THE DEMO IS DEAD

Why I don’t do demos.

Arif Mardin, Mutt Lange,Trevor Horn, Berry Gordy, Phil Spector, Brian Wilson, George Martin and Quincy Jones are gentlemen who have shared a common philosophy regarding recording contemporary popular music.
That philosophy is - a respect for spontaneity however, not making it their deity.More than being record producers, these guys have been consummate ARRANGERS and editors of recorded music. 

Much of the iconic recorded music that we recognize as our score to the twentieth and twenty-first century has been recorded, ARRANGED edited and ‘produced’ by this group of musical royalty.

In researching the content of anthemic hit records that stand the test of time, I have found one common factor. That factor, for me has been an epiphany, a revelation and a secret unfolded.

Consider the bass line of the Beatles song “Lady Madonna”. That line is never sung, is not part of the melody, has no specific connection to the lyric and would not appear on a lead sheet. Yet without that bass line, the song is unrecognizable in its familiar context. British courts recently awarded a partial ownership of the song “Whiter Shade of Pale” to the keyboard player who came up with the intro to that recording.

Similarly, consider Michael Jackson’s “Beat It” without the bass figure or just about any Motown hit song such as Marvin Gaye’s “Grapevine” without the intro figure or the Beach Boy’s “Good Vibrations” without its signature instrumental line. Who is the decider on how, when and where these musical hooks get incorporated into the records that have become our anthems? Who decided that the flute part in “Men at Work’s” “Land Down Under” should become such a recognizable and controversial signature?

What does it take to make these records our mileposts, our familiar touchstones and our connections?
Some of Mutt Lange’s albums have taken a year to make and millions of dollars in budget. Is the secret about time and money?George Martin, Arif Mardin and Quincy Jones had rigorous formal training in composition, harmony and orchestral arranging. Brian Wilson and Phil Spector were focused “out of this world” visionary geniuses who invented sonic and harmonic atmospheres probably never to be replicated by anyone else.
We now land in the second decade of the twenty-first century with the recorded music industry decimated and its economic base essentially collapsed. Positions in social media can be bought and paid for, attendance at live shows is financially beyond the reach of most fans and records have become fleeting sound clips that have no lasting social, cultural or economic value. I love the ‘wrecking ball’, it’s………..spherical.

What does it take to create an anthemic, iconic lasting piece of recorded music that has similar qualities to those great works created by Quincy, Arif, Phil and Brian?

We don’t have the time, we don’t have the resources and we certainly don’t have the budgets. The chances of coming up with a timeless ‘anthemic hit’  even in the most ideal circumstance, based on an assembly of the greatest studio musicians with the best engineers in the most aesthetic environment recording our demo in a limited time/budget scenario, is I believe an absolute zero.

There is an answer and I believe that I have access to that answer, can and have fulfilled that answer and am in business to supply that answer.

I don’t do demos.

As a songwriter, I write the “record” not just the song. There is a reason that Diana Ross, Chicago, Olivia Newton John and Bonnie Raitt have picked up my recorded song demo/masters and made them a part of their albums. There is a reason that musicians as great as Toto have cloned my demo/masters and recorded my bass lines note for note.My mode is to prioritize the concept of arrangement without incurring the extraordinary budgets and unlimited time for ‘trial and error’ experimentation that the greats have had.

I am a consummate pop music arranger who spent years working as a double scale studio musician in Los Angeles, in demand precisely for my ability to compose, design and conceive of those musical signatures and hooks that define a record and give it that lasting iconic quality.

Today, this ARRANGING process occurs in my own studio, in my own time, utilizing my encyclopedic musical vocabulary. This process does not incur the added expense of outside musicians, outside studios, arrangers engineers or added personnel.Once an ARRANGEMENT is designed, agreed upon and is in place, then a project can be taken to a formal studio where live musicians replicate the parts that I have designed and the rest of a recording is completed, mixed and mastered. Often parts that have been recorded in my pre-production ARRANGING process do not change and are retained as part of the master resulting in additional time and cost saving.

It takes me about 100 hours per song. Some examples of the results can be heard on the ‘Songs’ page of www.johncapek.com
As a keyboard player, arranger, producer and songwriter, I am likely to be heard on about one hundred million recordings, one of which is playing on some public media somewhere at any instant in time.
I am occasionally available to turn your concept into a hit record within realistic budgets.
Contact me for an evaluation and an estimate.
john@johncapek.com