Our band is thinking of doing a demo CD to help get gigs. Before we throw the money down, do you think a demo CD for a cover band is needed? Has a demo CD helped you?
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Band CD
- Thread starter seanm
- Start date
I would but dont spend allot of money on it. Find a studio that will do just this "A demo" In my last cover band we called a few studios and told them what we wanted a 2 song demo not a recording session. Some tryed to talk us into booking 4 hours and all the fancies...nope! We found one who did 2 songs a good quick mix and bam..done. We burned them ourselves had the sleaves printed on PC and put them together ourselves. This helped us get allot more gigs and something to hand out. Some bands have a few songs mixed about a 30-40 seconds and then fade to another which is fine too. We just recorded two covers+ CDs ,artwork all for around $200.00. The CD's we send out to bars etc payed for the cost of recording etc 5x over the first 2 months with the gigs they helped us book...so go for it.
You need demo tracks. My cover band has gotten more gigs from people finding our MySpace page or website, and listen to the demo tracks there, than we've gotten from our demo CD. Though we have gotten one or two from the demo CD.
Don't bother with a studio. Spend the same money on a good digital recorder. I use an Olympus LS-10 and give it a double thumbs up.
Use the recorder to record your band at practice. Experiment for a few minutes with the position of the recorder in the room to find a spot that gives the best sound.
Pull tracks from that to use for your demo tracks. They don't have to be whole songs, so feel free to edit them to start in the middle or end early, if you need to cut out places where somebody messed up in practice.
Then, take your demo tracks and pull out 15-20 second clips of each song that will be recognizable as to what song that's a clip from and make a mashup of all those clips into one track. Put that as the first track on your actual CD and put the "full" cuts of each track that's in the mashup as additional tracks on your CD. Use that to give to the booking agent at any place you're trying to get a gig. A lot of them will never listen to the CD anyway, and those that do probably won't listen past your first track.
Don't bother with a studio. Spend the same money on a good digital recorder. I use an Olympus LS-10 and give it a double thumbs up.
Use the recorder to record your band at practice. Experiment for a few minutes with the position of the recorder in the room to find a spot that gives the best sound.
Pull tracks from that to use for your demo tracks. They don't have to be whole songs, so feel free to edit them to start in the middle or end early, if you need to cut out places where somebody messed up in practice.
Then, take your demo tracks and pull out 15-20 second clips of each song that will be recognizable as to what song that's a clip from and make a mashup of all those clips into one track. Put that as the first track on your actual CD and put the "full" cuts of each track that's in the mashup as additional tracks on your CD. Use that to give to the booking agent at any place you're trying to get a gig. A lot of them will never listen to the CD anyway, and those that do probably won't listen past your first track.
I dunno man. I've only ever been in 1 coverband that had a demo CD. (I still have a box of them someplace..) I don't think we ever got a gig that way.
When we were first starting out, managers from the places we wanted to play would make a trip out to a place where we were playing and check us out.
Like Bassbully said: Don't spend a ton of money on it.
StuartV also has some very valid points.
When we were first starting out, managers from the places we wanted to play would make a trip out to a place where we were playing and check us out.
Like Bassbully said: Don't spend a ton of money on it.
StuartV also has some very valid points.
How much is the budget? I agree with others, that having a good recording is a great idea, but spending $500 in studio time is not a great investment.
The home recording thing is a good idea but not everybody can do it or do it well. It can also cost as much for the recording device as it does to do a studio demo...maybe more. I agree on having your songs downloaded and using a site as a EPK..electronic press kit. Even with the EPK my band still has many events ask for a CD...why? I dont know, some ask even after I sent them to the website. I think its best to cover both ends with a CD and EPK although today the EPK should be and is really all that is needed. You also wont be in copywrite issues with say myspace/facebook if you record and download another bands cover.
It really can't hurt, UNLESSS!!!! your band is not that good ( no offense, I have no idea what you sound like ). My advice would be to hold off until the band is tight on 3-4 songs. But even then if your not a great band ( which no offense you really don't need to be a great cover band to get decent gigs) I would just rely on word of mouth and maybe a youtube video.
My cover band is doing a live recording of 4 songs. But we are more of an 80's new wave tribute act that plays the songs the same as the recording. We have some solid players so it should come out really good. Even then how many gigs we will get from it is unclear.
The main purpose behind our recording is for this one club we want to play, asked for one. When we tried to get a date 3 weeks ago they said they were booked to spring!!! So yeah its that kind of place.
Good Luck!!
