I play gigs because they’re fun. It’s my poison. Nothing else gives me that kind of energy so for me, it’s absolutely worth the effort of carrying my stuff across town to a venue and the hours of practise to be ready for a show.
Dan Fretwell the adrenalin kick you get from playing in front of people is just the best feeling, also its just alot of fun playing in front of a crowd
For many of us, the really frustrating part is when we are asked when our next show is, often multiple times, from the same people who never show up. I want to shout back “why are you even asking? It’s not like you will actually *be there*!” Still, I remind myself that even if there are only twenty or thirty people there (and we have played to far fewer at times) those people paid to see us and they deserve the best show we can give them. One of our best shows we ever did (current band) was in front of twenty-five total people. In the audience, though, were some good friends that I hadn’t seen since I was in high school and they loved our set. It may be silly but that is still the most memorable set I have played with this current band. So yes, get your music out however you can, leverage everything you have access to but don’t forget the live performance aspect. To me, it’s the real proving ground :).
One of my favorite bands back in the day was a hardcore band called All Else Failed. They put on one of the most insane live shows I've ever seen, even 20 years later. When i was in a touring band, I remember once getting disillusioned by a poor turnout at a show. My friend and bandmate reminded me that All Else Failed once played a show for one person, and they played their asses off, and that show became the stuff of local legend. After that moment, I realized that if I can have an impact on just one person at a show, then it was worth it.
There is nothing like a live show. I love playing out and seeing a mosh pit going on the floor or even better... a wall of death! I don't even go to big arena shows anymore, the intimacy of a small club is so much better and so much fun. I think part of the issue, especially for new bands trying to make a splash on a local scene, is that bands aren't really branding themselves. People aren't coming to shows because they are getting bored of seeing a lineup of 5 bands where every band looks and sounds exactly the same... you know, the quasi-death metal or metalcore bands with dudes in t-shirts and camo cargo pants, harsh unintelligible vocals and shitty club sound. You have to make yourself stand out and offer something different than what other bands are playing or you're just going to end up in the "local band" slushpile. But yes, agree, play as many gigs as possible, but don't oversaturate your local scene. Playing too often in a geographic region, you are going to burn out in your scene.
Would you like to join my local metalcore band called "Slushpile"? We bring a Mackie desk and smashed SM58 clones with us to every gig to give us that much loved "shitty club sound" wherever we go.
@Mat Turner - YES, I want to join your band Slushpile! Can we do harsh screaming vocals along with a few clean vocals too? That would be killer and unheard of before!
Would anyone like to join my band Thinly Veiled Literal Murder? We literally murder people at our shows then taunt the friends and family of the victims afterwards. Although we will eventually attempt to kill the wrong person and evoke the wrath of active and retired intelligence operatives and professional soldiers so join at your own risk.
I'm probably as old as this guy. At any rate, I'm old enough to have lived through the 80s as a young adult. We did concerts for fun. All the time. We saw everyone (saw G&R in a 2,300 seat venue right after Appetite was released) partly because we could, but mostly because there is nothing like a live show. I still love live music more than anything on the planet, but the cost of seeing a known artist has gotten to the point of ridiculousness. I refuse to spend $300 to sit in the rafters. I paid $5 for high altitude seats to Rattle & Hum, but that was $5 well spent. Not many acts worth spending even that to see now.
My thoughts on playing gigs... I very rarely feel as "alive" as when I'm on stage with a band. So what if only a couple family members turn up or something? It's still a show, and I still feel greater than I feel when I'm off stage.
Like 4 months ago, with my band play on a gig outside our hometown and one of the bands put a phone in one of the tables of the bar and stream via Facebook their show. The thing is that the FOH dude doesn't know how to place a mic in front of a bass/guitar amp. a 4x10 for the bass, 1x12 combo, and 4x12 for guitars and the mic was on the center of all cabs (yes, where the wood separation of the speakers is located and we have pictures of the cabs). When we go on stage, I fixed the mix placement so we didn't sound that bad and the FOH dude got mad at us because we were too loud. Moral of the story, when you stream your gigs, be sure to check that the things are optimal for a good show or it will be a waste of time.
Will the future generations really prefer amp sims and sampled over the real thing? I think it might be so. I was talking with my music teacher and he mentioned that young singers that come to my school are trying to sing like their voices were auto tuned without even realizing it. They are so used to hearing it that they don't hear the difference.
