Panels.

I’ve served on plenty of panels.

I’ve done enough “paneling” to decorate a 1970s rec room.

Customarily, the view at these music-related occasions isn’t that much different whether you’re on the panel or simply watching it. These industry gatherings usually break down into conversations between those with a microphone and those without  with both sides hopefully learning something in the process.

This week’s New Artist Demo Grammy Showcase was a standout in terms of paneling.

The Chicago Chapter of the Recording Academy selected Kansas City as a setting for its regional event. This involved assembling a group of “Lawrence and KC music experts” to judge entries in a demo-listening competition at the Uptown Theater. More than 40 unsigned bands entered a song, and those were pared down to 10 finalists  most of whom were in the auditorium patiently awaiting the results.

Myself and Pitch Weekly music editor Andrew Miller comprised the print segment of the Grammy-sponsored panel. Keith Loneker of 5150 Mental represented the production side. House of Blues guru Jacki Becker covered promotion, while reggae singer Brent Berry, hip-hop artist Tech N9ne and Truth Cell guitarist Shane Murray represented musicians.

Judges were asked to critique the submitted tunes using a 10-point scale based on multiple categories. These were divided into three areas: Quality of Recording, Quality of Performance and Quality of Song.

So what do I listen for when evaluating demos?

Here’s what I wished I could’ve explained to the random band guy who asked me that same question after the three-hour event, but I’d already exhausted my quota of lucidity for the day. A smattering of the things I consider include:

 Hook. The catchiness of the tune is essential, even though it doesn’t have to just be linked to the vocals. A guitar part or bass groove can be hooky. Yet there has to be something memorable that can be retained by the listener after the track has ended  especially if you’re on a demo panel with 10 more cuts to go.

 Repetition. When a song is nothing but one unvarying progression, I get bored. This is especially grating if the music behind the verse and chorus are the same.

 Sound. A past career as a sound engineer made me mindful to the sonic quality of particular instruments. A great drum mix or sharp vocal track or huge guitar tone always gets my attention.

 Predictability. If I can consistently guess the next chord change or lyrical rhyme, I might as well have written the song myself.

 Emotion. Is there energy and conviction to the recording or does it play like the musical equivalent of a water softener demonstration?

The only two sub-categories that proved problematic for judging were listed as Originality of Melody and Quality of Lyrics. The song that featured the catchiest melody wasn’t necessarily very original, while the most unusual one of the bunch was too avant-garde to be hummable. So I just based it overall on how strong the melody presented itself.

As for the lyrics, they were uniformly hard to distinguish, given the acoustic nature (i.e. noisiness) of the event. Unless the artist overused the word “baby” or rhymed “night” with “all right,” I didn’t grade down.

Call me cynical, but there was a real element of surprise to the proceedings.

Of the 10 finalists, none of them sucked. Nobody was even below average. I realized it wouldn’t startle (or anger) me if any from the collection took home the grand prize, which included such goodies as free studio time, CD duplication, graphic design, photo shoot and a gift certificate for gear. Pretty swanky as far as local competitions were concerned.

The winner ended up being Lawrence’s The Band That Saved the World. While the funky, horn-based ensemble was probably the best known among the entries  having established a local fanbase through constant performances  the group needed this contest as much as the relatively unknown participants did. The whole idea of this gathering (and much of the discussion) was about the ways artists could take things to the next level. Band That Saved is STILL an unsigned act. I view the members as go-getters attempting to further showcase their music, rather than a popular group trying to stack the deck against amateurs.

Runners up included Drew, whose pop selection was ambitious and unpredictable, and Bryan Sanders, who provided a hip-hopping groove number with rather amazing production.

There will be future opportunities for more demo-oriented madness in months to come. The next scheduled episode also will feature something of a twist.

“We’re coming back to Kansas City for a ‘Grammy in the Schools’ in the spring,” said organizer Jack Campbell, regional project manager for the Chicago branch. “This event is for high school students, but we want to put together panels with a lot of music industry-related careers.”

There’s another panel I can look forward to.