Three Keys to a Compelling Music Performance | Disc Makers

by TOM JACKSON

From the audience’s perspective, confidence, authority, and charisma are three ingredients to a memorable music performance

What does the audience really pay attention to when you’re standing onstage? Is it how great your music, your playing, your singing is? No, it’s not those things… it’s who you are.

Let me explain: Most of the people in your audience are not musicians, so when it comes to musical things, they’re ignorant. That doesn’t mean they’re stupid – they just don’t understand musical things.

That’s not an excuse to be bad musically! In fact, I want you to be as good as you can possibly be. But what an audience picks up on (especially when they see you for the first time) is how confident you are, how much authority you have, and how charismatic you are onstage.

Confidence, authority, and charisma aren’t about how much you move around onstage. I always say, “Who you are is more important than what you do.” Now, what you do onstage is important, and I’ll talk about that in my next blog. But this concept is so important I call it the foundation for your live show.

Artists who appear to be most confident from the stage are those who are prepared. They’ve developed a vision for their show and planned it out, their show is creative musically and visually, and they’ve developed the musical themes in their songs into “moments” for their audience. They’ve arranged their songs so they can pour their uniqueness into the show.

Authority comes from the inside out. Those with the most authority onstage have developed a belief system and wrestled with themselves, coming to the conclusion that this is their calling in life. It’s not just a way to become a star or make some money. And they’ve learned how to listen to and lead an audience.

Both you and I have been told many times that people just have “it” (charisma) or they don’t. I disagree. Charisma can be developed. I’ve worked with multiple artists over the years who are confident, learn to walk in authority, and develop charisma. Like many things, it’s a process.
One of the key components for developing charisma is taking risks, both in rehearsal and onstage.

Artists I’ve worked with who have confidence and authority also have a spontaneous instinct inside them – they sense when something should be done, even if they’re not sure what it is! But they will come up against a wall every artist I’ve worked with comes up to: fear. The fear to take risks. Artists with charisma have simply developed that sense of when they should take risks and they’re not afraid to act on it.

Make sure you’ve done the proper preparation for your show. Wrestle with yourself when you come up against your wall of fear – walk through it! I promise, you’ll see a better response from your audience when you’ve laid a good foundation.

Read more: Three Keys to a Compelling Music Performance -Disc Makers http://blog.discmakers.com/2013/08/three-keys-to-a-compelling-music-performance/#ixzz2cXUQQTIk

 

 

The Zen of Ear Training – Part 2 | DiscMakers

by Evan Kepner

In the last lesson we covered a few different strategies for starting to train your ears. This included singing with your instrument, singing over a drone, and singing intervals in all the keys. Now we’re going to take it a few steps further and work to really develop our ears ability to pick out notes and relationships. Remember that these exercises take time – developing your ears is a long process. I would practice the exercises from the first lesson and this lesson over the next several months and you’ll start to see development. It’s not a forced thing, more of a gradual opening of your ears.

By this point it should go without saying that each exercise should be done in every key. Break them into small chucks where you do a few keys each time your practice and eventually cycle through all 12.

Exercise 1:

We’re going to expand from last week’s “singing a scale” exercise to singing the different modes. Playing along with your instrument, sing each major scale ascending and descending in the starting from each note of the scale Therefore you’ll sing first Do Re Mi Fa Sol La Ti Do, then you’ll sing Re Mi Fa Sol La Ti Do Re, them sing Mi to Mi, Fa to Fa, etc until you are singing in the second octave. If it’s uncomfortable to sing that high take it down below your initial “Do” for the scales that may be out of range.

This is important because it set you up to hear outside of the normal scalar patterns. If your relative pitch is only good for an ascending or descending major scale starting on the root you’ll be pretty limited. You want to make sure your ears are open to the other diatonic combinations. Once you are comfortable singing and playing try to do it without your instrument. The reason for using your bass while you play is to 1) ensure your intonation is correct and 2) train you to hear the notes and relationships as you practice. When you can do it accurately without your instrument it means you’ve really started to internalize the relationships between the notes – this is a exactly where you want to be.

Exercise 2:

Again with the modal-singing, but this time do it as arpeggios. Therefore you’ll sing the following (ascending then descending):

Do Mi Sol Ti Ti Sol Mi Do

Re Fa La Do Do La Fa Re

Mi Sol Ti Re Re Ti Sol Mi

Continue through all the different starting tones in the major scale. Again, if singing two octaves is too large a range drop the exercises down below your starting tone (but keep the same ascending/descending relationships, don’t switch octaves half way). Start off playing with your instrument and again once you get comfortable try doing it accurately without accompaniment.

Exercise 3:

This is the time for a little brute force memorization. Do whatever you have to do, but memorize the sounds of the E, A, D and G strings. These are pitches you need to be able to instantly identify when you hear them. Every day make a point when you practice to sing these four notes for 5 minutes and play along. If you have a tuner that can pick up sound without being plugged in test yourself by singing into the tuner every day. Eventually you’ll be able to nail each of these. It will make everything so much easier if you know these four pitches solidly. We’re using them as a reference since they are our open strings.

Exercise 4:

Once you’re comfortable singing the different modes, singing all the intervals, and singing arpeggios, you are ready to move onto working with chords. We’ll start with major thirds. Play a major third on your bass in a comfortable singing range. Just listen to it. Take note of the two tones you’re playing and reference the “subtleties” you identified from the last ear-training lesson, you should be able to pick out the qualities of each tone in the chord. Once you feel you can hear the separate tones, sing them with the chord from low to high (just a generic “La” for each is fine). For example if I’m playing a G-major third, I would play, listen and then sing the G and the B while the chord is sounding.

This exercise will help you develop your ear for picking out the different notes in a song. The soloist may have a linear line, but there will be lots of other instruments playing and a fair amount of choral arrangement in any song. Being able to pick the notes out in each chord is essential. This will also help you develop your ear for perfect pitch since you are focusing on the subtle differences between each set of notes.

Play different major thirds all around the neck. Move chromatically to start, and then pick starting tones at random. If you have difficulty picking out the individual notes in the chord play each one separately to start and the together. For example if you could not pick out the tones in a G major third, play the G, stop it, then play the B. Sing each note. Now play the G, let it ring, and play the B – again sing each note. Finally play the G and B at the same time and sing each note. With practice this becomes easier.

Exercise 5:

Repeat exercise 4 with all the other intervals. The more compact intervals (major and minor second) will be the ones which are more difficult. Work with both major and minor intervals all over the neck. You’ll find over time that it will be easier for you to hear the individual tones in each interval, as well as recognize certain things about the interval itself.

Exercise 6:

Now that you’re comfortable with the different intervals it’s time to expand to full chords. Start off with basic major and minor triads using the same concepts in Exercise 4. Sing each note in the chord while paying special attention to the subtleties of each pitch. This exercise will not do you any good if you just rush through it, so be sure to pay careful attention to each tone as you sing it. If it’s necessary set your metronome to 40 bpm and sing for two clicks on each note. That way you’re really letting your ear soak in the tone and how it stands out in each chord.

Once you feel good about the major and minor triads start trying other three-note chord combinations, such as a major or minor seventh (without the 5th). If you can easily identify a chord type, such as major 7th, minor 7th or dominant 7th you’ll have a great head start in any music scene you play. These are the foundational chords to a lot of modern music.