Amp sims and guitar processors have absolutely nothing to do with your narrative about samples and auto tuning. They are not made to hide mistakes and cheat but to replace expensive, heavy and capricious gear. Digital technology has come a long way and soon the only advantage of a Peavey 5150 full stack over an amp simulator will be its good looks.
The point I was making was that people don't hear the difference between the two or start to prefer the one they've been hearing through mainstream music and trying to emulate that sound, leaving the old way behind.
@@riversplit8206 Yes, because there is nearly no audible difference between a tube amp's tone and its equivalent achieved with a modern amp simulator. So why should anyone stick to the holy old way just for the sake of it when it comes with a pile of problems that the new technology doesn't have?
To answer the title question: yes, we should. It's intrinsically different from listening to music at home, the energy levels can't compare and let's face it - anything that gets people away from their phones is a good thing.
Like people would get away from their phones at gigs. Have you been to one lately? Back when I was young (and the snow was THIS high in Summer!) people were holding up lighters. Not friggin' phones!
@@0x777 I play shows on a very regular basis and go to almost as many. There's people who use phones and people who don't. To say everyone at gigs uses them is an overstatement.
To the first question, here is my first hand experience: Glenn is absolutely right. Even a break of a few weeks of practice will make the difference between a great gig and a passable performance. PLUS: Getting a lot of promotion is expensive as fuck and can bring you nothing if your product (i. E. Ypur performance) is not top notch. The best ones have one thing and one thing only that makes them great: Experience. The good and for most the bad. Example? "Jinjer" needed almost a decade to get as successfull as today. Sometimes you are very lucky and have the right amount of hype and connections on your side (see alien weaponry) but thats really really rare.
I remember being in a band: we have spent so much time rehearsing our stuff and trying to play live, so we didn't even have an opportunity to record anything. And then, after we disbanded, I have bought a bass guitar in addition to my regular one, and just started a one-man-band. And this was the first time I felt I was actually going somewhere.
Thx Glenn! I totally concur with you! BTW: I left the band again. I was the bass player for a punk band, although I play guitar in my own band! ;) Greetings and many thx! :)
People just stay at home nowadays unless it's a famous band like Metallica - yeah, that's pretty much it. I've noticed every town has "the crowd" that goes to every local show, but beyond that, it doesn't really seem to matter how much you bump up your dates on social media, people just don't go out much anymore, especially for new live acts. Real shame
4 года назад
Especially for teens in the U.S. because parents dont want them staying out late anymore ("oh noo, little Johnny might get kidnapped!! Or someone might try and sell him drugs!"). Also, most American cities are very sprawled out, the cities plus the suburbs. And no one wants to drive 45+ minutes anymore for a gig. Of course, public transportation outside of a few cities is very bad!
I'm in the "not bother anymore" camp. Been in gigging bands for 25 years playing multiple genres chasing after the perfect formula.. I've played some great and big gigs but they have been far and few in between. Since the fans aren't going to the venues as much anymore, the bands need to go where the fans are: and that's online. Thank you RU-vid! It's a question of time and geography. A band is only able to expose themselves to people willing to travel a short distance and particular time (Thursday, Friday, Saturday night) and there's a hard limit to that exposure. Online, the people are there 24/7 and come from across the globe. The math for gigging just doesn't work in 2020. Add in douchey venue managers, crap pay, late hours, drunks, wear and tear on equipments and the math gets even worse. On the other hand, old goats like me pulling out makes space for the young bucks! Have at 'er and see you on the other side.
One has to look at the world demographics if your band wants to make a career out of it. David Hasselhoff's music career was big in Germany but was a laughing stock everywhere else.
For the person who asked to sound like Brian May, Jimi Hendrix and Joe Satriani... all of their amps and effects are modeled specifically in IK Multimedia's software called "AmpliTube". Each artist has their own iteration, meaning "AmpliTube Brian May", AmpliTube "Jimi Hendrix" and "AmpliTube Satriani" - so you can jam with the specific tones they used on different songs. For example, the discography of AmpliTube Jimi Hendrix exists as presets in the software, and pulls up the exact amps and effects models used for that song, so you CAN HAVE THE same tones. The only thing you can't do is probably sound like all of them, because they all have different styles, and probably play better than you ever will. lol.
Man I got to tell you. Iron Maiden is one of the bands that got me into metal. Just went back and listened to it and realized how correct you are about that drum recording. I always knew I was listening to a masterpiece back then but not until know when I've been recording stuff that I realize how great it truly was. That Drum recording is flawless.
