From The Garage to The Stage Part 6: Set Times and the Sound Man

If you're just starting out as an artist, there are many hard lessons to be learned onstage that don't necessarily appear in the 'how to play' manuals or educational music books. To help you along, we've enlisted our very own Barney to impart his hard-earned gigging wisdom in this ongoing series of weekly blogs. If you're recently started playing live or even if you haven't yet done a gig yet, we at Songeist believe that these blogs will be a great asset to help you to consider all the aspects of your live show. We'll be posting a new entry every Wednesday around midday for the coming weeks so don't forget to visit!

READ PART 1: MAKING A SPLASH HERE.
READ PART 2: STRUCTURING YOUR SET HERE.
READ PART 3: SEGUES AND SPEECHES HERE.
READ PART 4: CONFIDENCE AND CONNECTION HERE.
READ PART 5: CAMARADERIE AND CONTROL HERE.

Remember to comment and let us know any live tips and tricks you have...

FROM THE GARAGE TO THE STAGE PART 6: SET TIMES AND THE SOUND MAN

Over the past five weeks we have talked about everything that goes into the conceptual side of planning a set. We've discussed tricks and tips to deal with stage-fright, the right way to address the crowd and even strategies to relate to your other band members. I hope that I’ve imparted at least a little hard-earned wisdom! But for the last piece of the puzzle I’m going to extend some advice about dealing with the people outside your band and crowd that are nonetheless essential participants to make sure that your gig goes well. The sound engineers, crew and tour managers.

YOUR CONDUCT IS MORE IMPRESSIVE THAN YOUR SONGS
A crucial thing to understand about live music is that the majority of crew, sound engineers and tour managers don’t really care about your music. They've heard quite enough music, thank you very much. They simply care that you don’t make their life any harder than it already is. Yet crucially, they are very the people who often hold the key to that sweet support slot you want to grab. It isn’t always writing the killer tune that gets you the tour. It’s getting on and offstage quickly and efficiently, acting courteously and professionally to crew and being friendly and respectful to the headline band. As with each of these blogs, there are exceptions to the rule. I’ve certainly met massively popular bands out there that act like a bunch of school kids (and, appropriately, they often are the ones who achieve fame just out of school). But if you follow the guidelines below you shouldn’t go far wrong.

How much tech would a drum tech tech, if a drum tech could tech drums?
THE SOUND ENGINEER IS YOUR FRIEND, WHETHER YOU LIKE HIM OR NOT
Let’s get this out of the way. Being a local band isn’t fair. Often the venue will promise you a soundcheck and you get bumped because time is running late. Often there are sound issues onstage. Often you get no dressing room at all and have to pile your gear in a tiny, spider-infested corner. But these are simply things you need to accept and attempt to overcome. The first thing to relate this week is that it’s always advantageous to show courtesy and respect to all the crew, from the roadies to the tour manager to the promoter but especially to the sound engineer. He or she has the power to make or break your set. Learn their name, be polite, and be considerate of what they need.

The first place to get this right is during soundcheck. If the crew are setting up the stage, be aware of this and try not to get in their way too much. You’d be amazed at the bands I’ve seen jamming, blissfully ignorant, at full blast as a visibly seething sound engineer changes drum mics. Drummers are often the worst, thrashing the hell out of their kits or tuning their snare while the sound man changes the kick drum mic at a distance that makes it tantamount to assault. Until you have your own crew and plenty of allotted time, this really isn’t the time to jam that tune from rehearsal while everyone else waits around because you read that U2 wrote 'One' during a soundcheck. Listen to the sound engineer when he asks you to play and be reasonable and intelligent with what you do play. Drummers, play a repeated groove that covers the full kit, guitarists and bassists play a riff that's a solid loop and covers a reasonable range. Granted, no matter how well-behaved you are, some sound engineers will inevitably treat you like an irritating nuisance. Some will be nice and laugh along with your japes and learn your name. You never know. Just be aware that whatever their demeanor, their experience with you is naturally likely to affect the work they do for you when you’re up on stage.

