Mixing Your Sound On Stage Without A Sound Engineer

Many small club bands or duos don’t have the luxury of having a sound engineer to mix their sound during performances. Most of the time, one of the band members mixes the sound while on stage, while performing.

This can be difficult for several reasons:

• The sound on the stage is very different from the sound throughout the rest of the club.
• The person mixing generally has to stop playing momentarily to adjust the levels.
• Different band members may prefer different mixes; for example the keyboard player may feel that the keyboards need to be higher in the mix.
• The on-stage mixer may have little control over the level of individual instrument amplifiers or drummers.
• In very small venues, or restaurants, the on-stage level may need to be too high (for the band’s comfort and hearing) for the audience, particularly when they are close to the stage.

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You’re Too Loud! Keeping Your Sanity When Playing Restaurants and Small Clubs

Restaurants and small bars make great venues for duos and small bands to play. For financial as well as practical reasons, these places are too small for larger groups, yet they still want to have live music to attract the crowds.

However, you must always remember that YOU are not the primary purpose of the restaurant or bar. The primary purpose, as for any business, is to make money.

As a performer, you should be able to relate to this, since you need to make money as well. (If you are just doing it for the music, while a great noble and artistic attitude, you’re better off just jamming at home.) Read more »

Mixing Your Stage Sound As You Play By Adjusting Your Playing

While many bands, particularly the larger ones, have a sound engineer, there are performance aspects to the mix that only the band members control.

If you think that you can just play in whatever manner you feel like playing, and the sound engineer’s job is to make everyone sound good in the mix, you’ll fall short of your optimal sound. The mix can’t fix busy keyboards or guitar fills that walk all over the vocals.

While thinking about these things may seem distracting at first, but it becomes second nature after a while. Once you can do this unconsciously, you’ll get into your own part naturally. Read more »

Rehearsing New Songs Live On Stage

If you work in a bar band, there are likely going to be times when the bar is essentially empty. Should you take advantage of this time to work on new songs that really aren’t ready for prime time?

The answer is not a simple yes or no. The other people working in the club, the waitresses and the bartender, may welcome hearing something that they haven’t heard you play ad nauseam.

They are always the first to get tired of your material and sound, so it may be a welcome treat for them. Or not. If your unpracticed performance is particularly bad, you’ll likely hear about it later, or hear them tell the story to customers. Of course, it could also be the best you ever perform that song. Read more »

Really Know The Songs You Perform Live

I think it goes without saying (but I’m going to say it anyway) that you should know the chords and lyrics of any song you perform for an audience. But you should also be aware of what the song is really about so that you can be mentally prepared to perform it in a way that tells the story.

This way you are also in the right frame of mind to play solos and fills that are appropriate to the song. These, along with your vocal, should enhance the right mood and help to get the audience into that mood as well.

Within your bag of tricks you should already have effects and techniques that you can use to create and enhance the mood. These can also be used to make each song unique. This is important so that each song is capable of standing on its own. Read more »