How to Create a Demo Video that Gets You Gigs

Do you feel like your videos aren't getting you the kinds of gigs you want? This step by step guide will help you create a killer promo video that will help you book your dream clients.

Here are a few examples of some promo videos I just love:

Zamira (I filmed this one with my iPhone in just three takes): https://youtu.be/_rb3XtUc0yw?si=Uf1nIZl-YZlUggys

Celeste (This one is almost 10 years old! I've learned a lot since then.) https://youtu.be/jpilRgj2nXE?si=K7SwVVhWFZPOeT8p

Dany (all about personality): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XqqQgiBnkJQ

Lara (also shot on my iPhone): https://youtu.be/Jy2dlZbpWdo?si=WV6_8zgqhQN3Pixk

Instagram.com/TheCelesteVee

Transcript

Just yesterday I had a client email begging me to fly in for her wedding because of one video. I already had another amazing violinist lined up in her city who is every bit as good as I am, if not better, but this bride and her fiance started watching my videos, and they felt a connection. She wrote, “My fiance was actually crying, and he never cries! We really want YOU, Celeste.” If that is not proof of the power of video, I don’t know what is.

[Music intro]

Are you a classically trained violinist dreaming of stepping out of the orchestra and into the spotlight? But maybe the world of solo gigs feels…intimidating? You're not alone! Welcome to The Glam Violinist, the podcast that empowers classically trained musicians to build thriving careers as sought-after entertainers. I'm your host, Celeste Vee, and each week we'll break down the secrets to getting the gigs you’ve been dreaming of. Get ready to unleash your inner rockstar and turn your passion into a paycheck! Let's get glamorous!

Today’s episode is about creating a promo video that gets you gigs.

You know, ten years ago, having a live violinist perform solo with backing tracks wasn’t as much of a thing. Yes, some brave frontrunners were out there doing this before then, but it has exploded in popularity over the last decade. Why? Because people have to know it exists before they can even add it to the list of wants. And once they see it, they want it! We are literally creating the demand for our services with every single performance we put on, forming an entire industry that didn’t exist before now. Does that excite you as much as it excites me??

I mention all that because nothing will sell you as well as a live performance. There’s an energy that can’t be captured in a recording or a video, no matter how well it’s made. BUT… unless you’re performing for the SuperBowl halftime show, the chances are you’re not going to be seen live by most of your potential clients. The next best thing is video. But not just any video! We can talk about social media and building a following on another episode, but if your goal is to book gigs then videos of you sitting on your bed are not going to help.

You need professional looking demos that highlight your best work and show the variety of music you can play! And I can say this from years of experience on both sides of the coin - as the performer and as the client. When I go to hire other musicians or add people to my team, the first thing I do is look at their videos. Will I be able to sell them to my clients or are they going to be relying 95% on my word and reputation? That’s a huge leap of faith for someone planning the biggest day of their life. Do yourself and your potential clients a favor and spend some time and money creating something that puts their minds at ease.

So, where to begin? There are three steps to a great video:

1. Recording
2. Filming
3. Editing

Let’s break down each one of those. Before you even begin recording you need to choose your songs. Think of your primary demo as a teaser for a blockbuster film… you don’t need to include the whole plot, just enough to spark your client’s interest. It answers three questions that your clients are inevitably asking…

1. What do you look like?
2. What is your performance vibe?
3. And what kinds of music do you play?

Choose songs with as much variety as possible while remaining focused on your target audience. I’d start with three songs and about 30 seconds each. Attention spans are short so you want to cram as much as you can into a short amount of time. Remember, you can always go back and make more videos later. This is just the teaser! Another factor to keep in mind is that if you have more than one target audience you might find that you need more than one primary demo video. If you’re targeting a specific culture or ethnicity, for example, you might want a demo focused on that particular demographic.