The sound engineer is your friend, whether he likes it or not.

SPEAKING TO THE SOUND ENGINEERS DURING THE SET
Every now and then, dealing with sound issues while onstage during the set will be necessary, but remember, just as we covered last week, nine times out of ten the crowd aren't hearing that squeal that comes from your monitor every time you lean over, so don't draw attention to it. If you look like things are falling apart just because there's a hum coming from a guitar amp then, even if they can't hear the difference, people are going to assume that things are falling apart. If you need to communicate monitor directions by using hand signals (pointing at your guitar, then to the monitor, and then up in the air to denote that you need more in the monitor for instance) remember to be as calm and clear as you can and stay in control. Don't even bother mouthing words as it will draw the crowd's attention to the issue. I’ve watched sets where the drummer has spent over half his time on stage scowling and pointing in different directions at the hapless monitor engineer and, although I as a musician feel his pain, I also realize he’s oblivious to the energy of his screwed-up face and attitude spilling all over the stage. If the sound is that bad, it's better to stop the set between songs, get it sorted and then move on than be in a constant gushing leak of panic and anger, letting the crowd that there was something wrong during the set, though they had no idea what it was.

If hand signals aren’t going to cut it, there is an art to speaking to the sound engineer between songs. Never start making demands through the mic the very second that a song finishes and the crowd is still clapping. This will confuse the audience and kill the appreciative energy in the room dead. Instead, being sure to indicate to the rest of the band that you want them to wait, calmly thank the crowd as normal, maybe even add a little comment about how the gig is going, and then address the sound engineer with a polite ‘Mr Soundman, I need a little more of me in my monitor’. Thank the crowd, let the mood settle, then put your demands out there in a clear and friendly tone, owning the moment.

That's the face you get when you start copping a 'tude at a sound engineer.

GET ONSTAGE ON TIME
It seems strange to me that I even have to make a point of this, but I still go to gigs and at the stage time the support band are due onstage, someone from the venue is running around trying to find the band. That scenario is simply unacceptable to anyone involved in live music and, believe me, it’s absolutely abhorrent to the tour manager of the headline band. Unless otherwise clearly stated by the headline band’s TM or the promoter, the stage times are NOT a rough guideline of how they want the night to go. They are strict, absolute orders about where your slot is in the running of the night. Feckless local bands often break this rule because no one has ever really sat them down and pointed this out. It simply goes unspoken. You see it so often in live music, as a band or tour manager you sometimes can’t even be bothered saying anything until the band runs over by ten minutes. But here’s the rub, this isn’t school, you don’t get detention. YOU SIMPLY DON’T GET BOOKED AGAIN TO SUPPORT THE BAND. That ten minutes was ten minutes less time at the end of the night where the headline band could have sold their merch. You mess with their bottom line, and things get personal!

If you’re opening, you will have the luxury of leaving your gear set up, so in that instance there’s even less of a reason for lateness. Getting onstage when you're the second band on, with just a quarter-of-an-hour slot to do it in, is stressful so it’s absolutely essential you’ve planned in advance. Have your cables and gear ready and accessible so you can get straight on and give the band that preceded you space and time to get off. It’s totally acceptable to help them get their stuff off. Not only does it make things quicker, it asserts the point that you want them to move off the stage ASAP. There will be times when, through no fault of your own, the changeover overruns. Nine out of ten times in this situation, as long as the overrun wasn’t your fault, the tour manager or sound engineer will reimburse you an extra five minutes at the end of your set to compensate, especially at festivals. If this isn't forthcoming, there’s nothing wrong with asking if this is possible, but never assume. Overrunning is a bigger sin even than getting on late. In fact, it’s the most sure-fire way for you to never get booked as support to a professional band again.

There may be only two fans watching, but remember, the TM is ALWAYS WATCHING.