Exercise 7:

If you have a friend that plays guitar or bass test each other for different strings of notes. Start small, have them play one note for reference that you know (such as E A D or G since you already memorized those tones right?), and then play another note afterwards. You can get 3 trials to hear the note and then you have to give the answer as to what it is. Testing yourself will really help your ear develop. Once you are consistent naming one note with a reference pitch have your friend play two notes in sequence after the reference. Then three, four, five etc. The longer the sequence of notes you’re able to hear, remember and name correctly the better – soon you’ll be able to hear an entire line!

Once again I need to reiterate that ear-training is a journey and a constant pursuit. You can never have ears that are too good. It’s a good idea to think of reference songs to help you remember pitches and intervals. For example “Twinkle Twinkle little Star” is a major fifth followed by a major second. I agree it’s not the sexiest song out there to remember this by, but it’s so ingrained in my memory I know I’ll never sing it out of tune. Whenever you listen to the radio try to pick out the chord progressions – is that a ii-V-I, a I-vi-ii-V or a IV-iii-ii-I ? The most important thing is to keep up with it, a little bit everyday is way better than a lot every few weeks – your ear will mature with time.

Article courtesy of our friends at notreble.com, the site for bass players.

Read more: The Zen of Ear Training – Part 2 – Disc Makers Echoes http://blog.discmakers.com/2009/11/the-zen-of-ear-training-part-2/#ixzz2Yfq6YRNo

The Zen of Ear Training – Part 1 | DiscMakers

by Evan Kepner

An important part of every musician’s evolution is ear training. It’s a strange concept, but becoming an active and educated listener pays off in a huge way. First lets cover a few points about what ear training is and isn’t and then we’ll get to the exercises. Ear training is a broad term used to cover two aural developmental practices – perfect pitch and relative pitch. A common misconception we’ve got to dispel right away, perfect pitch is learnable, but your expectations need to be reasonable. Learned perfect pitch is a very subtle thing. It’s not that you suddenly can call out every note in every tune; rather it gives you a deeper perception of music. The best analogy is to think of describing different shades of color to people. Relative pitch is equally important (and more-so for certain types of playing) and is the art of hearing the relationships between tones even if you don’t know the exact note e.g. minor third, descending diatonic scale, etc. This is also learnable with practice.

Ear training will not diminish your ability to enjoy music. Incredibly, I’ve heard other musician’s say “I don’t want [insert “perfect pitch / trained ears”], it means I won’t enjoy music anymore.” WHAT??!! That’s like saying you don’t want to see color because it diminishes your ability to enjoy art. I think this is an excuse because ear training can be abstract and difficult, do not believe this. If you make a regular point to practice ear training it will pay off.

I’ll admit that ear training is difficult for me. As a grounded bassist and otherwise instrumental player I don’t really relish the idea of singing a lot… that’s why I’m an instrumentalist, and why no videos are included with this lesson (believe me it’s for the better). Over time I’ve found that these exercises have been extremely useful in my musical development. I make a point to do singing exercises regularly (and I am NOT a trained singer by any stretch of the imagination) and it gets easier over time. Remember that these are all a process of refinement. If you can tell that a bird chirping is higher than a dog barking you can learn this, we just have to work to where our ears can distinguish finer and finer pitch differences.

Finally, why bother? In the gigging world the musician with the “biggest” ears wins. If you have developed your ability to hear quickly and accurately, you’ll never be lost in a tune and you can get through most obstacles in a gig on the spot. Good ears = lots of gigs. Also transcription will become much easier and this is one of the most important steps in developing a soloing style for jazz.

For this lesson the exercises are very sequential. Each one builds on the abilities learned in the last. These are also very plain-clothes, salt-of-the-Earth, non-flashy drills. I like to think of them as musical meditation. Without sounding too corny, seriously try to clear your mind and immerse yourself in the individual tones, there’s a lot of subtlety here. Part two will take this another step farther, so make a point to work on these exercises in preparation for more.

Exercise 1:

Sing a scale. This is the classic Do-Re-Mi drill from grade school, if you don’t remember the notes it goes like this:

Do Re Mi Fa Sol La Ti Do

This is important though, you have to be able to sing these tones in key. Play along with your instrument as you sing these scales. Just make it part of your practice routine, anytime you play a scale you sing it as well.

Exercise 2:

Once you feel comfortable that you can sing a scale in tune, focus on each interval. For example sing and play the following at 40 bpm, changing notes every 2 clicks:

Do Re Do Re Do Re Do Re Do Re

Doing it over such a long interval is important, you need to really let your ears soak in each tone. Now once you have that down, repeat it but only play “Do” on your bass. You’ll be singing Do Re Do Re Do Re while your bass is sounding a consistent Do Do Do Do Do – creating a drone. I cannot stress enough how important this boring simple exercise is to your ear development. You really need to meditate on each note, we have some serious bass zen going on but this is what it takes.

Exercise 3:

Remember this is all about development, which happens slowly. Repeat exercise 2, but do it with each interval in the diatonic scale. That means you do Do Re, then do Do Mi, then Do Fa etc, each to completion. Start small, pick one interval a day to start and dedicate yourself to spending 10 minutes on it. So Sunday would be Do/Re, Monday Do/Mi, Tuesday Do/Fa and so on. Set a timer.

Again this is all to get your ear used to distinguishing the subtleties between the pitches. Try to pick out one thing that differentiates the tones from each other. For example when I compare an F# and and Eb the F# has a more twangy sound to it. My best typed rendition would be “rrrwaanng rrrwaanng rwaaang” underneath the actual pitch. With an Eb I hear a more “woooooaaaa wooooaaaa woooooaaa” – it’s a very delicate difference but it’s there, and that’s what you have to hear and take notice of in this exercise. If you don’t hear anything that stands out, don’t try to force it. Continue with the exercise and come back to it another day, you want the subtlety to be something that is noticeable to you without intense effort.

Write down your “identifying subtlety” for each note. Some people find it useful to associate the tones with colors, others don’t. The important thing is that you identify something about each tone that sets it apart. This is the first step to developing perfect pitch.

Exercise 4:

Exercise 3 is great for really getting inside the tones, after you do it for a week or two you can start to streamline the procedure just to keep your ears “refreshed.” Now keep the metronome at 40bpm, but count in 4/4 meter (one beat per click). Now sing exercise 3 with each diatonic interval getting one measure. This means you’ll have:

Do Re Do Re | Do Mi Do Mi | Do Fa Do Fa | Do Sol Do Sol | ….

When you hit the octave, sing coming back down referencing the higher Do (the octave tone). Ascending you have Low-High (in terms of the pitch relationships), descending you’ll have High-Low (since the octave is the highest).

Exercise 5:

Repeat Exercises 1-4 in the different keys. In exercise three you should notice a lot of overlap in your “identifying subtleties” – once you’ve identified a tone as having a particular characteristic try to focus on hearing it when that tone comes up in other keys. For example, an F# should have the “rrrwaanng” sound whether it’s in the key of D, G, E, A or B even though its intervallic relationship is different in each one.

