Members Thunderbroom Posted January 27, 2008 Members Share Posted January 27, 2008 Good idea? Bad idea? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Ender_rpm Posted January 27, 2008 Members Share Posted January 27, 2008 Good idea if you are trying out multiple people over an extended period of time. Means you have an archive you can look at objectively, and compare with the random stuff you wrote down (good time, bad hair, etc). However, may make some players even MORE nervous, because of course you would never record them without their permission Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members ToeJamFootball Posted January 27, 2008 Members Share Posted January 27, 2008 Yeah, that would probably intimidate me at first. But if I was confident enough at the audition, I probably wouldn't mind. Just make sure you ask them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members guitargod0dmw Posted January 27, 2008 Members Share Posted January 27, 2008 Very good idea. I'm not sure I would tell them...just do it. What they won't know doesn't hurt them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators Kindness Posted January 27, 2008 Moderators Share Posted January 27, 2008 What is to be learned in your particular situation? I personally would go with gut reaction based on personality and feel. Recording might get you focused on less important things. If the recording is used after you make a decision based on everything else to verify you didn't completely miss the fact he can't play, I think it would be a good idea. Just don't put too much weight in it. Meshing with the band takes a bit of time and the player that will do it best long term might not be the player that does it best on day one. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Thunderbroom Posted January 27, 2008 Author Members Share Posted January 27, 2008 We're having a short band meeting before auditions start. We'll discuss it then. I was just wondering if there is a compelling reason to do it or not to do it. Personally, I'm indifferent. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members frunobulax Posted January 27, 2008 Members Share Posted January 27, 2008 what position are you auditioning? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members baracuda2004 Posted January 27, 2008 Members Share Posted January 27, 2008 i'd say do it.. cause if you tryout one person and they flake out after you pick em you'll have recordings of all the others to know which ones to call back next. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Thunderbroom Posted January 27, 2008 Author Members Share Posted January 27, 2008 what position are you auditioning? Lead Guitar Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members frunobulax Posted January 27, 2008 Members Share Posted January 27, 2008 Lead Guitar didn't YFC just do that a short while ago? i'm neutral about recording auditions. my thought would be that any player who seems decent and can play, you'd have him/her in a second time just to confirm the initial reaction. you can usually tell pretty quick if someone can play or not. listening to the tape isn't going to change that. and as important is the player's personality. and that doesn't transfer to tape. but you know all that. you're a grizzled vet now. good luck with the auditions! how many players will you be checking out? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Thunderbroom Posted January 28, 2008 Author Members Share Posted January 28, 2008 didn't YFC just do that a short while ago?...good luck with the auditions!how many players will you be checking out? Our last lead was with us over two years. Things just weren't working out so we asked him to leave. We had over 20 responses to our online ad. The print ad comes out in Feb (though we may not need it). We auditioned three guitarists today. All three were really good players though one really stood out due to his past experience as a country guitarist. We'll likely offer him the gig; however, we decided that we're gonna wait until the ad comes out next week and see what happens. We have a gig on 2/15 that we were on the fence about but decided to keep it as we've got a Nashville session guitarist (has played with Keith Urban and Merle Haggard among others) that offered to play with us. He's gonna fly up for the gig! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members someotherguy Posted January 28, 2008 Members Share Posted January 28, 2008 We have a gig on 2/15 that we were on the fence about but decided to keep it as we've got a Nashville session guitarist (has played with Keith Urban and Merle Haggard among others) that offered to play with us. He's gonna fly up for the gig! Fun.Do any applicants play lap steel or another instrument useful for country styles? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Thunderbroom Posted January 28, 2008 Author Members Share Posted January 28, 2008 Fun.Do any applicants play lap steel or another instrument useful for country styles? None thus far though that really isn't a priority for us as our keyboardist handles a lot of the auxilliary instruments pretty well. One thing all these guys had in common was that they kept their volume down. We were able to hear things in the songs that we previously hadn't been able to always hear. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members someotherguy Posted January 28, 2008 Members Share Posted January 28, 2008 One thing all these guys had in common was that they kept their volume down. We were able to hear things in the songs that we previously hadn't been able to always hear. That's huge. Especially in country/acoustic-electric bands/jazz/etc. I can't stand 1 instrument domination, esp. el. guitar. Good luck! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members justinbass Posted January 28, 2008 Members Share Posted January 28, 2008 I'd go with feel and chemistry and I wouldn't record. If you don't notice the mistakes in the audition, chances are, neither will the crowd. But you'll hear them if you nit-pick over a tape. Go with your gut feeling. That's my .02 If I auditioned, and they were recording, I KNOW I'd play worse. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members rikshaw Posted January 28, 2008 Members Share Posted January 28, 2008 One thing all these guys had in common was that they kept their volume down. We were able to hear things in the songs that we previously hadn't been able to always hear. that is huge. we just had a new guy come out tonight and his volume was killing me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Thunderbroom Posted January 28, 2008 Author Members Share Posted January 28, 2008 I'd go with feel and chemistry and I wouldn't record.If you don't notice the mistakes in the audition, chances are, neither will the crowd. But you'll hear them if you nit-pick over a tape.Go with your gut feeling.That's my .02If I auditioned, and they were recording, I KNOW I'd play worse. Oops. I guess I didn't update the thread. We held our first batch of auditions today and decided not to record. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Phantasm Posted January 28, 2008 Members Share Posted January 28, 2008 Oops. I guess I didn't update the thread. We held our first batch of auditions today and decided not to record. That was probably a good idea. Some people would probably consider recording a little pretentious, though I don't know all the details about your specific situation. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Thunderbroom Posted January 28, 2008 Author Members Share Posted January 28, 2008 that is huge. we just had a new guy come out tonight and his volume was killing me. I presume he's not getting the gig. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members basste Posted January 28, 2008 Members Share Posted January 28, 2008 It would be a good idea to record half the audition, or two/three tunes at the end of audition, when the guy is more relaxed. Stress can be hard to deal with when you start, but after two hours you're more relaxed. Then record tunes you ever played in the first part of the audition... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members frunobulax Posted January 28, 2008 Members Share Posted January 28, 2008 ...but after two hours you're more relaxed. Then record tunes you ever played in the first part of the audition... i'd never give someone auditioning 2 hours. if they're good, bring them back to confirm first impressions, and then give them 2 hours. i've been through guitarist auditions where 3/4 of the players sucked. luckily we had them scheduled at 30 minute intervals. play 2 or 3 tunes, say 'thankyoudon'tcalluswe'llcallyou', and show them the door. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Thunderbroom Posted January 28, 2008 Author Members Share Posted January 28, 2008 i'd never give someone auditioning 2 hours. We had our auditions scheduled in two hour blocks. This time included setup/tear down, talking and playing. We found that we actually used about 90 minutes at most which was good because it gave us 30 minutes to discuss the candidates and also to unwind. Yesterday was very productive. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members BoundandBlocked Posted January 28, 2008 Members Share Posted January 28, 2008 We had our auditions scheduled in two hour blocks. This time included setup/tear down, talking and playing. We found that we actually used about 90 minutes at most which was good because it gave us 30 minutes to discuss the candidates and also to unwind.Yesterday was very productive. Did you find someone? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members frunobulax Posted January 28, 2008 Members Share Posted January 28, 2008 We had our auditions scheduled in two hour blocks. This time included setup/tear down, talking and playing. We found that we actually used about 90 minutes at most which was good because it gave us 30 minutes to discuss the candidates and also to unwind.Yesterday was very productive. it was the blues band a few years back that we were doing guitar auditions. we only needed one time through 12 bars to be able to tell if a guy could play or not. when i did the audition for the cover band i was in, it was 45 minutes. we played 2 songs and then hung out. they were looking for the personality fit. had you done any prescreening before having players in? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Thunderbroom Posted January 28, 2008 Author Members Share Posted January 28, 2008 We auditioned three guitarists today. All three were really good players though one really stood out due to his past experience as a country guitarist. We'll likely offer him the gig; however, we decided that we're gonna wait until the ad comes out next week and see what happens. Yes and no. The guy noted above will likely be offered the gig;however, we're gonna likely look at a few more guys to be sure. Everyone is onboard with the guy as he's a country player first and seems to have his act together. He has connections that we don't which is also a plus. We have a print ad that comes out this week. We want to see what, if anything, that nets us. We're pretty excited about playing our next gig with a Nashville pro and are hoping we're up for the task! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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