Recording Your First Demo

A common question amongst those about to record their first demo is "How long will I take" alongside "How many tracks can we record".
The answer, like so many other things in life is "It depends".
Studio time has a knack of running at many times real world time.  A common mistake is trying to record before a band is really ready.  Recording is a slow and involved process, there are many factors involved in creating a good recording, the first and foremost is capturing a good performance.  The skills called upon are not always the same as those needed for a good live gig, though having experience of playing live will certainly help.

Another common mistake is trying to record too many songs in too short a time.  If the aim of your demo is to get noticed, then getting a few tight well arranged tracks down is a far better investment than trying to do six tracks that all sound rushed.  Reviewers are busy people and some will make a point of simply chucking demos that have more than three songs on.  That first song has to be excellent, otherwise the others are not going to get a look in.

Mixing is quite a separate process from the recording and needs to be factored in to the day.  CDs take time to prepare and burn, although it is a lot faster than it used to be, there are some tasks that still take time and cannot be rushed.

As a very rough rule of thumb, an experienced band that are well rehearsed and know exactly what parts they are going to play can record up to three songs in a day, depending on how long the songs are, how many instruments there are and how much sleep they've had the night before.    This doesn't take into account mixing, overdubs and a good critical review.

Recording is an expensive business.  Make sure you and your instruments are in good shape (that includes voices!) before getting to the studio.  Spending a fiver on a new set of guitar strings can save hours of expensive studio time in trying to salvage a decent sound.  Don't bring in a new amp or other equipment that you're not familiar with.  Stick with what you know.

Although studios can be very creative places, rehearsal time is a lot cheaper, so learn your parts first, "improvising" on studio time can be very expensive and time consuming.

 

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