Good Gig Advice

Get Ready for the Big Gig
So your cool new band has lined up a live show and you're ready to rock the house and become overnight stars. Awesome! But are you sure you're ready for the gig? Are you GOSH DANG sure? Now then, here is some advice as to how to prepare for the big show, so that it doesn't turn into a disaster... READ ON!

Guitarists: The worst thing that can happen during a show is to break a string. You don't want to stop the show to change a string, no. Make sure you always bring a backup guitar to each show! Make sure that guitar is in tune, and is set out on stage (or nearby) with it's own strap and pick, ready to be picked up and played at a moment's notice. If you have two guitarists, they should each bring a backup guitar. Also, you should put new strings on your axe a few days before a big gig - this will cut down on broken strings. Just make sure you play your axe a few times before the show, so that the strings are properly stretched. A big mistake is to restring THE NIGHT of the show - chances are the guitar will go hideously out of tune AT LEAST A FEW TIMES during the set. You should also always carry an extra guitar chord, extra batteries (for your stomp boxes), extra picks, and if you can afford it - an extra set of power tubes for your amp head. You never know when something will go wrong with your gear, but rest assured it WILL HAPPEN eventually... be prepared!

Drummers: It's always a good idea to replace your drum heads occasionally, especially the snare head. Not only will the drums sound better for it, but this will help you avoid busting a drum head during a gig. Bring a couple spare pair of sticks to the show -- we all know how easily they break in the heat of the moment, don't we? Also, at the show do not wait til the last minute to assemble your drums. You should be assembling them while the band going on before you starts playing, if not sooner, so that when it's your time you simply just carry your set up on stage ready to play. Bass players: Well, just make sure you're in tune, dang it! Bass strings don't break that easily, but it's always a good idea to have a spare set with you, and if you have two basses BRING 'EM BOTH! The bass player in a band I was in once broke TWO strings during a show, and he was not prepared. We had to beg for a new string from the other bands... very embarrassing.

Singers: I read in an interview with Don Dokken once, that he'd always drink a shot of whiskey before a concert to lube up his vocal chords. I tried it myself, and IT REALLY WORKS! 'Course, more than one shot may slur your speech. You can also try hot tea with lots of honey... mmmm, good! I recommend drinking your shot 5 minutes before you take the stage and you will sing like an angel.

The whole band: Okay, you're at the show on time to load in, you've tuned up, checked your gear -- all systems are go. Now, you feel like having a few pre-show brewskis... STOP! A couple beers is allright, but DON'T GET DRUNK BEFORE THE SHOW!!! That is, if you want to sound good and have everyone in the band remember how to play the songs... Save the free drink tickets for after you've played. It's also a good idea to get a couple pitchers of water on stage before you play, in case you get thirsty... especially for the drummer and the vocalist. Those stage lights can get pretty hot... Also, it's always a good idea to do some stretches back stage to loosen up before you go on. I always lead my band in jumping jacks, stretches and tai chi before we take the stage. You don't want to pull a muscle while doing a crazy stage maneuver, do ya? Very embarrassing!

Make sure you have SET LISTS for the show, on large (11x17) paper written with a jumbo marker or even better, printed out by a laser printer. Make a copy of the set list for each member of the band.

Drum AND sing?

Drum and Sing

Drumming and singing is a very hard skill to learn and whilst most drummers have no aspirations to be the next Phil Collins most can be great back up singers. So todays blog comes from a drummer with some tips on mastering this difficult technique.

Recommendations to Enable Simultaneous Singing and Drum Kit Playing:

1). Go to a classical vocal instructor and have your voice evaluated. I took classical vocal lessons for a year to learn the techniques necessary to breath and project without damaging my vocal chords. This also helped me learn how to setup my drum stool for optimum singing and playing posture (I brought my drum throne to each lesson - and my instructor thought I was nuts).

2). As I was taking lessons, I slowly began learning backup harmonies while playing in various bands - but I still didn't drum and sing into the mics.

