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Guitar/vocal demos - $150
 

My demo service policy:
"If you send me your song, I will send you back a guitar/vocal demo done with a recording quality that I personally would be proud to play in professional pitch meetings." 

Click here to read my thoughts on the "full band versus guitar/vocal "  debate and my reason for establishing this service.

To listen to recent samples of  Ready For The Row Demos
please visit www.myspace.com/readyfortherow

COMPLETE INSTRUCTIONS - PLEASE FOLLOW CAREFULLY

  1. Email an mp3 of your song to barbara@barbaracloyd.com 
    or send a work recording on CD or cassette to
            Ready for the Row Demos Service
            PO Box 121497
            Nashville, TN 37212

  2. Include your contact information including email address 

  3. Send lyrics, and, if possible, a chord chart.

  4. Please specify "female vocal" or "male vocal." 

  5. We will do our best to honor reasonable requests concerning the style of the track and the vocal style of the singer. To help us best meet your expectations, please suggest a hit song that has the feel you would like.

  6. Please let us know if you want a CD of the demo mailed to you or if you prefer to receive the demo through email as an mp3 file.

  7. We work as quickly as we can to get your demo back to you. If you are working with a deadline, please contact us to be sure we can meet it.

  8. Pay on line with the Pay Pal buttons below or send check or money order payable to Barbara Cloyd

  9. For harmony vocal please add $25

  10. If you would like to have a melody written to your lyrics, please give some direction as to the style or feel you would like the song to have

Use the buttons below to pay with Pay Pal.

Please note - there is a 4% service charge added to Paypal payments.

               $150 guitar/vocal demo

  $25 for harmony vocal

$15 for mix of guitar tracks only (if requested after demo is delivered)

 

                    $100 to write a melody to your lyrics. This includes a work-tape only.

Please note - there is a 4% service charge added to Paypal payments.



My thoughts on demos and the reason for this service:
"For songwriters who want to stand out and be noticed in the incredibly competitive market in Nashville, it is important  to present songs in a very professional form.  In the same way that you would want to dress nicely at a job interview, you want to  "dress up" your songs with an excellent recording where the performance and audio quality are first rate. This will help you impress the people you play for with the fact that you strive for excellence and are serious about your career.

There is a constant debate in Nashville about  whether to use full-band demos or guitar/vocal demos. Most publishing companies spare no expense in creating the best possible fully produced demos with top session players. In fact, on many of the hits you hear on the radio, the musicians in the master session have copied the production straight from the demo. Clearly, it can be an advantage to pitch demos that sound like records. But many songs do get cut from simple demos - in fact some producers and record label representatives prefer them

For unsigned writers I believe there are some very strong reasons to use simple guitar/vocal  demos. The most obvious one is cost. Few writers who do not have publishers footing the bill can afford to spend hundreds of dollars on every song they want to play for people. And making an inexpensive full-band demo can work against you if the performance and audio quality are not excellent. It is better to do less and do it well than to do more and do it second-rate.

Also, making a demo that sounds like a record is not easy. It takes someone with a producer's ear to arrange a song with the kind of dynamics and structure that you hear in a major label recording, and it takes extra time in the studio while the meter is running. Publishers often spend over $1000 for that level of production. Without that, adding extra instruments to the track, even by good players, may not sell a song any better than a great  performance with one instrument. 

Another reason to keep it simple is that only the very best professionally crafted songs have any chance at all of getting recorded by a major label artist. For songwriters who are still developing their skills and trying to get heard, the money spent on big-budget demos might be better spent on classes, workshops or trips to Nashville.

It is rare for unknown writers to be able to get their songs to producers, artists and record labels. New writers need to be playing their songs for established writers and publishers who can help them make new contacts and give them the feedback they need to develop and improve. Those people are used to hearing the writing in simple form. In fact, publishers and established writers may be more reluctant to give feedback and suggest changes if it is obvious that the writer has spent a lot of money on the demo. If a publisher hears your song and wants to pitch it, then he can pay for a full-band demo if he thinks it's needed.

Many times in my workshops and consultations in the last few years I have expressed these views to writers and they have shared with me how hard it can be to know where to get good recordings, especially if you do not live in Nashville. Seeing the need for low cost, professional guitar vocal/demos, I have negotiated with some of the same studios and singers I use for my own songs and am very happy to be able to provide this service for songwriters."



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