Six Ways To See If Your Song Is Ready To Demo Written by: Cliff Goldmacher ( Introduction $ne of the big

decisions that e% as song riters% ha&e to ma'e is hether or not one of our songs is ready for a (rofessional demo! In other ords% is our song good enough to arrant s(ending the money and time necessary to ma'e a high)*uality recording+ While our instinct may be to lo&e all of our songs e*ually% the reality is that some of our songs are sim(ly better,more commercially &iable than others! The (roblem is deciding hich songs those are! -elo is a list of things you can do to hel( you ma'e that decision! .!/a'e 0 Rough Recording $ne of the first tests I1d suggest is to ma'e a sim(le rough recording of your song! Gi&en that there1s no Grammy a ard for best rough recording% this can be a bare bones guitar and &ocal recorded into your smart(hone for exam(le! The reason that a rough recording is so useful is that you1re able to hear your song as a listener ould! This (ers(ecti&e is entirely different from listening to your song as you1re (laying it! I1m al ays sur(rised at ho t ea's and ad2ustments (resent themsel&es hen I sit bac' and listen to the rough recording ) (roblems I ne&er noticed hile I as (laying and singing the song! 3!4ut It 0 ay 5or 0 Wee' 0fter creating a song there1s often a rush of enthusiasm! This is a good thing! I certainly ho(e you1re (leased ith hat you1&e ritten! 6o e&er% it1s still a good idea to ha&e a short 7cooling off8 (eriod of% say% a ee' or so% in order to ma'e sure hat you1re feeling is true lo&e and not infatuation! 0fter a ee'% go bac' to the song and if that same excitement is there% you1re on to something! 9!4rofessional Song Criti*ue "arly in your career% getting an ex(erienced song riter or music (ublisher to gi&e you their (rofessional o(inion can bring &aluable insight into the ay the industry listens to songs! If your goal is to ha&e a song that is commercially successful% then a (rofessional o(inion can be &ery useful! That being said% song riting is still an art and you should ne&er assume that 2ust because a (rofessional says something that you should blindly agree ith it! The music business is filled ith stories about (ublishers and 0:R re(s (assing on songs that ent on to become huge hits! In other ords% a (rofessional criti*ue should be ta'en ith a large grain of salt and a((reciated for hat it is (industry insight# but also hat it isn1t (the final ord on hether your song is good or not#! !"ducatedSong riter!com#

Six Ways To See If Your Song Is Ready To Demo

;!4lay It 5or Your Song riting 4eers It1s es(ecially easy hen li&ing in a music city li'e <e Yor'% =os 0ngeles or <ash&ille to find a grou( of song riting (eers to bounce ideas off of! 6o e&er% organi>ations li'e the <ash&ille Song riters 0ssociation International (<S0I# ha&e cha(ters in many cities here you can find song riting (eers if you don1t ha&e the luxury of li&ing in a industry to n! 0 song riting grou( can be a good (lace to (lay your song and get outside (ers(ecti&e from (eo(le ho understand hat song riting is about! 0gain% it1s im(ortant to remember that you on1t ) nor do you ha&e to ) agree ith e&erything that1s said% but there might be a hel(ful gem or t o that can ma'e all the difference! The ris'% ho e&er% is that the rong ord or a mean)s(irited comment in the early life of a song can be de&astating! To that end (rotect yourself by ma'ing sure your grou(1s members are constructi&e in their criticism! 0lso% it1s a good (olicy to de&elo( a thic'er s'in for these situations! This gets easier the more songs you rite! ?!4lay It 5or 0n $b2ecti&e% <on)/usician 5riend It1s been my ex(erience that fello musicians and song riters tend to listen to songs in a certain ay often (aying attention to details that only other musicians and song riters can a((reciate! This can be useful (see @; abo&e# but song riters% as a rule% aren1t really music buyers! 4laying your song for a trusted% non)musician friend ho can tell you in more real terms (i!e! 7the song feels long8 or 7I don1t understand the story8# hether they li'e the song or not can be a hel(ful ay of seeing hether a song is or'ing! A!4lay It =i&e If you1re a li&e (erformer as ell as a song riter% you1&e got a &aluable tool at your dis(osal! There1s nothing *uite li'e gauging the res(onse ) or non) res(onse ) of a li&e audience to see hether a song is or'ing or not! $ften% the things that you thought ould or' hile you ere riting the song don1t (an out hile other things you barely (aid attention to go o&er beautifully! 0 ord of arning though ) don1t assume 2ust because a song is or'ing li&e that you1re all set! It1s still ell orth your hile to use some of the earlier suggestions (es(ecially the rough recording# to ma'e sure that hen you listen to your song ob2ecti&ely% it1s doing hat you ant it to! Conclusion 0s a (roducer% it1s clear to me hen a riter is confident about their song! I can tell that they1&e done the necessary or' using any number of the abo&e suggestions! This ma'es my 2ob easier as my only concern becomes bringing an already finished song to a high (olish as o((osed to s(ending

Six Ways To See If Your Song Is Ready To Demo time and effort doing damage control! 6o e&er% at the end of the day% the decision is ) and should be ) yours! <o one else can tell you hether your song is finished and ready to be (rofessionally recorded! In most cases% you1re the one s(ending the money for the demo and the one ho has to be excited about (itching it% so you should be as con&inced as (ossible that your song is ready for (rime time! 6o(efully% some of the ti(s abo&e can hel( you through the decision (rocess and maybe e&en im(ro&e your odds for success! Good luc'B -io Cliff Goldmacher is a song riter% (roducer% session musician% engineer% author and o ner of recording studios in <ash&ille% T< and Sonoma% C0! Cliff1s site% htt(:,, !"ducatedSong riter!com% is full of resources for the as(iring song riter including monthly online ebinars! Go to htt(:,, !educatedsong riter!com, ebinar, for the latest schedule! Cliff1s com(any% htt(:,, !<ash&illeStudio=i&e!com% (ro&ides song riters outside of <ash&ille ith &irtual access to <ash&ille1s best session musicians and singers for their song riting demos! You can do nload a 5R"" sam(le of Cliff1s e-oo' 7The Song riter1s Guide To Recording 4rofessional Demos8 by going to htt(:,, !"ducatedSong riter!com,eboo'! 5aceboo': !faceboo'!com,"ducatedSong riter T itter: edusong riter