Recording a Demo CD

M

MoJohnson

New member
I am still attempting to record a demo for my band as well as a few others. I have a Roland 1824, a pair of Oktava 219 large diaphram condensers , a 58, a 57 and three $50 vocal mics, a Carvin 12 channel power-mixer, a DR5 drum machine, and a Line 6 POD. I have access to a couple of decent rooms, a hall and a warm sounding practice studio ( no booths). I have a lot of questions.

* what is the best way to record live?
* my drummer does'nt want to wear phones, should I talk him out of this and go with a multi-track recording?
* scratch trax or no
* can a cover recording be used as a scratch track
* How many songs on a club demo
* should complete songs be recoded or "hi-lites"
* Should vocals be recorded seperately on a "live" recording?

Thanx
 
If he can't do headphones, he's a loser but that's a whole 'nuther story.:D In that case, I'd try to get the bones of the tune (drums primarily, bass, rhythm guitar) and try to keep the leakage to a minmum by tight mic'ing and keeping the levels of the bass and guitar amps as low as possible. Then come back and drop in the vocals and leads. Headphones and direct sends on the bass and guitar would be the way I'd prefer for getting the drum tracks down to eliminate leakage to the drum mics and then come back and mic guiatr amps or what ever for the keeper tracks. YMMV.
As far as the number of tunes on a club demo, my opinion is three max. And they should be ass kickin-est tunes as well (your set list shows your versatility and choice of material). High lites, not full tunes, a club owner is going to have a very short attention span, so getting him to listen to more than two or three minutes would be a maricle.
 
Put the 57 on the snare, the two 219's as overheads and the 58 for the kick. Plug the guitars and bass direct. Use one of your $50 mics for vocals. Record that to get a drum sound and then go back and overdubb each instrument with a mic listening to the drum track. you can record the guitars at once using a 57 on one amp and a 58 on the other, or just record them one at a time using the 57. If the bass sounds good, leave it because most people record bass direct anyway. then after all the tracks are layed down, use a 219 for vocals.

If the drummer don't like using headphones with the big cuffs, try using some of those ear phones that go in your ear.

use a click track if you want.

Most demos around here have 5-10 songs on them and can either be 50 second songs or full-time songs. Just write down all of your songs and pick the best ones to use.

Good luck

Zeke
 
Hey Zeke, when was the last time you tried to get a gig in a bar and actually had to impress the owner so he would let you play there? Not to bust your balls but I think 5-10 songs is a bit much. No, it's silly. No one is going to listen to 10 songs. Not even a cropped 1:00 song. 3 is standard. 1 verse, 1 chorus maybe a lead and out. That's the way it is man. I've been doing this crap for 25 years now.

Cheers
 
Sorry, i have never cut a demo, i was talking about a friend's demo. He's 40 and his band put out a 7 or 10 song demo, so that's the only demo i've really ever seen so didn't know the standard.

;)
 
well a demo meant for getting gigs should be all hook, no build up or anything. Show the guy hiring you why he should let you play there, and show him quickly.

But if your demo is aimed at developing a small following, they're gonna want to hear full songs.

I say do five full songs, pick your best three, prefrebly three with catchy melodies, take a chorus and a verse from each and send that as part of a press kit.

Take the full songs and make say 300 cd-rs, can be done for around $120 if you wanna burn and press on the labels yourself, and hand those out to anyone who shows the slightest interest in your band.
 
Tell your drummer to buy a pair of descent headphones and wear them if your recording live without tracking.

About $100 can get Metraphones. I use them and they are great.
 
Thanx to all for the feedback! Going direct on the guitar and bass and micing the drums ( I forgot to mention that I can get a Shure drum micing package) then overdub was my first thought. My drummer moves quite a bit, the cans could go ballistic. But in the end I will convince him (possibly with superglue). Thanx for all the ideas to throw out at the next band meeting. The club scene seems depressed here in Central Cal. Demmos have become the rule. How is it for the rest of you?
 
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