I think playing live is very essential. Even more nowadays, where "everybody can enhance their studio perormance". I know it's not quite like that, but I hear that a lot from various people. And I think that is why playing live becomes more important, because it involves more than just good playing to put up a good show and make people have a great time. You can't digitally fake stage presence.
as being a younger musician and growing up listening to modern metal albums I always was in awe by how tight, precise, and powerful all the drum hits were. it wasnt until i gained enough knowledge and experience of my own that most of the albums that i've been listening to for reference of my own playing didnt have any live drums at all (used software and had no real playing for anyone wondering) or were completely quantized. at the end of the day though we shouldnt attack the musicians too much over this in my opinion because for one, recording drums is expensive and software is more accessible for upcoming artists... and two, sometimes its not fully the bands decision to have an overly processed finished product and that its a sound that certain labels are shooting for and wont accept anything less than the inhumanly perfect production. i was reading an interview by a band and they had said that they had initially mixed there album without any excessive processing or quantization and wanted to go for a raw sound and more "honest" sound, but the head of the label sent it back and forced them to add all of the studio fuckery. in response to the question about young kids preferring the processed tones over the oldschool raw ones, id say that that is actually very much real and that the overly prccessed sound is what is sought after in the public eye from what ive gathered.
It's like that thing about the grocery study someone did with varieties of jelly/jam. When there were fewer options, the customers picked something, but when there were larger options, more varieties, jelly and jam - fewer people actually picked up something. And it's why I won't upgrade Ableton 9 Lite - I want the 8 tracks limitation the Lite version has. It forces me to keep it simple, keep it as clean as possible.
One thing people who are into sample replacement forget is that the main variable when dealing with samples is velocity as triggers only record hit and velocity. Even the more advanced drum softwares tend to have max. 4-5 velocity layers, always on same spot of the drum. Meanwhile, an experienced drummer has more variances between hits position- and (in lack of better word) velocity-wise and those slight variances are what makes drum performance live instead of sounding like a machine as hitting the drums and symbals at different spots with varying force makes them ring differently with each hit. Not to forget that with consecutive hits with real drummer, how drum/symbal behaves attack- and sustain-wise is quite different from how sample simply gets played again and again with each play having the same separate ADSR curve. (for ex. with real ride, hitting it multiple times makes a continuous sustain with invidual attack+decay on each hit)
I play gigs because I love the music and there's no energy in the cosmos that compares to playing live with everyone in front of a crowd, regardless how big the crowd is.
lyonhartmusick I’ve played one of the old guild replicas of Brian Mays guitar and the pickups sound really unique, I don’t think you could get that tone out of a normal guitar
I think at 70000 Tons Devin might have been using backing tracks due to it being a special "festival" show, but he said that this current tour was supposed to be entirely without tracks. They may still be using a click through their in ears, but his goal was to do a bare-bones, entirely live show and let the material stand on its own.
Hey Glenn, my band have recorded our first record in home studios, with no drummer or budget we used Superior Drummer 2 but I made a conscious effort to make sure everything from the beats I chose or programmed, to the samples (custom and vintage sdx) to the plugins were as analog and natural as possible. Honestly the record is better for it, even when there are big modern guitars over it, the drums bring it to life. It isn't quite real (you can fool most 80% of the time) but I'm glad I put in the time to make it less clean. I'm surprised more sampled drum users don't try the approach.
I've been playing live in the underground for 10 years, I've gigged in ~30 countries. In that time I've seen the emphasis move away from playing the shit out of your instrument and leaving a bucket of sweat on stage to stand-and-deliver tediousness. Sounds harsh but I'll stand by it. The metal culture as a whole needs to rediscover a kind of viciousness and intensity that we had in the past. It's that kind of compelling performance that has been sidelined in favour of social media clout and branded content. If that's what sucess looks like these days no wonder people aren't coming out to shows because there's no magic to keep bring them back.
It's not the intensity, it's the variety. The '70s and '80s had a lot of variety and now it's either symphonic metal or downed tune jazz with a singer that sounds like they have a frog in their throat.
I’m out on the street busking in Philly. Blasting some cool fingerstyle arrangements on my jazzbox - down the concrete canyon of Broad St...adding to the general fund of Tranquility. Much love for the music in Philly!
