How to Make a Demo Tape

Many people dream of being the next big music artist. Regardless of genre, however, just about every aspiring artist is going to have to have a demo tape. If you're looking to jumpstart a music career and you are unsure of how to go about making your demo, just keep reading.

Instructions

Difficulty: Moderately Challenging

1. Decide on whether you're going to record in a professional studio or in your own home studio.
2. Create or purchase beats or tracks that you will use to write to. There are any number of aspiring producers who have beats for sale regardless of where you live. Hit up your local trendy music spots and nightclubs, ask around and you should find someone without a whole lot of trouble.
3. Write lyrics to the tracks you've purchased. This is an opportunity to not only show off your vocals when you record the songs but also to show off your writing skills, so you want to produce your best work possible.
4. Record the songs you've written.
5. Choose three or four of the best songs you've recorded to use for your demo and make sure they are all under five minutes long. A record exec doesn't have time to listen to a whole album, so three or four songs is plenty to show off your talent and at five minutes your songs will be about the length of a typical radio edit.
6. Make as many copies of your CD as you can afford. This shouldn't be difficult since it is a matter of burning CDs and most home computers have the capability of doing that. Remember that you will be giving this demo out to a lot of people so burning CDs will be an ongoing expense.
7. Design a CD cover that pops and will draw attention but looks professional and not amateurish. There's plenty of software available these days that will help you create a professional CD cover. Most of the major computer companies such as Dell, HP and Gateway also have CD cover software.