Tips on Making Demos - Instrumentation

Q: I would like to record a quality demo. I am struggling between using live musicians, or synthesizers in addition to my own live instrument playing (in my case, Sax). As someone with a long career in music from both sides of the 
production booth, is using live ALWAYS the only way to go, or can I showcase my singing and playing with quality synth tracks filling out the percussion and orchestrations?

A: First of all, if you are recording a "demo" for the sake of pitching yourself to a label, or a song to an artist, there are no exacts for who or what to use on such a recording. The main thing is to utilize anything and everything that will enhance the demo...be it "live" players, or synthesizers. The main thing you should be concerned about is taste and arrangement of the production. The purpose of a demo is to capture the attention of the person you are pitching to...9 out of 10 times their attention span is very limited, so you have to make sure your music gets to the point, and has commercial appeal.. regardless of what instruments you use...its the arrangement and substance of the "music" and not what instruments are on it. That's the only concern of the person you will be trying to play your music to. He or she couldn't care less if you're using live players, or not. Set your focus on the music. The Beatles sounded fantastic with one acoustic guitar, as in "Yesterday." However, they also sounded just as great with synthesizers on their final "Abbey Road" album. What ever works for the song...think along those lines and you'll do fine. By the way, if you're talking about a demo to showcase your "live" singing, its always best to have real players instead of singing to programmed tapes. "Live" musicians add more excitement than a tape deck. Good luck!

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