Unintelligent design (![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small} drtboi) wrote,@ 2006-10-06 12:10:00 |
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Lessons learned
My first live set was interesting. I'm not much of a ham, so playing out is kind of stressful, I discovered, as I'd expected. The set felt like a disaster while it was happening, with all sorts of technical difficulties. We never did get decent volume on the guitar amp, which was frustrating as hell, since I felt like I played pretty well. Except where I changed riffs a bar short on two different songs. Time was moving remarkably fast throughout the set, and I don't remember much, specifically, of it, other than the problems. I couldn't let go and just fucking play, unlike practice, which has been getting better and better as we tighten up as a band. We have another show in hopefully about a month, maybe a warmup sooner. I'm thinking the second one will be much smoother and 10 times as fun. Which isn't to say the whole experience wasn't incredible, because it was.
I also learned a lot about the realities of playing a live set. Stuff that's pretty obvious, and that seems easy from the audience, but was hard to recall in the midst of everything. I've included those lessons below the fold.
A malfunctioning input jack on a guitar amplifier may be remedied by determining the proper angle to which the jack must be jiggled to keep the connections intact and the sound coming, then keeping that angle by weighing down the instrument cable with the aforementioned amplifier.
In a live setting, the microphone sending the sound of, say, a guitar, to the PA should be placed as close as possible to a speaker cone in the cabinet connected to the guitar amplifier. Each approximate inch away from the speaker cone results in the loss of another layer of sound, starting with the low end and working up until all is lost but a general fuzzy tone.
Modern solid state amplification has its own pitfalls and gotchas, and it is good to know the particulars of whatever amplifier you are using.
To that effect, if no sound check is possible, you must enter the stage as soon as the previous band has left it, or face the consequences, which will likely be very quiet.
In regards to all previous statements, if at all possible use your own equipment.
Time does not in any way slow down once the set has officially begun. It may in fact speed up. Controlled experiments may reveal this to be true, but there is not currently enough data to determine.
The speed of time may in fact ramp up in some sort of steep curve starting hours before a set starts, and so certain supplies should be procured before this ramping up takes effect - snacks, for instance, if nervousness has resulted in an empty stomach and beer has not served to weigh down a light head.
Face the audience.
Ignore initial attempts by management to stop a set because it's gone over time because of technical difficulties that ate into half the alloted time. The struggle between those who must get through their set and the ones who need to get everything done by 1:00am and everybody the fuck out by 2:00 is eternal.
In a related note, Anger loosens up the wrist and makes fast picking easier.
Try not to forget where you are in a song at any given moment. Not worrying about anything but where you are in a song at a given moment is crucial to that goal.
My first live set was interesting. I'm not much of a ham, so playing out is kind of stressful, I discovered, as I'd expected. The set felt like a disaster while it was happening, with all sorts of technical difficulties. We never did get decent volume on the guitar amp, which was frustrating as hell, since I felt like I played pretty well. Except where I changed riffs a bar short on two different songs. Time was moving remarkably fast throughout the set, and I don't remember much, specifically, of it, other than the problems. I couldn't let go and just fucking play, unlike practice, which has been getting better and better as we tighten up as a band. We have another show in hopefully about a month, maybe a warmup sooner. I'm thinking the second one will be much smoother and 10 times as fun. Which isn't to say the whole experience wasn't incredible, because it was.
I also learned a lot about the realities of playing a live set. Stuff that's pretty obvious, and that seems easy from the audience, but was hard to recall in the midst of everything. I've included those lessons below the fold.
A malfunctioning input jack on a guitar amplifier may be remedied by determining the proper angle to which the jack must be jiggled to keep the connections intact and the sound coming, then keeping that angle by weighing down the instrument cable with the aforementioned amplifier.
In a live setting, the microphone sending the sound of, say, a guitar, to the PA should be placed as close as possible to a speaker cone in the cabinet connected to the guitar amplifier. Each approximate inch away from the speaker cone results in the loss of another layer of sound, starting with the low end and working up until all is lost but a general fuzzy tone.
Modern solid state amplification has its own pitfalls and gotchas, and it is good to know the particulars of whatever amplifier you are using.
To that effect, if no sound check is possible, you must enter the stage as soon as the previous band has left it, or face the consequences, which will likely be very quiet.
In regards to all previous statements, if at all possible use your own equipment.
Time does not in any way slow down once the set has officially begun. It may in fact speed up. Controlled experiments may reveal this to be true, but there is not currently enough data to determine.
The speed of time may in fact ramp up in some sort of steep curve starting hours before a set starts, and so certain supplies should be procured before this ramping up takes effect - snacks, for instance, if nervousness has resulted in an empty stomach and beer has not served to weigh down a light head.
Face the audience.
Ignore initial attempts by management to stop a set because it's gone over time because of technical difficulties that ate into half the alloted time. The struggle between those who must get through their set and the ones who need to get everything done by 1:00am and everybody the fuck out by 2:00 is eternal.
In a related note, Anger loosens up the wrist and makes fast picking easier.
Try not to forget where you are in a song at any given moment. Not worrying about anything but where you are in a song at a given moment is crucial to that goal.
