It all depends on the equipment you use. For the last several years I’ve used a Fostex MR-8 portable, 8-track digital recorder for most of my demos. After recording in separate tracks, I mix them into one track. Then, there is a button specifically for converting to WAV. After doing that, I upload the file to my computer with a USB cable. From there I convert to mp3 through a program (I’ve used several, all free. The name that pops into my head right now is “Audiograbber,” which you can download from the internet).

This is an older way of doing things, because my MR-8 is an older model.

I recently purchased an Edirol R-09 recorder. It can record straight to mp3 format, or WAV, as you wish.

A lot of people just do the whole thing with computer programs. My friends who have Mac’s often use Garage Band, a recording software program that comes pre-loaded onto Mac computers.

A couple of our songwriters have used Audacity for demos, which is free, open source software that you can download: http://audacity.sourceforge.net/