My cover band is doing a live recording of 4 songs. But we are more of an 80's new wave tribute act that plays the songs the same as the recording. We have some solid players so it should come out really good. Even then how many gigs we will get from it is unclear.
The main purpose behind our recording is for this one club we want to play, asked for one. When we tried to get a date 3 weeks ago they said they were booked to spring!!! So yeah its that kind of place.
Good Luck!!
having something in hand makes a difference when the venue asks if you have a demo. its great to able to say, "yes." i live in a university town, and i think often places ask for a demo to see if we are just another bunch of sloppy young guys or an actual band. no offense to the tight, young musicians out there; the venues here get cynical real fast.
if you shop around you should be able to find a good deal. 4 songs recorded live. these days you may even be able to find a friend with good enough gear to do it in-house.
only once did i play in a band with a demo that had the 30 second fade in and out of each song. i understood the value of it (booking people don't really listen to the whole cd), but still felt it was kind of cheesy. we put the full length songs on their too though so it worked out.
if you shop around you should be able to find a good deal. 4 songs recorded live. these days you may even be able to find a friend with good enough gear to do it in-house.
only once did i play in a band with a demo that had the 30 second fade in and out of each song. i understood the value of it (booking people don't really listen to the whole cd), but still felt it was kind of cheesy. we put the full length songs on their too though so it worked out.
Thanks. I'll tell our bass player. 
I'm on the drums in my cover band. I'm on bass in an originals band at the moment.
I'm on the drums in my cover band. I'm on bass in an originals band at the moment.
In our area, they audition by demo or CD only. I'd put together something for the extra work, but concentrate my big bucks on my originals myself, and yes I have an original CD out.
Just make sure.........studio time is NOT cheap..........make damned sure you all know what you want to record so you can keep from spending lots of money unnecessarily. The fewer takes on each track require less time, so practice. Also understand the process. The drums will usally be in an isolated room mic'd especially for drums. Same for the vocals. Tracks can be played and stacked and played against with ear monitors or even headphones. Being aware of these types of differences might save you some money if you can prepare for it somewhat.
I can see only two reasons to do a CD for a cover band: 1) as a vanity project just to have a recording of your playing or 2) if you need it to get gigs.
If it is a vanity project, then have at it and have a good time!
If it is to get gigs, do a cost-benefit analysis to determine how much investment is reasonable given the likely return. If you are going to use the CD for getting gigs, make sure it is a good quality recording - better to have no recording than a bad one.
If it is a vanity project, then have at it and have a good time!
If it is to get gigs, do a cost-benefit analysis to determine how much investment is reasonable given the likely return. If you are going to use the CD for getting gigs, make sure it is a good quality recording - better to have no recording than a bad one.
+1 Also make sure that you can duplicate the performance live. Don't let the guitar do three tracks if you only have the one guy.....
I voted Carrots. Spending a lot of time and money to record,produce,and package a product to just pass out like business cards for FREE just doesn't work for me.
SELLING merchandise. Yeah I know, I'm shallow. And no, for me it is not all about the music. Sadly enough the money matters too.
butchblack
Life is short. Do good. Find and do what you love.
I go with the do it, but don't spend a lot of $ on it. It also depends on your local market, the more competitive it is the more a good quality demo (and promo kit) is going to help you. Shop around, listen to some of their work, preferably of cover bands doing similar types of music. Make sure you have the songs down pat so you can do it with a minimum of takes.
Thanks for all the replies. I have an Edirol R-09 recorder, so I might try using that first. If we do record, we are looking at spending about $250.
Every act I'm involved with is FORCED to do one.
Everyone into the board.. we then using an Aux (or monitor out) to a computer recording program.
I then put it down to an Ipod for listening... make notes of the song areas that are good.. I then snip them down to 8 second clips (normally the hook of the song)... also try to find a part that's just an instrumental grove..
Since this is just a demo - no need to do it in a studio.. or in stereo...
I'd go as far as to NOT tell band mates it's for a demo -- average folk start freaking out (a bit) and then it takes tons longer.
So yes.. low budget.
Everyone into the board.. we then using an Aux (or monitor out) to a computer recording program.
I then put it down to an Ipod for listening... make notes of the song areas that are good.. I then snip them down to 8 second clips (normally the hook of the song)... also try to find a part that's just an instrumental grove..
Since this is just a demo - no need to do it in a studio.. or in stereo...
I'd go as far as to NOT tell band mates it's for a demo -- average folk start freaking out (a bit) and then it takes tons longer.
So yes.. low budget.
