#29

Lots of good advice in this thread.

I’ll just add: if logistics permit, BRING A TABLE. Don’t assume the venue will have (extra) appropriate surfaces for you to set up on.

(That is, unless not playing on the table is an artistic choice – I’ve definitely chosen to play on the floor…)

Good luck. HAVE FUN. Let’s play sometime. :slight_smile:

3 Likes
#30

All the lists above are great and dead on (don’t bring too much stuff it will only distract you and wear out your body loading in and loading out).

Here are some culture/protocol notes, keep in mind that every venue is different and especially in different countries. The thoughts below are for a typical New England small show, be prepared to adjust as needed:

  • there will be a load-in time set by the venue. Be there ready to load in at that time, if not you will likely not get a soundcheck. the sound person might not be there, if that’s the case just start setting up until they get there.
  • the soundperson may very well be a cranky jerk. you will know right away if this is the case. if he is then just set your stuff up and do what you can to ignore him and not let him get you down. i hate to note that there is a ton of misogyny in the sound reinforcement world, be aware of it and don’t let them get you down—you were specifically invited to provide your set and you belong.
  • technology: by bringing the minimum of stuff you can set up quickly, this will give you more time to do a soundcheck or increase your chances of doing a soundcheck.
  • technology: the house sound person, even if not a jerk, won’t know what to do with modular. Your best chance of success is being able to give them “Stereo XLR pair to the front of house.” You can do this with a line out module or by plugging your modular into a small mixer and letting the sound person take the stereo out from there (bonus in this is that your mixer might have headphones). Be sure to set volumes really low at the mixer so you don’t blow stuff up (including your ears). Practice this set up and teardown until you are confident with it. Everyone has their favorite mixers and DI. I love the Mackie 802 for the routing flexibility. I also love the Vermona tai-4 for in and out (I often do electro-acoustic stuff and need to get sound in from violas etc).
  • The musicians are usually paid at the end of the night. Prepare to stay for the whole set.
  • Catch a ride to the venue if you can, this will make the parking situation easier and everyone can help load in and out.
  • Bring snacks, you might get hungry. Bring extra because no one else will remember to do that and you can make friends that way.
  • Bring merch and/or business cards (moo.com is nice—disclaimer you’ll get 25% off with that link and I’ll get some kind of referral bonus). This will let you connect with others at the show and they will think your cards are cool and classy, I promise. Everyone I’ve ever given a card to has remarked positively about it. This will increase the chances of doing more gigs.
  • I would take the time you might spend on music theory and instead spend it practicing your modular. What matters is how you enjoy your music and share it, not whether it conforms to tonal functional harmony. If you like theory by all means do it, but it isn’t too likely to be relevant to your performance. If you want to read something then I would read about sample culture (DJ Spooky has a book he edited out there) or improvisation (George Lewis’ book about the AACM). This kind of thing is likely to be more useful. Caveat: if you are playing with other musicians at the same time then they might need to know what chords/patterns/progressions you are using and then theory will help. But even then just playing with those friends will be better and they will teach you what you need to know.
  • If there is an act after you, be prepared to clear the stage quickly, 10 minutes tops.
  • Practice packing, unpacking, setting up, and tearing down your system until you can do it quickly and efficiently. This will help you know if you need to get little bags for cables etc.
  • bring a spare power extension and power strip in case that outlets are not where you want them. Mark them with tape that is not black so you don’t lose them.
  • When people tell you they loved your set listen to them and believe them, you can thank them simply and that is gracious, not bragging.
  • When the guy who is straight out of the Portlandia episode featuring St Vincent tries to talk with you about your gear disengage so you have time to talk with people who like your music.

Have fun!

13 Likes
#31

Your comments resonate with my experience too @ThurberMingus . I will say in addition to the noise/experimental, short showcase type show, the other thing that can be really fun is to play longer form-type shows for 1-2hrs…those opportunities seem to pop up here and there (background music for a market or gallery, etc.). It’s a great way to learn how to avoid awkwardness and keep things flowing and to develop improvisational skills that feel intentional and natural. In my experience, these can also lead to people coming up and ask you about the synth, and it can be fun to explain what you are doing while the sound is happening to someone who is excited about the mysteriousness (to them) of the synthesizer

1 Like
#32

Sorry for a slight derail: but I really need to get involved with the market/gallery/distinctly-background-music scene. For some reason that seems much more daunting than being a rockstar for 30 minutes!

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#33

Keep your set around 20min.

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#34

market/gallery/distinctly-background-music scene

one more thing on this (and I apologize for the derail), as I’ve really wished I would have done this in the past. Make sure there is someone there who you’ve talked and you trust will adjust your volume out of the PA (or whatever it is) if needed. There is a sweet spot for performed background music that is above the volume of ambient noise in the space, but below the volume that people can converse without raising their voice (and definitely not at need-earplugs volume) It can be very, very hard to guess what works from the playing position, as there are many variables to take into consideration (how big is the space/is it outdoors? do the PA speakers tap out at a certain lower frequency?). And again, headphones are important to have (even if you don’t leave them on constantly so as to be approachable) as you should not be relying on the PAs to discern what you are doing at the expense of the audience. Good luck finding a gig like that @ThurberMingus, they can be a lot of fun!

