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(Once upon a time, in a land far away. OK, Suffolk.)
Saturday 7 Jan 2017, 10:23am
Demoes show what you do, whomever you send them to. More than a knowledge of recording or editing software is needed; A&R folk tell us to put our strongest track first and that we've got to get their attention within twenty seconds.
Has anyone gone big from sending a demo to a label? I don't know, but I read an article by an A&R man in Making Music in which he said that 'guitar bands have had their day'. Many guitar bands have made since then, so he was talking bollocks, as was the A&R man at Decca who said the same words when he turned rejected the Beatles.
Van Halen had a demo produced by Gene Simmons and sent to every big label. They all rejected it. The band got signed after someone at Warner Brothers saw them live.
I sent a demo to someone in here asking for a drummer. She said she was rock; my drum track on the song was a standard rock beat, but she said it was 'the wrong style'. No second chance, no clue as to the right style. No loss to me, either. She was the one still looking for help a long time later.
I did, though, send the same drum track without anything else. This time the style was okay, but the sound of the drums was wrong. The demo of her song was badly mixed and, there was no noticeable difference between verse and chorus, making it boring by halfway. The lack of a bridge kept the boredom going to the end.
She had the vox much too low, but that's normal for a beginner. There were other bad things about it, but I won't say it here.
I was sent a demo by a singer that could sing in tune but with a voice that sounded ghastly. I gave her a chance, only for her to say, 'no' because the sound quality of my recording wasn't good enough for her. Nobody else ever said anything about it not being good enough, not even a semi-pro producer.
Or how about the one wanting to be a rock singer but won't work with anyone playing an electric guitar?
There's also one here that asks for a singer, doesn't say anything about what he's looking for, only to reject anyone not sounding like Neil Young.
Another asked for a lyricist, didn't say what subject the words should be, but rejected everyone for not write about the right subject.
Or the one asking for songs to go with his animations, being told that one set of songs he could use was punky, accepted the description, and rejected them all on hearing,because they were rocky. No answer to what he had thought 'punky' meant, other than than a smiley.
So, I reckon a demo is only as useful as the hearer's ability to think or open-mindedness, assuming that it does at least show a gifting somewhere.