If you have a recording device you can make yourself different practice tracks for different keys to do at different times. For example, make a practice tape for the keys C, G, D and A to work on during your commute to work. Another for E, B, Gb and Db to do during your lunch break and finally one for Ab, Eb, Bb and F to do on your commute back home. You’d have all twelve keys covered without losing any of your normal practice time (assuming you don’t shed and drive…).

There’s a lot going on here, and it’s worth taking the time to do these exercises properly. As musicians how often do we really take the time to immerse ourselves in a single tone’s quality? This is a process of musical discovery! A final note would be don’t try too hard and don’t force it. Eventually your ear will open up, it will be different for everyone and will take time. There’s a reason why lots of musicians don’t have good ears, developing them takes a lot of patience and a lot of practice. Keep at it and in the next lesson we’ll step it up a notch.

Article courtesy of our friends at notreble.com, the site for bass players.

Read more: The Zen of Ear Training – Part 1 – Disc Makers Echoes http://blog.discmakers.com/2009/11/the-zen-of-ear-training-part-1/#ixzz2Yfp1Eayx

Using a MIDI Controller In Your Home Studio | DiscMakers

Practical advice and gear tips for integrating a MIDI controller into your studio set up

The technical nuts and bolts that go into making a modern recording have changed dramatically over the last two decades. Customizable, affordable studio gear allows musicians to make records in their home studios that can often rival the quality of the professional recordings made in the past, and using a MIDI (Musical Instrument Digital Interface) controller has become increasingly more commonplace for home recording enthusiast.

A MIDI controller can come in many forms, and can serve a wide range of purposes – for live performances and for recording applications. It’s worth mentioning that a MIDI controller doesn’t actually produce any musical sound on its own, but rather triggers bits of MIDI data from its output to either a computer using a DAW (digital audio workstation), soft synth (software based synthesizer), or analog synthesizer module.

MIDI data protocol was invented by synthesizer manufactures in the early 80’s to create an industry standard that would allow multiple brands to be used in the same musicians’ setup, since the keyboard portion of a synthesizer could communicate with another brand’s sound module.

A more recent rack of sound modules controlled by a MIDI keyboard controller. (Photo courtesy of Blurred Ren.)

Yes keyboardist Rick Wakeman with various analog keyboards and synths in the pre-MIDI era

As the home studio has evolved, so too has the MIDI controller to fit the needs of the musician and the software that has become a part of the studio arsenal. Controllers now have moved well beyond acting as a keyboard for module synths and enhance any musician’s DAW and SoftSynth, enabling one to retain a tactile experience in an environment that seems to require more and longer use of the computer keyboard and mouse.

Bringing your DAW mixer to life with MIDI

One of the components that will expand your home studio’s functionality and flexibility is a controller to handle the mixing functions of your DAW. For the beginner or occasional home studio user, this may not seem like an essential purchase, but there are definite benefits to doing so, especially when you start doing a lot of tracking and mixing.

Mix board controllers can range widely in price and design with some looking more like a traditional analog mixer that you may find in a professional studio and others looking and functioning more like a hybrid DJ/studio mixer. Each knob and slider on this type of controller is assignable and can be programmed to control one or more parameters on the screen within a DAW. (We’ve opted to describe linear controls as “sliders” rather than the analog term “faders” for this article.) Even though some of the more high-end controllers look much like the analog desks mentioned above, they actually replicate a great many of a DAW’s most used functions without the need to be a slave to your mouse and keyboard.

The Behringer BCF 2000 is a good choice for an entry level MIDI controller.

The Novation ZeRO SL MkII provides more control options but a steeper learning curve than some basic models.

In the $200 – $350 range there are several cost-effective options that provide a lot of control for the dollar. The Behringer BCF 2000 is a very sturdy controller that offers the basics for a simple home studio setup. A very intuitive layout and motorized controllers make this product a good choice for someone who is looking to just plug and play. There are eight 100mm sliders in the controllers that give the user a great range of motion. With the “bank” feature, you can control as many tracks as you want, and assignable knobs up top give another level of control of the board to the user.

The Novation ZeRO SL MkII will give you a little more control of you DAW’s mixing functions than the BCF 2000, but may take longer to get used to as it has a slightly steeper learning curve. The design of this controller departs from traditional layout of a studio mixer somewhat, and its innovative design allows for Novation to pack more control into less space on its surface. In addition to the eight faders, the Novation has 32 buttons, eight encoders, eight knobs, and eight drum pads. This controller offers a tremendous amount of control in the $300 price range.

A close-up of the APC 40’s smart knobs. The LED rings make adjustments a snap on a darkened stage or in the studio.

The AKAI APC 40 is a perfect complement to the Ableton Live DAW program.

The BCF 2000 and ZeRO SL MkII are geared more towards tracking-oriented DAWs such as Pro Tools or Logic, but if you’re an Ableton Live user, the Akai APC 40 is the must-have controller. Built specifically for Ableton Live, the APC 40 takes everything on the screen and gives you eight sliders, a dedicated bank of eight “smart” knobs for sends and pans, and another set of eight more “smart” knobs surrounded by LED rings, that adjust parameters to whatever Ableton effect is selected. These “smart” knobs auto update in real time as you select and adjust different features while you see it on your computer screen and hear the difference. All of this is pre-mapped and will work immediately out of the box, so all one has to do is literally plug-and-play. In addition to the mixer/effect controls there is a grid of buttons that control Ableton’s loop clips and give it the ability to be a solid live performance controller as well. It’s a great value and available for $300.

For the musician with a bigger budget there are more elaborate MIDI controllers that more accurately duplicate the functions of an analog desk. Why is that helpful? Because it allows you to spend less time manipulating your DAW with the keyboard and mouse, and achieve a real studio feel by doing everything directly on the board. Controllers at this mid-level will usually range between $900-$1,300, but the added investment will significantly improve your mixing workflow. Being able to mix on a physical layout frees you to use your ear more, and to rely less on pointing and clicking on everything that is laid out on the DAW screen.

Mackie’s MCU Universal Control allows you to abandon the mouse and keyboard to take control of your session needs from the console.

The Mackie MCU Pro Control, which retails for $1,100, is among this class of desktop MIDI consoles, and is a very versatile controller. The system works with all of the major DAWs, which is not always the case with these types of controllers; other controllers may be built exclusively for Pro-Tools or Logic, so be sure any product you are shopping will be compatible with your programs. These controllers have dynamic encoders (meaning they are infinitely variable) on each channel strip that can easily be switched between several control features, allowing you to tweak pan, plug-in parameters, effects sends and returns, and EQ points, without having to be preprogrammed to do so. They typically will include other features such as jog wheels, sturdier construction, weighted/motorized sliders, zoom keys, and all of the function keys from a traditional computer keyboard, all of which keep your workflow concise and eliminate the need for the mouse and keyboard while tracking and mixing (other than to type track and song names).

While it’s beyond the scope of this article to look at even higher end MIDI controllers, Avid and Solid State Logic are just two of the designers that make more elaborate control systems costing tens of thousands of dollars should you happen to win the lottery.

MIDI for guitarists/bassists

Digital audio tools continue to impact the recording world, and evolving from that technology came VST (Virtual Studio Technology) plug-ins that are now integrated into all DAWs. Such programs allow for audio manipulation of thousands of virtual instruments and effects from hundreds of companies, all controllable by MIDI. For any guitarist or bassist recording at home, they’re a great alternative to collecting several head and cab combos, along with stomp boxes, in the quest to get the ultimate tone.

