String Demo Inquiry

[one bad monkey]

I've been approached by a string company to make some demos of their strings for them. Apparently, they're fans of my pedal demos. I'm looking into doing this, and trying to figure out how to properly showcase the strings themselves.

So, I'm asking you fine folk; if you were to watch a video that's about a particular set of strings, what things would you want to see, what wouldn't you want to see, what would be of value, etc..

[Grrface]

String demos seem tough. You'd have to establish an incredibly solid baseline for your sound, then show the strings in probably a side by side comparison. Discuss feel, perhaps response (clangy, bright, dull, etc). You might want to do a clip of incredibly fresh, then slightly broken in? Seems like a lengthy undertaking, but doable.

[one bad monkey]

That was my thought as well. My other thought is to have a couple of different groove examples that I would play across the board in all of the demos, so once I have more of them up, it would be very easy to compare string A with string B, since I would be playing the same thing on the same bass through the same amp.

I'm still in talks with the Artist Rep to find out what the company is hoping to get out of the demos as well, and hopefully use that as a rough guide.

[madmax1012]

string them up, maybe try a few tunings?

[Derelict78]

might want to use a few basses as well prob. a P bass and jazz for starters

[excane]

String demos seem tough. You'd have to establish an incredibly solid baseline for your sound, then show the strings in probably a side by side comparison. Discuss feel, perhaps response (clangy, bright, dull, etc). You might want to do a clip of incredibly fresh, then slightly broken in? Seems like a lengthy undertaking, but doable.

I agree, this will be one of the toughest feats available. I've tried it before and heard absolutely ZERO difference except in extreme tunings.

[dubkitty]

since i gather we're talking about bass strings:

i'd want to hear them played both with a pick and fingers, and close to the bridge and in the near-the-fretboard jazzboi position. some held high and low notes so i can hear what the attack and decay sound like. a little walking bass, some three-note chords, some Peter Hook stuff with the pick, a little Phil Lesh Ritter piano bass, some Slayer...a variety of different styles that show what the strings can do rather than a demonstration of what they do in one's particular playing style. i'd want to hear most of the playing clean, but i'd also want to hear an example with fuzz and--forgive me--something with chorus or other modulation. you would probably do best to have a set repertoire of sample lines that you use for all the demos to make user comparisons easier; this would also allow you to break out audio samples for them to use on the website. for an initial demo audition i'd try running the tones all the way up for a comparo; this should emphasize any differences in the sounds of strings (brightness, attack/sustain, etc.).

[one bad monkey]

might want to use a few basses as well prob. a P bass and jazz for starters

I can tell you this sadly won't happen. I don't have either, and my Warwick endorsement has an exclusivity clause in it (not that I played anything different from the 13 years prior to getting said endorsement). More than likely I'm going to be using my Streamer LX that I use in all of my vids, because it gets all of the work and I am the most familiar with it.

..a variety of different styles that show what the strings can do rather than a demonstration of what they do in one's particular playing style.

That's been my thought. Fingerstyle, slap, with a pick in different positions on the bass to show tonal variances as well as try to hit on some different musical genres. I won't be able to cover everything, but hopefully have enough to give the viewer/listener an idea of what the strings sound like.

There's also been a request to do the demos on the strings twice; once when freshly strung up and then once after two weeks of playing to hopefully give an idea of how they will sound after they've settled and broken in a bit.

And - looking FAR down the road - once I have a good amount of these done (provided that they like what I'm doing), we could make collage videos focusing on one sound. So, take the "Rock groove with pick" clips from everything and just put them together so you could easily get an apples/apples comparison.