.html#0397

March 1997...check it out



http://www.itrstudio.com/misc.html

And here are some more articles with useful information....

[musicsdarkangel]

damn gidge thanx, dude, you know hella lots about music, if you have aol instant messenger, i'm musicsdarkangel. I know overall music stuff, not recording, so if you ever wanna chat, i'm there.-

[Gidge]

Mostly I just keep my ears open....Most of the stuff I know about recording, Ive learned here...Stick around....Some very, very knowledgable people hang out here...even though its HOMERECORDING.com, alot of pros hang out here.....

My AOL IM name is bayoukidd69

MS Messenger name is bayoukidd@hotmail.com

see ya around....

[micmac]

musicsdarkangel,

Record company people very often go on recommendations by people they know. A good way can be to focus a bit on those guys, too. Music journalists, radio DJ's, radio producers, even the guys who work down at your local CD shop is part of the chain that you wanna latch on to.

I don't know what city in Illinois you live in, but the smaller the city, the easier to get in touch with the people who write about music in the newspaper or play it on the radio. Of course, impact is all about size as well...

If you have a good sounding recording and some info/photos to go with it, check out newspapers/music mags in your area, who would be writing about your music? Invite them to your gigs (make sure you meet them before/after the gig, if possible). Send them a tape and press kit, or go to the newspaper/radiostation and drop it of yourself, a face and a handshake makes a lot of difference.

Do some research on what the music journalists/radio people you're targeting have written/done. Your local library is a good source, search for articles for example. Get to know these people before you contact them. It takes time, but it's worth it. You'll have a lot more impact on them if you prepare yourself for the meeting/phonecall/drop off/whatever.

Be careful not to just say: "Hey, do you know any A&R people at 'this' and 'that' record company?". If you're any good, that means you're also NEWS to these people. These guys love to be first - they'll donate bodyparts to be able to say they were the one who first wrote about a band.

What a lot of record company A&R guys do (as Harvey Gerst said in the link Gidge posted), is they're looking for that 'buzz'. Music journalists are buzz makers.

Also, if someone writes about you in ANY publication or play your song on ANY radiostation, it'll give you something to show to other papers/mags/radiostations/people with connections and, of course A&R people. It's the first piece or airplay that's the most difficult to get.

The first couple of times, maybe nothing will happen. Heck, it might take a year, two or four before you get anywhere. But by then everyone who 'knows somebody' will know who you are. Prepare for a "yes", but expect a "no". Some people will say you suck - don't take it personally. Come back next time and prove them wrong!! Be persistent. Watch out for when persistent becomes obstinate. Remember, you want these people to want to help you.

There are many ways to go about getting a record deal. Work on as many as possible. The most difficult one is probably to go directly to a record company without being introduced by somebody. Get to know that somebody.

Long post, sorry 'bout that.

Good luck.

micmac

[musicsdarkangel]

sorry for making a very nicely detailed and helpful post? why? thanx a lot man, you 2 gidge.

[musicsdarkangel]

one more thing, what if I just record with a dynamic mic?? I single mic my drums, guitars, everything, would a condenser really help?

[Sabith]

single mic your drums......... omg..... avoid that at all costs

if U have 2 mics......... 1 on snare other on kick

but single micin the drums would be a very bad idea...... more mics the better for drums(to a point)

Sabith

[dobro]

How do me and my band get discovered, and should I single record with a dynamic mic?

Do you see any kind of, uh...discrepancy or something in these two questions?

Anyway, while I'm here... I was wondering... What's the meaning of life? Also, anybody know a good way to deal with incipient prostate problems?

Well, we *are* in the mixing forum. I mean, don't we all want to mix together?

[MISTERQCUE]

You O,K, Dob!!??
Gidge, you made a new friend!
Good advice micmac and Sabith!
I'm hungry!

[Kaydis]

Speaking as a complete unknown I think reading is highly underrated. I'd see about books on the music industry. There might be better ones now, but one I particularly liked is called "All You Need to Know About the Music Business" by Donald S Passman. It gives a very detailed and useful description of how the business end of the music industry operates. It lives up to its title.

If you can manage to make a CD on your own then I'd see how far you can get with that. Decide that your gong to suceed despite the record comapanies instead of relying on them. If you want to write, arange, record, and promote your own music, the web is chuck full of places that will tell you how to do that on your own. I suspect that there's nothing that will get a record companies interest like a band making good money without them.

[musicsdarkangel]

i suck at recording of course, so thats a litle problem.

[micmac]

musicsdarkangel,

If you really believe in your music, and if your good at what you do, it doesn't matter if you suck at recording. For now, mainly concentrate on songs and performance. Leave the recording to someone who knows about it while you watch, listen and learn.