On mastering, the best description I've come across is that it provides the "commercial polish" to the track. While you're controlling level (compression/limiting), you can also give the track it's "sparkle" (harmonic exciter), immersiveness (stereo imaging), "bloom" (multiband dynamics) as well as optimization for target media. I find that my tracks seem flat and dull when compared to professionally produced tracks when not applying these other processes. I've been using Izotope Ozone for the past few years and haven't looked back. I'd like to suggest looking into these other effects unless Glen's got something to say about it. Just know it can be REALLY easy to overuse them.
My band has just recruited a new lead guitarist. He's been with us about a month now and is coming on nicely, but he is always saying he feels a bit uneasy with some of the material. So we have booked a shit load of gigs over the next few months. Some are some good high profile shows with other bands, others are low key pub gigs where we know there will be a smaller crowd, but hell, we've told him by the end of the run he will know the material backwards as well as being completely used to the rest of us as people, plus understand the band dynamic and way of doing things. Not to mention he will enjoy the craic of being on the road (he is a very expeienced player, but until now has mainly worked in cover bands where as we are 100% original material) bottom line, playing live tightens up your playing, hones your material (what works well in a studio may not work well in front of a real audience) and is a fuck load of fun. Besides if I go a month with out gigging I get withdrawal symptoms, no mater how much rehersal or recordings I've done over that time (I've even put together a punk side project to fill in the gaps when my main band aint gigging)
Hey Glenn! On your answer to the sample augmentation. I've started to wonder. What do you think about going to a good studio and take your own drum samples and then using them on an electronic drum set to make recordings later, nothing will replace a recording of good acoustic drum performance in the studio. Yet, is just something that came to my mind to reduce the costs of making demos for example. Also it could be easier to explore on the sound of different sizes on toms, bass drums, cymbals, etc. Without having the need to change a complex drum set. I would like to hear your opinion on the matter. Thanks!
Yeah I don't get "mastering". I do everything in the session so the only thing left to do, like Glenn mentioned, is just take care of any fades, overlaps, and make sure they're uniform in terms of volume and tone (which they will be in my case because every song of an EP or album gets the same core presets). One thing that I think gets overlooked is the time between each song. If the time is too long or too short between songs it can really throw an album off.
13:10 This sounds like something I call Sforza's "Rapanui" Effect. Which is basically the observation of how powerfully enveloping the human inclination for adaptation is. As with the island of Rapanui (Hence the name), where after having been there for hundreds of years, they got stocky on eating rats and were happy about it, because they didn't know any better. Kind of like how we've been texting or posting so long, there are actual people who have forgotten what it sounds like to hear someone's voice, on the phone. Much less the warmth of opening and reading a handwritten letter.
Hi Glenn. I just got the Harley Benton 2x12 with the V30 speakers for JCM800 Studio Classic 20 head. It’s thanks to you that I went for it. Plus I got it used for $175. Cheers from Chicago.
Saw this episode the day after my first gig of 2020. An online presence definitely helps, but gigs can also help bolster your online presence somewhat - if you've got a friend with a phone, they can take photos and videos of your set which you can then direct online audiences towards. There's an awful lot of content on my band's Facebook page which is either rehearsal tapes or gig photos/videos. Obviously it might not help as much as a huge single or music video, but it's something.
As an old school metalhead, even though it's a possibility to create sonically clean music from the bedroom and have it put into the world from home; there's a magic in building a sound that incorporates a human collective's flaws into the voice, and performing that onstage to a present public that will be sorely missed by those of us that remember that experience. It took digging into the blues recordings from the 1930's to remind me of that beauty. Makes me hate having to resort to drum programs and amp sims, due to resource constraints. Would love to just use my D.A.W. as a "field recorder".
Playing live is fun. Yes, we should bother. Moreover, there's something about a live show that a recording can't touch. That connection between the performer and the audience. People do still go to shows, so I don't really understand that argument.
