1. Want a good sound? - go to a good studio
2. Want a good drum sound? - get new skins and tune the kit so it sounds good.
3. Want the song to sound good? - play it good.
4. Want a good mix? - take the time.
5. Want it to sound good at home? - take a decent copy home - on a Chrome cassette.

We’re not talking the wisdom of Solomon here, I’m talking about not being dumb.

A band came in and gave me CDs of Pearl Jam, Smashing Pumpkins, etc. And said “This is the sound we want” - I said OK, it’ll take time - but let’s go.

The guitarist brought in his flatmate’s guitar and his Brother amp, the bass player brought in his “Jason” bass (no case - hand held) and the drummer didn’t even bring his drums into the studio because I saw his kit in the car - the skins hadn’t been changed since his last tour of duty in Vietnam - so he used the studio kit.

The point is, it was difficult to get a great sound out of their gear, which they didn’t own or were not even familiar with. This is especially true with guitar - alarm bells ring in my head if a guitarist says “Can I use the studio amp”. The sound of a guitar is the combination of the elements involved - the player’s style, pick, strings, guitar, fingers, oh yeah, and an amp. Change one element and the whole sound changes.

Why does Eric Clapton use the same gear every gig, the same guitar, same amp? - because you just can’t plug in any old guitar into any old amp and get the sound of doom that you’re looking for - it takes the right gear, time and familiarity with your gear.

Sending Demo Tapes

“You only get one chance at a first impression” - so when you do send you magnificent demo to the most important booking agent in town, you’ve got to realise this isn’t the tape he’s been waiting for all this week. It’s tape No. 40 from Band No. 40 today looking for work. Make it easy for the guy - do this:

1. Keep the record level of the cassette right up (not to the point of distortion though) so when he takes the previous band demo off and puts yours on it’ll sound louder (which is of course better).
   
   
2. Put the demo on a decent Chrome tape so that your demo sounds brighter than the previous band’s demo, and louder (which of course is better).
   
   
3. No false starts, no false endings, no crackles, no pops, no half versions of song 2 because you accidentally started taping song 3 in the wrong place after you went to answer the door - concentrate.
   
   
4. Make sure (by re-playing) that both channels are working - equally.
   
   
5. Clean your cassette heads - be honest - when was the last time you cleaned them?
   
   
6. Put your phone number on the cassette and box (there’s a famous story about a cassette of songs given to Bette Midler to record - she loved them but couldn’t record them because there was no information on the cassette - a golden opportunity lost). They can’t book you with no information; no matter what they say, if a band sounds better on tape, they think you are better, so you’ll get the next booking before the previous band with the dull, soft, non Chrome, false start, right hand channel only cassette with no phone number.
   
   
7. OK. The session is finished 3 months later; All copies of the demo have been sent out - no more copies left. Do not, I repeat, do not send the master - even if a support to a Beatle reunion concert (with John Lennon) depends upon it, because you will never see it again and you’ll only have 2nd or 3rd generation copies that your girlfriend has had in her car to run copies off.

There’s a credibility thing here. I had a guy who wanted to do a Roy Orbison tribute CD. I said OK, send me a copy of Roy’s originals so I can check out the sound. He did, I did, I couldn’t, the cassette copy was so bad I cried for days. I thought to myself, ‘Self, this guy wants to do a tribute to the “Big O” but doesn’t even have the dedication to get decent copies of his songs, one, for his own pleasure and, two, for my benefit so that I can hear the stuff and thus have a better chance to do a professional quality CD for him!’

What’s the point? If you’re serious about your music, your band, and representing the guys you spend so much time and energy with, who have chosen you to be their cassette sender outer - you’d better do it properly - it will be noticed.

I put a CD together in late 1997 comprising 18 heavy/grunge bands called “Sutherland Shire CD”. I received over 60 demo cassettes from bands. Even me, with a recording studio, a bloke who’s been in 50 bands in my life, dealing with songs all day and night, I still found myself being fooled into thinking that a better sounding demo was a better band - it’s not always the case!!

A couple of bands have their demo on one speaker and Rod Stewart on the other. I still don’t know how they did that! Now did they appear on the CD - NOT! Don’t shoot yourself in the foot on the way to first base.

Printed with permission.
Jeff Cripps
A# Sharp Recording Studio
Email: jeff@asharp.com.au
Phone: +612 9153 9988