by Andrew M. Lee
If you learn to play guitar, drums or bass for example the next step that many of you will want to take is to start your own band. This has been the dream of teenagers for years but just how do you go about undertaking this? Well there are a number of avenues that you can explore; you could advertise for other members or you may know people who have friends or family who are also interested in starting up a band.
In my experience however one of the main ways that bands come together is friends. If you are learning guitar and your best friends are learning bass and drums it comes pretty naturally that you will form a band together but deciding to be in a band is one thing, making it work is another… Read more »
Tags: Band Members, Bass And Drums, Creative Process, Learning Guitar, Musical Flair, Practice Sessions, Song Writing, Style Of Music, Writing Songs
Live Performance, Starting A Band | TipsForTheBand.com February 10, 2010 | 
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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.
Read more »
Tags: Audience Member, Band Members, Club Bands, Cooperation, Drummers, Fellow Musician, General Volume Level, Gig, Instrument Amplifiers, Keyboard Player, Keyboards, Mixer, On-Stage Level, On-Stage Mixer, Performing In A Small Club, Relative Levels, Restaurants, Small Clubs, Small Venues, Sound Check, Sound Engineer, Sound On Stage, Stage Level, Too Loud For The Room, Volume Level
Developing As A Musician and Performer, Functioning As A Musician, Interacting With Other Musicians, Live Performance, Playing In A Band | TipsForTheBand.com May 29, 2009 | Comments (0)
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 »
Tags: Band Member, Band Member's Cues, Band Members, Don't Overplay, Keyboards, Leaving Space, Mood of the Song, Optimal Sound, Performance Aspects, Performance Aspects of The Stage Mix, Playing As A Band, Sound Engineer, Stage Sound, Stage Volume, Texture of the Song
Developing As A Musician and Performer, Functioning As A Musician, Interacting With Other Musicians, Live Performance, Playing In A Band | TipsForTheBand.com May 20, 2009 | Comments (0)
