I've always wondered about the Hybrid Theory demos and their release in 1999. I know they made it and recorded them after the Xero demo & the Hybrid theory EP, but what was the reason why it doesn't sound as good, or as mastered as the tracks on the EP? But what I can't get around is why they released demos of Carousel & Part Of me after they already mixed and mastered the EP. I know they changed them slightly and added new parts etc, but the EP versions sounded so much better and more complete. And what made it even more confusing for me is why did they put the orginal And One (unchanged from the EP) onto the HT demo CD? Listening to it with the rest of the tracks it obviously makes it sound far better than the rest, and makes you wonder why they didn't just put the orginal carousel & Part of me on their too instead of recording new rawer ones. All this just makes me Anyone know why?
I actually thought the demos sounded better, but that might just be me. Anyway to answer your question. From what I understand, the HTEP was created by LP as kind of a sampler (or demo as a matter of fact) to give out to record label and street teams to help the band get signed. After being signed, the recorded the Hybrid Theory demos, which were songs intended to be on their first album (which was obviously called Hybrid Theory). The reason they sound rough is because thats just what demos sound like. They're not very refined and they sound very "raw", because demos are just a means of getting a rough idea of what a song sounds like recorded. After a band demos, they go into record their albums and further refine the sound and structure of the songs (and then mix and master the tracks). I hope that answers your question. (BTW, somebody correct me if I got any of my info wrong).
Well, it hasn't been confirmed by the band, but one would think that the songs on the HTEP were all considered for inclusion on the actual Hybrid Theory album and just didn't make the cut. It's well known that the remake of High Voltage was cut at the last minute, so the demos of Carousel and Part of Me were most likely remakes/updated versions as well. As for And One, that's anybody's guess. I would assume the live version of And One (which was much shorter than the EP version) was the updated version of that, perhaps they just never got the chance to make a studio recording of that version so they used the original version on the demo CD instead? But anyway, as far as sound quality goes, the demo CD was never really meant to be "released" to anybody other than people at Warner (it was an internal review CD-R promo). With the EP, they were still trying to get signed, so they probably spent as much money as possible on recording it in a nice studio with good equipment. Once they got signed, they knew they were going to record a major label album, but they still really didn't have any money. Why spend a ton of money to record demos when your album's going to be a big production anyway, especially when you aren't exactly rolling in dough? The demos were probably recorded at Mike's home studio or someplace similar to that.
Thanks for the clear up guys. It makes sense now that they made the HT demos just for Warner, so they could get an idea on what the album would sound like. Though one more thing, was "Dedicated" cut from the HT EP, or Hybrid theory itself. I heard someone say it was cut from both CDs?
Nobody really knows for sure. It wouldn't have been cut from Hybrid Theory because it was recorded in 1999, but the sound quality seems to suggest it was recorded in the same sessions as the HTEP, because it sounds a lot better than the other demos they did around that time.