The Demo!

The relevance of THE DEMO!!

Hey hey hey monkeys!

This week has been another mental week with so many gigs coming through that if I had a stick I would shake it at them! We have also set up a facebook page to keep everyone up to date with auditions and gigs.

We receive several emails a day from musicians asking about work and to audition for one of our new bands we are setting up. I am still amazed at the mistakes people make when trying to get a gig. So today I want to talk about demo’s.

Every week we receive hundreds of demo from musicians looking for work. So many people send us demo’s/myspace of original bands. Your demo needs to reflect the band/company you are trying to impress. If you are in a 70’s prog style band with song names like ‘chocolaty bum hole’ keep it to your fan base!

Ask yourself this?

Is it relevant? Pick the aspect of your playing which you need to show off. I would suggest losing any technical muso aspects unless you are trying to impress a technical metal or jazz band. We want to know if you can play for a living so that means (whether you like it or not) simple music played to the highest standard.

Is it instant? If your demo has a 30 second keyboard intro and you have to explain what to listen to (at 2.06 of the song there is a wicked little bass run) it isn’t doing you any favours. If you are a guitarist why not record ‘Mr Brightside’ by The Killers and show your ability to recreate a tough gtr part and accurate sound, then a blues solo over a backing track. Your demo doesn’t need to be 3 mins long. A minute on each track with 3 tracks would show you off and build excitement. 

Is it a high quality recording? Recording facilities are cheap nowadays, a day in a local studio is going to be around £150-£200 a day and if you work around them you could wangle a cheaper rate. What if you can’t afford a few hundred quid to get a quality demo? Simple don’t be a musician! This is your career we are talking about! Oh yes and NO live demo’s unless the quality is absolutely fantastic.

Do you have to make excuses? As I type this I have just received a drum CV via email full of excuses and reasons why I shouldn’t use him/her. If you have to appologise for not having an appropriate demo (or pics or cv) then make one!

To conclude…..

You may be thinking this is all common sense, however we very rarely receive a demo from a musician that is 100% right. All you want to do is be considered for a job so don’t give them a reason to hire you, give them no reason why they wouldn’t!

Once again I need to reiterate this point - Musicians tell me every day that there isn’t work out there. I can assure you, that is bullshit. There is loads, they just haven’t figured out how to get it yet 

Remember!

A demo will represent you and your playing. 3 x 1 minute clips of the right material, played and recorded well with some attention to detail and you will increase your chance of getting a call back. If you aren’t sure what they want to hear, ask them!

Death to false metal!