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#35

People sometimes tell me I could have played louder, but they don’t always realize that louder would be uncomfortable.

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#36

i’ve found that just a touch louder than i’m comfortable with is right for the room. very difficult to judge this in most venues.

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#37

yeah at a certain point it’s a bit impossible to make it perfect for everyone, especially in a “dynamic” venue that serves multiple purposes. Someone who came to see you and is actively listening is gonna want it louder so they can get into it…a vendor set up is gonna be very annoyed if there spot is near the speaker and people are avoiding it because it’s too loud. I get too stressed about being a nuisance (and then fall out of the creative mindset, so I just try to keep things reasonably balanced, and offloading the final volume decision to someone else is the best solution I’ve come up with.

#38

i like to play quiet, so people have to lean in and really pay attention.

8 Likes
#39

Lots of great stuff in here!

I’ve played several hundreds of shows in my life in places all over the world with various rock bands and improvised type things, but in the last six months I just played my first solo modular show. Even after all those shows with bands I was super nervous to play solo modular. That was probably the first time I ever played solo without a guitar at my side and it was nerv-wracking because I was 100% relying on the technology of my setup. Here’s my two cents:

-Do whatever you can to have as much of your setup pre-patched as possible. In a perfect world I would show up to the show, open up a case, plug in power & sound output, and be ready to go. That’s not usually achievable but the goal here is to leave as little as you can to the setup so you don’t have to think about what you are doing. You should be able to have a conversation with someone as you are setting up, because inevitably this will happen. Especially at modular specific events people love to nerd out about gear. If you get distracted easily, like I do, and this makes you nervous like it does with me, get this setup time down to very little, or have it practiced in your head so you don’t have to think about it. Also, label stuff too, this really helps. For me its the fear that shit isn’t gonna work that makes nervous and not the performance itself, as I’ve spent a ton of time improvising that I trust my instincts enough on that. Which leads me to the next point…

-Learn how to improvise. I can’t state this enough. I practice improvising all the time, with whatever instrument I’m playing. This way if something goes wrong with your plan during the set, which it inevitably will, you are increasing the probability that nothing catastrophic will happen, and you are decreasing the stress level. If you know you can roll with the flow you won’t be as nervous. I’ve played many shows where its just free improv, and nothing is pre-planned at all, and in some case I don’t know the people I’m going to be playing with.

-Allow yourself to go other places in the set, ie embrace the mistakes… This goes along with above, but if some things astray, sometimes its fun to take that as a cue to take a piece somewhere else. If you are so rigid that don’t allow some ‘choose your own adventure’ in your set, you will get nervous when things don’t go as planned, because envitably this will happen. For example, I usually have a loose road map of some points I may want to hit in a set, but how and if I get there is determined in the moment.

Also this prep is about allowing yourself to be totally in the moment when you are playing. In my mind that should be the ultimate goal, as its the most cathardic for you and the audience.

10 Likes
#40

1 instrument, 20 minutes

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#41

20 instruments, 1 minute?

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#42

Sheesh this is a tough one. Every show is so different. Much of the advice here is right on. @zebra’s comment sums it all up: keep it simple. One instrument: fewer things can go wrong; 20 minutes: leave them wanting more.

#43

This is gold…

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#44

I haven’t played live in a number of years, but one piece of advice that has stuck with me was this, “Don’t apologize”. As in reference to a mistake you know or believe you made in your performance, or in advance to the audience of the skill, or lack there of you think you may have. Certainly it can make sense to apologize if you show up late, or turn something on and the speakers go “POP!”, but other than that, don’t apologize!!!

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#45

If you want to bring all the things mentioned in this thread, hire a moving company! :sweat_smile:

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#46

Agree with most of what has been said… Practise as much as you can… I always base a live set on Ableton / Push and Midi keyboard… Always have lots of little bits programmed in so I can take the sound any a number of different directions. Also I like to leave little bits on my set to give myself a few secodns moment to compose myself - e.g have a sound that might have a nice tail or a loop which bubbles away in background - you can kill all sounds and leave something there to give yourself a few seconds to drink water or just compuse your self. Bringing the merch is worth it. I’ve brought all my released stuff to gigs I’ve played. After my Cambrdige gig two blokes came up and were so excited by my sounds, bought aroudn £50 of my music between them so then I went and bought them a beer each!

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#47

I’ve never heard this articulated before, and it is so true. Good advice!

#48

I perform live with only a modular synth. Rather than repeating the great advice given I offer these suggestions:

  • Get a small LED light that can help you see your equipment in the dark. I find with modular, no matter how well you know it, finding a knob or jack can sometimes be difficult in the dark.
  • have one drink, it helps mellow me out a little. If it is a few hours before I play, I might have two, but never more than two.
  • transitions on the modular are probably the most common difficulty. Invest time and maybe money in utilities that allow you to accomplish this. Switches, mixers, mutes, tools that allow you to bring in and out parts. Do not underestimate the power of mixing for performance, the absence of sound is just as powerful and the presence of it.
  • mistakes happen, often, but the audience does not usually know what happened was a mistake. If you make a mistake, repeat it, then repeat it again, then it becomes music.

break a leg.

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