Songwriting Song Demos and Recording

A common question about demos is usually "What quality demo recording do I need"?

The answer to this is really, the best that you can do. You can get away with a fairly simple (budget) song writer demo with some styles of music much more so than with others, but the competition is intense so you will have a much better chance with a high quality demo.

There are, of course many factors involved in the creation of your demos (your resources, your intended audience, style of music, etc.) but if you are making a serious attempt at promoting your song you should make the best quality demo that you can do.

I personally enjoy doing my own recordings and productions and today's technology makes it pretty easy to make decent quality recordings (easily distributable on CDR format). Here's a breif listing of some of the basic equipment that you need for your home recording studio:

A good multi-track recorder. (I need an upgrade myself, but the digital hard-disk multi-track recorders out today are great and very reasonably priced).

The Digidesign pro tools (PC workstations and software) can give you great quality and save you on cost by connecting and doing the recording directly on to your PC.

Microphone(s) - A good condenser mic will improve your recordings significantly.
Keyboard/Synth - Even if you are not a major keyboard player. If you can get around the keyboard a little (even just in the key of C (there is always the magic "transpose" key.. One on my favorites!!!), you can fill-in the recordings with the sounds or instruments that you need for your production.
Drum machine (sequencer) optional, of course - even my antique does well at filling in (and works well as a metronome if nothing else...).

It takes some time to get proficient at the instruments and productions. It is better to start out fairly simple and just use the synth and drums for fill and color mostly at first.

Whether you are just doing work "tapes", to be converted to professional demos, or high quality demos yourself, putting a little extra effort into the initial productions on your home system can also give you new ideas and directions for the songs themselves (musically and possible even lyrically).

Of course, one of nice benefits of doing high quality demos is that even if you don't get the songs placed or published, you can always include them on your own CDs for sale independently.

Here are some great home recording studio products...

Yamaha AW16G 16-Track Workstation with CDRW
Boss BR1180 Digital Recording Studio with CD Burner
Digidesign MBox Audio Interface
Great Condenser Microphones!
Great Recorders!
Drum Machines!

... or check out this link for songwriter demo and home recording studio equipment (with product photos). The prices at zZounds are the best that I have found anywhere.

Here is a nice collection of Music, Electronics & Audio Magazines from Amazon.

Great Demo Recording Equipment

songwriter demo and home recording studio equipment