3). Before I "opened my mouth" officially behind the kit, I found for me, that it was best to get all of my drum parts down "cold" first. I figured this was the case because I wouldn't have to consciously think "too much more" as I added a vocal part into the mix. Heck, we're all already using all of our limbs when we play anyway! We have so much more "going on" then most other musicians!

4). Next, I started learning singing parts "in sections" (and not at a rehearsal). Personally, I would repeat a section of a piece until I know that I was playing smoothly and was singing on pitch. I still find this to be a successful approach. Based on this, I recommend that you don't move on to the next vocal phrase until you've gotten both your drumming and vocal parts down in the previous phrase. Oh, to know whether you're doing everything correctly use a metronome (for time analysis) and a recording device (for pitch). When you like what you hear, move on to the next phrase... and so on.

5). I recommend learning/singing backing vocal parts first. These parts are not as constantly occurring as lead parts, but they still require you attain the right words and notes while others are singing with you. This allows you to gain confidence continually.

6). Use a headset mic for performing if you can. Even the best overhead boom stands are distracting and take up too much space. One of the absolute best headset mics that I've found for drummers is Crown's "CM 311 series" (and I don't work for Crown). This mic is able to reject essentially all drum sounds (including the snare drum) while you sing and play! This is a very unique capability - and a VERY important one

Social Media for Unsigned Bands

Using Social Media

Social Media is most certainly not a fad, and if all your fans are there, it would seem a pretty good idea for you to be there too. You cannot expect to just create a Facebook or Twitter account and instantly have masses of people following you. You have to interact, be personal, and lure them into your fan page. In this article I’ll share with you three ways you can effectively drive more fans to your social media networks through creating a good first impression, connecting with people who share similar interests, and using video marketing to build hype and personally engage with your fans.

1. Create an Enticing Facebook Landing Page

If Facebook were a country it would be the 4th largest in the World, so you have a free opportunity to share your music on a global scale. People who land on your page want to know about you immediately (the world of social media is an impatient one) so to increase your conversion rate from visitors to fans you should make the first page a visitor lands on as compelling as you can. Thankfully ReverbNation have created an app to make this process a whole lot easier:

Reverb Nation’s Band Profile Tool

ReverbNation just recently upgraded its popular Facebook app, and have integrated some interesting new features to help grow your fan base. The free app incorporates a brand new feature called ‘Fan Boosters’ where you can activate features including ‘require like to access media content,’ ‘require share to for music download’ and require email sign up for music downloads,’ each addressing today’s key social networking goals; getting fans to share, like and subscribe to your content.

This app is also very easy to set up and has a simplistic interface that is easy on the eye. It shows visitors all your releases, upcoming gigs, biography, videos, photos and press quotes, all to give a great first impression to your visitors, compelling them to ‘like’ or ‘share’ your fan page to increase your followers.

2. Connect With People Who Share Similar Interests in Music
Often you will find artists new to social networking following all of their friends or sendingeverybody invites to follow their fan page. One must ask, are they really interested in your music? Rather than adding everyone you know, you want to be connecting and engaging with people who have a genuine interest in your music. Twilert is free web app that enables you to receive email updates containing tweets mentioning any keyword you choose. This is an invaluable tool to help you connect with people who share the same musical interests as yourself, and if you follow them they will most likely give you a follow in return.!

3. Use Live Video Streaming to Personally Engage with your Fans and Build Hype
A lot of big artists are now using live video streams to connect more personally with their fans. By using live video streams it allows your fans to ask questions and share feedback on your music and can be used further as a marketing tool to build hype prior to a release, or even to broadcast a live performance that could possibly attract thousands of users within the live streaming website. To reach the largest audience you can, you should consider becoming a dedicated user of all the top live video streaming sites:

Ustream.tv – ‘Ustream is the leading live interactive broadcast platform. Anyone with an internet connection and a camera can start engaging with their family, friends or fans anytime, anywhere.’