I played in bands from the late 80s into the mid 90s ..times were different for sure...was a big scene with shows going on every weekend with a lot of people showing up...no scene to speak of like that these days
I quit playing live when I turned fifty, not because I didn’t want to play but mainly because it stopped being fun. The money, at times, over the last thirty five years was ok but for the most part I never made the amount of money that made it really worth all the work. Also money for live shows hasn’t really changed in YEARS! I remember doing club shows back in the late 80’s and thru most of the 90’s and you could actually make more then than you can now. The main change, and one that made me happy, was when PA and amps and technology started getting smaller and lighter. How many of us recall dragging out 60-80 PAR cans and dimmers and gels and a controller and a giant PA and racks of gear? Back then if we played on Fri and Sat we had to setup on Thu because it took so damn long, and usually we tore down on Sunday because we were probably drunk and didn’t want to be at the club until 2:00pm the next day. So back then playing was FUN. It was all about the chicks and the beer and even though we were really working four nights, if you include setup time, it was still worth it. I can’t imagine today taking out an entire trailer load of gear and all those lights! I remember one show the lights were hung pretty low because the club only had like 10’ ceilings and smelled something. One of the par cans bracket was loose and the light was pointing straight down on top of my amp and the light was cooking the Tolex on top of my Marshall! If you’re young and you’re having fun gigs are totally worth it but when you have a stressful job and a wife and fourteen year old you tend to want to spend some time at home and not play “Pour some sugar on me” for 1,000th time!
I remember lugging crates of records (you know, LP's...) and turntables wrapped in blankets, and racks of EQ's and power amps, the odd rented subwoofer up flights of stairs, etc.... We needed friends back then. Haha. It was worth it for the fun of it, let alone if you could get a few bucks for the taxi and free beer. When people appreciate your efforts, you can't replace a successful gig. Just the rush of endorphins at the end is a high most people never get to live.
What I do with my band is we still play shows but pick and choose for a more quality over quantity. We keep it to about 1-2 shows a month (one in town show and one out of town for example). On top of this we post frequently on all social media platforms. This I think gets the best of both worlds without burning out on playing low attendance shows.
I used to play live with my former band back when we were in high school. Now I'm in a new band, we've been around for about 2 years but due to my tight schedule at school, we can't rehearse often enough to play gigs yet, let alone record. We do have a handful of songs written though.
I had a guy in my studio once who made a great brian may tone. He got the root note of the key and slowly put his foot down on a wah until it screamed and then left it. Sounded really close to his solo tone!
I used to enjoy doing it once a month. Until I grew tired and weary of it due to my Band-mates not having their own instruments, Only practice when it's already late so we always rush, And only play the same songs every time since they don't want to (or can't) write or cover new songs. Right now, My PC and coffee maker are better bandmates than them.
With the proliferation of DJs and Muzak just finding a rock club to play in is hard enough. Shows are FUN and live music (even crap bands) is always more fun than the Spotify mix the bar (tinders) girlfriend picked 🤬
Rock club? Pfft. The best venues back in the day were basements and banquet halls. Hell, one of the most beloved venues in the US is the First Unitarian Church in Philly. Literally, a sweltering basement with a stage. Every band I've ever seen there has loved to play there, including myself.
Hey Glenn, Just wanted to say how much I love your channel. I'm a musician (guitar, keyboards), that hasn't been able to play or record anything for about two years due to illness. Was finally diagnosed with cancer last year, and tomorrow (2/3) surgeons are going to remove my stomach. I went through chemo/radiation earlier, and as it pretty much sucks away all your energy, I found that watching RU-vid was one of the few things I could concentrate on to amuse myself. I'm not exactly sure how I came across your channel, but I'm glad I did, as it's one of the most consistently and entertaining ones out there. I worked my way through all your View Comments and Stupid Musician Texts videos and laughed like a madman, and learned a lot of stuff too. Seriously, you've kept me entertained during some really hard times, and I thank you for it. I plan on beating all this crap, getting better, and recording music again. Keep kicking ass, and thanks for all that you do.
PSA: Gigging isn’t the epitome of being a musician. Mastering your instrument is. Why does everything always have to be for outside recognition? Just enjoy your craft. That’s the great thing about music, everyone is welcome! Play how you want to play and love every minute of it.
Of course you need to play for your own enjoyment but if you want to achieve any kind of career in music you need to reach at least some kind of audience
Alexey Polevoy Define “gig”. Is uploading a good recording of your band in a jam space on to RU-vid a “gig” for an amateur band? If not, why not? The audience and pay are virtually the same. One could say that “video gigging” could give an amateur band an even larger audience than say a limited demographic in a town with less than 1,000 people. I don’t see why a band like that couldn’t survive solely on the internet alone without ever playing a traditional “gig”.