Guitar Rig 5 is the latest edition of the virtual collection of guitar and bass amps, cabinets, and mic set ups that cover nearly every type of gear.

Some of the major players in the amp-modeling world are Waves GTR3, IK Multimedia’s Amplitube and Line 6’s Gear Box, each of which offers an ever-increasing range of sound options as they have evolved. If you want the Mercedes-Benz of this product category, jump right to the Native Instruments Guitar Rig 5, which for $199, models 17 amps, 27 cabinets, 16 mics and 54 effects. All of these modeling software applications can also be manipulated with MIDI controllers (more on that below), while producing sounds so realistic that they are often indistinguishable from the actual amplifier recordings, not to mention they will set you back a tiny fraction of the price of collecting and maintaining the various vintage amps, heads and stomp boxes they emulate.

Guitarists, being the finicky bunch that we are, may complain about playing squeaky clean notes and chords straight into an audio interface and then adding all the tone and color by clicking away on a computer; and really who could blame anyone for that? If you’ve ever stood in front of a half stack and held out a long note with some sustain and feedback, it’s a lot of fun! But if you live in an apartment or your kids are sleeping on a week night, you may have to rethink that option. Thankfully, utilizing a combination of amp-modeling software and MIDI controllers give guitarists, bassists, keyboard players, and even vocalists a range of possibilities from traditional stomp box type setups to out of this world effect manipulation and flexibility that is unheard of for analog setups. Just add a modeled Big Muff-type distortion effect plus ultimate phase shifter with a dash of ring modulation for a weird and wild touch of modeled sonic spice!

The Behringer FCB 1010 is built for the studio.

The Roland FC-300 is sturdy enough for the stage.

In order to get the most out of these VST amp-modelers, one should consider adding a MIDI foot controller, so that just like with analog pedals, a guitarist or bassist can have all of their effects at the tip of their toe. Some foot controllers to consider incorporating into your studio or live performance set up that could replace traditional pedal boards are the Behringer FCB 1010, which retails in the $150 range and the Roland FC-300, in the $450 range. Both of these offer strikingly similar features when it comes to functionality; the major difference is that the Roland is made with metal pedals and built to take a beating if you take it on the road or have a heavy gigging schedule.

Both pedal boards contain MIDI in/out ports in the back, amp channel controls jack, and power supply sources. To incorporate the pedal board into your setup you’re going to need an audio interface that has a MIDI-in port to connect from the back of the pedal board. In your DAW or VST plug-in program, there will be a place to configure the MIDI routing to make sure that your computer is getting the signal. If you’re having difficulty configuring your MIDI pedal board, don’t stress, it’s likely that someone on YouTube already has done it and will gladly show you how. Once you have a connection going you should be able to assign each pedal to a different parameter within your DAW or VST modeler and use it to turn effects on and off just like an analog setup. An advantage to using a MIDI pedal board is the ability to use banks on the board, which could allow you to have more freedom – instantaneously changing tones, amps and cabinets for different songs and styles (especially handy in a cover band that may have a lot of styles and eras in a particular set.)

Keith McMillen Instruments has a reputation for thinking outside the box with their innovative products.

While the Roland and Behringer offer great alternatives to the traditional analog stomp boxes and accompanying pedal boards that most guitarists are used to, Keith McMillen Instruments have created a pedal board MIDI controller, called the SoftStep, that embraces the fact it’s a MIDI device, and isn’t trying to virtually recreate analog setups. The SoftStep controller does not require being routed through an audio interface like the other controllers; it can be plugged directly into your computer using a USB cable. This controller can be used similarly to the Behringer or Roland pedal boards since it can trigger virtual pedals and effects on your computer, but it does much more. The SoftStep does not have pedals on its board, they feel more like drum pads and have a flexible and rubbery feeling to them. These pads not only detect on and off, but also are sensitive to where your foot is putting pressure on the pad in relation to an imaginary X/Y axis, similar to the way a laptop track pad works. Pressure along either the X- or Y-axis of the controller sends different MIDI data out into whatever is receiving your MIDI information, such as your DAW program, so you can use each pad as an expression pedal if you wish and map it to multiple parameters.

This can be used in a wide variety of ways including controlling LFO rates, chorus intensity, distortion amount, DJ filter sweep type effects, and nearly anything else you can imagine. A controller with as many options as the SoftStep would require a bit more practice for someone who is new to it since there is no analog equivalent, but once it has been incorporated into your set, it allows you to “play” the MIDI controller more like an instrument, as opposed to being a row of on/off switches.

Read more: Using a MIDI Controller in Your Home Studio -Disc Makers http://blog.discmakers.com/2013/05/midi-controller-in-your-home-studio/#ixzz2Th2KdcRK

Touring Tips For International Music Gigs | DiscMakers

 

Playing international music gigs can be a blast, but be prepared for everything

Thanks in no small part to the global reach of digital distribution, more and more independent musicians are finding themselves with opportunities to gig well beyond the borders of their home countries. Whether you’re driving north from the east coast of the United States to play a coffee shop in Montreal, bringing your electro-pop act to a string of clubs in Tokyo and Thailand, or presenting a midnight set at a jazz festival in Germany, performing music gigs abroad can be an incredibly rewarding and cool experience — but one that brings its own set of challenges.

Here are tips from seasoned musical world travelers to help you make your international music gigs run as smooth as possible.

Cover the basics
Many of the steps you’d take to have a good international vacation or business trip are the same steps that will help you have a smooth multi-country gigging experience. In other words, preparation is key.

Common-sense basics include checking with your doctor to make sure that you have proper immunizations and medications for the region(s) you’ll be visiting; printing and copying all vital documents like passports and travel reservations; researching your destinations so you’re aware of any political or public safety issues; checking with your banks and credit card companies about currency exchanges and overseas transaction fees; finding out what (if any) local food or water you should avoid; and so on.

While there are many resources out there for advice on international travel, Lonely Planet is a personal favorite and a great place to start.

Keep the current and connectivity in mind
When it comes to packing, the first thing that Dream Theater keyboardist Jordan Rudess recommends is bringing versatile power adapters. “Maybe even have duplicates,” he says. “You don’t want to be in a hotel room and not be able to plug anything in. Having the right cables and adapters is a big concern when traveling in Europe, or anywhere.”

The same advice applies for instruments and amps. “My pedal board is custom made and my power supply works with 110 and 220 volts,” says guitarist Alex Prol. “Make sure you know what type of current runs in the countries you’re visiting, and what plugs you need, and make sure that your gear is going to work.” Your local music retailer should be able to help you find the right sort of power convertor, though custom power supplies or modifications can be helpful as well. “They’re more expensive, but you get exactly what you want,” he says.

Internet connections are also important when gigging internationally, especially if you want to stay connected to loved ones across an ocean, or keep your social media presence up to date. “Make sure your Skype account, or other video chatting capabilities, are up to snuff, and that your video camera is working,” says Rudess. “If you get back to your hotel room after a gig and try to connect to your family but they can’t see you, they won’t be happy. It’s best to trouble-shoot video connections before going out the door.”

