The Demo Factory

I met Drew at work in 1994. We bonded over old band stories and playing Ziggy Stardust on acoustic guitars during lunch break. We became fast friends.

Drew hadn’t written much music of his own. Then in late ‘94 and early ‘95, he dated this woman. He was in love. She, unfortunately, was not, and toyed with him like a cat with a mouse for a while and then broke his heart. He was devastated.

He started writing songs. Good songs. Really good songs. Like, really good.

In summer 1995 I had recently moved into a cottage near the house he shared with some friends, and we started making demos on the weekends. He would come over Saturday morning and play me the new song he wrote over the past few days on his acoustic guitar while I wrote out a chart for it. And then, starting with a drum machine program and a 4-track cassette deck (graduating to a real drum set) we would record and mix the song by Sunday afternoon.

We called the project nothing personal.

I think it’s cool to see the progression of the demos. Drew’s songrwriting was advancing at the same time our production and recording skills were improving. Each new demo seemed like a step up the quality ladder.

Those four months were the most satisfying artistic project I have ever experienced.

Drew kept writing songs, and that fall we started a band by that same name that had a pretty good run. It morphed into other bands without Drew, but that is a story for another time It’s a shame we never got famous, because it would have been an awesome Behind the Music episode. But I’d assume that’s true for most bands, actually. We all have good stories.

Anyway here, in chronological order, is a musical document of the summer of 1995 in Huntington, Long Island, New York.

Words and Music by Andrew Jamertz Produced by Mark Clements & Andrew Jamertz Recorded at Athanor Multimedia Studios - Huntington, NY ©1995 Personal Low Music

Anything and Everything

The first crack at putting something on tape. Late May or early June, in a corner I cleared out, surrounded by boxes.

Drum software on the PC, through a Sound Blaster (remember them?) Crudely recorded, rough around the edges. A quick, short, sharp shock.

Drew was nervous about the short runtime (it just hits the two minute mark) but then realized that brevity was the soul of wit and stopped worrying.

Simple Love

Still working out the kinks.

The last demo with electric drums, which is good because we were bumping against the rudimentary editing capabilities of the software.

Like it Was

Witness the power of this fully armed and operational demo factory! I was finally able to create a hybrid living area / studio in the cathedral-ceilinged main space of the cottage. Added live drums, a permanent set-up for all the audio equipment and a Hi-Fi VHS machine for improved bouncing to & from the 4-track. We hoped.

Now that we have a space where we can actually work, we settle into a groove.

DADGAD

Two experiments here: Drew’s exploration of alternate tunings (He could never settle on a name, so we just called it how the guitar was tuned: DADGAD) and our try at flying in drums.

We attempted to sync a stereo drum track from the Hi-Fi VHS with the 4-track, an attempt at Six. Whole. Tracks. I had to ride the vari-speed control on the cassette.

It was harrowing, and somewhat successful. Sounds a little drunk at times. But worth the try.

Veracity

Getting comfortable with the process. Vocal effects!

The drama knob is turned up a notch here. It seemed like every song Drew brought over was better than the last one.

And You Know It’s Good

This is not the original artifact from 1995.

Some time in the past (that I really don’t remember), I took the 4-tracks and the sub-mixes for this song broke it out in to many more than four tracks. I then took the liberty to tighten and tweak here-and-there and then re-mixed the whole thing.

That’s what this is.

Let Go

Many vocal shenanigans at the end of the second part of the song. Which is two songs stapled together, really.

Take a Number

It all leads up to this, recorded sometime in late August or early September. The apex demo.

I think this is Drew’s best songwriting, and we did some cool three part harmonies plus other arrangement goodies. We tried to apply all we had learned along the way to make a great demo, and I think we succeeded.

I still love this song.