Glen, I have a one of a kind tape that I just transferred to reaper. Wanted to do this cause it has sentimental value and wanted it to be a wav file just Incase something should ever happen to the tape. Anyway, so I took my Tape deck from my stereo, using a stereo cable with male 1/4 inch jacks on each side I plugged one end in the headphone jack of the tape deck and the other end into the front of the mic input of my focusrite 6i6. Press play on the deck and record on reaper. It worked. However as I was listening to the wav the bass guitar is completely gone. And I do mean it’s gone. When the tape is played back on my stereo whether it be through the stereo speakers or listening on headphones the bass is there. But for some reason the bass guitar is gone from the mix. It sounds like and justice for all. I am listening to the playback on a pair of m-audio BX8’s. Every other album via mp3 sounds just fine through them of course but just this damn tape play back for some reason is different through the focusrite etc. sorry for the long message but I didn’t want to leave anyone in answered. Is there something I’m doing wrong that’s making it come out this way?
I can see how it can be discouraging to play live. I like to support the local scene and there’s been many many times where the band is playing to just me. I’m the only person in the whole spot. I grab a beer and enjoy the music but as a band I can see how that would suck to play to one guy or an empty room
I remember finding out Sarah Longfield was on tour and was going to play at a venue a few miles from my house. Unfortunately, I found out *only a few days before the performance* after I already had plans for that night.
For the guy who asked about getting a tone similar to those of Carlos Santana, Hendrix and whatnot; try with an amp sim (or the real deal if you have access to it) that emulates an early Mesa Mark I, II or III (C+ or whatever iteration), it's more or less what Carlos used and with a single coil/coil tapped humbucker it can give you that extra "spank" in the high mids related to strat tones. That's one half of it that you'll need to ballpark the tone, the other half is to mix it as in the old days, not so much high end and so on.
Playing all the gigs you can? That's not what my band mates think. You see, eleven or so years ago when we got started, we were hungry and we played where ever the hell we could, built a bit of a following, and a reputation. Then we started getting some better gigs, festival gigs, gigs at venues that actually pay fairly well. At some point, my band mates decided we were fancy and special. "This venue is too small, this venue doesn't pay enough, that venue is big enough, but there weren't enough people there when we payed there last time" (and that's the venues fault?). Now we play a handful of fancy, well playing gigs a year, and kinda suck when we do, because we're too fucking special to do grunt work anymore. Thank God for my "side project", with people who just want to play music for people, no matter where they are. End of rant.
Love your videos Glenn. Has really helped me a lot in my music journey...\m/...You are doing really well with your weight loss too man...Congrats...\m/
Amp sims vs. analog is more about the “feel,” not so much the sound. I personally get inspired with the feel of the air moving out of my cabinet, I also love writing in my DAW with amp sims to get my ideas out.
With more and more music venues closing their doors and the only live bands being huge arena acts that no one will afford, my theory is that band scenes will go back to backyard/house parties. Not at first, but there will be a point i believe, where the lack of new original music will reach critical mass and the only option will be to book shows at local parties and that will be the new boom of great bands
This the first video of your's I've encountered, and I'm an instant fan. Your viewers have really good questions, and you give really good answers. When I saw the title of this video, I was curious if you were going to bring up backing tracks. When it comes to metal, I'm a purist. Every sound on stage should be coming from the instruments the musicians are playing on stage, not from a prerecorded backing track. I don't want to hear a duplication of the studio recording live, I want to hear the band playing the song. I can stay home to listen to the studio recording. You mentioned seeing Epica live, and that it was a great performance. I have mixed feelings about Epica's live show. When they record in the studio, they have a 30 piece orchestra accompanying them. For their live shows, the Orchestral accompaniment is provided via backing track. I understand the difficulty involved with bringing along a 30 piece orchestra on tour, but I hate knowing they are playing along to a backing track.
Dont play every gig, my old group kept getting gigs at the same venue. They start to get bored of you and annoyed no matter how professional you are. But defiently take gigs, we haven't been a band for 4 years and we still occasionally get people who notice us from those few shows we did . So do both.
I generally agree sample reinforcement on drums is a no no and only a last resort, but have you seen Rick Beato's videos breaking down how producers mixed and recorded songs? He broke my heart proving the black album snare and kick are augmented with samples, and showed how that stuff was possible even as far back as the late 80s. It seems a lot of the great drum sounds I aspired to as a kid used some sample reinforcements. I don't know how to feel.
The Times They Are a Changin! Playing gigs / being in a band is fun but im getting more attention, having way more conversations, saving time so i play more, and have to much fun making my own youtube videos..