Once you’ve chosen your songs, you’ll want to create a backing track with a medley of those three songs using Audacity or GarageBand or whatever you like. Then lock yourself in a quiet room and record your violin with the track playing in your headphones. I’m not going to go into a lot of detail on the logistics of recording in this episode, but there is plenty of information out there if you want to learn how to do this yourself. Traditionally you’ll need a good mic, a recording interface that connects the mic to the computer, and a DAW (digital audio workstation) such as Audacity or GarageBand. You can also skip the mic and use an electric violin if you prefer. After it’s recorded you can use that same DAW to edit your recording and add effects such as reverb. You’ll combine it with the backing track and voila you have your recording. If you don’t want to take the time to learn all of this, you can simply outsource all or parts of this process. You can rent a recording studio for an hour or two and have the pros do it all for you. Or you can record it at home then hire someone on Upwork or Fiverr to do the mixing and mastering for you. It’s whatever works for you!

Now it’s time to get out there and film! Put yourself together the same way you would for a gig… hair, makeup, and attire. You can either rent a professional film studio with fancy lights and backdrops for a more polished approach or you can find a really pretty space (inside or outside) where you can film. You can either hire a videographer or grab a friend to film for you on your phone if it has a decent camera. Either way, you’re going to want to film this demo in horizontal mode, NOT vertical mode like a Reel. You can certainly get some vertical shots while you’re there if you want to create a Reel also, but I recommend that your primary demo be YouTube friendly, and that means horizontal. 

Bring your laptop or another device to play the track while you play along. Connect that to a small bluetooth speaker that’s close enough for you to hear but isn’t visible in the shot. You also want to make sure the camera that you’re filming with is picking up the audio from that speaker clearly. I’ll explain why later. Play along as if you’re really performing but remember your audio is already done so you can focus all your energy on performing. Pick a spot just over the top and to the side of the camera as your main focal point. Think of this as your audience. Focus there, but you can also look at the camera at times, look away from the camera, close your eyes for a second, whatever feels right. Just try to keep your eyes up if they’re open - not looking down at the ground. Looking at the ground makes you appear to be uncertain or uncomfortable and that will communicate directly to the viewer. Eyes up! I can’t emphasize that enough.

During the filming I usually recommend getting five solid takes straight through if you can. Three minimum. Here are some suggestions for those takes, but you can adjust this however you like:

1. Full body from the front with the camera person moving from one side of the room to the other, back and forth.
2. Full body moving all the way around you in circles. Clockwise, counterclockwise, clockwise, counterclockwise, and so on. But you’ll keep facing forward even when the cameraperson is going behind you. You can follow the camera at times but don’t turn around and face the back wall. Think of that spot in front of you as your audience and don’t turn your back on them for too long.
3. Waste up from the front, cameraperson moving side to side as before.
4. Waste up and moving around you, in and out, closer and further. They can get creative here if they want.
5. Super up close and personal. It might feel uncomfortable but it’s great to get some really up close shots of your violin, your left hand on the strings, your bow and right hand, and your face. Maybe some from behind you, looking over your shoulder at your violin. And maybe some from the scroll looking up toward your face. Whereas in the first four shots you can move around quite a bit, for this take you want to stand pretty still since the frame on the camera is so tight.

Once you have these shots, it’s time to edit your footage into a killer demo video. Again, you can send these to someone for editing, along with the final version of your audio. I’ve hired super talented editors on both UpWork and Fiverr and had great results most of the time. You can also do it yourself if you want to take the time to learn how. I personally use Final Cut Pro on my Mac desktop for editing video when I do it myself, but there are several other great options. While I looooove Canva or Capcut for editing Reels and other casual video clips, those won’t get the job done here. You need a more serious video editor to analyze all of those takes and line them up with the audio. (Remember how I told you earlier that the camera you’re filming with needs to be able to hear the audio well? This is why!) And don’t let a video editor your hire tell you it’s “good enough and no one else will notice”. That’s bologna. Your audio should sync perfectly with the video BEFORE you begin editing, no matter what. 

After your takes are all imported and properly synced with the audio, you’re going to jump around between takes, choosing which shot you want to use where.

