How much does quality of a recording matter when you're showing it to a pontential gig/venue?

If you give out an average quality demo rather than a studio quality CD of 4-5 tracks, would the venue take you any less seriously?

This is assuming it's a small local venue, only holding 300 people at the very most. We're not talkin' stadium gigs here.

Just wondering because my guitarist and I are discussing getting a recording to show to people in order to get gigs, and we are arguing what the quality has to be. Should we all just record together all at once in the same room (less time consuming) and maybe double the guitar?

Or should we record each instrument individually and change the sound blah blah blah so it sounds really professional?

Obviously, we'd prefer higher quality, but the issue is how time-consuming it is and whether its really necessary to have A+ recording quality.

Oh, and my guitarist friend will probably argue that "you guys don't know what you're talking about, you're just random people on the internet." (he doesn't know that talkbass has professional session bassists on here). So after you've stated your point of view, just state your experience with this, etc. Only about a sentence or two.


If it matters, I am on the side of "quality isn't as much of an issue, just wanna get 4 songs done."

He is on the side of "quality matters"

You don't mention exacly what kind of music so, that can make a difference. If it's a cover project then people have a point of comparison. If it's original, not so much.

I am of the opinion that the vast majority of people, including venue staff, wouldn't know quality if it bit them on the butt.

They know what they like and what they don't, which has NOTHING to do with good or bad. They know what rings the register in the bar and what doesn't and that's about the extant of it.

Anything of reasonable quality is just as effective for booking as a big dollar effort.

imho

yeah I agree, as long as the recording isnt detrimental to the whole sound of your band, ie its so bad you cant hear the vocals or the snare hurts your ears, then I believe most venues will just say 'yeah sure' if they like the band in essence.

and if the club owner knows his/her stuff when it comes to music they will easily be able to hear a good song/performance even through the worst recording.

so no, I dont think it matters allot, as long as its not a chore to listen to because of the recording quality!

I'll have to disagree. Always put your best possible face forward. A friends band of mine has lost a couple of gigs because the recordings on their myspace are abysmally bad in quality.

A low quality recording will make you sound like rank amateaurs.

that's not to say that you need top quality. But, setting up a tape player with a mic in the room isn't going to help you much....... unless you happen to have a large practice spot with some nice acoustics where you can find that really great sounding spot where one mic picking everything up sounds nice.

If you have sometthing to track with, track each instrument one at a time, it will sound a lot better, then recording all at once, and allow you to mix

You can argue all you want that you are a good act and that you simply don't have the money to record. But, a good recording shows that your band has something going on.

If your recording is a bit hard to listen too, the club owners will be thinking that patrons will find you hard to listen too and leave.

Most people will notice certain things like...

Is the band tight?
Are they all in tune with each other?
Is the drummer keeping the time?
Can the singer sing?

Right there if the answer to all of those is yes, you probaly have the gig.

I'll have to disagree. Always put your best possible face forward. A friends band of mine has lost a couple of gigs because the recordings on their myspace are abysmally bad in quality.

A low quality recording will make you sound like rank amateaurs.

that's not to say that you need top quality. But, setting up a tape player with a mic in the room isn't going to help you much....... unless you happen to have a large practice spot with some nice acoustics where you can find that really great sounding spot where one mic picking everything up sounds nice.

If you have sometthing to track with, track each instrument one at a time, it will sound a lot better, then recording all at once, and allow you to mix

You can argue all you want that you are a good act and that you simply don't have the money to record. But, a good recording shows that your band has something going on.

If your recording is a bit hard to listen too, the club owners will be thinking that patrons will find you hard to listen too and leave.

thats not disagreeing mate! as I said, as long as its not a chore to listen to, ABYSMALLY bad is not aceptable, but its so easy to get an 'alright' recording these days. with the minimum of equipment and a bit of knowledge you can do an ok recording, then after that the price, time and everything else skyrockets with each increase in quality. So I'm saying I believe you will do fine with an entry level recording, but not one which hurts your ears or has mistakes on it! (thats never acceptable :) )

Got the recordings. We just had the whole band go direct, and had 11 mics on the drums. We played all at once.

They sound really good. They'll be up on our myspace shortly.

Got the recordings. We just had the whole band go direct, and had 11 mics on the drums. We played all at once.

Hey JLW,

Where'd ya go to record. I'm in Freehold and have been to Metro Music in Bayville with a previous band, but we're looking around for something closer.

Hey JLW,

Where'd ya go to record. I'm in Freehold and have been to Metro Music in Bayville with a previous band, but we're looking around for something closer.

dawpro studios. Dawpro.com. Located in New Brunswick.

EXCELLENT recording, awesome guy to deal with. I highly recommend it.

If you want high quality professional recordings, go there.

He's a really really nice guy. Very pleasant. He's actually a pastor. Although he's a bit shy on the bass volume. Just ask him to turn it up though.

I'd imagine if it was a good recording, your band would be seen as more professional and taken more seriously.