If possible, check in with the places you’ll be staying ahead of time to find out what sorts of Internet options, if any, are available. Similarly, if you plan to upload any content from a mobile device using international cellular networks, make sure to check with your local carrier about roaming costs. Using data services abroad can be ridiculously expensive, so know what you’re getting yourself into before you Tweet.

Pack practically
If you’re performing music gigs in major cities around the world, chances are you’ll be able to find a replacement high-hat clutch or a new patch cable relatively easily — but if your tour takes you even slightly off the beaten path, having replacement gear in hand has the potential to save you lots of headaches.

For guitarists, Prol recommends bringing extra cables and string sets and a small tool kit, so you can fix your own axe on the fly if something goes amiss. “If you’re bringing your own amp, always bring an extra set of valves,” he adds. “They break easily, especially if you take them out of an amp before you pack it up for travel, so have at least one extra kit ready.”

For keyboardists, composers, or producers, Rudess recommends bringing a portable rig so you can keep your chops up on long journeys. “You can always throw a Korg Nano keyboard into your suitcase,” he says. “It plugs easily into your computer or iPad and you can use it in conjunction with software synthesizers. There’s no excuse for not having something to practice on!”

One final packing tip from Rudess: “Have all of the details of your travel with you in hand — where you’re staying, where your gig is, how you’re getting to the hotel, who your contact people are. If we’re playing in a country where we know the promoter and he meets us at the airport, great. But if you arrive at an airport somewhere in Asia, nobody’s there to meet you, and you have no idea where you’re staying, that’s not fun.”

Build in a buffer
When you’re traveling internationally, make sure to build in a lot of extra time to get from point A to point B, advises saxophonist Jon Irabagon. “You never know when your first train might be just a few minutes late,” he says. “If you have a rough travel day where you have to catch two or three transfers, those few minutes will make a difference.”

Showing up to a gig late — in a country where you may not speak the language — can be a stressful thing to deal with, so plan ahead to avoid the situation altogether.

Insure your gear
Anything can happen on a plane, train, or crowded club dressing room, so if you’re traveling with valuable gear, it’s best to be prepared for the worst. Should a beer end up splashed across your prize analog synth or your custom-built bass suddenly vanish into thin air, a solid insurance plan can help you recoup your losses.

Irabagon insures his horn with a musical instrument insurance company called Clarion, though he points out that there are other companies that provide coverage for comparable costs. When you’re shopping for instrument insurance, be sure to get quotes from a number of different services, check online reviews, and ask your musical friends and colleagues for recommendations; a call to your local Grammy chapter couldn’t hurt either. Regardless of which company you go with, make sure that you explicitly know what your fees are and what level of coverage is offered for international travel.

“Insurance can be kind of tricky, but if you’re traveling with an artist who has tour support, sometimes they take care of your insurance,” says Prol. “Some of them don’t, though, so you need to ask.” The guitarist recalls one instance when he was touring with a major artist and one of his instruments was stolen after a show. “It was only then that I found out that they weren’t taking care of insurance for musicians,” he says. “Now I make sure to ask about everything up front.”

Approach illicit substances with caution
We’ll keep this one short: Even if you only have a tiny amount of marijuana and like to light up and wind down after a show, best practice is to leave it at home — or face the risk of potentially intense consequences. Many countries do not look kindly on foreigners with narcotics, drug-sniffing airport dogs are skilled at what they do, and punishments can be harsh — here’s a story about one touring musician who ended up in Japanese prison for precisely this reason — so if you do choose to engage, proceed at your own risk.

Stay comfortable
Keeping yourself relaxed and rested while traveling internationally can go a long way towards ensuring that you’ll put on a strong show. To that end, make sure to eat as well as you can, sleep as much as you can, get some exercise, and pack things that will keep you comfortable.

“I never know what the neighborhood around a hotel is going to be like, and if it will be safe to go out and get exercise, so I always pack stretchy exercise bands, just in case,” says Rudess. “You can also bring air freshener for hotel rooms that may not smell so nice, and even your own pillows, if you’re sensitive.” Rudess further recommends packing a good set of headphones for the hotel room; if he’s going on a long tour, he’ll also bring a small, portable audio system to put on hotel room desks and chill pre- or post-gig.

Make friends
“Remember to be respectful of promoters and local musicians, or volunteers and crew that you meet on your travels,” advises Irabagon. “You never know when you will run into them again and if they can help you in random ways.”

Rudess echoes the point: “If you want to have experiences in a different country during your time off, it’s best to befriend the promoter that you’re working with ahead of time and ask for advice. Often a promoter can arrange something ahead of time, or hook you up with a local guide. Don’t just Tweet out something like, ‘I’m in Jakarta! Who wants to take me around?’ That can be troublesome. In many cases, people who are inviting you to perform are happy to have you there and might really enjoy showing you around before the gig.”

Stay focused and maintain perspective
No matter how beautiful or fascinating your international musical locale may be, remember why you’re there in the first place. “You’re not on vacation,” says Prol. “People sometimes forget about that and start acting like they’re rock stars. We are rock stars through the eyes of our audiences, but you have to know that you’re working. If there are nice beaches, that can be easy to forget,” he continues, laughing, “but you can’t oversleep, you can’t be late for sound check, and you have to be on top of your game. If you’re not, you probably won’t be on the next tour.”

On the flipside, staying professional doesn’t mean you can’t dive into the local culture and enjoy every minute of your time abroad. “Have fun!” says Irabagon, who advises that touring musicians ask around to find good local spots for food and drink. “It’s an honor and privilege to get to travel and play creative music for people in different parts of the world.”

Michael Gallant is a musician, composer, and journalist living in New York City. Music from his debut trio album Completely was featured on NPR’s Weekend Edition and received a five-star review from Critical Jazz, which stated: “Fresh, invigorating, progressive – there are simply not enough positive adjectives to list here.” Learn more, download through iTunes, or purchase through CD Baby.

Read more: Touring Tips For International Music Gigs -Disc Makers http://blog.discmakers.com/2013/04/touring-tips-for-international-music-gigs/#ixzz2SdQiDd9q

Seven Strategies for Local Music Promotion | DiscMakers

Building local momentum through gigs and networking is a great music promotion strategy

You’ve spent countless hours writing, revising, and rehearsing, and now it’s time to take your material to the stage and wow some audiences. While a tour bus, road crew, and booking manager are helpful when it comes to worldwide — or at least nationwide — musical domination, gigging locally and building a live following, honing your chops, and refining your performances is the recommended first step. Here are a few music promotion strategies to help you get attention for your music on a local level.

Make your gig an event
If you’re trying to make a splash on a local level, New York recording artist Nisha Asnani recommends a focused approach to your music promotion — plan a single show and make it big.

“Early on, once I’d established some self-confidence in my work and writing and was ready to release my EP, I didn’t just want to put on a little release show,” says Asnani. “If I was going to do it, I was going to do something that people would really be interested to see, something that they’d remember.”

For her EP release party, which happened at The Bitter End in New York City in 2011, Asnani planned months in advance, refining arrangements, rehearsing, and gathering musical collaborators, who ended up including multiple string players and a horn section made up of friends and colleagues. “I wanted that awe factor, for people to be overwhelmed and enveloped,” she says.

