Moderators BATCAT Posted August 23, 2012 Moderators Share Posted August 23, 2012 Have you done it? Do you like it? Hate it? I kind of hate it. It's all of the pressure of playing live, with none of the crowd interaction or spontinaity of a club environment. And it's usually in the middle of the day. Today I am playing on KEXP ( www.kexp.org ) at 1pm West Coast time. Four songs with my pal Erik Blood. Wish me luck. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members ggm1960 Posted August 23, 2012 Members Share Posted August 23, 2012 Rock out on the radio! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Mel Cooley Posted August 23, 2012 Members Share Posted August 23, 2012 I've never hated it, but your comment about lack of a crowd to "play off of" is perfect. I found if we played our material slightly "too fast" on the air it sounded right to the listener. At least that worked in my case because it was a rockabilly band. A "too slow" performance would be the kiss of death. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators BATCAT Posted August 23, 2012 Author Moderators Share Posted August 23, 2012 I've never hated it, but your comment about lack of a crowd to "play off of" is perfect. I found if we played our material slightly "too fast" on the air it sounded right to the listener. At least that worked in my case because it was a rockabilly band. A "too slow" performance would be the kiss of death. Yeah, it's just such a clinical environment. I think that's probably good advice about tempo, I can see that. Fortunately (?) I won't have to worry too much about that because for 3/4 of it I'll be playing to a click/backing tracks. (more things that can go wrong, yay!) It's going to be crazy in there- a seven piece band and an iPod. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members MartinC Posted August 23, 2012 Members Share Posted August 23, 2012 Hated it, so eq, just nothing but pressure, and hated hearing it back!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Old Fart Rocker Posted August 23, 2012 Members Share Posted August 23, 2012 Yeah, I've done it a couple of times. Turned out pretty good both times. We were able to focus on playing without having to put on a show which led to performances with little to no mistakes. After listening to the playback, it was a little dry but well mixed. It was fun to do and a great experience, but a lot of pressure to not screw up! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members scr@tchy Posted August 23, 2012 Members Share Posted August 23, 2012 A long time ago after a really bad gig I decided I wasn't going to play music with a band and not enjoy it simply for what it is ever again. It cured any residual stage anxiety I had straight away and I began to naturally perform at rehearsals. Everywhere felt like a great crowded gig to me in my personal energy/enjoyment levels. It was a subconscious checklist; I like playing music- check, I like the music I am playing - check, so stfu and have a great time - check. How this would transmit to a radio gig would be that the only real change would be a much more careful approach to the details of singing. I can take a guitar mistake, but a singing mistake would haunt me in that situation depending on what it was. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members americansinner Posted August 23, 2012 Members Share Posted August 23, 2012 I did it once, from a club with the radio's mobile sound setup and it was great, came out excellent even though it was a simple two condenser mic deal. Did it from a university in a stocked sound room with their student engineers micing everything to a huge board and it sounded like ass. Good luck and enjoy! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members dparr Posted August 23, 2012 Members Share Posted August 23, 2012 I've done it many times. I think that it's fun. Picked up a few gigs from it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members GCDEF Posted August 23, 2012 Members Share Posted August 23, 2012 I've done live TV before. It was okay. A few of the news people came in and started dancing. That helped a lot. It felt more like a rehearsal though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators BATCAT Posted August 24, 2012 Author Moderators Share Posted August 24, 2012 Wow. So, we get set up and everything goes smoothly, though it's a little crazy getting all seven players set up in the small studio. Got the iPod and mixer set up for backing tracks, (used on three of the four songs we were to do) then realize that there's not any click in the overall headphone mix (the backing tracks are set up just to mono signal to DI) My soloution: one of my IEMs in my left ear, studio cans over both ears. Layered headphones!. It worked. So, the host comes in (someone we've done in-studios with several itimes before in various bands, so it's comfortable) and we're about to start. I'm nervous, real nervous (there's just something about live radio stuff that makes me choke a bit, plus we were