Qik – ‘Qik, the leading mobile video sharing service, lets you record and share the experience with your friends, family and your favorite social networks’

Justin.tv – ‘Justin.tv is the easiest way to create live video and show anyone in the world what’s happening right now. Using only a laptop, you can share your event, class, party or thoughts, live, to anyone in over 250 countries while they chat in real-time with you and with other viewers.’

Vokle – ‘With the Vokle platform you can hold your own live video streaming event in real time right on your own website without directing your watchers and participants to a different website’

Explore each of these three ways in which to expand your fan base using social media comprehensively, and you will see an increase in the amount of relevant followers on each of your social networks, but the size of this increase will be determined by how hard you are willing to work. Go for it!

How to Use Remixes to Grow your Band Fanbase

One of the most exciting things about new media is the move from people being passive listeners to collaborators by producing content of their own, based on your output. One example of this is a growing trend is for people to offer their music to be remixed. Artists from Gang Of Four to Radiohead to DIY artists such as Brad Sucks and lots of electronic artists have all offered their tracks up to be remixed by their fans.

Remixes are great because they give you a new perspective on your music and allow you to crossover with another artists audience. All you need to do is to get the stems (individual parts from the multitrack) for your songs in a folder on an online hosting site as an archived zip file for people to download (4shared.com seems as good as any). You can either export the stems from your recordings yourself or ask your Producer or Engineer to provide them if you record at a commercial studio. You can then link to the folder from your website/blog/Facebook or Twitter and ask people to start remixing. Remember to let people know what the BPM of the track is, it really helps when people are importing stems into Pro Tools or Logic or any other recording software.

There are also sites like CC Mixter that can host the files for you and have the added bonus of a community of remixers looking for tracks to remix. You can use a general Creative Commons license to allow people to use the stems for non-commercial use (and spread the word about your music). Once you have a few remixes in you can then post them on your blog to show how talented and clever your listeners are. This also gives you something to talk about via Twitter and Facebook and gets people talking about your music.

Remixes are also good to submit to podcasters and can even sometimes get your music on podcasts that don’t cover your usual genre. Its been known for a house remix of a rock tune to get a lot of play and even be used for adverts and films (depending on agreement for commercial use between the the artists and the remixer). This is another opportunity to build your listener base (depending on how tight a hold you want to retain on your music).

Also can you remix other peoples music? You can ask for the stems from other artists, its worth a try and its a brilliant way to build a relationship with an artist if you like their work and to get more exposure for both of you. This works fantastically on a local level

You could even release the best of the remixes as an EP on Bandcamp.This is a lot of new music created with very little work by the artists themselves, but with a lot of engagement from listeners and fans. Regular releases are vital to keep acts in the public eye, the days of one album every 18 months to 2 years are long gone.

Really the key to social media for musicians is to have interesting things to talk about and lots of content to enable you to start conversations and to be social, then hopefully the content will be shared by influential people across Twitter, Facebook, Podcasts and Blogs. Remixes are a great opportunity to start people talking and collaborating.

How to record your band LIVE!

Recording Live

Recording live music can be one of the most gratifying aspects of being a musician or producer. It is a unique challenge in the world of recording. The key to conquering it is to have an array of techniques ready to be deployed as the situation dictates.

Technology has made this job much easier. Many musicians in this era are turning to digital devices to record their work, due to the ease of use and superior performance. The key here is picking the right one.

A firepod is the most popular choice. Many MP3 players also have recording capability. Anything that can record onto a CD is ideal, but if you prefer to stay purely digital, look into the MP3s. The next step will be to get the proper microphone to connect to it.

You probably want a ribbon microphone for this situation, because a directional mic will often not catch the full spectrum of sounds the band is producing. Directional mics usually focus in one one instrument or the vocals at the exclusion of everything else.

Microphone placement is also vital. You will need many. One for every singer, at least two for the drums, and two on each side of any instrument being played. Place a windscreen between your recorder and the music to filter out unwanted sounds. Since you will be using ribbon microphones, the closer you can get with them the better.

