Something that I want to touch base on today is the importance of recording demos for your upcoming project. A demo will help you craft ideas that you can always go back to. They can also be presented to people that may help you develop the idea and it's always best to get the idea recorded. Today I'm going to touch base on why you need to make a habit of hoarding demos even if you think it is trash.
Present to Labels and Producers
I've been approached by a few songwriters who wanted me to produce their upcoming albums and one of the ways they presented the sound that they were going for was by presenting me with a demos. Now these demos usually come in the form of Voice Memos or .flp files but I can always hear what it is that they are going for. This then gives me a great idea of what me and my team, Room380, can do is regards to making this demo a full song. Most of the projects that we turn down are the ones where the artist has absolutely no idea what it is that they are looking for. If they had recorded a demo they can then present that to either a label or to producers and everyone would know if this is worth working on or not. Also, a lot of session songwriters can present those ideas for placements and as reference tracks. You may not have the best equipment and the best mixing techniques but if the idea is strong enough it could result in a very big win in a very big way. So keep that voice memo open and close to you because you never know if your next big record could come right now; as you were reading this.
No Need to Remember
Ever had an idea for a song in the shower and you even hummed it yet you can't remember what is was as soon as you got a dressed? The reason that this happens is that a lot of times the environment we are in help us generate the idea for that song. Maybe before you jumped in you heard another song playing on the radio that inspired melody that would eventually open up the gateway in your mind for this new song. Then you jumped out, didn't record anything and now you're scrambling trying to remember that new song you were humming in the studio two or three weeks later. Don't be that person! Pull out your phone or voice recorder, if you still have one, and hum that idea. If you have lyrics, record those as well. This alleviates having to remember the idea and you can always go back to it. Maybe the guitar part can change, maybe the chord progression can change, or maybe this would work better as an instrumental. You can make all these changes after you have laid down that idea. Don't go around trying to remember a slew of songs and thinking that if you book a studio out the next week or even the next day you going to be able to remember all of those ideas. You’re probably not.
Raw Ideas are Better
As a super novice musician I can attest that most of my best chord progressions and melodies usually came in a pretty raw form that I would have to fix later. Because of this I always have the option in my DAW to record anything that I am playing in case I need to go back to it; even if I didn't press record. Sometimes that melody with no quantization is in the best pocket for the beat. Sometimes the chorus that I recorded, even if it's just me mumbling, sounds way better before I translated that mumbling into words. Again, you can always go back to these demos and make changes.
Now I know that I have talked a lot about habits but I want you to be able to take actionable steps to increase your chances of making better music. As a music producer and consumer I want to hear better music. And I know for certain that most artists have at least one hit record in them. If I can inspire you to make more demos that then the increases my chances as a consumer to hear better music.
I know you just came up with an idea just now. Go record it!