a bit underrehearsed and then there's the whole iPod/click matter ) but I swallow the fear and launch into song one. As we get a a couple minutes in, I'm actually starting to relax a little. My mix sounds decent, the song feels good. This might be ok. That's when the click stopped. My initial reaction was bewilderment. Something, somewhere must have gotten unplugged. We don't need the backing tracks to make it through any of this, so while its a curveball, nothing to do but keep going and try to shrug it off. That's when, about two seconds later, the click started again. It was not in time with the drums. What had happened, I realized immediately, was that the iPod skipped. It was on a flight case, on top of a t-shirt folded like five times over. It had never skipped when it had padding like that at rehearsal nor at the loudest show, but here, for some reason, it had. In retrospect, I should have just stopped the iPod totally but this all went down in just maybe three seconds: reflexively, I stopped playing for very briefly and then came back in with the click. Excepy now, I quickly realized, I was a few beats off from the backing stuff, which was rhythmic synth parts. It is sort of working though; just sounds a little weirdly syncopated. So I soldier on, with slight relief, until we reach a part where the synth stuff builds a lot and it was starting to sound really messed up. I'm playing a beat throught the song with alternating left/right sixteenth notes on the hats, but the tracks had to go, so I altered the beat for a second and paused the iPod. We got through the rest of the song ok. The rest of the set went all right, but I was totally rattled and didn't enjoy it much. It was just such a huge oh-{censored} moment (KEXP has a whole lot of listeners and it could have so easily trainwrecked) that I felt shaky for hours afterwards. My wife said she didn't even notice the "incident", and my bandmates were impressed by how I handled it, but, damn, I was just pissed it happened. On the other hand by comparison Saturdays show will feel like a cakewalk. And yes, we're using an iPod nano , which cannot skip, for it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Potts Posted August 24, 2012 Members Share Posted August 24, 2012 Glad to hear you got through a situation that could have been disastrous! Don't over-think it man. I'd put money on it that nobody picked up on the BT issue. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators BATCAT Posted August 24, 2012 Author Moderators Share Posted August 24, 2012 Glad to hear you got through a situation that could have been disastrous! Don't over-think it man. I'd put money on it that nobody picked up on the BT issue. Yes, it could have been way, way worse. I'm a little bummed I just didn't kill the iPod when it came back in right off the bat, as it kinda sucked to have to stop for a sec and come back in. It was just a reflex though, and hindsight is 20/20. I'm sure it sounded like a dumb (albiet brief) mistake to anyone who caught it. Still, disaster averted, lesson learned. And I feel pretty relaxed about everything else coming up because non of it can be as stressful as that was. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators Lee Knight Posted August 24, 2012 Moderators Share Posted August 24, 2012 A long time ago after a really bad gig I decided I wasn't going to play music with a band and not enjoy it simply for what it is ever again. It cured any residual stage anxiety I had straight away and I began to naturally perform at rehearsals. Everywhere felt like a great crowded gig to me in my personal energy/enjoyment levels. It was a subconscious checklist; I like playing music- check, I like the music I am playing - check, so stfu and have a great time - check. I tend not to get too wrapped up in anxiety for those same reasons. The truth is, it takes a lot to render a song unlistenable. There is always a way to handle any situation when you're cool. And although you say you were rattled, you dealt. Maybe realizing this reality will help you enjoy it a bit more. Anxiety sucks, it's not fun. Sounds to me like you deserve to have fun, you've got this stuff wired. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members rhino55 Posted August 24, 2012 Members Share Posted August 24, 2012 I tend not to get too wrapped up in anxiety for those same reasons. The truth is, it takes a lot to render a song unlistenable. There is always a way to handle any situation when you're cool. And although you say you were rattled, you dealt. Maybe realizing this reality will help you enjoy it a bit more. Anxiety sucks, it's not fun. Sounds to me like you deserve to have fun, you've got this stuff wired. Yep. I tend to be of the mindset that fun is contagious. If you're having fun, chances are the audience is having fun too. Fun for your audience might mean smiles and goofing around or it could be angry faces and punching. The problem with this particular scenario and I think the reason Squid doesn't like radio gigs is the audience can't see you. If you {censored} up they think "hmm they {censored}ed up" not "look at them having fun." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators BATCAT Posted August 24, 2012 Author Moderators Share Posted August 24, 2012 Yep. I tend to be of the mindset that fun is contagious. If you're having fun, chances are the audience is having fun too. Fun for your audience might mean smiles and goofing around or it could be angry faces and punching. The problem with this particular scenario and I think the reason Squid doesn't like radio gigs is the audience can't see you. If you {censored} up they think "hmm they {censored}ed up" not "look at them having fun." Yes, absolutly. Anxiety isn't a serious problem for me, usually, even at bigger gigs. Radio is just a weird thing, I just don't like it much, usually. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators Lee Knight Posted August 24, 2012 Moderators Share Posted August 24, 2012 that makes sense. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Mel Cooley Posted August 27, 2012 Members Share Posted August 27, 2012 YIKES! There's another reason I try to stay low tech. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members mstreck Posted August 27, 2012 Members Share Posted August 27, 2012 We've done it a handful of times - usually stripped down to acoustic. It's a novelty thing for us. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members mstreck Posted August 27, 2012 Members Share Posted August 27, 2012 Yes, it could have been way, way worse. I'm a little bummed I just didn't kill the iPod when it came back in right off the bat, as it kinda sucked to have to stop for a sec and come back in. It was just a reflex though, and hindsight is 20/20. I'm sure it sounded like a dumb (albiet brief) mistake to anyone who caught it. Still, disaster averted, lesson learned. And I feel pretty relaxed about everything else coming up because non of it can be as stressful as that was. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members EightString Posted August 27, 2012 Members Share Posted August 27, 2012 I hate the early morning shows. Evening radio is okay. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Louis Schwartz Posted August 27, 2012 Members Share Posted August 27, 2012 Interesting thread! We're going to be doing this for the first time in a couple of weeks as part of a local independent radio station fund drive. 7 pieces crammed into a tiny studio. Should be interesting..... I'll report back! Louis Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators BATCAT Posted August 28, 2012 Author Moderators Share Posted August 28, 2012 http://kexp.org/live/liveperformance.aspx?rId=34106 Well, here it is, warts and all. A little stiff/shaky at times, and the sounds was less than ideal, but it could have been worse. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members kmart Posted August 28, 2012 Members Share Posted August 28, 2012 http://kexp.org/live/liveperformance.aspx?rId=34106Well, here it is, warts and all. A little stiff/shaky at times, and the sounds was less than ideal, but it could have been worse. So maybe you know since you're local: how does KEXP operate? They sponsor shows all over the country and are web-based, but also have a Seatlle 'home office' studio too? A couple years ago, the band I was in did one of their "Equalizer" shows in Chicago (http://blog.kexp.org/2009/07/01/equalizer-chicago-june-recap-the-midnight-shows-blane-fonda-and-robbers/) and they had a short interview with us afterwards, but I was never clear on how we got the gig in the first place, as we hadn't released anything at that point and certainly hadn't gotten anywhere near Seattle with gigs... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators BATCAT Posted August 28, 2012 Author Moderators Share Posted August 28, 2012 So maybe you know since you're local: how does KEXP operate? They sponsor shows all over the country and are web-based, but also have a Seatlle 'home office' studio too?A couple years ago, the band I was in did one of their "Equalizer" shows in Chicago (http://blog.kexp.org/2009/07/01/equalizer-chicago-june-recap-the-midnight-shows-blane-fonda-and-robbers/) and they had a short interview with us afterwards, but I was never clear on how we got the gig in the first place, as we hadn't released anything at that point and certainly hadn't gotten anywhere near Seattle with gigs... KEXP is based in Seattle and broadcasts at 90.3 FM. Their listenership is pretty robust across the country and internationally over the web too, though, and they sponsor/host events in other cities, as you mentioned. (And DJ John Richards lives in NYC these days) I don't know much about KEXP's presence in other cities, to be honest. In Seattle they are sponsors of a lot of live music events and also have many touring and local bands perform in-studio. I think they also do smaller-scale in-studios in NYC still. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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