My band, which has just gotten back on it's feet after a 4 month semester break (where members where scattered from Chicago to Spain and everywhere inbetween--namely Virginia) and aquiring a new drummer wants to score some gigs. And it seems that the only way to land a gig is by putting together and distributing a press kit, which usually contains pictures, a press-release (some sort of written statement about the band), and, of course, a demo.
How the heck to we record a demo, especially if we probably lack sufficient funds to pay for studio time, overdubbing, mastering, and pressing?
I suppose high-fidelity isn't the most important factor in this demo, as we're only looking to use it to get gigs, not to sell.
Any thoughts or imput is much appreciated.
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Have you go any gigs coming up soon? If so, you might be able to record your gig. Just speak to the sound man and see if you can plug a recorder into the desk.
Otherwise, you could get a couple of hours studio time, and record one or two songs really quickly...
Alternatively, you could look into recording on your computer. There's plenty of good freeware recording software available (try Audacity, or Quartz) The only probelm then would be hooking up instruments to the computer.
If all else fails, record yourselves on a minidisk or something like that. Just make sure the mic is reasonable, and record a song or two. This wont be very good quality at all, but I guess it's better than nothing.
My band recently went through the same thing, however, we were unbelievabley fortunate in being offered free recording time. But failing that, try some of the above
Good luck
Peter
You don't really need a demo to get gigs, especially at college. I don't know what your school is like, but the college I went to had a campus cafe-coffeehouse that had loads of live music. Students could play all the time, and several bands grew out of that.
Try this:
Open mikes that will support a band
Ask to open for local bands, many are good about this (well, sometimes)
Pull and Aerosmith and play on the street corner near the commons. That helped them a lot.
Offer to play for free.
You can get gigs if you look hard enough. Eventually you will get paid and then you can filter that into a demo or album
"Contrary to popular belief, Clapton is NOT God. The prospect that he is God probably had a large hand in driving him to drugs and booze. Thanks everyone."
-Guitar World :lol:
