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Audition etiquette


FitchFY

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I think auditioning a band takes a certain amount of etiquette, much like a job interview or, more accurately, a first date.

 

I auditioned for a local band last night that's been around for awhile. Nice enough guys, decent players, some shows on the books... not hugely experienced but not rookies, either. But before I even touched my sticks, I knew I was playing for just me that night. Why?

 

They didn't help me load in my drums.

 

It's should be every auditioning musician's #1 rule: when I go to an audition and have to load in my kit, if the band is hanging around and talking while I make my 4-5 trips to the car, hauling the hardware bag, bass drum, etc, and the band isn't helping to move them and getting to know me .... I will always pass on that gig.

 

It's not about getting help, it's something more like having good manners. It would be like a girl going on a date with a nice, handsome guy, and she has a pretty good time... but he doesn't hold any doors or even offer to get the check. Heck, regardless of instrument, when someone auditions for your band, you should always offer to help them load in and out their gear.

 

End of rant. Thanks - I needed to vent!

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WOW. It never crossed my mind that anybody wouldn't help in a situation like that. I always help, even though the load-in is pretty easy at my place (at least in the summer). I even supply a drum kit carpet in my space.

 

And if you ever offer to help me carry an organ or leslie - you've got a friend in me. :)

 

Wes

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I don't think that 'helping' anyone is limited to auditions. I play a lot of farmer's markets and inf they provide a popup cover I always take it down or at least offer to help, it's the least I can do since if not I'd just be taking my own down. Same with the band. Unless there's some good reason I have to jump ship I hang around, once I am loaded I help anyone else that needs it until everyone is good. Then you leave.

To me, that is just common courtesy.

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I ended up sharing that with the band when pressed as to why I wasn't moving forward with them. I was very polite and shared that, as well as stressing that I wasn't the right fit for them, in the hopes that they may take it as a "a-ha!" and help the next guy who shows up.

 

Unfortunately, it was very disheartening. One of them sent me a FB message calling me immature and then moved towards whether or not I was prepared for the audition, throwing out a few excuses that held no water, and wrapping it up with "it's your loss."

 

Sigh. Bands.

 

All I could think was "well, had you guys actually talked to me while setting up and in-between songs, I feel like we would've covered so much more ground." Weird, right? I'm in mid-30s and who I spend time playing with is more important than what they sound like on stage. Communication is so key, and while these were nice enough dudes and I bet the band will sound great when they're out and playing again, we didn't click. I may be what they're looking for in a drummer, but they weren't what I was looking for in a band.

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I answered a CL ad a while back and after a few emails back and forth I was given 6 songs and a half hour time slot at a local rehearsal studio. This was for a band that gigs once a month at mid-sized local rooms. I feel that more time is need just to see if I could even be in a band with these guys. I suppose they could take the auditioners they like best on to a second round of auditions...anyway, I declined the opportunity.

 

How do you guys feel about such "cattle call" auditions? I could see it for a bigger/money making band but for a local classic rock gig?

 

Another audition that I did go on was a start up band that was also auditioning a bassist at the same time. I found the bassist to be incredibly annoying even though he was a really good player and harmony singer. I got a call asking me to join and I told the band leader that I could not see myself playing with the bassist. I also told him that lead guitar players are a dime a dozen but really good bassists who can sing really well are much harder to come by and so he should keep the guy. He did not disagree with me. I guess my point is you've got to be able to get to know, at least a little bit, the people you will be band mates with. No?

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I got a call asking me to join and I told the band leader that I could not see myself playing with the bassist. I also told him that lead guitar players are a dime a dozen but really good bassists who can sing really well are much harder to come by and so he should keep the guy. He did not disagree with me. I guess my point is you've got to be able to get to know' date=' at least a little bit, the people you will be band mates with. No?[/quote']

 

That's remarkably professional and polite behavior right there! Cheers!

 

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Good topic, and honestly something I have never thought that much about.

 

I've auditioned a painfully large number of drummers over the years, and while I don't think we were ever all just sitting around sucking on beer bottles while they loaded in and out, I also don't recall helping them a whole lot other than with some heavy stuff. Maybe I was being rude by not helping more? Hope not. Never my intention to be rude.

 

As far as etiquette goes---I'll offer a suggestion to the auditionees: keep the amount of gear you bring to a minimum. You're going to get the gig based on how well you can play you instrument, not on whether or not you have a set of wind chimes or how big your Marshall stack is. ​​ In fact, the more gear someone uses/brings to an audition usually works AGAINST them. For me, it's a signal that this person is using all gear in an effort to cover up for the fact that they aren't that great a player.

 

Re: cattle call auditions---you're right that they make more sense for more "big deal" type bands I suppose (they are usually the only bands that are going to have that many people wanting to audition anyway?) but 1/2 hour slots are way too short. Especially for people bringing their own gear. Even when auditioning vocalists (no set at time at all, obviously) I try to schedule them at LEAST 90 min apart so that there is time to spend talking to people and getting to know them a bit and so that they aren't going to be sitting on top of each other. Plus, they are musicians--you gotta figure on a few minutes late, right....? :)

 

But I don't really think it's good or polite to have them passing each other on the way in or out. I'd rather finish with one and send them on their way before the next person shows up. ​​

 

Agree 100% that it's important to get to know people a bit. And that often requires the biggest amount of time. I can usually tell if a person is going to be a good enough player/singer to fill the spot within a few seconds of playing. In fact, the worst auditions are the ones where you know RIGHT AWAY the person isn't right (or simply just isn't very good) yet you suffer through 3 or 4 songs with them just to not be rude. ​

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Agree 100% that it's important to get to know people a bit. And that often requires the biggest amount of time. I can usually tell if a person is going to be a good enough player/singer to fill the spot within a few seconds of playing. In fact' date=' the worst auditions are the ones where you know RIGHT AWAY the person isn't right (or simply just isn't very good) yet you suffer through 3 or 4 songs with them just to not be rude. ​[/quote']

 

Man, ain't THAT the truth. In general, the average human being has formed a solid opinion of a new person they meet within 7 seconds and it rarely waivers from then. When you get somewhere and are pretty much immediately like "craaaaaaaap, this ain't happening," it's pretty much just a jam session at that point. I do maintain it's important to be professional and polite in those scenarios and continue to give the auditionee or auditioning band the chance to do what they've been preparing for.

 

 

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I answered a CL ad a while back and after a few emails back and forth I was given 6 songs and a half hour time slot at a local rehearsal studio. This was for a band that gigs once a month at mid-sized local rooms. I feel that more time is need just to see if I could even be in a band with these guys. I suppose they could take the auditioners they like best on to a second round of auditions...anyway, I declined the opportunity.

 

How do you guys feel about such "cattle call" auditions? I could see it for a bigger/money making band but for a local classic rock gig?

 

Another audition that I did go on was a start up band that was also auditioning a bassist at the same time. I found the bassist to be incredibly annoying even though he was a really good player and harmony singer. I got a call asking me to join and I told the band leader that I could not see myself playing with the bassist. I also told him that lead guitar players are a dime a dozen but really good bassists who can sing really well are much harder to come by and so he should keep the guy. He did not disagree with me. I guess my point is you've got to be able to get to know, at least a little bit, the people you will be band mates with. No?

 

I have to say I am guilty of such audition methodologies where you have a number of people come through one after the other. Then you narrow it down and have the couple top choices come back.

 

Fact is, there are a lot of people who answer an ad that you cannot get a good feel for with email or a phone call. And time is limited. If you are down a drummer, or a front man or a bassist, you are stuck. Essentially on hiatus. And if you have four people who might be interested are you supposed to have four consecutive days of interviews?

 

We just went through a round of bassist auditions and most of them sounded great "on paper" but were all talk and not much show when they showed up. If I had wasted a whole weekend on one guy that turned out to be a big talker with little talent I'd still be auditioning bassists today.

 

We try to be friendly, we try to be encouraging, we help with loads, and we try to keep the auditioners from passing each other (it did happen once and that was embarrassing, but only once). But I don't think you can blame a band, even a local cover band, for trying to find the best person for the gig.

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I once had an audition where the guitarist was messing around with a new pedal he the whole time, the other guitarist was trying to fix something on his acoustic guitar, a pick-up or something, the whole time. I was on bass at the time. It was just like they weren't interested at all for some reason and were totally unfriendly. I just called them back the next day and said I had another opportunity that I preferred. Which was true, too.

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Dunno what your kit looks like but I have a personal aversion to "enabling" a musician to carry around a stoopid amount/weight of gear. Anything beyond a couple rack toms, a floor tom, and 4-6 cymbals and I'm likely to be watching you wear yourself about wink.png . Same with the guitard with a half or full stack, four guitars, and 200 pedals (all not on a board). As far as drummers go, the best ones I've worked with had a 4 piece biggrin.gif. OTOH I've been known to take a 'fridge to a rare larger outdoor gig freak.gifbiggrin.gif.

 

ey, I know you're local to me - ever play Greendale's in Worcester? We were there (9 piece horn band) and partially because of space limitations I just played through the PA (pair of Bose L1 w/B1's) so just a bass, one pedal (tuner/multiFX), and a couple cables for me cool.gif.

 

Oh, and last audition I did I just brought in my bass uke and a cable. I had an amp in the van as well as another bass, but it was for a roots-Americana acoustic band (Berkeley guys) looking for an upright player and they gave me a shot - third rehearsal tomorrow cool.gif.

 

Sucks to be a drummer tongue.png. Though - I actually play Cajon with one project so that's a pretty easy loadin too - even with an amp for it...

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ey' date=' I know you're local to me - ever play Greendale's in Worcester? We were there (9 piece horn band) and partially because of space limitations I just played through the PA (pair of Bose L1 w/B1's) so just a bass, one pedal (tuner/multiFX), and a couple cables for me [img']http://www.harmonycentral.com/forum/core/images/smilies/cool.gif[/img].

 

Yup, my old band Head First played at Greendale's more than a few times. Always enjoyed their staff and the owner was a cool dude to us.

 

 

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Wow, I've always helped out guys in the band or guys auditioning for the band with load ins and load outs.

 

Little things say a lot.

 

If you open a car door for a gal on a date and she doesn't reach over to open your door from the inside, to let you into drive .... that says a lot.

 

 

 

 

Yeah. Says you have a really old car! ;)

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My Floyd band rehearses in a basement. I normally need to bring my entire rig to rehearsal. 4 keyboards, 2 stands, box of cables/pedals, mixer, powered monitor, throne is the small setup, the full setup also includes a rack and 2nd speaker for stereo. It's an easy 6 trips up and down the steps. The singer will usually help me load stuff out. Rarely does anyone help me load in, they are all sitting around the kitchen table talking. Tonight I have to bring a 5th board for one of the singers to play, as I finally hit a song I can't play all the parts on myself. It kinda pisses me off, but I never really said, "hey, can you guys give me a hand?" I'm pretty sure they would if I asked.

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If I could play the songs on 1 board I would, but there's no way. Like Wes said, getting all these parts in sync on a larger rig requires bringing it all to rehearsal. Knowing what parts have to be played or sound effects triggered at the exact time, getting the muscle memory going on reaching for parts on different boards. Making sure all the patch levels are appropriate in the context of the band mix, especially with multi layers/splits on my FA08.

 

If I know we're doing certain songs and I don't need to bring as much, I leave stuff at home, but the last few weeks we're rehearsing Animals and Wish You Were Here and they have a ton of parts.

 

As an example- for Sheep, I have all this going on:

Auto pan Rhodes from the FA08 on the intro

Hammond on the verses and other main parts of the songs

Strings layered in on the Hammond for certain parts of the song

synth bass in the 1st breakdown on the FA08

Ultranova doing a poly synth lead with aftertouch LFO on a build up

Ultranova doing a "Dr Who" minor 3rd tuned kind of sound in the 2nd breakdown

synth LFO/modulation effect that comes in as the vocal line trails off on the FA08

synth strings on the FA08 being played on the 2nd breakdown

 

Plus I'm triggering all the sound effects, there are 3 of them in this song, the intro sheep, a 2nd effect that has sheep and a vocoder lords prayer thing that has to be triggered at a precise time, and more sheep at the end.

 

This week where I had to bring the 5th board was Shine 6-9

synth strings on Hammond and Lead synth on Ultranova for the intro section

B3 on main section where the vocals are

Rhodes, a pitch bend synth effect, and a Moog lead all at the same time on the section after the vocals

Clavinet (played by the backup singer during this part on the 5th board)

Filter modulated pad sound that fades in while the above parts fade out to lead into the ending section,

2nd Ultranova lead at the ending section played over the top of the filter mod pad

Piano played by the backup singer

 

Did I mention how fun this is? :)

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Guitar players don't always get it. :D

 

I bring a CP4, VR09, and a Hammond spinet to gigs right now ... because that's the minimum rig I can get away without serious compromises.

 

Sweet Caroline, for example -- simple song, right?

Organ - simple drawbars (888) on the lower manual, more complex with a sawtooth feel on the upper.

VR09 - Layer of trumpet and trombone sections (bah-bah)

CP4 - strings on the left, strings + mellow horns on the right, transposed down to the range as the left. Horns are set up to respond to velocity more aggressively than the strings, so that I can "bring out" certain horn fills by hitting the keys harder without the strings coming too much harder. Expression pedal sweels everything.

 

I'm thinking about adding an Akai MPC to the rig for triggering samples. I trigger the from the VR09 right now, but there is a latency that means I can't use them for anything requiring precise timing.

 

You also can't play every part on every action. Imagine trying to do Shout At The Devil on a spanish guitar with nylon strings. Same idea. :)

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