Greetings from Canterbury ! Welcome to www.rickyseraphico.com !!

Thanks for checking me out! Hope you will find some useful information through out the pages of my site. First some general information about what I do, what you expect to get when working with me.

There are a multitude of words that can describe what I am, what I do and can provide you: Record Producer, Music Producer, UK Music Producer, Music Programmer and Arranger; Demo CD; Demo Productions Services; Demo Music Production; CD Demo Recording – it really does not matter what you call it, I am here to help you with your songs, providing you high quality demos and masters of your work.

I tend to work mostly with singers and songwriters, they will come to me sometimes with a complete song, melody, lyrics and chords, even a rough demo CD made at home or in their local recording studios, but most of the time it is just a melody and lyrics that they will send me and it is my job to put it all together, make musical sense of it, and of course, dress up your songs in a format that is both professionally acceptable and competent, but also commercial, that will stand out from the crowd and help you get noticed.

I do not expect you to have all the answers about your song, that is my role, as your music producer, so please do not feel your ideas are not adequate or good enough just because you do not have the musical knowledge, or have put a great pre-demo together to showcase your songs. I don't need any of that, just a melody and your lyrics, and we will talk about the direction and style of the song, what you have in mind and the best way to move forwards, how to achieve a high quality demo recording of your work, all suited to your budget, and the song's needs.

The music industry is becoming more and more refined, and expensive as well, as time goes by. So it is really inconceivable that in this day and age you would be able to get away with a cheap demo CD, done by so-called “DIY Record Producers”, people that would have very little experience in producing and arranging and recording professional songs, with hardly any adequate musical equipment, and most of the time, not being able to play a single note of music.

It is very important that I clarify some points and views of mine here: Firstly, I personally do not agree that songwriters should need to spend loads of money on a demo CD, when in all fairness their (hopefully) great demos will be re-recorded all over again, if they are lucky enough to have their demo songs placed with a name artist. Of course the song's production and arrangements should always be clear, polished, have the right sounds and vibe, but I, as record producer do not make the rules. The industry has grown so much that yes, you do need to spend a bit of money to get the best possible demo CD you can afford. Having it done by an experienced Record producer, with a solid music foundation and background is indeed a great help and goes along way to achieve that. But please do remember, quality over quantity , if you cannot afford to do all your songs you would like to do, just do a few, even if it has to be only one every month or so, but that is by far much productive and sensible than not doing any at all, or rushing it and doing amateurish demo recordings, as it simply will get you nowhere these days.

Secondly, just writing a great song does no longer guarantee you will have it heard by the powers that be! The days where A&Rs/record labels would sign you on the strength of one song done in your kitchen, recorded onto a tape cassette are long long gone! Plus we no longer have the great music experts of yesteryear, the “George Martins” with vast knowledge of music arrangements/production at the helms of A&R departments. Therefore you as a songwriter/artist/singer have to be able to deliver everything on a plate. Your demo CD has to have all the necessary ingredients to convey all your musical ideas neat and crystal clear, living absolutely NOTHING left to the imagination, mostly because they do not have the imagination required to envisage the arrangements and production your song requires, and/or are not musician themselves to be able to do much about it, and this music industry being so competitive and money driven, they believe to be far better investing on something that already has all the ingredients there, as opposed to having to invest loads of money developing an artist (that at this stage) they do not know will vindicate.

So, my responsibility as a record music producer is to make sure I am getting the best out of a given song. The art of demo production is not an easy one, certainly very time consuming, but I love it and have a genuine passion for it, and would like to believe that it does indeed come across in all the work I do. As I am a firm believer that everything you do in life that you do it with love (putting your heart 110% into it), you will do it well, and whatever is that you are doing will benefit from it!

This passion and honesty about my work is just as important as all the years as a musician I have to offer you. And even more so if you do not have a lot of previous experience doing professional CDs demo recordings with a record producer. You probably do not have the means to know what is right and what isn't, and you will need all the music producer's expertise and honesty to tell you what he actually sees on your songs and what can be achieved for real. So not all is about money, although there are a fair amount of music producers out there just doing that, taking your money and running, providing you demo productions of your songs that just do not add up and do not help you career in any shape or form.

I for one, do not believe in one, two-day demo CD wonders, and there are quite a few record producers out there, doing just that, mass production demo CDs, doing demos songs in a very short time. They will be extremely cheap to attract you, but most of the times, they will be totally inadequate and totally impersonal, not tailored at all to your needs and definitely not made to help you place your demos, and you would at best, just represent a number in a queue to them! So what did you gain from doing these cheap demo CDs? Nothing, because you won't be able to use them professionally. Great arrangements/production these days are just as important as great songs , the sooner you realise this the better for you, and I mean this in the most respectful and constructive way.

My services are not expensive by any means, but I do take the time to work on my songs, as I am a very detail conscious music producer, and believe in detailed music arrangements, and therefore believe it is only fair that my (all my hard) work should reflect that too. Of course, not every demo song requires complex arrangements, but you will find a lot of the times, the productions on these demo music recordings are, shall we say, very economical! Is that because it was meant to be this way, or because they could afford to put the time in, or even did not have the knowledge to begin with to do a professional demo recording? Well, I leave that for you to figure out!

When shopping for a good demo production/record producer to work with you, ask what you are getting for your hard earned money, just asking how much a music producer charges for his/her demo CD and going for the cheapest option available is quite simply just not good enough. You need to ask many questions, listen to previous demos he/she would have done, asking what it is that he/she has in mind when it comes to arranging your songs, providing you with music production/arrangements, a demo CD, that are professionally sound and effective. Also, do ask how long is going to take to get your demo music production finished, as you will find that with a lot of these cheap mass production (specially in the US, I am sorry to say), can take anything between 3 to 9 months to reach you! I know so, because many of my singers/songwriters clients have (unfortunately) gone through this at one stage or another in their musical careers. I find this situation totally wrong and unacceptable, but you are the one that has fallen for it, as no one is forcing you to do that, you just chose the cheapest one around!

In this business you ALWAYS get what you pay for, do not believe for a minute in favours, or collaborations, because unless the artist/songwriter is a signed one, with a meaningful record/publishing deal, this would not be viable financially from the record producer's point of view to work with you for nothing, or even if offered a cut in the song, so what would he/she be doing it for? These are intelligent questions you should be asking yourself! But if you are paying someone to do a professional service for you, there's a professional bound there, a work contract, and you (should) have control over what you are doing with your demo CDs.

So as you can see, there's absolutely nothing straight forward about demo recordings, the art of putting together a great an effective demo CD, and working with a record producer. Like anything else in life, it takes time and persuasion to make it stick, but if you are serious about your music and career, which I suspect you are, otherwise you would not be reading this article, then you have no alternative but to invest seriously in doing professional quality music demos, that should put you in a better position to land yourself a record/publishing deal. Of course there are no guarantees in this business, regardless which record producer you work with, yes, for sure the songs and production/arrangements (demo in general) have to be great, polished and very professional, but you will need a great amount of meaningful contacts inside the music industry as well as a sheer amount of perseverance, determination, patience, passion for your own music, believe in yourself, and yes, luck!!!

I hope reading the facts and thoughts on demo CD recording will have helped you a bit, by all means please write to me if you have any questions, and I will be delighted to help you in any way I can!

Your music record producer,

Ricky Seraphico