Greetings Glen, I'm a 22 year old classically trained soprano who has also played cello (Now electric cello) and keyboard for 10+ years. I spent a year studying vocal performance and switched my major to STEM, but still take lessons 2x a week. I fell in love with the energy in genres such as Symphonic and Prog metal, and have worked to refine my voice and instrumentation skills to work with non-classical musicians who may not read sheet music or be as well versed in theory. In my spare time I have joined a metal band, working on writing and making more progressive stuff. As someone who has focused on primarily being a good musician, easily dumping my 10,000 hours into my voice, music theory, and Cello but not into mixing, mastering, and marketing, is there any hope for someone who is late to the game like me and doesn't have any connections outside of classical? It is quite difficult for me to write and produce metal considering I do not play guitar and rely mostly on midi/VSTs (eww...) to prototype our songs and work out the tabs alone. I can then play my scores on E-cello and slowly work with my guitarist to transpose to our band's tuning, Drop D. This is an incredibly slow and unforgiving process, and at some point I want to be able to just focus on refining and improving my singing. I'm trying my best, but would love if you have any stories of any classically trained individuals making the transition. Your channel has been incredibly helpful to me as a musician embracing the genre. Thank you and Fuck you, Glen.
I love how some musicians tend to think these days... "Why should we play in every tiny club? Let's wait until they invite us to headline Download or Wacken and we will show them!" Aha, right. I've seen a band who had literally no gigs behind and BOUGHT a supporting slot before a well-known band. That was charming to see those guys not being able to even look into the eyes of the audience! They were scared shitless, they looked dead-boring, nobody knew how to move and even where to stand to look at least bearable, let alone good. No interaction, no show, nothing at all. That's how important is for a young band to play everywhere, literally in every shit hole possible to learn how to play live and do the show. And, by the way, isn't it kinda ridiculous to argue if the band should play live or not?... YOU'RE A BAND for fuck's sake! What else are you supposed to do?!
Livestream your playing maybe? I mean, it can be possible. Get your band together in a room and setup a livestream on YT/Twitch/FB/Insta. There are always opportunities to make a show online.
Beth Hart was sined when the former manager of Cyndi Lauper heard her. Justin Beiber was signed while doing RU-vid videos. That one guy listening to you might be an A&R agent looking for a specific sound. You have to enter to win.
Very good point, performing is actually a different skill set and entertainment value than playing is. Putting on a good performance live is different than just being able to play a song. Another aspect is, those small gigs, where only 10 - 15 people show up, can change. From my experience, starting out was a lot like that... but, out of all of the places, there were a couple that we built up a good rapport, and in those places, they ended up being packed when we played. On hindsight, I would have spent more time focusing on those couple of venues a lot more, rather than trying to get every possible gig. ie: 80/20 principle. So, I don't think you need to, or should play every possible gig, but, with some focused targeting, it can be hugely beneficial.
Hey Glenn, I’m a guitarist who doesn’t honestly know much about bass. I’m starting a metal band and the bassist that I’m getting to play with us is anything but a metal head. He seems willing and excited to write songs with us, but I’m worried that he may not have the right gear for the genre. It’s not that he isn’t qualified for the job on a skill level because he’s extremely smart and very knowledgeable about music and theory. He has some custom Jazz Bass that he uses for church band, so he never takes it out of standard bass tuning. We play in Drop C and Drop A. Should we just get a 5 string bass with double coil pickups? And he plays through a TC Electronic RH750 I think, I didn’t know if you knew anything about them. He doesn’t use pedals or have much for distortion. He has a great bass set up for just about every genre except metal it seems, but like I said I know very little about bass in metal music. Thanks for being a rad teacher and fuck you, Glenn.
Now that you've seen them, you should definitely check out Wintersun's studio performances on RU-vid. They are all in one room, playing simultaniously and they are nailing it. I never heard someone play that tight. And if anyone ever says something like "but you can't get perfect timing without time alinement, you can't blast beat properly without samples, etc." just let Wintersun show them how it's done. By human beeings! ... Or maybe semi gods, I'm no longer sure at this moment..
You should do a video on sample replacements, autotune, quantizing and whatever other bs people use to "enhance" their performance. Explain why it isn't better to use that stuff and maybe do a side by side comparison where we don't know which is the real performance and which is the "enhanced" performance and we vote on which one sounded better.
Once a band figures out how to put on great shows on a platform like Twitch or Mixer, it's going to be a game changer. Do videos on RU-vid and stuff like TicToc to get your stuff found, and then show the songwriting progress and behind the scenes on Twitch. And do a couple of bigger shows live on Twitch.
