At the other end of the scale from a poorly recorded demo is the song demo that is over-produced.
With the spread of affordable digital recording software and equipment, many demos tend to be as good as masters these days. But don’t make the mistake of recording a demo that is so busy and over-crowded that the most important ingredient—the song itself—gets lost in a forest of multi-layered instruments and vocals.
Sound quality and sounding professional are very important, of course. But sometimes less is better than more—otherwise there’s a risk of your demo appearing sloppy because there’s way too much going on.
You should avoid this trap if you’re trying to land a record deal. At the demo stage, record labels aren’t really interested in hearing amazing guitar solos, drum fills and production gimmicks. They’re looking for self-contained artists who write great songs (and hit singles) and have a unique sound.
If the purpose of the demo is to pitch your song for someone else to record, a full production can sometimes hinder rather than help. It is often better to leave plenty of room for a producer or an artist to imagine how they would record the song if they like it. If the demo version is too complete, they may not be able to hear it done any other way. And if the way you’ve recorded it is not their style, they may simply reject the song.
A good-quality scaled-down demo can give you much greater flexibility, and may allow you to pitch the same song to artists in different genres. It will also make it easier for a music publisher to see the song’s versatility.
That’s why experienced writers often record both a full band demo and a scaled- down voice/guitar or voice/piano version—especially if the song is a ballad.
Country music legend Don Williams is just one artist who has expressed a preference for hearing new songs performed by the writer with just a guitar or a piano. “Demos can go one of two ways for you,” he once said. “If it’s a demo that helps, sometimes it’ll help a lot. But by the same token, I think there are demos that close the door because it takes you in a direction that maybe you don’t want to go in.” He added: “It’ll color the attitude you might have about the song. Without the demo you might have viewed it another way.”
# # # #