Choosing a Music Producer
Like anything, you need to shop around to find the right music producer to produce your music demo. Ask a lot of questions. Precisely what qualifies this individual to call themselves a record producer? Ask about their experience. Do they have any albums credits, have they worked with any famous recording artists, won any awards, worked on hit records, etc.?

Are they known in the industry and do they have a good reputation? Is this a part time job for them? Are they involved with the style of music you wish to pursue? Some other considerations would be location. What studio will you work at and with what engineer?

Meet with them and hear their work. Are you impressed with the quality of their music production? Do you like them and vibe with them? Ask how they would treat your project.

How Much is it?
Finally, ask about cost. A music demo can run anywhere from a few hundred dollars, to record company budgets of tens of thousands of dollars per song. Some producers may charge by the hour. While occasionally this might be appropriate, it has the potential of costing you many times more than you originally planned.

Ask about additional costs, such as musicians, studio costs , engineering fees, etc. A set fee for the music production demo is usually the best way to go and the way that most record companies work with music producers.
While you don’t want to mortgage your house for your music demo, you must realize that you get what you pay for.

The cheapest demo around will sound like the cheapest demo around. This isn’t how you want to portray yourself if you’re serious about pursuing a record deal. You want to go with the highest quality music demo from the best music producer that you can afford.

Choosing a Studio
Unless you’re technically proficient in the area of recording studio equipment, seeing an equipment list won’t help you much. But you should be interested in the clientele that the recording studio attracts.

If they regularly work with signed recording artists, record companies and publishing companies, chances are they have the necessary equipment and technical skill to give you a professional product. Check out a list of their clients.

The music producer will most likely have a recording studio that they’re comfortable working in and that has the necessary equipment to produce your demo. But while home studios may have come a long way in recent years, they still don’t match the environment, acoustics, sound, equipment and personnel of a commercial recording studio.

(Check out Skyelab Music Group in Times Square in New York City. We have 3 Protools recording studios, Neuman Mics, Avalon Mic Pres and more)

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