By focusing her efforts on a single, explosive event, Asnani created an experience that continues to pay her back in dividends, even two years later. “People still remember that show and talk to me about it,” she says. “When they think about me and my music, it’s something that they can reference, and those memories have helped open doors for me. Most of my shows are pretty intimate,” she adds, “but this was an example of how large I can go in a performance. I’m grateful that it really seemed to stick with people.”

Take risks
If you heed the above advice, take note: The bigger the show you put on, the bigger the choices you have to make, Asnani says, and therefore, the bigger risk you run of making choices that not everybody in your audience is going to like. But that can be a good thing.

“When you make a big statement, you can alienate people, and that’s important to do,” she describes. “Don’t be afraid to be very specific in what you do. Even if you fail, you have a better chance of learning more and being more powerful and effective the next time. If you just go middle of the road and wishy-washy, and try to make everyone happy, you’re going to end up with more questions than answers.”

Making strong choices about your music and performance can also help you find your local audience more quickly; if it’s readily apparent who loves your music and who is angling for the door, you can use that knowledge to better focus your next gig towards members of your community who will truly dig what you’re presenting.

Establish a residency
The Bravery is just one example of a band that effectively grew its career by playing a residency, a.k.a. a series of regular shows at the same venue.

“One good thing about a residency is that, even though people might have busy schedules, it gives everyone who wants to see you multiple opportunities to do so,” says Asnani.

Playing a residency can also give local friends and fans a chance to see you grow and change show to show. “I have a friend who came to a few of my shows and she told me how interesting and exciting it was,” says Asnani. “She felt like she was on the journey with me, getting a glimpse into the process.”

One key element of playing a successful residency is avoiding, as Asnani puts it, “saturating your draw” — in other words, playing too often in the same area so, eventually, nobody shows up. If the venue you’re playing at is a restaurant, bar, or other locale with a regular built-in crowd, this can be less of a concern. But if you’re the sole magnet drawing people in, consider pushing for a residency schedule that has you playing closer to monthly or bi-monthly, rather than weekly — whatever timetable will allow you to do your music promotion thoroughly and get a reasonable crowd through the door.

There’s no hard formula for setting up a residency, but building up relationships of mutual respect with local venue owners and bookers is always a good step. It’s also important to make sure that you have enough material, or can develop new material quickly enough, to keep each show fresh, as it’s a rare fan who will come back to see you play the same eight songs in the same order, show after show and week after week. If you’ve found a venue that feels like it could be a good musical home away from home for a little while, and the folks in charge seem friendly enough to be open to such a thing, bring up the subject and see where the discussion goes.

While playing a residency can help you build a reputation and solidify a following, Asnani is quick to point out that a focus on honing your craft is key to the success of any series of shows. “It’s about getting in and doing the work,” she says. “You get to try new things, see what works and what doesn’t, and come back and do it better the next time.”

Host something
Whether it’s a jam session or open mic night, late-night community radio show or music appreciation meet up, hosting something musical on a local level can help you build relationships within your community, hone your chops as a performer, and serve as great music promotion by getting the word out about you and your music.

“I created an open mic to serve the artistic community that I was connected to and to give everyone an opportunity to network,” says Asnani. “It works great, because I get to help other people like me and see what they’re doing artistically. It’s also great that I often get to perform myself and show my work to a new crop of people each week.”

Asnani emphasizes that the community aspect of serving as a host is key, especially for musical artists with big ambitions. “The label structure isn’t what it used to be, and I believe that artists who band together, come up together, and share resources are all stronger for it,” she says. “If you share ideas and do your best to provide both feedback and connections to people in your community, it can make a big difference when it comes to getting known and getting seen.”

Diversify
Even if your true musical passion is your own personal blend of trip-hop and bluegrass, don’t hesitate to get your feet wet with other local artists, bands, and projects. Playing, writing, producing, or recording with other like-minded folks can help your name get out within your area ’ and next time you have a local show of your own to publicize, you have that many more people in the music world to share the news with.

Furthermore, don’t forget that more hours logged making music with different collaborators means more unexpected eyes and ears reached. You never know who’s watching or listening, and that killer guitar line you’re laying down to back up your friend’s singer/songwriter set may just be the key to opening up your own next exciting opportunity.

Reach out to local media
Just last month, I wrote about if or when to start working with a music publicist — but when you’re trying to get noticed on a local level, there’s quite bit of effective media outreach that you can do on your own.

Small newspapers, college radio stations, community blogs, and area-based tourism magazines can be good media outlets to target. If you happen to be a member of an ethnic or religious group that has community-specific publications in your area, check out those as well.

Generally speaking, the smaller the media outlet, the easier it will be to get access to an editor, writer, or producer in order to introduce yourself and make your pitch. As with any such interaction, keep your story short, focused, confident, and respectful. If you’re doing something that’s interesting and different, any such publication could well be interested in sharing the latest about your new show or album release with your neighbors.

Keep pushing
There’s no guaranteed timeline when it comes to building a name for yourself and your music on a local level, so persistence and patience are key. “I always think it’s bullshit to wait around for other people to give you opportunities,” says Asnani with a laugh. “If you want opportunities that you’re not getting, it’s your responsibility to create them for yourself.”

Asnani points out that locations like New York City and Los Angeles, by their nature, can offer more opportunities than others. But she also notes that, regardless of whether you’re in a small town or urban metropolis, the same principles apply.

“I always produced my own shows, sought out my own venues, found my own musicians, and so on,” she says. “It’s important to create your own events and opportunities and cultivate contacts wherever you are, to be as present and positive as possible as part of the musical community in which you want to live and work.”

Read more: Seven Strategies for Local Music Promotion | Disc Makers’ Echoes http://blog.discmakers.com/2013/04/seven-strategies-for-local-music-promotion/#ixzz2RzDpObLk

Offline Social Networking Tips for Musicians | DiscMakers

[In this post, guest contributor and full-time DIY musician Ari Herstand talks about social networking (“social” and “networking”) away from your computer. Throughout the article, he’s sprinkled links to other good information to help you along.]

I love Twitter. I have fun on it. I get into extended emoji battles and riff with Minnesotans and Chicagoans about Aaron Rogers superiority. I Favorite, RT and Follow and understand all the rules and etiquette. (For everything that is holy: if you start a tweet with @somonesname ONLY your followers who ALSO follow @someonesname will see it. If you want all your followers to see that tweet and you can’t think of a more creative way to start your tweet, put a period at the start like: . @someonesname).
+It Doesn’t Take a Web Genius

I Like Facebook (see what I did there… never mind). I Like, comment, share, post photo albums, and rant about politics. I also understand the separation etiquette between my personal profile and my Musician Page. I keep up with the changes in real time and change my tactics to accommodate.
+F**k Facebook…In The Face

The best way to social network: remember the REAL world

I do the same for Instagram, YouTube, Tumblr, Soundcloud, Google+ (eh), Pinterest (not really) and now Vine. Yeah, everyone will tell you how important it is to social network and I’m sure – if you’ve made it this far in this post – one of your favorite past times is reading these “how to” articles on becoming a better tweeter and whatnot.

