10/11/2022
Let me introduce myself, I’m Danny Taddei, founder of Demos Masters Recording Studio back in 1986, in Los Angeles California. That’s the same me and the same studio that Los Angeles Songwriter’s Association and National Association of Songwriters had articles about, back in the 80’s. I’ve been working in film and music since I was 8 years old an I was born in 1963, so it’s been a minute!
I shoot film and record music but on the thought of music, I decided to get to the point. A common question I get is "Do you record Demos or Master recordings"? The answer is both - of course! Recording demos before masters is like learning to walk before trying to run. Granted, most of us try to run as soon as our feet move but like most babies find out, a face plant is usually not far behind.
So what is the difference between demos and masters? One is the script, planning and other basics, while the other is the movie you release. I often use film as a metaphor for songs for several reasons but probably got in that habit because of the Author Ray Bradbury who was my neighbor, mentor, and friend. He taught me that a song was nothing more than a short story and should be treated as such. Sure there are songs that are four or five words, or even just one words, “tequila”, but they’re still stories. I’ve held this close to my heart since he took me under his wing at 10 years old, may he R.I.P.  he was a truly wonderful man, but on with the important stuff for today.
Let’s just start with the question, what is a great song? We’ll get to the recording part later. First of all, a great song should be defined as one that does a great job of filling its intended use.
What?
While most people think that songwriting and hit songs need great songs, with great lyrics, that are recorded perfectly for their styles, there are other uses for music. Those other uses may need something completely different to accomplish their intended use. An example would be, let's say, a film where a lady is walking down a sidewalk dressed properly and clean and the scene calls for her to be completely offended by kids playing loud raunchy music in a garage. Well, your recording needs to be noisy and loose, hollow and loud as if it is inside a garage. So the point is, define your music before you record it. Do you want to sound raw, polished, time-stamped in the ’50s, or what?
Once you figure out what you are looking for, then the next step is to decide what the finished product will actually be. Art is never finished; it is only abandoned.
A demo is a quick recording that presents what you want in the master recording and how it will be laid out. It can save many hours of expensive Recording Studio time and it’s usually required to present your song to a potential artist. A master is the best recording you can do for a budget that will keep people happy in a commercial medium such as radio or TV and for the intended use (as in it could be music in that garage from the movie I mentioned...
How do you get a world-class, master recording and what gear do you need?
A world-class master recording can be made on less than world-class equipment if you know what you are doing. A world-class master recording will never be made on world-class equipment if you don’t have a grasp on what you doing with the equipment.
An imagination to hear a song before it is done, techniques to reproduce your imagined sound, and ears to know when the sound is right, are essential. Unless you’re ungodly rich, you better have an idea of when it’s good enough too.
OK then, we have our start.
What I do here in my studio when it comes to a demo, is to use top gear and techniques that I used to produce masters on a regular basis. What we don’t do for demos is spend countless hours polishing and fine-tuning each note of each track. We use great musicians and as much imagination as we can but we don’t work on a lead guitar part for 4 weeks to get that perfect brand new sound no one has ever heard before. We don’t spend 200 hours dialing in a bass sound. We do a really great job at getting a song done in a fantastic way that suits the needs of its intended use, and on a fixed budget, to create a great demo of the song for representation. Later on it can be recorded again as a master in the proper key, tempo and instrumentation for whatever artist or band will make a master recording of it.
We try to fit a few songs of the same general style, in one day. We hire the best people for that style and have them come in on that day. We hand them charts, play any pre-session demos we have worked up and rehearse the songs a few times. If someone has any cool ideas, we share them and work them out. When we’re ready enough, we hit record and track your song. We get the levels nice, the tone right, and voila, we have a demo or the tracks at least. If we are doing the vocal tracks, we usually have the lead singer stay after and redo all the vocal tracks to make them as good as we can get them.
We like to record 4 songs a day so sometimes we put a song on the wait list for a few days until we can get it done right. Some of our players exceed in one area and are only good in another. We figure that waiting a few days to get it done, the best it can be done, is a worthwhile wait.
If you have any questions, ideas, thoughts, or issues, please contact us. We would love to give you the confidence to try us the first time.
It only takes one demo from us to keep you coming back forever.
To get started, just email me, or click the call button.
Danny Taddei
