Posts Tagged ‘#Liveband’

Lessons from the Studio

Posted: March 11, 2015 in Cover Tune Tuesdays
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In Euphoria at this time, I am the keyboard player and I do some back-up vocals and percussion.  

I get to set up in the recording control room and listen to the studio speakers for monitors. I can look through the glass and see the other players; drums in isolation booth, guitar amp and bass rig in separate areas with go-bo’s and sound partitions avoiding spill-over.  Vocalist was in place in booth, but we are doing scratch vocals now for the most part to keep the musicians on track.  The studio is using reel-to-reels back then, but they are great machines and the board is more than I had gotten my hands on at the time.  To let you know I was the performer here.  I was not the engineer and I kept my mouth shut.  [OK, maybe that was a hidden lesson if we think about it!] 

To set up the story a little, when Euphoria plays live and the guitar player breaks a string (in our band this happens all the time and even our BASS GUITAR player breaks strings regularly!) we have to stop the song.  The guitar players will grab another guitar or change if needed…… 

And no matter where we were when we had to stop playing the song, we started from the same place and continued the song to the end.  So when we came into the studio, we knew what songs we wanted to record and in what order, but we also knew which part of each song should be on the demo.   We did not want to record a bunch of full songs all the way through.  When we were ready to record, the vocalist would call out what song and Verse 1 and 2….  Chorus 2…….,  Verse 3, Solo – then Verse…..  Whatever it was that we wanted to record.  We did not play all the way through and then have the tape ‘cut’ to those areas;  it is all we recorded.  We caught the sound guy off guard.  He must have initially thought we were going to go way over time.  As it happened, we did all the cover tune sections we wanted and had time over to play with an original tune the guitar player was working on. 

Oh, yeah, there is still a lesson for the recording engineer in all this.  He told me during a number of conversations (I asked about stuff after all, but I tried not to back-seat-drive the recordings) that he had struggled for two years on getting the drum booth tight.  He had changed the drum heads multiple times.  He bought more and more expensive microphones.  He used the latest gates and processing gear.  He moved everything up, down and sideways.  He changed soundproofing a million times.   

Here is what he said to me that day, “All this time I thought I didn’t have the right drum booth and gear.  It wasn’t until tonight that I figured out that I just did not have the right drummer!”.   

Unfortunately the other band members would not let me tell the drummer that for a long time in fear his head would get really big and explode!  

Journey – Separate Ways

Black Crowes – Hard to Handle

Yes – Long Distance

Yes – Changes

The Who – Can You See the Real Me?

Shooting Star – Last Chance

Queensryche – Jet City Woman

Everyday Lessons of a Musician

Posted: March 10, 2015 in projects
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I have always been into helping charities and volunteering for good causes.  I entered a few tunes from a local cover band I was in (Euphoria) for yet another battle of the band contest sponsored by habitats for humanity and a local radio station.  The bands would play in Eden Park at the very-cool Seasongood Pavilion.  At first it looked like we might not even play, then the dust settled and we would go on to play last.  The other bands were interesting and pretty good.  We were hi-energy progressive rock and we played our short set really well and had a great time.  We even made the goof of mentioning the wrong radio station’s call letters!  Agh!  I thought on that alone we might get overlooked.  But they might not have heard the comment and in all modesty we were really good.  We won a trophy – some unknown band member still has it hidden safely in some underground bunker – and recording time at a recording studio!  For me, this was like candy. 

We were awarded the prize and a limited time to go into the studio.  We decided to use the recording time of three hours (yeah, kind of a tease and they probably figure you will run over and have to pay them for additional recording time) to record a band demo.  Eventually we got a list of songs we wanted to do and had some discussions on what parts of the songs to feature. 

As the time got near, it became more and more difficult to arrange schedules of the various band members (and lets NEVER forget the schedules of the family of band members!).  So I told the band guys that this weekend was it.  This is the deadline and if we do not go in a few days we will lose this opportunity altogether.  After the whining and complaints, we agreed to go that Saturday, the last day before the deadline.   

There are two reasons I bring up this story.  A couple of good lessons keep this fresh in my memory.  The following is the first; 

Sometimes you have to lie.  I knew we had another two weeks to record, but I also knew if I left it up to the band to schedule, it would never happen.  Everyone wants to do it and everyone SAYS they will, but other things always happen and conflicts crop up at the last minute, and it is too late to save the project then.  I knew how the band put things off and I did not want to miss my time at the ‘candy store’. 

The second lesson was learned by the studio recording engineer.  I will share that in the next post.  Here is a bit of the demo we did in the studio so you can get an feel for the mix.    

Journey – Separate Ways

Black Crowes – Hard to Handle

Yes – Long Distance

Yes – Changes

The Who – Can You See the Real Me?

Shooting Star – Last Chance

Queensryche – Jet City Woman

Live Sound Reinforcement Series Chapter 6 – Sound Reinforcement

Posted: March 9, 2015 in Live Sound Reinforcement Series, music technology, technology
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This is another term that is often misunderstood and the results can be unpleasant for the audience and performers as well.  This does not prevent the error from happening over and over.  It doesn’t have to happen to you.  At first glance the term is quite simple.  In its simplest form it probably means “turn things louder”.  And that may be the most widely used interpretation.  But the phrase is not, ‘Sound Forcement‘…… it is reinforcement.  If something is loud enough on stage, ……… wait for it ………. It DOES NOT need sound reinforcement.  In a small room, the trumpet probably doesn’t need much – if any – volume reinforcement.  (certainly not in the stage monitors and little if any in the house mix)  The guitar player with 10 Marshall stacks in a thirty seat room probably does not need sound reinforcement.   Well then, what does?

