Demo

There are many types of demo, and it is important to know what is the purpose of the demo before you can make it. Chances are if you are here that you are looking to make a demo for a show application. We have listed other forms of demo, but there are plenty of other destinations for what people look for in a demo.

Show Application for Fresh Air

We ask for demos to determine the following reasons:

• that you know how to use the studio, maintaining levels
• that you can work with editing audio, writing cds
• to get an idea of how good you are as presenters
• to get a feel for the show, as well as get you thinking about what it takes to make a radio show
• to know the kind of sound that your show will make

A Fresh Air Demo is in this regard slightly different to a demo you might send out if you are looking to be a presenter in commercial radio - the reason being we are far more interested in being confident in your ability to not break our lovely studio, as opposed to real radio where they can pick and choose the very best presenters with a real sound. That said, we do listen to these demos to get an idea of your ability, and the very best demos we give to the better/featured slots.

Length

The length of the demo should be around 3 - 5 minutes. However, due to the incredibly high volume of demo's that the Head of Programming receives in one semster alone, it isn't feasible to listen to the demos in their entirety, in fact to listen to an entire minute is difficult. To get an idea, imagine that 200 shows each provide a 1 minute demo: that would take over three hours to listen to on its own. So, short and sweet is the aim of the day, and get the good stuff in early.

How to Make a Demo

• Well, first things first, become a member.
• Then get your official studio training by signing up for a session.
• Then see current studio booking instructions to find out how you can book some time in the studio (either one or two).

What to do when in the Studio

As with all radio, when it comes to making demos, personal style is important but perhaps the best thing to do is simply turn up and pretend to do 40 minute show as you would do normally. So, prepare a playlist of music (really well crafted), bring everyone involved, press record and let rip. Then take it back home, edit it up (make sure the music fades out and in so I only have to listen to the beginning and end of music unless it is entirely necessary), and save it in a nice audio file - remembering if using audacity to 'export as mp3' as opposed to saving just the audacity file. Done and done.

Editing

Editing is one of the most important skills you will learn as part of fresh air. If you would like help learning how to edit, there is no better lesson than just jumping right in. Grab yourself a program, and start messing around with audio. If you would like to learn more then contact your Head of Development, and they will be able to point you in the right direction. For best results, files should be save as MP3 or AAC, at around 192 kbps, and with this shouldn't be too much bigger than 10mb in size for a five minute demo.

Software

There are a number of options for editing suites including the more professional end of things - Adobe Audition, Ableton Live, - but thankfully for us cheap students, cheaper alternatives are available. The wonderful open source Audacity is the standard software that is free to use, easy to pick up and suprisingly powerful. You can compare possible choices of wiki list of digital audio programs.

Do's and Dont's

What I Want

• Concise, listenable radio
• Levels correctly metered, that at a normal volume can be heard.

What I Don't Want

• 5 minutes of music with no talking (even if you are mostly mixes, lay some vocals over the top so I know you can use stuff)
• Audacity save files without any actual audio - (shouldn't be a problem this year as demos are to be handed in on cd)
• 5 minutes of Hitch Love/Hitch Bashing (have heard it all)

Handing In The Demo

Demos should be handed in before the deadline as given in the members emails, but are generally on the Fresh Air meeting two weeks before the beginning of the broadcast.

Format

Demos should be handed in as an audio CD, this means a cd that can be played on a hifi. This is asked to demonstrate technical ability, and to make sure you listen to your demo before you hand it in.

How It Looks

Although not essential, I would highly recommend doing something to decorate your demo. Though obviously the actual demo itself is far more important to the success of your application (and even then not essential), nothing makes a demo stand out then looking great. Aside from this, it means that you are working on how you plan to publicise your show well in advance of the actual broadcast.

Award Applications

Every award is different, and will be looking for different things, so make sure you check the criteria for the application. Chances are as part of Fresh Air, the most likely opportunity for applying for awards would be at the Student Radio Awards. Thus it is from the SRA website that we will look at a few important criteria of which to be aware.

• Length: How long are they looking for?
• Editing: Are they looking for a 'compilation' or an unedited sample of your show.
• Genre: What is the award for? I know it sounds stupid, but there is a drastic difference between an application for Best Male, Best Newcomer and Best Station Sound, despite wanting to put across great radio.

Professional Demo/Showreel for Employment Elsewhere

Throughout the year we host a number of sessions to share demos, as well as opportunities to have guests, including radio controllers and producers, actually listen and pass comment on your demo. As well as this, there are a number of opportunities at Student Radio Association events to have one's demo analysed.