If you already have some high quality live videos from your performances, especially ones that show you interacting with clients or their guests, feel free to use them in this demo! If you happen to have a good live video of you playing that same song you can sync it and use it that way. If not, you can use slow motion or other tricks… or just don’t worry about the syncing on those shots. The point is, you’re showing potential clients that you have experience playing for other events similar to theirs, and it will help them to envision you at their own event. Pick only your very best clips for this, the ones that show you in your ideal scenario. And don’t add live clips just for the sake of adding them. They need to fit the overall quality of the demo so if you don’t have any good ones it’s better to leave them out altogether. You can always come back and re-edit your demo video later when you have some good shots like that to add.

You can also create a cool cover image and an endscreen that you use for all of your videos, but if you do that you’ll want to create a white label version of the video also. White label just means it’s agent friendly. It won’t have your name or branding on it so agencies can show it to their clients without sharing your contact info.

You can spend hours on all of this editing… easily. I know some violinists who love this stuff. It can be fun! In my experience, some people really enjoy it while it can be agonizing for others. It also depends on how much time you have and how much money you’re willing to spend to save yourself that time. Also ask yourself how often you’re going to be making videos. To be really frank with you, if you want to perform a lot, the correct answer is pretty often! Haha! So the cost will add up either way - either in time or in money. But these videos are so SO important if you want to continue to grow your business as a freelance violinist!!

One last note… if you decide to outsource any of this, that’s great, but you want to maintain control of the project. Unless you have proof positive that the pro you hire has a portfolio full of well produced music videos, you can’t just let them run all over you. Over the last 20 years I’ve worked with some really talented music producers, videographers and editors. Some of them have expertise in one or more areas but still don’t understand the logistics of making a music video from start to finish.

I have experienced this many times in many ways, but let me share one perfect example… I hired a videographer a few years ago who claimed to have tons of experience with music videos. We drove hours out to a gorgeous spot and spent half a day filming with drones and multiple cameras and a whole crew of people. It cost me a fortune! When he sent me the edited video, it was painfully obvious that the audio was out of sync with the video. My bow was going up when it should’ve been going down or changing direction when I was holding out a long note in the recording. I told him it needed to be fixed and we went back and forth for a few weeks with re-editing, but he still couldn’t get it synced and I couldn’t figure out why. Finally I asked him to just send me all the raw footage and I would either edit myself or hire someone else to edit. I uploaded almost 100 GB of footage to my computer and that’s when I realized he hadn’t filmed with sound. There was nothing to sync with! I had to spend almost ten hours manually syncing all of those shots before I could even send it to someone else to edit.

Whoever you hire, make sure you talk through the steps in this guide together - and make sure you’re really on the same page - so you can hopefully avoid some of the mistakes I’ve made over the years.

The very last step is to use Canva or something similar to design a great cover image that you can also use as your YouTube thumbnail. Then upload that bad boy to your own YouTube channel and start sharing it with the world! Be sure to share it with me too! I’d LOVE to see the finished product or answer any questions you have along the way. Shoot me a DM on Instagram at @thecelestevee

I feel like I need a disclaimer on every one of these episodes saying, “This is just how I do it. There are other ways!” But I hope that goes without saying. And I should also mention that you don’t have to put this much effort into every single video you release into the world. Live performance videos are fabulous! And simpler videos have a place also, even as easy as a quick 30 second Reel recorded with your phone on a tripod! Especially if you already have your hair and makeup done and you’re dressed to the nines for a gig.

I’m going to link a few great demo videos in the description, but whatever you do, don’t compare yourself to these artists or feel like you need to copy them! That is not the purpose of these examples! Just go out there and be your best self and use these videos for inspiration!

So… now you know how to create your own dynamite promo video in three manageable steps: Record, film, and edit. Notice I didn’t say easy steps. I know this may feel daunting, but I promise if I can learn how to do this so can you! You’ve got this!

I hope you’ll subscribe to this podcast and follow along with me on Instagram. You can find me at TheCelesteVee. While you’re there, feel free to send me a DM with your questions about this or any other topics! And if you know any other musicians who want more gigs of their own, please share this episode with them!

[Closing music]

Thank you so much for tuning in to this episode of The Glam Violinist! I’m so excited you’re here and I can’t wait to watch you grow, no matter where you are on this journey! We are in this together and I believe in you! 

Until next time, this is Celeste Vee reminding you to stay glamorous!