However, the most effective way to social network is not sitting behind your computer or on your iPhone. Whaaaaa?! I’ll let you catch your breath.

Bands wonder why 874 people clicked Attending (or now Join) to their Facebook Event for their show but only 42 people actually showed. You got 53 hearts to your show poster on Instagram and 7 Retweets on Twitter. You may have even gotten a few Repins. But come show day, you are constantly underwhelmed by the turnout. What’s going wrong?

The best way to social network is to network socially IN REAL LIFE. I’m no grandpa. I had my coming of age in the Facebook era and I consider myself fully integrated with the above mentioned sites. The more incredible apps and social sites that pop up the more I realize the effectiveness of real life, in person interactions.

As I wrote in my last DIY Musician post: No social network or YouTube video can change the electrifying energy of a physical experience. This is why the live show will never die (sorry StageIt – love you!).

Whenever I have a big show coming up I make sure to go out much more than I normally do. I go to more local shows and inevitably run into people I know. They inevitably ask me when my next show is. I mention it and then text them the week of the show and remind them and it doesn’t seem out of the blue or like a random mass text.
+How I Got 250 To My Debut CD Release
+Don’t Be A Dick

When you meet people at other musicians’ shows, pull out your smart phone and ask for their email. Send them an email right there about how great it was to meet them. In your signature there should be some links to your stuff so they can check you out if they want. Don’t just send them a “Sent from my iPhone” message. There are ways to change this and add a more attractive/informative signature – do it (I use the Gmail app on the iPhone). You’ll then have their contact info and can start up an adult conversation (we have passed the “find me on Facebook” phase – welcome).
+Don’t Be Afraid of the Phone

If your upcoming show is in a month and you go out 4 nights a week (you don’t need to buy drinks every time – save that dough!) for the next 4 weeks and meet/run into 5 people each time, that’s 80 people (I’ll wait while you figure out the math) who now have had an immediate personal connection to you who will much more likely come to your show over just getting an invite on Facebook from the dude they met that one time at that one party with that girl. Like!
+Booking Your Own Tour: A How-To Guide
+50 Is The Magic Number (Book a Headlining tour)

Creating Magical Moments In Your Live Music Performance | DiscMakers

To kick off a live music performance, many bands simply string together three or four songs, back to back, and don’t stop to listen to the audience. According to veteran live music performance producer Tom Jackson, “That’s the equivalent of meeting someone for the first time and talking non-stop for 15 minutes without listening. No one likes that.”

Here are three of the common on stage mistakes that musicians should avoid if they want to really build a rapport with their audience during a live music performance.

1) Talking too much. some artists are blessed with the gift of gab, but simply talk way too much. It’s more effective to pick a few spots in advance during your set where you can open up and create a moment by sharing a personal connection to a song.

2) “I Let My Music Speak for Itself.” This artist thinks he doesn’t have to speak with the audience other than mention a song’s name and say “thank you” afterwards. That’s a mistake and a lost opportunity to let the audience get to know you as you build your set. Remember, converting an audience member into a fan can only occur when they feel they have gotten to know who you are as a person.

3) Resorting to clichés. “Is everyone having a good time tonight?” isn’t the best line. Unless you happen to be Bruce Springsteen, the answer for most of your audience is probably, “I have no idea!” So try to avoid clichés that don’t really help you connect in some way with the members of your audience during a live music performance. Instead, if you actually take the time to learn how to engage and read an audience, you will make much more money out of your performances and at the merch table.

You use the concept of pouring your personality into your show to engage the audience. What are some ways the artist can do this besides the obvious intro such as “I wrote this song after a romance went on the rocks…”
Back to the comparison between Eddie Van Halen and Vince Gill. They each use tone, phrasing and song selection as a few ways to put their unique personality into their show. That’s what defines their voice musically. First, though, they got to the point where they never have to think about what they’re going to play and how to do it effortlessly. They put in the 10,000 hours to develop their own style. Some people may display their personality on stage through clothing or staging, but that’s not enough.

One of the best ways to put yourself into the show is through tweaking the arrangement for a song, so that you can pour yourself into it. For most artists, the song is in control, not the artist; especially if it’s arranged for radio, with a tight predictable song structure. When I’m working with an artist, what I do to help them create moments is to identify themes and characters. First, we’ll look for the themes inside a song for the best spot to modify. This is often an extended intro, a solo or even the bridge, that can be developed into something really cool. Once we’ve identified the theme, we’ll next decide which character or member of the band will pour their personality into that moment. A good example would be a song that has a short 8- or 12-bar guitar solo on the record. For the live show, that solo can be extended as long as it is effective and the guitarist is the character who can really be featured musically and visually on stage.

Another example might be a tune that has a vocal bridge that’s passionate, but short and sweet to be radio friendly. If that bridge can be developed into an emotional moment, then it doesn’t matter if your vocalist repeats it two, three, or five times to let the maximum emotion pour out. Just watch a video of Bono or Springsteen take a bridge or chorus and work it that way. By the end of that moment, every single person is up on his or her feet screaming.

I have a simple rule: Sing fewer songs, create more moments. When asked to play a half hour set, most bands immediately think, “How many songs can we fit in?” Instead, if they thought “How many moments can we develop?” they’d be much further along. Not understanding how to create a moment and constantly seeing where they best fit into your set is going to limit your success.

Some of our readers are in bands, but quite a few are solo performers. What are some suggestions to help them use your methods?
Number one, you have to tell yourself, “I am the band!” There is a lot one musician can do right away to expand his or her sound, such as using a guitar for percussion, getting a loop device to set up some patterns to play or sing against, or switching instruments for a few tunes. We think it’s all about the song and the lyrics — and there’s no question, songs and lyrics are huge while performing. But they are not enough by themselves, you have to ask “How can we engage an audience using our songs?” We’ve got to tear a song apart, get to the sections that can be developed, and turn them into a moment that will get the audience to respond. Get them to laugh, dance, sing along, clap or cry, some moment that will connect with the audience emotionally is how you will make them fans.

A singer/songwriter doesn’t have the drums and screaming guitars, so there is a subtler spectrum that you work from. Something as simple as taking one step to the left to play a rhythm guitar part, or moving from standing at the mic, to getting on a stool and doing a more intimate mini-set can make a big difference. Doing a song a capella, changing the tones on your guitar, scratching the strings, whatever you can develop to stand out. You need to vary the ways you connect with your audience visually, musically and emotionally over the course of your set.

I’ve recently been working with an artist who performs with a band and who also built a strong solo set. That way, she can go into a label or manager’s office and have the same kind of impact. She is now able to perform so well and spontaneously in any situation that she can win every time she picks up her guitar. Of course, a singer/songwriter has to lean more heavily on their verbal skills and their songs than a band. But even a solo artist has to change visually, because if your songs all look the same, they will start to sound the same. Every audience hears with their eyes, 55% of their impression is formed by the visual image you put on stage.

What are some of the elements that make for a good set-ending song? Is it energy, message or just your best song? How much does the venue affect what song to use? 
I always like to close a concert leaving the audience wanting more. Ideally, the closer can be an original, but I like a song that starts kind of low and then builds, builds, builds and pushes the audience along with it to its peak. That way it will demand an encore. How you do that will be different in a club than in an arena but in both situations, the audience has got to understand where you will be taking them. And then when they get there, everyone will feel satisfied.