I have the hypercardioid beta 58 and condenser beta 87 clones from behringer. Haven't had a chance to use them, yet. Looking forward to testing both on vocals and guitar cabs quite a bit.
I'm a little over the live show thing, but I did do it religiously for a REALLY long time (30+ years I guess). I think it's irreplaceable to build up your chops, and to just make connections, and it can be really fun. However, these days, I just hate tearing apart my songwriting environment every few weeks and then not having it all hooked back up when the time/energy to write comes around. It's exacerbated by the fact that I'm a keyboardist and guitarist so I'm always bringing the most gear and I can't really afford to have two whole rigs. So, I definitely feel that question and it's something I've been wrestling with too.
Nice to hear Hevy Devy's still kicking ass live. Saw him live in 2016 under DTP and that was the best show I've ever seen. Didn't mind all the sampling. His showmanship and performance still captivated everyone there, myself included. Would love to see him again especially now that he's play SYL songs again. Hope he plays more SYL and less of Empath cause that was a lackluster album. I've been worried about the way he's been talking about wanting to be more of a background guitarist live while someone else plays the bulk of the music. I hope he doesn't turn into an Al Jourgenson or a Max Cavalera and start using his guitar as a stage prop. He shouldn't have to cause unlike Uncle Al or Max, he's a stellar guitar player. He may not be as technically proficient as his prog contemporaries, but he's held his own for many years. His songwriting skills is what puts him above and beyond his contemporaries.
Went to see Devin's empath live show vol1 here in europe. It was amazing, no backing tracks ( to my knowledge ), i didn't think he would pull it off without it. But he did ( With his amazing group of musicians ). Live jazzy improv. etc. So good.
Many reasons to keep gigging but a big one is that it drives improvement like nothing else. One band I play in is bluegrass and we have made great leaps in the last couple years playing free gigs at nursing homes. It is just a hobby for us but is is very rewarding to get a standing ovation from people in wheelchairs.
Old dog, new tricks.... 20 years ago, I played 3 to 5 gigs a week. My chops, voice got amazing... but it was when every venue began installing 50 TV's. Then, personal computers, then cell phones we the thing, and audiences lost their attention span... so bad, goldfish could out pace them. Then... I started having people come up to me and say, "Could you turn down, we're trying to talk." Then an incident about a huge TV in my face that I'd turn off when my set began... one guy... just one guy, in a barroom full of people complained. He HAD to watch the big TV, not one of the 20 smaller ones... barkeep said the TV stays on. I said, "pay me, I'm done," packed and left. I quit gigging, got a job welding. Once in a blue moon, I'd get asked to perform... my chops are not tops, but my voice actually got better... and I'm inspired to practice... with intention... I'd like to gig again... but in 20 years, the whole promotional thing has changed... As you say, screen presence is hyper important, plus playing anything that comes along builds chops and stage presence. IMO, playing a gig improves your chops much quicker than the practice room... but both are important for different reasons. I did an open mic solo this week... most of the performers played to phone gawkers and talkers... when I got up, they put the phones down, shut up, and listened... damn... I may still have it. I've my work cut out for me... so much to learn... but here goes...
For the guy wanting Hendrix, Santana and Brian May tones. There's Amplitube 4 with Hendrix and Brian May special packs of digital vst gears. For Santana...One has to have Spanish guitar playing style/composition, which isn't an easy trick to pull off if it isn't your cultural background, but here's an old Santana rig rundown here: www.premierguitar.com/articles/20782-rig-rundown-carlos-santana
Are used to mic up drums all the time when I had the space and I had my own studio but five years ago i had to move into an apartment at this point I found that mixing drum samples from different companies like Steven slate and toon track has become very helpful but I still play the part on e drums. sometimes you have to find different ways depending on your environment ..
Actually, Andy Wallace using drum samples on Nevermind is a myth. He himself states he used an "ambient sample" which nowadays roughly translates to "reverb".
I'm surprised that not many bands actually use stuff like Facebook live/RU-vid livestreams for promotion. I kinda think in the right circumstances, like premiering a new song or just as an ad for an upcoming shows, it could work very well. A small streaming rig is portable enough and you can get live-audio from the FoH mix, so it could actually sound and look decent. Even for "newcomers" this could be good, as people can hear and see what to expect and the band could take a look at their stage performance afterwards.
I think grinding gigs won't have as much of an impact as they did in the past, but I've seen bands at gigs that I hadn't heard of and became a big fan so I'd say it is definitely worth it. that said, getting exposure by other means is probably more important nowadays.
