Originally Posted by JaneK
Hello everyone,

Regarding the subject of making great demos - Yes, you must have good songs to start with. You must not be a mature woman if you are just starting out. And of course, you must have a lot of connections.

My problem with getting professional demos done is that they often turn out boring and unimaginative. If you ask for production help from recording engineers and sessions players (I play keys and do my own vocals for my songs) they end up giving you lackluster versions of songs (They still get the money even though they don't deliver the goods you expected).

Of course you find this out later when you get critiques on song forums (not here yet) and other songwriters tell you it is not anywhere near ready.

Not impressed so far here in Bakersfield with the recording studios here (We only have a couple). So I try to do it myself at home with the "built in the DAW" sounds and various plug ins. But I am an amateur everything -taking up a DAW at my age isn't easy - I don't know if I will ever get the "finished product" sound. And yes with all the music out there, and no real appreciation of music from the general public, you say to yourself, well it is just a hobby, a very fulfilling hobby and at least find maybe a few people who want to listen.

Thanks for welcoming me to your forum. Really interesting stuff here.

Jane K



There is reality to this. I've no doubt that the Nashville demo factories have to hold their nose as they make many recordings. I've no doubt that they consider many, if not most of their clients as internet wannabees who have no real talent or prospects. I suspect that the idea is to sit down and put something out that "checks the boxes" as a professional or quasi professional recording and move on.

https://soundcloud.com/sunset-poet-of-texas