what to record for demos etc for band auditions?

[drewphishesp]

hey guys,
getting to the point where I want to take my talents outside my house and start playing with people.

I have friends I play with but also posted a looking for a jam ad on craigslist

lot of people ask for samples etc of my work, but I don't really have anything recorded or taped

what kind of stuff should I record?

picking up an interface today, and I have logic/ableton and a knowledge of how to use it from my DJ days.

whole songs?

jams?

thanks in advance?

 

[mambo4]

i would assume they want recordings of you with a band.
recordings of tunes that match the material they play.

instead of an interface get zoom h2 /h4 or similar digital recorder
convince your friends to jam on material similar to the band you seek
and record that

 

[Alik]

I'm in the same situation, they ask for links on YouTube where they can see you playing, or links to soundcloud, etc.
I recently got a Focusrite 2i2 interface and daw applications, recorded a few tracks, I'll post these later to my yt channel and send them when asked for it.
If you're in a band now, I'd suggest you record yourself with a Zoom q4n, q8, etc (DON'T LET YOUR GUITAR GUY WALK IN FRONT OF THE CAMERA! )that happened to me ,Do dome editing and upload to the web.
Good luck!

 

[dtripoli]

Just video a bunch of your jamming and playing then edit it down to a few minutes.
All Windows based computers come with video/movie editing. Pick out your best moments.
You can fade into and out of song selections or choice moments and add text and titles.
No one listens to more than 60-90 seconds of a demo anyway.
Last demo I did was from a video of an entire 45 min set.
I edited it down to 90 seconds with the best shining moments of 6 songs.

 

[BassAndReeds]

Stuff that makes you look good.

I'm pretty sure live recordings where you play with a band are much more appreciated than solo stuff. That being said, I have a ton of solo stuff on my YouTube channel and have gotten a lot of gigs cause of it.

 

[StyleOverShow]

Start your library now. Record your next jam. See if you can steer them into doing something from a genre or two: classic rock; blues; metal.

Get audio at least, add video as you collect it.

Put it up on SoundCloud and start a page on ReverbNation.

It pays off in this internet world

 

[Badwater]

It depends if you're auditioning for a start up first time band or a experienced pro band. With the start up band, have something that makes you look good for the kind of music they want to play, get fancy, and do a lot of tricky licks. If it's a pro ban, find out what songs they play and how they play them, and learn 1 or 2 of their covers or originals note for note.

Then you'll have the material to record a demo. And to record the demo, use a interface and computer or a good quality hand held recorder. The key to success is, it must sound good on the recording. Because, no matter how good you play live, if it sounds like crap on a YouTube, SoundCloud, or Bandcamp, you'll sound like crap. In this day and age of easy to access recording interfaces, DAWs, and high quality hand held recorders for value prices, it's expected that audition material be high quality. If it was the 1970s and you were demoing in a bathroom on cassette tape, it would be the standard. But today, everyone demos with CD quality fidelity.

 

[catcauphonic]

Unless you're over the age of 65, there's no good reason why practically anyone in this day and age isn't able to produce some sound samples at least.

Depending on who you're sending to, & what you're & their goals are is what you're asking about, so I say...

If you're new to playing with others and hoping to get into a band or jam sitch, you need to convey that and basically just record some a few 15-30sec clips (using the voice recorder on your smartphone) of a few styles of music to show your diversity ... perhaps playing (or playing along to) a cover song, some fluid scales up and down, & just some little ditty you made up (I'd suggest one faster, one more spacious, and something mid tempo.)

If you're hoping to join an existing outfit, either try a song or 2 of theirs, or at least find out what their influences and direction are, so you can focus more on a certain style.

Phone cameras in the past 5years have grown leaps & bounds in quality, and even better if you can do your clips using video, then upload to a YouTube account (which anyone can create for free, you set the privacy & share as needed.)