How To Make A Demo CD On A Budget

The importance of a demo cannot be under-estimated. A good demo will not only contain a good representation of your music, but also photos, a brief biography, and of course the all important contact information. Your demo can be used for self promotion (getting gigs), and even (if it features original material recorded to a reasonable standard) for sending off to A&R departments. Any prospective client should be able to tell; What you sound like, What you look like, What you've done / are going to do, and Where to find you.

In short your demo is like a Curriculum Vitae for your band.

How should you go about making a demo?

If you have bags of cash lying around with no better use, then look up a recording studio in your local area and get them to do everything for you. After a day or two in the studio (if you are well rehearsed and lucky), you will end up with a master and some CD's. Most studios will offer a spin off duplication service, usually the more you buy the cheaper the individual price becomes. Still have a couple of bags of that cash left? Hire a photographer to take some professional pictures of your band and a Graphic Designer to produce the cover artwork on your masterpiece. And there you are, one demo CD - at a price.

But Hell's bells, we haven't got that kind of money! Fear not, there is a cheaper alternative.

The simplest way is probably to use a tape deck. Reasonable results can be obtained with a standard stereo tape deck and a couple of good mics, provided you are happy to submit a 'warts and all' live recording. Anything beyond this will require multi-tracking, which at its most basic level needs a four track portastudio.

It is still just about acceptable to submit a cassette, but to project a more up to date professional image, you can't beat a CD.

The cheapest way to produce a CD of your band is with your home PC. If you have the patience and the inclination you could record and produce the whole thing on your PC (search for "PC home recording" links for more info). But let's say for example, you already have a good recording on tape and you want to put it on CD.

Make sure you have plenty of space on your hard drive. Connect the L&R line outputs from your tape deck to the stereo (line) input on your PC's soundcard. Then using an audio recording application, simply record the output from your tape, making sure that your volume levels are where possible at optimum. If you record at too quiet a level the finished product will sound hissy, at too high a level it will sound distorted, none of which is what anybody expects to hear from a CD!

Once you have the recording on your hard drive, it would be a good idea to tidy up the beginning and end of your tracks by deleting any unwanted run in/out noise. How about polishing the EQ and normalizing your tracks using the audio application while you're there? When you are happy with the finished results, use a CD burning application to create the finished CD, making sure that you allow two second intervals between tracks.

Hey presto! A CD of your band is now ready for playing in any CD player (doesn't it seem a lot more professional than a cassette?). Ok, so it's not quite an EMI or Sony masterpiece, but it should be a good representation of your band at this stage.

Don't overlook the artwork on your CD's cover. You could simply write on your CD with a permanent marker pen, but who is going to take this seriously alongside a neat and comprehensive printed photo cover?

Again, if you're a cheapskate like me or simply on a budget, it is possible to do it all yourself with a home PC. Get a friend to take some 'artistic' photos of your band, either with a good (at least 1 mega pixel) digital camera or a decent 35mm SLR. Then import or scan the best ones into your PC - You can now manipulate them till your heart's content using Photoshop or similar software.

Once you are happy with your design, save it as a jpeg and import it into your CD cover printing application. Use good quality paper for the printed version, and don't forget to include a full track listing, band biography, and the vital contact info on your cover.

Finally, invest in some sticky labels for attaching to the CD itself and use the cover printing software to produce a nice design for this too.

You should now have a very professional looking demo CD to do with as you will.

Good Luck!

About the author: Tony Williams is a musician, writer, and self-confessed eBay fanatic. He is also the webmaster of MuZick! - The irreverent rock music lexicon.

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