My friend has got me a gig, for Friday 13th August. I didn’t have much time to prepare for it. I’m very worried about things that can go wrong, especially on that date. Is there any tips on what I should do in case I slip up, my friend says I should keep going, and smiling!
I’ve also got a guitarist, and a drummer, seems that there will be a critic there too.
Any advice on keeping calm, as there is going to be a lot of people there, and bands far better than me. Naturally, I’m soundchecking last, which means I go first. I’ve also been given a strange name, Keyboard Assassin!
It will be at the Port Mahon, on Friday 13th August. More details, at http://www.portmahon.co.uk Entry £3. Starts at 8:30pm.
Just relax try to keep as focused as possible and whatever else you do enjoy yourself. Mistakes are made all the time, so what, don’t try to be perfect the first big gig is a rush that is hard to replace. I remember it took me days to come down off it and try to remember all that happened around us - we had fun and from all accts so did the audience but I never thought back on specific things that I or my mates did not do perfect. Best wishes, great luck and I know that we’ll be reading a great review from yourself on how well you played and just how much fun you truely had.
There was a time I was really worried about it, and I was going to leave the country to avoid it, but now I am looking forward to it. I was going to bring my Voyager, and have a sequence on the Pro-One, but I’ve decided to use just the Prophet-5.
I have been searching sites about local bands, and my name has come up a few times, in one of them it said “analogue synth noise from TKA”
I’ve just seen who else is playing, some standard rock band that sounds like hardcore, I’ll show them how music should be done, give it my very best!
The main thing to do is have fun, if you mess up, so what keep going and shake it off . Careful lugging the P5 around, the older guys get a little picky about being moved around .
I don’t play out in a band situation that often but when I do I like having at least two synths with me. Think about taking at least the Voyager with you, you’ll have more flexibility. You’ll be able to use the P5 for a pad while soloing on the Voyager, or switch between the two, or use the Voyager to double bass lines in some spots.
Have fun
Brian
Tastefully incorporating humor or satire into your music/performance can
also be an effective method for breaking tension and loosening things up
a bit.
I agree with the idea of being careful about roading the P5 at this point.
As a theatre actor of some thirty years experience, much of it, playing leads and singing, my advice is make sure you look as if you want to be there, ie. enjoy yourself, and smile at the audience. The more fun you are having, the more fun they will have. If you look like a rabbit caught in the headlights, those watching will start to get increasingly anxious for you, and won’t enjoy being there.
Don’t worry about being nervous before you go on - this a good thing, as it gets the adrenalin flowing and heightens your concentration. In fact, you should worry if you don’t feel nervous! You will find that once you have got through the first couple of numbers and received raptuous applause, that the nerves will subside, and you will begin to feel like you are playing for your mates, in your own living room.
You can come along if you wish, It will be nothing special though. Expect a mix of Kraftwerk and Gary Numan, with some special FX at the end of the performance.
I have had a full flightcase constructed for it, I don’t know whether I will receive it in time. Thankfully the venue is a 3 minute walk from my house, but I’ll get a lift down there.
I’m not very good at using two synths at the same time, although that’s probably caused by my ridiculous setup. If I had a stand with both of them in front of me, it would work out better.
Indeed. I had a practice with my guitarist the other day, and as a joke I decided I would play the infamous Birdie Song, he told me to stop right there, but then later said that it would help get the audience on my side. The audience probably being what I call “heavy metal guys” huge men with tattoos, and bald head, Vince Clarke style haircut!
That’s the point, at first, as I said earlier, I didn’t want to take part, but I am looking forward to it now. The main concern is that I might feel more uncomfortable playing in front of people I do know. Since there is a pub downstairs, would it be sensible to down a few pints before the perfromance?
Different people will say different things, but I personally would never advise going on stage half way to being drunk (I’m assuming you don’t down ten pints a night, and that three pints is a fair bit for you). As I have said, don’t worry about the nerves - they are a necessary evil, and will actually help you. Just keep smiling and before you know it, you’ll be relaxed and loving every second. Save the beer for the celebrations afterwards.
I usually down 6 pints before losing it. One slight problem is that during practice, I couldn’t hear myself playing. However, my mate said that he’s going to stick 2 monitors in front of me, so I will hear myself better. And that our drummer only knows one volume, which is very loud indeed, so we both have to overpower him, but I’ll have to be a lot louder, and at that volume, if I slip up, it would be very noticeable indeed. Its ok for him, as he’s a total nutter, and has played in front of over 20,000 people before.
So the plan for the night is to down 2 pints, hope that the room doesn’t heat up too much, and if it does, make so much noise that the windows blow out!
Its taken a while to get to this point. Not only did I have to learn how to play a keyboard instrument, but the basics of analogue synthesis too. Hopefully this first performance will be the start of something good, 9 months ago when I started out I wasn’t expecting this!
I’ve been trying desperately to find someone to film the event. I don’t even know anyone witha camcorder. I’ll have to ask my friend when he gets back next week, to see if he’s found someone to film it. if I can’t find anyone, I’ll get someone to tape the sound instead.
You chose a good time to go on holiday, its been unbelievably hot this week!
Its done. I would like to thank you all for your excellent support. The worst part was getting the P-5 home! I hardly made any mistakes during the performance, the ground was shaking below! I have the video, its too large to upload anywhere. If anyone is good at video editing, I can send it on a CD-R to you.
Edit: The video is large, about 55mb. Can’t be uploaded on my site. Where shall I put it?
Need a change from trad Greek and other typical holiday sounds. If you’ve got a 24/7 broadband service at home then why not set yourself an FTP server up to supply it (many abound but I tend to use the stuff from www.jgaa.com).
I am moist with anticipation !
\
PS: I’m happy to FTP serve it from my PC if you can get it to me without incurring too much cost to yourself
Cheers Kevin. Unfortunately the video is not going anywhere until I get it edited. It needs a title, and the brightness needs to be increased a bit. Thanks to the lovely guys at Microsoft, their bundled software makes the task impossible. I’ve tried other programs, none of them gives good results. The main problem is the video being in sync with the sound. If you are willing to do a small edit on it, I could send it across whenever.
Mal (mee3d) might be able to suggest something suitable (i.e. FREE) that you to use - I’ve only got whatever comes bundled with XP Pro (Windows Movie Maker I believe…which may, or may not, be up to the task - I’ve never needed to edit video before).
