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Recording Demos

Recording a demo that shows off your musical ability to its fullest can be tricky. You might at first think, “What’s the big deal? You just set a microphone or two in front of the band and sing and play into it.” Try it and you’ll likely be disappointed with the results. Sure, maybe people can listen past the sonic deficiencies to hear your true musical brilliance, but why make them?

So you know, Young Guns is particularly scrupulous in not letting the quality of your recording impact our judging. After all, we’re looking for the best band and best original song, not the best recording of a band or song. Still, it’s always nice to show off your musical talent with a well-recorded demo. So, here are a few basic tips to help with the process.

Practice, Practice, Practice

First, don’t try to record until you’re good and ready. It’s simply a waste of time (and money if you record at a professional studio) to start recording before you’ve got a song down pat. Oh sure, some super groups spend weeks and even months rehearsing and even writing songs in the studio, at top-dollar studio, but they have money to burn. Plus, they’re seasoned pros. You’re not yet, so work out the kinks beforehand.

That said, it can be quite helpful to record your rehearsals of a song in some sort of rudimentary fashion. You might be surprised at all of the problems you discover, especially about how your band sounds as a unit. Pay attention to all aspects of your performance—wrong notes, general intonation, groove, and the like.

You might want to try rehearsing with a metronome. Musicians often don’t notice fluctuations in tempo while they’re playing, but they sure come through in the mix. In fact, many if not most professional recordings are done to a click track. I know, I know. You hate the thought of it. You worry that it’ll somehow stifle you musically. Maybe it will at first, but developing a strong rhythmic sense that allows you to groove to a click is important. Just think of the metronome as a rock-steady drummer.

The Recording Process

Once you’re well rehearsed, then its time to record. If you’re using a professional studio, the actual process may surprise you. For one thing, it can take forever to properly mike a drum set. Also, the final mix down process can take hours upon hours upon hours. Meanwhile, the actual laying down of the tracks may go by fairly quickly, especially if you are indeed well rehearsed.

The attention given to placing drum microphones reveals one of the first complexities of good recording. Different microphones are designed for different applications, and using a vocal microphone to record an acoustic guitar, for example, can sound terrible. Place the microphone poorly, and it can sound worse than terrible.

So, if you plan to record your demo yourself, you need to have access to a range of microphones or to at least have one really good all-around model. You can read plenty of reviews online to help you with selection. The same holds true for mike placement. You can begin by simply Googling, say, “acoustic guitar microphone placement.”

There are two basic approaches to recording a song. The first is often referred to as ‘live,’ even though it takes place in a studio setting. It amounts to everyone performing at the same time as if you were playing at a live show. Musicians typically like this, because it feels the most natural. Still, you may have to make a few concessions that detract from it seeming completely live. The engineer will likely ask you to listen to yourself and the rest of the band through headphones, and singers and acoustic instruments may have to be sequestered behind sound-deading partitions known as gobos.

As natural as the live approach may feel, it has one big sonic drawback. Sound from singer or instrumentalist frequently bleeds into the microphones for other musicians. This can handcuff the engineer in various ways later on when it comes time to mix down the multitrack recording into a stereo master. When you record live, it’s also difficult to pay sufficient attention to the part being performed by each musician.

The alternative to recording live goes by a couple of different names. We’ll call it overdubbing. It involves recording the different vocals and instruments of a song one at a time, usually starting with the drums. Other musicians may play along, but they’re just providing guide parts that the drummer hears through his or her headphones (along with perhaps a click track). They’ll lay down their actual parts, one by one, later in the process.

The guide parts for the instrumentalist may include a not-for-keeps so-called scratch recording of the lead vocal. This lets the instrumentalists know where to insert fills. Finally, after all other parts (except perhaps background vocals) are complete, the final, for-keeps lead vocal is recorded.

It’s common in this day of computer-based recording to record several takes of a part. For example, the lead vocalist may be asked to sing through a song a number of times from start to finish. Then, later on, a composite track made up of the best moments from each take can be assembled.

Mixing

As mentioned above the mix down process for a single song can take untold hours and makes all the difference in the quality of the finished product. During mixing, effects like equalization and reverb are added, and instruments are panned across the stereo field. The engineer will also get rid of such extraneous noises as lip smacking and noisy breathing. And, this being the digital age, he or she may also apply digital pitch correction to some of the tracks. (Shh, let’s not tell anyone about that.)

Engineering a mix is so involved it’s hard to say much more about it here. There are some programs, like Apple’s Garageband, that have preset effects for various types of tracks. These can certainly give you a leg up on mixing a song. You might also want to start reading articles in magazines dedicated to the recording process, such as “Mix.”

Critical listening to professional recordings in the same style of music that you make can also be an education in itself, especially if you listen through headphones. Listen to all of the minute aspects of the recording, and then try to reproduce them yourself. An A/B test is helpful, switching back and forth between your own recording and the professional model you’re trying to emulate.

For More Info

Be sure to check out Young Guns' other Hints & Tips pages on these important subjects:

Great Songs

Killer Photos

Winning Bios