Simply enough, anything that is not run directly through an instrument amplifier on stage.  This could be the sounds from the keyboards or tone devices, vocalists, special effects FX (usually effects are used in the house mix but can also be sent to the monitor sends) and back ground or other media tracks including the ‘tape’ input for your stereo music player used in our earlier post. 

We will do better if we use this definition for both sound systems we have pulled together for this event.  On stage, do not add anything to the monitor mix that is already loud on stage.  Again there are exceptions and many performers will argue this point, but I try to keep the monitor sends clear of anything I do not need to reinforce.  If it is a big stage and members are far apart – absolutely add a little of an instrument to the other monitor mix.  Everyone needs to hear the other performers.  Just do not add to all monitor mixes if you use multi-monitor sends.  Smaller stages there is little advantage in sending amplified instruments or drum set channels to the monitor mix.

Now, look at the balance from the house point of view. Can you hear the reverb on the snare drum and mounted toms clearly?  Is one vocalist drowning out the others?  Is that trumpet (or cymbal crash or tambourine or Kick drum) not in the mix during the solo?  Can the keyboard player hear the monitors or instrument amp really good but no one in the audience can hear them?  Can solo performances be heard clearly above the mix?

Set and forget.  There are a number of input sources you will be able to set once and leave alone.  The drums should be set up properly during sound check and should not need fader, pan, EQ or volume adjustments during the typical event performance.  So the easy ones are drum and percussion kits along with some keyboards and other tone generators.  Brass, string or choir sections can also be set.  Most of these groups can be balanced during sound check and you will never have to mess with them for the rest of the performance.  That allows you to focus on the variations of vocal performers, solo instruments and ‘guest’ players.  Make sure if you turn the instrument louder during a solo or energy section that you turn it back down when the section is over. Otherwise it is a race to the top and others will need to turn up to hear themselves comfortably.  Then the rest of the group has to do the same to keep up with the neighbors on stage.  It can get ugly at the top.

In small clubs or rooms, there is very little need for large PA systems and huge speakers.  In many situations you will do fine to let the stage volume fill most of the room.  Sometimes all I have to add is the keyboards and vocals, with the effects thrown in on top.  I might bring up a guitar or other solo instrument in the mix, when the rest of the time that instrument fader is off completely in the house and monitor mix.  It simply does not need sound reinforcement there.

In some gigs, a player can be loud enough on stage that you cannot increase over-all volume using the house system.  They are so loud that the PA for a small club will have little effect.  I have been known to take players completely out of the house mix.

I use simple guidelines and want to ensure that any and all performers will be heard in the house.  This includes each percussion instrument to various keyboard textures and sounds.  I keep all levels in balance so one instrument or group of instruments does not dominate the performance or mix.  I make sure band members know they do not have to play loud on stage.  All they have to do is play good and I will make it sound great in the house. You play; let me crank it up!

Co-Authors and Distant Dreams

Posted: March 3, 2015 in MUSIC, My Tunes
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Performing with other musicians requires a deeper channel of communication than normal language. When creating in this environment, every nuance has a meaning.  Every motif can create musical ripples.  Sometimes, two thoughts are better than one.  Co-writing can take a piece further than you would have thought possible on your own.  Try it.  You might like what comes out of it.  Over the years I have worked with a group of songwriters.  Each writer diving in to show off the latest and greatest.  While in one of those small traveling bands from hotel to hotel, I was playing in Corpus Christie TX.  We played a lot of different music for three people, and one of us did not play any instruments.  We wanted to come up with something with a bit more country flavor, and the lead guitarist was working on some soft ballad type chords during practice.  I told him I had written some lyrics that might fit.  I had finally given myself the title of songwriter as you know, so a while back I challenged myself to write a country song.  I had something specific in mind.

I write a lot of songs.  I write a lot of lyrics that never become songs (not yet anyway).  I write a lot of poems that may never become lyrics.  I write a number of songs and I might not even have a recording of it, even though I love to archive and preserve original performances.  Some songs I write for others and do not have a real interest in recording myself.  Maybe because I already have a good idea of what the song is supposed to sound like when a real performer/band records it.  I am not putting myself down here.  I simply do not have the talent or resources of famous stars.  You might laugh, but when I was writing the lyrics below, I wrote them as a duet for some famous country music stars at the time;  Kenny Rodgers and Dolly Parton!

I have only one recording of this song and I will share it with you, Kenny and Dolly you too if you’re listening!  I am singing the male part on this recording.  Not sure if this was ready before we moved on from Corpus Christie to another hotel, but it fell together quickly with the ballad chords at practice, so we performed it live to the more country leaning southern audience.  We were surprised that it went over so well and people in the hotel/audience that were regulars, were singing the words after a few nights in town.  So, I will probably never record this song.  It has always been a distant dream to one day hear others recording this as their own.    I have already heard in my mind what it sounds like with them performing, but this live two-track recording is not too bad for a working representation.

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