Ultimately, though, a good show has plenty of energy, it’s not only about jumping around. And it’s not just about performing the best songs, having the best voice, or the tightest band. Those are all important elements, by you have to look at yourself through the eyes of an audience member. The audience is largely ignorant of the gear you use and what notes you are playing. To a musician, all that stuff matters, but it is useless information to a general audience member.

If you are serious about having a career performing your music, you have to learn to answer the questions, “Why does the audience go to a show?” and “Why do they pay attention?” If you do that and learn to engage the audience, and to bring them on a journey through your set, which is filled with moments that they can follow, you will have a viable career. You just have to learn to exceed audience expectations every night while you build a following. It really is that direct.

Read more: Creating Magical Moments In Your Live Music Performance – Disc Makers http://blog.discmakers.com/2013/03/creating-magical-moments-in-your-live-music-performance/#ixzz2Oh9TVYVa

A Great Live Music Performance Requires More Than Being Rehearsed | DiskMakers

What do Taylor Swift, Jars of Clay, Gloriana, and The Band Perry all have in common? They’ve relied on the expertise of veteran live music performance producer Tom Jackson to help them develop and refine their concert performances. As veteran producer Matt Serletic (Celine Dion, Matchbox 20, Santana, Aerosmith) stated, “Tom makes a major impact… he’s a true creative partner who helps realize the artist’s full performance potential.” And while Tom does work regularly with top acts, he spends much of his time working with up-and-coming bands and solo performers at the early stage of their development.

I’ve had the pleasure of watching Tom teach two on stage workshops with bands he had never met before, and both times I was amazed at what just an hour in his hands allowed those bands to do with their live music performance for an audience of musicians and friends. Most musicians never think about the essential live music performance skills that Tom teaches – his methods can be transformational if an artist is willing to open up, listen, and learn.

Many musicians focus on perfecting their music, getting a gig, and then playing a pre-determined set, hoping to get a good response. I don’t think many musicians think about how to engage the audience as performance partners. Why do you think that is the case? 
That’s a pretty good question. I think there are multiple reasons why that is the case and they are interrelated. The first is that business people formed the music industry. They focused on selling records and publishing, this is where the money was for them, so they made those activities a priority. As artists earned money from record sales and songwriting, they bought into this model. It’s interesting that an artist may spend six months or more in the studio making a record, but to prepare for a tour that may last much longer, they spend three days in rehearsal. So the product drove the thinking. And if a band wasn’t that good live, so long as the record was selling, things were OK.

The second factor is ignorance. By that I mean that some of the people in charge of the music industry believe that they know what’s good musically. They often do not. For instance, I recently got a call from a senior A&R exec at a label that had just had an artist perform on Saturday Night Live and they bombed. The social networks had blown up, something like 20:1 going on about just how bad the artist performed. They asked me to get on a plane that day to come to LA to work with the artist. Since I was already in Florida working with another artist, I said I could be out there in 3-4 days. The next day I received a call from the artist’s manager and the label president who told me that they were going to help put the live show together. Not too long after that, they posted the artist’s live music performance online, and to put it bluntly, they hadn’t fixed what was wrong in that artist’s live set.

Just because what an artist plays on stage is musically good, it doesn’t necessarily mean that a live performance of that music will make a good show. Knowing what works musically – as the label president and manager did – and knowing what works on stage are two different things. So egos can get in the way of actually understanding what it really takes to do a compelling live show.

The third factor is often the artist. A lot of time, energy and effort go into making a good record. Once it’s done the focus quickly shifts to hitting the road to promote the album. Once that artist hits the stage, their adrenaline is pumping, the band sounds tight, looking around the stage, everyone is really locked in the groove, so it’s natural for the artist to think, “Everything is good.” But most artists never learn to see themselves from the audience perspective, which means it’s very easy to misread the audience response.

I call this “misreading the truth.” If 10-15% of your audience applauds, that does not mean they are fans. Take for instance a major act that has a current radio hit. When they perform it live, since the audience knows that tune, they respond strongly, and the artist thinks, “I’ve made a fan.” But you haven’t. They are responding to the song, not you, as an artist. If you think about how Prince or Springsteen establishes a rapport with the audience, you can see how they purposefully work to engage each member of the audience, and then tell stories to the audience through their songs. The goal should be to engage everyone in the audience, to turn them into fans. Unfortunately, there are a lot of “artistes” who rely on what they may term spontaneity, when in reality they are just winging it. The best live shows are a combination of form and spontaneity during which the artist is in control and always knows exactly where they are headed. They then lead the audience exactly where they want to go.

So can a set be too tight, too scripted, thereby losing a spontaneous feel?
No. Mostly what I see when I start to work with a group is that they are under-rehearsed. They have not arrived at the point where what they do on stage is muscle memory, they don’t have to think about it at all. After you reach that point, you then pour your personality into each show and read the audience to give them a great experience.

For example, say you buy a $99 guitar. And you start off learning three chords, G-C-D. You can now play any number of songs. But when you start off, you are going to be concentrating on just getting your fingers to the right spots and trying to strum in time. You never get to the place where you are thinking, “What tone should I use, what kind of picking pattern would work well on this song?” Think about Vince Gill vs. Eddie Van Halen playing those same three chords. They are going to sound very different from the beginner and from each other. But when we are learning, we all sound the same playing G-C-D.

So no matter who you are, when you are just learning how to perform on stage and engage an audience, you need to rehearse a lot to build up your muscle memory of what works so you don’t even think about how to move, or where to set up and how to read an audience at the end of each song. It has to become second nature. Being on stage has to fit you like a suit, and that happens only by rehearsal and studying what works and why. Only after you get that muscle memory can you start to incorporate spontaneity, in fact, it will flow naturally into your set and set you apart from those that have not learned how to do this.

How important is the introduction to your first few songs in building a rapport with your audience?
It’s huge. I wrote about this recently in an Echoes blog post and said that you need to understand if the audience is “dating” or “married” to you as an artist. When people show up at a concert by U2, Adele, or Beyoncé, they’re married. 17,000 fans know every word to each song and have probably looked at the artist performing online numerous times. When you set foot on stage for the first time in front of a new audience, you are dating. Even if you have a radio hit!

So I always ask the artist, “How do you like to be introduced to someone?” It’s not too much, not too little, but enough to establish that you are inviting the audience into your performance. It’s crucial to pick a song that’s easy to play well, one that you know in your sleep. You don’t want to have to think one bit about what it takes to deliver that song perfectly, just rely on muscle memory. Why? Because the first few minutes of your set should be focused on beginning a relationship with your audience. If you’re musically preoccupied with what you’re doing on stage, you won’t be communicating with the audience. They will decide if they like you based on who you are, not how well you play a lick.

The first six to eight minutes of your show will usually set the stage for the rest of your set. I suggest you pick two strong songs and package them together so you can unwrap them for the audience in a well rehearsed way and with the right endings that let you measure the audience response. That way you can decide which way to go next.

Read more: A Great Live Music Performance Requires More Than Being Rehearsed http://blog.discmakers.com/2013/03/a-great-live-music-performance-requires-more-than-being-rehearsed/#ixzz2Oh8Hd0BK