Yes, even the ones on this site. Even before my last post, which was a review that included a demo, I thought about this. There’s so much that happens in between a piece of gear in use in my basement, and reaching your ears. So many variables, to the point that online demos are basically pointless.
You can really hear our toan
It had been on my mind, but I think the penny dropped for me on the topic when I saw this meme on the Guitar Circle Jerk subreddit.
And that’s just between Slash’s guitar and amps! It doesn’t account for playing live
- The microphones
- The placement of those microphones
- That desk the sound engineer is using
- What EQing the sound engineer does
- The speakers connected to the desk
- The layout of the venue
Are you starting to get the idea?
What gear do you need for online demos?
Lots of odds and ends…and I’m somebody focused on keeping things simple!
Firstly, let’s start at the start – a guitar! There are a large yet finite number of variable that affect a guitar’s tone. I was going to do this with just bullet points, but let’s number off the variables!
The basics
Before plugging in at all:
- How fresh the strings are
- When it was last set up and how
- Tuning and its stability
- I know it’s up for debate, but I’ll put tonewood on this list
- Scale length
When it’s plugged in, the variables that come into play are the electronics:
- What pickup models are on the guitar
- Pickup selection from the guitar’s selector switch
- Volume and tone settings
After all that, all you have to remember is that the every guitarist plays differently. Examples of player variables could include…
- The style of music they play
- Whether they play with a pick or their fingers
- If they play with a pick, what gauge
- How tight they hold their pick
- What angle they hold their pick
- How hard they attack the strings when they play
Let’s assume that you’re running it through a pedalboard of some kind.
- Are the pedals in front of the amp, or through an effects loop?
- What order are the pedals?
- What settings are the pedals?
Let’s assume for this online review a regular traditional amp. Well, the variables here are:
- Amp settings: namely tone, EQ, drive, and any volume settings
- Is the amp miced up, or does it have a direct line to the audio interface?
- If it’s miced up, what kind of mic are you using?
- What’s the mic placement?
- What’re the acoustics of the room like? Any acoustic treatment?
Recording the online demo
We’re nearly there. Or are we?
- Does the audio interface have preamps?
- Does it have any further sound-shaping controls?
- What’s the gain level? This is influenced by both the volume and gain of the amp, plus the placement of the microphone
Then in the recording software…
- Are any effects added in the software?
- What about any mastering?
OK. I that’s all I can think of for now.
Concluding thoughts about online demos
I don’t want to say they’re entirely useless, because I’m trying to hawk stuff here.
However, I urge you to be incredibly mindful of the number of variables that can go into making online demos. While we counted 27 here, I’m sure there are some I’ve forgotten.
One thing I know from online demos is that it’s impossible to please everyone. While I typically don’t allow comments on my demo videos, if I forget, some bastard will always let me know that I didn’t do everything the way they’d like.
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