So, you’re making a demo…

You’ve rehearsed a lot, and are ready to lay down some tracks at a nice, or not so nice recording studio.  You’ve probably like I did, paid a bunch of money to have someone engineer the demo and are really wanting things to go well.

Here are just some thoughts about what things to think about once you are ready to go and get everyone together to play.  I recorded some pop songs, and so these are the things that I had to keep in mind, but I guess that the process would be slightly different say if you were recording a hip hop track, or classical concerto, or anything in between.  But for us, it was all about planning…

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I’m not a singer, but I have played in bands and have tried to sing.  Most of the time, it sounded bad.  It wasn’t that I am a bad singer, although that probably contributed to the situation.  It’s because singing at a club in front of loud instruments calls for some adjustment of technique.  For the first year of playing out at bars, I would sing backup, but it wasn’t really being heard in the room.  Then there were the times, that I felt I was on key and in tune, and yet, stuck out too much.  I think that at the core of it, the technique of singing into a microphone in a band situation is different from say singing in a choir, or in the shower.  Microphones accentuate certain aspects of the sound, and reward for crispness of the sound coming out of your mouth, rather than the tone coming out.  Like I said, I’m not a singer, but I have noticed some things here and there about singing backup that might be good to keep in mind…. Continue Reading