Mastering a demo

Trumpspade

Trumpspade

I'M BLESSED.......
This question probably have been asked, but who thinks it is necessary to master a demo for the purpose of attracting people to listen to your music when your album finally drops? If you think it is necessary, what kind of $$$'s is normally charged for a 3 song, 2:00-2:30 min each song demo?
I have been circulating it just in a mixed down stereo track, just because time constraints came into play, and I needed to get it to some people quickley. They are aware that the recording is not critiquable, but it is actually pretty good! (Someone asked me to do a demo package for them, so I guess it was okay!) But before I get into doing things like that, I am curious is mastering a demo is the proper steps to take, or if it is just a waste of time and $$'s.......
 
If it's done right, mastering can help the sonic quality of any recording.

Whether it's truly needed to help the representation of the song, ep or album, is a decision best left to the artist or owner of that recording.
 
Point well taken! Trust me, I do have pride in what I put out there, and I do not look to take the cheap road. I just don't have money to waste on unecessaties. The demo, in the car, home stereo, ipod, etc.... sounded pretty good! I have wavelab, but I did not attempt any mastering tricks, for I felt it would only mess up a pretty good mix. I have concluded that if I do any demos for any artist, I will include mastering fees and explain to them the importance of it, and how it could enhance the sound quality, and not the singing itself! If they decline, I need to create some type of declination waiver, so that they cannot come back and complain about the production aspect of the demo......

Thanks for the responses guys................
 
Trumpspade said:
This question probably have been asked, but who thinks it is necessary to master a demo for the purpose of attracting people to listen to your music when your album finally drops? If you think it is necessary, what kind of $$$'s is normally charged for a 3 song, 2:00-2:30 min each song demo?
I have been circulating it just in a mixed down stereo track, just because time constraints came into play, and I needed to get it to some people quickley. They are aware that the recording is not critiquable, but it is actually pretty good! (Someone asked me to do a demo package for them, so I guess it was okay!) But before I get into doing things like that, I am curious is mastering a demo is the proper steps to take, or if it is just a waste of time and $$'s.......
Click to expand...
It depends upon just what you mean by "demo" and who the audience is going to be.

If it's a demo intended for A&R guys, gig management types, club owners, etc., full-on mastering can be a waste and sometimes a negative. These kind of people not only can recognize and hear the mastering for what it is, for which the artist will get zero credit, but will often prefer to hear what the artist actually sounds like and not what the studio or engineers sounds like. This doesn't mean things should sound awful, it just means that the extra polish won't help your case much.

If it's a demo intended for public distribution and public consumption via Internet download, radio play, etc., then the mastering can be a big help as the station will want to broadcast, and the public will want to hear, a smooth production without warts and with plenty of makeup on, and, unfortunately, a minimum of volume control management.

G.
 
Thanks Glen, makes sense! The demo that I completed was for A&R and a couple of investors..........The weird thing is people started emailing from various locations requesting a copy, because they heard my wife sing live at a Womens convention in VA. Because of the money and time put into it, we charged $5.00, which people gladly paid. That was when I had wished I had mastered the cd's, but I have not received any complaints, (I think people really just loved the songs & arrangement(s).
To date, we have sold about 100 x $5, which really paid for material, and the rest going towards the album itself. I have the address for about half the people, and I plan to send them a copy of the cd once completed, simply for their interest, encouragement, and support!

But again, thanks for the response!
 
Trumpspade said:
To date, we have sold about 100 x $5, which really paid for material, and the rest going towards the album itself. I have the address for about half the people, and I plan to send them a copy of the cd once completed, simply for their interest, encouragement, and support!

But again, thanks for the response!
Click to expand...

Hey, if it's selling, you've recouped your expenses, and have even made some cash towards a proper album, then I'd say pro mastering probably wasn't really necessary, given what the "product" is. If I was just passing around a 3-track demo to get a few gigs, I'd probably not bother with professional mastering either, and just do my idiot's version normalization and volume maximization song-and-dance routine, made sure the tracks all sounded about the same volume, and left it at that.

If it was something I was planning to sell as a recording from day one, then yeah, different story.

EDIT - and for you guys who actually are mastering engineers here, I know that's not "mastering," but just a quick "get it up to a normal volume" drill. ;)
 
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