the great demo debate (3 Viewers)

[Break Neck Speed]

Definitely. The Only Fumes And Corpses demo was deadly (though a wee bit pricey for how long it is) and the packaging is great.

Thats our ep your on about. Dont you dare call it a demo! We did a demo a year before this current release. It was a cdr in a homemade digipak with lino print artwork. Sold 350 of em. price/length of ep: 7 euro for 20 mins of pure unadulterated heft is a fair price in my opinion. .|..|

On the other points, i agree with owensie.

 

[São Paulo Punk]

[Academic research question] With the latest whiz bang technology do home demos and the like sound better than they used to? [/Academic research question]

Yeah, or at least the possibility of recording a better quality demo has become a lot more feasible, both financially with regard to buying recording equipment and in terms of being able to access the necessary software over the internet.

The sheer amount of bands on myspace speaks for itself, and though the quality isn't always amazing, it would definitely be above the standard of quality from 5 -10 years ago.

 

[therealjohnny]

Yeah good point Scientician- a lot of people have access to software like Pro-tools etc so the quality of their recording can be a lot better now than the tapes recorded in practice rooms that used to do the rounds.

So, is the quality of the recording something that relegates or raises your release ( whatever you want to call it) to either demo or EP status?

I think if it cost you fuck all to make then you should charge fuck all for it. If you want to go to the expense of getting if pressed on CD as opposed to CD-R then fair enough, charge the extra. And as Owensie said people seem to prefer the format and are willing to pay for it as it's meant to last longer.

 

[Deleted member 3435]

Just to throw in another perspective: I've never really been part of a demo culture or whatever in that I've never really been given any, or come across many, put it down to my age...or whatever you want, I dunno.

We're currently phantom fm demo of the month, and when they asked first I felt like saying no, it's not a demo! It kind of embarrassed me. But we haven't put anything out. It's nothing to do with professionalism either. It's more to do with being self determining. Saying this is what we do, and a demo would have always seemed to me as being something that's a lot less "like it or lump it". Having read some posts here I feel I've missed out on something though. Why didn't people send me "demos"? (maybe don't answer that) It's just the word demo I guess. I associate it pretty much 100% with something bands make to impress a label, and bands I would have encountered in my youth talked about their demos and their support slot with aslan and getting signed and "making it" all in the same breath. I always remember being aware of not digging that kind of talk. At the same time I agree that the rushing into it thing can be misjudged, but basically people will do whatever they want. Maybe it's just the word demo that people want to avoid, but essentially a DIY first release ep (on cd-r or cd) is the same thing?


Interesting debate anyway. Rimbaud mentioned the DIY scene being about doing it for yourself. I suppose I grew up associating "demo" with a kind of pandering or desperation. I'm not arguing this point here, just shedding light on an attitude that I'm sure many people of my age/background/whatever share. My loss?

Interesting anyway...sorry for the ramble.

 

[cesspooldublin]

....whereas I gre up in the "demo culture" of the early 90s where it was considered a legitimate release, particularly in the hardcore and death metal scenes at the time, and not necessarily something to impress labels.It was just really a cheap, quick way to get your name out there without having a lot of money, people would trade them,send them to zines etc.So quite frankly this "it's something bands only do to impress labels" thing is a bullshit argument.

 

[Daniel]

We did a demo a year before this current release. It was a cdr in a homemade digipak with lino print artwork. Sold 350 of em.

I thought that was what Gambra was talking about it...

 

[therealjohnny]

So quite frankly this "it's something bands only do to impress labels" thing is a bullshit argument.

I don't think anyone is really arguing that. A lot of younger people aren't , as dags nugs pointed out aware of the 80s/90s demo thing, and merely pointed out what his understanding of the word meant.

So now that's been clarified.

QED

"demo" in the punk scene does not mean the same as demo in the "next Aslan" way

 

[cesspooldublin]

I don't think anyone is really arguing that. A lot of younger people aren't , as dags nugs pointed out aware of the 80s/90s demo thing, and merely pointed out what his understanding of the word meant.

So now that's been clarified.

QED

"demo" in the punk scene does not mean the same as demo in the "next Aslan" way

agreed.

 

[Break Neck Speed]

I thought that was what Gambra was talking about it...

Well if thats the cd he's on about he's a right tight fuck coz that only cost 3 fuckin quid!

 

[São Paulo Punk]

This is slightly trivial, but I just remembered now that back around 10 or more years ago, a lot of the tape demos that came out in Ireland were actually pressed in replication plants, which is pretty much the same thing as getting a cd replicated nowadays, just that the format was different then, and there's a lot of nostalgia attached to the good old tapes.

 

[cesspooldublin]

hmm..see i'm not referring just to tapes when i talk about demos..cdrs too.

 

[therealjohnny]

yeah, I recently got a Ciunas tape in Oxfam. Fully printed, onbody and cover

by no means a home made job

the sell out, rock start ,lah -dee-dah bastards!

 

[Gambra]

I thought that was what Gambra was talking about it...

It was the one that had PPS on it.. I bought when ye played Limerick with Preciwez (or however you spell it) and SeaDog in Riddlers.. It definately wasn't 3 quid.. I think it was about 12 mins long..

 

[Gambra]

This is slightly trivial, but I just remembered now that back around 10 or more years ago, a lot of the tape demos that came out in Ireland were actually pressed in replication plants, which is pretty much the same thing as getting a cd replicated nowadays, just that the format was different then, and there's a lot of nostalgia attached to the good old tapes.

Hell thats what I'm planning to do soon after I run out of the cassettes I bought.

Btw Jamie, those cassettes got delivered yesterday and 50 of em are waiting for ya.

 

[Lili Marlene]

cdrs are just unpleasant

 

[Gambra]

cdrs are just unpleasant

Are cassettes any better?

 

[nlgbbbblth]

Are cassettes any better?

did you get your 195 yet?

Mix tapes are nicer than CDRs.

You can get 90 mins as opposed to 80 and if you make a mistake or the record skips you can go back. Not so easy with CDRs.

On the other hand, regular CDs are 1,000,000 times better than regular cassettes.

When people blame CDs for inflicting mortal wounds on vinyl sales they forget that cassettes started the attack [and contributed a lot of harm in the form of poached sales] in the early 1980s.

 

[Gambra]

did you get your 195 yet?

Yup. Came in a big box yesterday. The plans for them will be set in motion soon..

 

[cesspooldublin]

did you get your 195 yet?

Mix tapes are nicer than CDRs.

You can get 90 mins as opposed to 80 and if you make a mistake or the record skips you can go back. Not so easy with CDRs.

On the other hand, regular CDs are 1,000,000 times better than regular cassettes.

When people blame CDs for inflicting mortal wounds on vinyl sales they forget that cassettes started the attack [and contributed a lot of harm in the form of poached sales] in the early 1980s.

actually, this being a punk board, no here actually buys records/cds anyway

 

[Daniel]

It was the one that had PPS on it.. I bought when ye played Limerick with Preciwez (or however you spell it) and SeaDog in Riddlers.. It definately wasn't 3 quid.. I think it was about 12 mins long..

Might have been €2.99... but i'm pretty sure it was €3.