Coughing up the $ for stuido time and a recording engineer might be a better idea than to try to learn it yourself (it will take time...). Work on your songs, break them down into pieces and go through them in detail. Practice vox/instrumental skills etc. If you know your stuff well, you'll be able to go in and cut a couple of songs pretty quickly.

You'd be surprised how many demos there are where the song and/or the performance catches your attention immediately, but the recording plainly stinks. And you'd be even more surprised how many demos that 'sound very good' but are in every other possible way - to be blunt - fucking boring.

When someone with good songs and a good performance meets someone that has the skills to capture his/her stuff onto a recording.....well, i think you get the point.

I'm sure the people here could make a long list of "musican/performer X + engineer Y = great album".

Sure, there are people that can pull off great songs with a superb performance and make an excellent recording of it, but for us mortals... Hook up with someone.

Don't get me wrong here, i'm not saying you need a super famous rec engineer to make your demo. Just someone who knows what he/she's doing.

Good luck,

micmac

[micmac]

...then again, if you wanna do your own demo recording and you're starting from scratch, check out Harvey Gerst's boiled down beginners guide. Homerec concentrated, sorta... I assume you've already gone through the Homerec site.

http://www.itrstudio.com/4-track.html

Adding to my prevoius post, remember that buying recording gear isn't very cheap, nor is it time saving... A small set up to make work copies of your songs is often enough. Always weigh pros and cons when deciding what to do, for example if to cut your stuff yourself or do it in a studio.

micmac

[musicsdarkangel]

what kind of condenser mic should I get?? Whats the difference between dynamic and condenser anyway? (looks, sound).

hey thanx man.

[musicsdarkangel]

wait, is it better if I put both of my mic's on separate sides of the set to capture all the sound?? Or are you saying I should just record kick and snare with em?
please help. Thanx. Also one more thing. How do you put effects in certain places under a recording program like cubase? Please help if you can.

[musicsdarkangel]

one thing also. Is getting a midi keyboard thingy really worth it?? How do I work midi. I mean, do I just directly plug a keyboard to computer?

[hixmix]

Most anyone will give you a deal. Ever hear of "pay to play"?

[musicsdarkangel]

pay to play?

[Gidge]

Hix, I dont know if this is what you are referring to, but back in my "hair band" days, this was common practice in the clubs in LA, where the scene was big and you needed to be there to make it.....if you wanted to play a particular club, you had to buy all the tickets yourself...if you couldnt sell all of the tickets, you literally paid to play....sucks big time, but it kept me from going there....

[hixmix]

Yeah. A standard in most recording contracts, too, where the "advance" is actually a loan which is paid back thru actual "unit" sales. Not totally unreasonable.

OK, if your music sucks and you're independently wealthy you can payback out of your own pocket.

[musicsdarkangel]

what if the music's great and your broke offa your ass?

[RWhite]

If you can't afford bribery, whoring yourself might work...

Seriously, you obviously have a lot of interest and drive. I agree with Kaydis, get some good books and magazines and just suck all the knowlage out of them. There is a lot of good stuff here but if you want to get to the meat of things in a hurry, go to a good book store (or good music store) and pick up a few of the titles that were mentioned.

Traditionally the best way to get signed was to rehearse your ass off, play every local gig you can, then start touring regionally, and eventually the record gods may smile on you. Today with the much improved cheap recording gear there is a temptation to just throw your own studio together and record your stuff and bypass the whole touring process. However as you are starting to see it is one thing to go buy the hardware, and quite another to learn how to use it well.

Sometimes it is easier not to have to re-invent the wheel. If you have good material and your band is well rehearsed, I think you should consider buying time in someone elses studio. There are many, many small studios out there and the competition means that rates can be down right reasonable. Many of the posters on this board are these exact people, people working hard to make a living running a small studio. The trick is finding the right producer/engineer, and the best way to do that is to check out work they have done previously (and talk to some of their clients).

Of course a lot of artists do a combination of all three - gig your ass off, record their own material to work it out, then have someone else do the killer demo recording that will hopefully lead to that big break.

Just my opinion....

[dmuzz]

Originally posted by Sabith
single mic your drums......... omg..... avoid that at all costs

if U have 2 mics......... 1 on snare other on kick

but single micin the drums would be a very bad idea...... more mics the better for drums(to a point)

Sabith

Man, narrow mind, be creative with what you have. I must admit though, one dynamic mic would be difficult, but with creative mic placement and a good sounding room 1 condensor could shock you!

[musicsdarkangel]

should I get a distortion stomp box or a multi effects processor or a vocal processor from boss?? I wanna know which one is more worth it probably.