Recording live music can be a headache but with this basic outline your strategy going in will be solid. The key is being able to adapt and grow over time. Nothing replaces experience, especially in this volatile facet of the recording industry.

Improve Your Singing Voice

Improve your singing voice

Here are a few free singing tips to help you develop your voice. I've chosen to write about a few important singing points that will help you to sing with less vocal tension, and expand your vocal range. These clues may sound a little bizarre at first, but you will soon understand their meanings when you put your voice to work!

Use a slight Irish accent when you sing. Sound weird?! I agree, it does sound a little strange to put on an accent when you sing. But there is a reason for this strange technique.

What would you say if I told you that the Irish accent is the perfect accent for singing? It has a few built-in-functions that allow the voice to release, keeping singing very easy and relaxed. Singing this way will engage only the correct muscles required to sing. The troublesome muscles (that try and interfere with the process) will sit perfectly still.

Here's an example....

If you say the word "Are" with a exaggerated wide mouth, you will feel the muscles under your chin begin to tense up. These are the muscles that you don'twant to play a part in the singing process. Give it a try......really exaggerate the "A" and feel your chin begin to get really tight. Ouch!

But if you say it in an Irish tone, kind of like how a pirate would say "Arrrrrrr matey!" When you say "Arrrrrrr", can you feel how your mouth stays quite narrow and very relaxed? You get this relaxed feeling because the Irish accent prevents the incorrect singing muscles from interfering...

...Good news if you're already Irish!

Use a cry-like-tone when you sing. This technique is used by some of the greatest singers in the world. Next time you hear Michael Jackson, listen to how he places a slight cry at the beginning of each note.

Placing a slight cry underneath your voice will dramatically sweeten your tone quality. It will also allow you to sing with much less vocal tension, making it easier to hit high notes. Such a simple exercise, yet so effective!

You can practice your crying tone by singing "hoooo" as in "Boo Hoo". Try to really exaggerate the crying tone, and feel the ease at which this allows you to produce your tone.

Personally, every word I sing benefits from this crying technique. Not only does it add sweetness to the tone quality, but it adds emotion to the performance as well.

Keep your tone slightly dopey to hold your larynx in a still position.

Your larynx is your "voice box" that sits in your throat. It is a grouping of muscle, cartilage, and ligaments. Inside the larynx are the vocal folds, or vocal chords. These are the muscular folds that vibrate to produce the initial sound. The sound that then passes up into your facial structure becoming amplified by the resonant spaces...

It is very important that the larynx is very stable when you sing. Singing with bad technique seems to engage the muscles that surround the larynx......the outer muscles of the larynx. When this happens, these muscles force the larynx up and down. This makes it incredibly difficult to sing high notes, and it also destroys tone quality. In other words, to sound any good, you must learn to disengage these outer muscles.

A very effective technique to achieve this is to use a slightly dopey tone when you sing. This dopiness will offset the larynx just slightly, gently pulling it down by a small amount. This slight offset will allow the larynx to hold it's position when you sing.

Singing with your larynx in a stable, central position is one of the most important singing techniques. When you can do this, you are halfway to singing at speech level ie: singing with the same ease as speaking. Of course, with the technique I just explained, the larynx isn't completely central. Because of the dopey tone, the larynx is a fraction lower than the central position.

As you continue to master this technique though, you can abandon this slight offset. The dopey tone will train the outer muscles of the larynx to relax. Once this is happening, you can reduce the dopey tone until it is completely normal. The larynx, which has now been conditioned to sit still, will not move.

In Summary

Here are the key lessons to remember from these free singing tips.

1) Sing with an Irish accent

2)Use a cry-like-tone to sweeten tone quality

3) Add a dopey tone

Let us know your top singing tips

Bass Player Tips and Advice

Hello All

Today, we have our resident Bass expert penning some top tips just for you 4-string slingers out there!

Enjoy!

7 Vital Bass Lessons

OK . . . this is going to piss off a few bass players, but I’m just going to say it:

Bass is easy to learn.

