Getting your demo into the hands of someone who matters is a difficult task. Even more difficult is to get that person to listen to it! Writers, A&R types, club bookers, radio folks, and everyone else in the music industry receive more demos than you can imagine in a given week. If your band has generated enough buzz to make these folks want to listen to your band, it’s important that you don’t let them down with a sub-par sounding demo. And with the recording and production tools available these days at a reasonable price, there is really no excuse to not have at least a semi professional demo.

Step One – Planning Your Demo

A demo should contain 3 or 4 songs, and the song order is VERY important. You should absolutely lead off with the song that you feel kicks the most ass, the song that is most representative of the absolute best you can do. And the first song needs to kick ass immediately. No one has time to listen to a 2-minute intro before the song gets moving. If you are a rock band, you want a Black Dog as an opener in this, not a Stairway to Heaven. The second song should be in the same vein as the first, and if you want something in there to represent your more emotional side, you should consider dropping this song in at 3 or 4. You want to absolutely blow away anyone that is listening to this, straight away.

Step Two - Recording Your Demo

There are a couple of ways to go about this. You can always pay for time in a nice studio, and hire someone that really knows what they are doing. I live in Cambridge, right around the corner from Morphine’s studio, Hi-N-Dry, in Inman Square. Hi-N-Dry is still a fully functional studio, founded by Mark Sandman and now run by Billy Conway and Dana Colley. There is something wonderfully intangible and exciting about recording in a studio where such great records were made, with an expert’s advice at the ready.

Another avenue to consider is to produce your demo on your own. These days, it makes a lot of sense to be a jack-of-all-trades, which includes honing your production and recording chops. Pro Tools is widely used by musicians to record and produce a demo. It’s relatively intuitive to learn the basics, and if you want to learn a bit more than that, there are a number of both physical education centers and online Pro Tools courses (Pro Tools 101 is one of the most popular courses at www.berkleemusic.com) that can help you to produce something excellent.

Step Three – Packaging Your Demo

It may sound funny, but the actual packaging of your demo should not be an area where you expend a lot of time, energy, or money. Your demo is likely going to be included with a press kit which will look great. You don’t really need a designed demo in a jewel case with a booklet or rear card. Picture what happens when someone receives your press kit (which contains your demo). They might take a quick look at your press quotes, browse your bio, then separate your CD from the rest of it when they pop it into their player. In terms of the demo and packaging, the most important thing to remember is to have your contact info all over it. The last thing you want is for someone to dig your music and not know how to contact you!

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