Advice for bands new to gigging
There are three basic categories of gig:
1. You are doing it all yourselves.
2. The venue has a sound system & engineer but you are bringing all your own gear.
3. Multi band event as 2 but you can share some gear such as drum kit and guitar cabs.
1. You will need a PA for at least the vocals in addition to your normal amps, drums etc. If you don't own one, you can hire one from us. Make sure you arrive in plenty of time at the venue to set up everything and soundcheck yourselves (allow 2 hours). Walk in front or get a mate with good ears to tell you whats too loud or quiet and sort it out. You will find the guitars don't normally need to be as loud as you think! Bass can often be too loud if the player is standing near the amp because the long bass wavelengths are louder further away. Remember in most types of music the audience want to hear the vocals and drums so don't drown them out. If all instruments are amplified through the PA, to get a clear overall sound it is best to keep the on-stage volume as low as practical so that the vocal mics don't pick up too much spill from backline, monitors etc.
2. Check in advance that microphones are provided. When you arrive, get one of the band to find out who is the venue manager, the promoter and the sound engineer (and maybe lighting engineer). Find out if you have a soundcheck and at what time. Don't worry if you don't, it usually means the sound guy is doing probably the first and last bands and is confident of dealing with anything you do. If you are the headliners then please try to get there early so your gear can be at the back of the stage and you can be soundchecked first. When a system is set up a competent engineer can easily mix on the fly and your sound will be 95% sorted by the end of the first song. If you have anything out of the ordinary then tell them, e.g. samples, several keyboards, digital drums, specific lighting you'd like. These guys are usually professionals and want to make you sound/look good, because then they enjoy it more and get a better reputation. Buy the engineers a drink because they have usually been there for several hours before you get there and cannot stop working to put your show together. That way they will pay more attention when you ask them for things! Give the engineers a copy of your set list and highlight on it where there are any solos etc that you want to stand out. Tell the engineer how many vocal mics you need. Find out how many monitor mixes there are and discuss with the sound engineer what you would like to have in each. Don't have an artistic strop with them because the monitor sound is not perfect or something, remember they can just turn the PA off if they want... Similarly don't even think about kicking over someone else's mic stand for effect - imagine how you'd feel if someone did that to your gear. If you want to do that kind of stuff, take your own gear.
3. See all points above in 2 but also before the gig get in touch with the promoter or sound engineer to find out who is supplying drum kit and amp cabs, or even whole amps. If they don't want to get involved then get the numbers of the other bands and talk to them directly about sharing gear. The less gear that has to be swapped around the happier the sound engineer will be and the more smoothly the gig will run. People don't normally break other folks gear during gigs. Drummers will probably want to at least bring their own snare drum and crash cymbals, possibly all the cymbals and also foot pedals.
General live playing tips
Guitarists
When you do lead guitar parts, particularly if you have 2 guitars in your band, you will need your volume boosting a LOT compared to your rhythm setting. Figuring out how to do this with your pedals or amp will help a lot to make your performance audible and professional sounding. If necessary add a volume booster pedal in the amps effect loop. If amps are miked the sound engineer can boost you but only if they care and are paying attention, see notes above! Inexperienced guitarists often use too much gain and treble on their sound which sounds dreadful (cheap) at gig volume and can cause feedback problems. Don't dial in too much bass on your amp. If you play a palm muted chord and there is a 'wump' sound after the chord, that is due to too much bass. Lots of bass sounds good at home but in a band you need to leave that to the bassist & kick drum. If you have a lot of effects to plug in etc then make sure you have your own multiway extender so you can deal with only being offered one socket. Make sure your power supplies units (PSUs, adaptors, wall warts) are adequate for your pedals (check the current ratings) and try to carry a spare, most are cheap and easy to find nowadays. Always have a spare jack lead. Make sure you know how to use your tuner correctly and label it with your name & band name, as they often get left behind. If it's black, stick bright tape on it so it's more visible, same with psus. If you like the idea of acoustic guitar songs in your set, consider using a single coil pickup guitar such as a Strat or Tele played clean instead as acoustic guitars often give feedback problems at electric orientated gigs.
Bass players
Too much lo bass and no mids will give you a 'slow' and indistinct sound. Lo mids will give you a nice punchy bass sound, adjust upper mids for growl or clankiness depending on your style. If your amp does not have a built in compressor then buy a compressor pedal to smooth out your playing. If it's going thru the PA, don't have your amp too loud, the sound guy can turn you up in the mix but he doesn't want to have to run onstage while you're playing to turn you down by a random amount!
Vocalists
If you have your own mic, tell the engineer in advance, they will usually be happy for you to use it, especially if it is better than their standard ones. Make sure you tell the engineer in advance about in-ear monitoring or radio mics so they can figure out where to plug it in etc. Tell the engineer what kind of reverb/echo/delay effects you would like to have on your vocals, roughly how much and if you want that in the monitor mix or not. Also try to get used to singing with the back of your mic pointing directly at the monitors, this will give the most resistance to feedback with standard cardioid response mics. The cardioid type mic pics sound up from the front and some from the sides but none from the back. If you really have to keep your mic horizontal then consider buying a hyper-cardioid mic. These have a tighter pattern which does not pick up much from the sides, though it does pick up a small amount from behind. These issues are important to get a loud and clear vocal sound with least feedback from both the front of house speakers and the monitors. If the guitarists in your band are spending over £100 on their guitars and over £200 on their amps then you should consider buying a quality mic for yourself. Look to spend between £50 and £150 and read some reviews first. If you want a dependable monitor sound and it could be useful for practicing, buy yourself an active monitor, preferably with a mic input. Think of it as your amp. Most engineers will be happy to hook it into their system if asked beforehand. There are not many to choose from, if you have good funds then a HK DART will give a fully pro sound. They cost about the same as a mid-range valve guitar amp (£600-£700), so if your vocals are as important to the band sound as the guitars then think about it seriously. If you havent got that much money look at something like a Wharfedale active monitor (£260ish) with a Behringer Shark or similar effect unit or a mini mixer
Keyboard players
If your 'board has jack plug out (most do, often as a stereo headphone out) try to make sure you can provide 6m long jack plug to xlr plug leads in case the PA is short of DI boxes or adaptors. You don't usually need a DI box, but most PA inputs are via xlr sockets, so sometimes these are used as adaptors. You will need 1 lead for mono or 2 for stereo, possibly with a splitter adaptor from the stereo headphone jack to get to two mono jack sockets first. If you have more than one set of keys/sequencer/computer you should probably have your own mini mixer so you can provide one set of outputs to the PA.
Drummers
Tell the sound guy what kind of kick drum sound you want e.g. fat or clicky. Listen to your snare and toms to see if they ring too much and decide if you should invest in some damping rings, or experiment with tape etc. If the snare is being close miked, try to get the mic under the hi-hat then it won't pick up spill from the hats and you will get a much cleaner sound. Don't bash the hell out of cymbals while other instruments are soloing or there is singing/rapping.
Other instruments
I'm afraid your on your own!
If you want to add to or comment on the above then please email us or discuss in person at the studios! I don't claim to be an expert on all things to do with live music, I just try to use my common sense and experience.
:-) Dunc