GETTING OFFSTAGE.
This is the most important rule in this whole series of blogs. If you follow every other point to a tee, but overrun your set by seven minutes at every show you’re going to be the greatest band in your local toilet venue for the next four decades. Get off on time. No ifs ands or buts. Drop a song if you need to. GET OFF ON TIME.

When you do get off, get off as quickly as possible. After the intensity of the set, you'll feel the world slow down. It's natural that getting off stage feels like it should be a stress-free, peaceful affair done with your face flushed with happiness, basking in the glory of your wonderful concert. But there's another band to get on! Getting offstage is a hurried, stressful and almost always slightly unpleasant chore and you must hustle as quickly as possible. Feel free to walk off stage to underline the end of your performance but then get straight back up there and work to get your gear off efficiently and into the designated zone. Help each other and be aware of the crew, who will almost always give you a hand. Get this job done, then go and chill. You've earned it!

The first time SB6 really experienced a hard lesson in getting offstage was touring with The Levellers in 2009. The Levellers are a big, cult band and their crew are professionals with no time for holding the hands of some punk band just because they can’t afford a crew. The change-over time was forty-five minutes, plenty of time we thought, seeing as though The Levellers were already set up. So on the first night we got off stage and afterwards we relaxed for a moment together, drinking water behind the curtains, ready to go back on and grab our gear. The crew proceeded to storm the stage, and, faced with our gear set-up, tore our guitar pedals off the floor and pretty much threw them at us. Suffice to say, we didn’t hang about after the set the next night and the lesson that we learned that day was a good one. There is simply no excuse. Get off stage on time and get off as quickly as humanly possible.

And, if you hadn’t already figured this out, if you are not the headlining band, never, ever, ever do an encore!

Follow all the rules, and this is how you'll feel.

FINAL THOUGHTS
There are ‘local band’ nights all over the country where venues simply want the friends and family of bands to come and drink at the bar to keep the business running. The venue and 'promoters' don't care about the bands, they care about the drinks being bought, and often the rules I've outlined above are not enforced or even laid out. At these nights, bands pick up bad habits. But you try pulling out those habits supporting a touring band with a tour manager and you simply aren’t going to get tours. And don't expect them to tell you why, because they don't have to.

At the beginning, being in a band is very tough. In the UK, at local gigs, you get treated as the lowest of the low, often not getting a dressing room, food or drinks. You see the headline band swanning about with their grub and lager and passes in their dressing room, not watching the local bands, and tend to think they’re stuck-up idiots. But what you need to remember is that they have all been in the same place as you have. And you’ll find that when you’ve not been home for three weeks and have driven for 7 hours previously, a beer and a sit down without having music blaring in your face is not that much to ask. By all means, politely introduce yourselves and ask them to watch you, but be prepared for the fact that they might choose not to, and that's their prerogative.

Finally, remember that at this stage, for you, watching the other bands is important. Grassroots music scenes work through friendships, not strength of demos, and the difference between being shunned by a scene and being immersed and accepted into it really is about what you put in. People can smell a band that are only out for themselves, so returning favours and being an active participant at live shows at this point will reap rewards that your songwriting might not.

And that's that. It's time to get out there and rock.

Barney

Thanks for reading this blog series and all your support and feedback. I have a special case study blog coming up where I impart some more general rules and philosophies to being in a band but what I’d really love right now is to hear any questions you guys have about music as it pertains to emerging artists.

Please email me your thoughts, suggestions and questions to barney@songeist.com

Drum Tech photo courtesy Gareth Harfoot's Flickr used under Creative Commons License.
Sound Engineer photo courtesy Howard Stanbury's Flickr used under Creative Commons License.
Sound Engineer 2 photo courtesy Andrei Rusu's Flickr used under Creative Commons License.
Tour Manager Photo courtesy David Jones's Flickr used under Creative Commons License.
Onstage photo courtesy Annais Ferreira's Flickr used under Creative Commons License.