Come on bass players, let’s just admit it to ourselves and everyone else. The bass guitar really wasn’t that difficult to figure out, was it?

Unlike guitar players, who had to figure out chords, scales, leads and solos, or drummers who had to figure out how to make their four limbs work together and separately at the same time, we had it pretty easy.

If you could afford a couple quick lessons or had a decent ear, you were off to the races, thump-thumping to your heart’s content.

At its most basic level, bass is a pretty simple instrument. Unless you’re into some weird, freaky-ass jazz fusion kinda shit, you can get away with banging out root eighth notes most of the time. Learn to play the right notes, more or less in time, and you pretty much have a gig for life.

And there’s the problem — so many bass players learn to get by on so little skill because their services are so in demand.

Let’s face it, we all get lazy. Especially when no one is pushing us to get better.

So here’s my challenge to you: Is your playing sub-par? Get better. Already pretty good? There’s always room for improvement.

Here are 7 ways to improve your playing:

1. Play with musicians who are better than you.

Nothing will motivate you to get better as much as the prospect of being a band’s weak link. Nobody wants to be the guy that can’t keep up. So seek out opportunities to play with musicians who are more accomplished than you are — and then work your ass off so you don’t embarrass yourself.

2. Explore different genres.

I’ve always been a rock guy. But a few years ago I spent some time with a band that did some country music. I HATE country music, but it was a great learning experience — especially in the art of walking bass lines. I later put those skills to use in an original hard rock project.

3. Play only with the best drummers you can find.

Everyone knows that drums and bass go hand in hand in creating a band’s foundation. A great drummer will elevate your bass playing to new heights. A shitty drummer will drag you (and the rest of the band) down into a pit of mediocrity. The drummer needs to be the most accomplished member of the band. He’s the quarterback of the team. And it doesn’t matter how strong the offensive line is, if the quarterback gets sacked, or fumbles the ball, the play is over. So if your drummer sucks, get rid of him — even if he’s your buddy.

4. Think like a drummer.

Better yet, think like YOUR drummer. Your job as a bass player is to lock in with the drums. Period. You need to tune into your drummer on a much deeper level than other members of the band. This takes time, but you can speed up the process by studying your drummer’s playing. Watch his kick drum foot. Pay attention to how and when he plays cymbal accents and fills. Over time, your playing will begin to take on some of your drummer’s characteristics. This is when you know you’ve found your groove as a rhythm section.

5. Find a bass guitar that you’re comfortable with.

Don’t play a bass just because you think it looks cool or because your favorite bass player plays it. A bass has to fit you and your playing style. Basses come in a variety of styles and shapes. There are different neck sizes, pick-up configurations and on-board electronics. Even a bass’ inherent tonal qualities will affect your playing ability. A bass that doesn’t feel or sound the way you want it too will impair your playing ability and negatively affect your playing enjoyment. Try different basses until you find the one that feels right. Experiment with different price points. Don’t assume that a higher-priced bass is the answer. That $3,000 boutique bass may feel like the worst piece of crap you’ve ever played, while the $400 Squire Precision fits like a glove. Be open minded and don’t worry about what other people think about what you’re playing.

6. Practice with a metronome.

To get the most out of your practice time, make sure you’re using a metronome. A metronome keeps you focused on what’s most important to your role as a bass player — rhythm and timing. Start at about 100 beats-per-minute and work on playing nice steady quarter and eighth notes. Every few minutes, bump up the beats-per-minute so that you’re spreading your practice across a range of tempos. Do this for 30-45 minutes every day and watch your chops improve dramatically.

7. Ask your band mates for feedback.

Finally, no one knows your playing better than the musicians who play with you all the time. So don’t be afraid to ask them for some constructive feedback. They may be able to point out things about your playing that you are completely unaware of. As musicians and performers, we tend to be a little sensitive and resistant to criticism, but a little feedback can go a long way in motivating you to get better at your craft. Your band mates rely on you to be the steady, driving force that keeps things nice and tight — so give ‘em what they want and everyone will be happy!