You've booked a session but your song's not finished

- [Instructor] So this particular problem happens to all of us, and I understand it, but I want to help you avoid it. The problem is that you get to the recording studio, but your song isn't finished. Look, I get it, you're excited about your song, you just want to get in there and do a great demo of the song, and you figure look, we haven't totally finished the second verse, but we'll get in the studio and we'll fix it there. No big deal. Well, it is a big deal because now you are paying a studio for the privilege of having them watch your creative process, and there is nothing more stressful than writing on the clock.

This is an avoidable problem, so what I'm going to do is give you a couple ways to think about how to get your song finished. First of all, I mentioned this earlier in the course, but make a rough recording in the writing room of your song and listen back to it as an audience member would. That will tell you very very quickly whether the song is working or whether there are still elements of it that need to tweaked. And when I say in the writing room, I mean long before you have scheduled a professional studio to do a demo of the song.

Also, if you're a live performer, perform it live or even perform it for your songwriting group, and that will be a way of finding out whether or not the song is done. And finally, think about a professional song critique, especially if you haven't had one before and you're relatively early in the process. That is certainly something to keep in mind, because working with a pro, they will help you understand whether or not you've done everything you need to do to get that song done. Then and only then, when you are certain your song is finished should you schedule studio time.

Not before. So again, listen to a rough recording like an audience member would listen to your song and see if anything presents itself. Perform it live or perform it for your songwriting group, or get a pro to critique it. And then, once you're certain the song is done, then spend good money doing a great sounding demo of your song that you can get out there.