1st Dress rehearsal for gig

close2u

A local pub landlord has been good enough to let us use his back room for a full dress rehearsal - organised now we have pa & are gig-ready, more or less.
Any advice?

DesVegas

Don't be afraid to play certain songs a couple of times to get them right ... don't just plow on through the set list (if you have one).

Rehearsal is the time for making mistakes so don't be upset if you make some .. 

Keep it together and DON'T SPLIT UP THE BAND!!!!

lloyd

Lock the door to keep punters out-they can be a nightmare depending on the pub/clientele we rehearsed in the back room of a pub for free but only did it a couple times as piss heads would come in and request songs, shout you're shit etc.

Not to put a downer on it but be prepared for people to interrupt basically and not appreciate its a rehearsal.

Ah it's a dress rehearsal, just smash it like its a gig, enjoy it. And yeah play the tune again/stop if you're not happy and do it again (don't do this at the gig!!)

close2u

Yeah - told the landlord dress rehearsal.
Definitely not wanting / expecting punters.

jd0272

Play like you WILL play the gig, and get a big scary looking mate to bar the doorway, make sure he doesn't mind saying, "Fuck off" to strangers. 

Mark your levels/settings too. 

Enjoy it. Most important point.

vasselmeyer

Record it. Audio and video if you can. Listen for anything that needs tweaking and look for stuff that makes you look like gormless.

close2u

Because the pa system is new to us, there's a lot to learn.

We are only putting main + 2x backing vox through the pa.

Also 2x monitors to adjust.

Bass & guitar amps alongside the drum kits.

We just need to try to get the levels right, the sound projection right.

In an empty room it won't be quite the same.

I'll have  laptop set up with usb mic & reaper to record audio.

But we'll set up, do some sound checking first then rock through Set 1.

Break then Set 2.

Then take down.

We'll also be checking timings etc.

We think we have about 40 minutes Set 1 and 50 minutes Set 2.

We will need some more songs in short order and have some to learn over the next few weeks.

spacecadet

The key thing with mixing PA is that the vocals get heard. I see it all the time that something else is prominent in the mix. It must be the vocals. Unless the singer is shit. Then it needs to be the guitar! 

bluechargeboy

Take a long guitar lead so you can stand out front and listen to the mix!

Beexter

spacecadet said:

The key thing with mixing PA is that the vocals get heard. I see it all the time that something else is prominent in the mix. It must be the vocals. Unless the singer is shit. Then it needs to be the guitar! 

With a simple vocals only PA, this is pretty key. To set levels/ mix, I usually set the vocals up so that they are loud enough to be heard clearly over the drummer with no-one else playing. Then get the bass player to increase his level so it sounds balanced/ where you want it to be and finally add in the guitar. I'm not a sound engineer by any stretch, I just get lumbered with setting everything up for my band. This is how I've always done it and it works for us. Just remember, when you are setting levels for your front of house (FOH), you (or someone!) needs to be out the front where the audience would be. Sounds obvious but worth mentioning. Once this is all sounding good, set up your monitor levels.

markslade07

Beexter said:

spacecadet said:

The key thing with mixing PA is that the vocals get heard. I see it all the time that something else is prominent in the mix. It must be the vocals. Unless the singer is shit. Then it needs to be the guitar! 

With a simple vocals only PA, this is pretty key. To set levels/ mix, I usually set the vocals up so that they are loud enough to be heard clearly over the drummer with no-one else playing. Then get the bass player to increase his level so it sounds balanced/ where you want it to be and finally add in the guitar. I'm not a sound engineer by any stretch, I just get lumbered with setting everything up for my band. This is how I've always done it and it works for us. Just remember, when you are setting levels for your front of house (FOH), you (or someone!) needs to be out the front where the audience would be. Sounds obvious but worth mentioning. Once this is all sounding good, set up your monitor levels.

Seems fairly obvious now you've written it down, however I'd not thought about checking the vox levels against the drums first, then add in the other instruments 1 by 1. Wisdom duly awarded

close2u

Okay. We did it. We recorded audio & video. Oh dear. We aren't near as good as we all thought we were going to be.

the three-piece band (drums, bass, guitar) sound tight - mostly. Intros & endings we fumbled a few ... and no way should that be happening at this stage.

Vocals let us down. Our singer struggled a lot. Wrong keys? Not enough in the monitor to hear?

Also, backing vocals come from drummer and bass ... and neither is really that much of a singer. Lots of our songs need lots of vocal support.

Thought .... Get a 2nd singer.

Does anyone work in a band with two singers sharing duties / swapping for different songs / sharing responsibility / backing & harmonising together?

Moe_Zambeek

Sounds like a recipe for disaster given most singers have a fairly significant ego (or desire to be in the spotlight). Why not just get one decent singer in the first place? Or if it's performance anxiety / lack of experience - more practice...that'll also help your start / end issues. Monitoring is always an issue for singers too - check they can hear themselves, if not you need more monitor power or quieter stage volume.

To be fair though, just doing a few gigs can also help resolve these issues, at the moment you may all be over-thinking it and getting lost as a result.

Also - have you been rehearsing at full gig volume?

Panama_Jack666

close2u said:

Thought .... Get a 2nd singer.

Does anyone work in a band with two singers sharing duties / swapping for different songs / sharing responsibility / backing & harmonising together?

My covers band has two singers. One main female singer and the other guitarist who sings some songs and our main singer harmonises him. When she's in the spotlight, he harmonises her. It works pretty well.

I also sing but not in that band as it currently stands. I'm looking at getting a bit more involved in the future.

lloyd

Are you brave enough to upload it here? You might be being overcritical?

close2u

Moe_Zambeek said:

a] Sounds like a recipe for disaster ...

b] Monitoring is always an issue for singers too - check they can hear themselves,

c] To be fair though, just doing a few gigs can also help resolve these issues, at the moment you may all be over-thinking it and getting lost as a result.

d] Also - have you been rehearsing at full gig volume?

a] point taken - a delicate issue to raise if we do so

b] another full dress rehearsal next week - that is high on the agenda

c] maybe, first view is always painful

d] no, in a small room at low levels

close2u

Panama_Jack666 said:

My covers band has two singers. One main female singer and the other guitarist who sings some songs and our main singer harmonises him. When she's in the spotlight, he harmonises her. It works pretty well.

That's the idea ... add a male singer to join our female singer

close2u

lloyd said:

Are you brave enough to upload it here? You might be being overcritical?

mmmh ... I'll try to dig out a short snippet that represents the problems ... next couple of days

lloyd

close2u said:

lloyd said:

Are you brave enough to upload it here? You might be being overcritical?

mmmh ... I'll try to dig out a short snippet that represents the problems ... next couple of days

It could help mate, fresh eyes and that, we'll be gentle, and I'll have a live video of my band playing a gig in the next couple weeks for people to critique.

Moe_Zambeek

Female singers IME need solid monitoring, and ideally stage volumes at manageable levels, more so than the male singers I've worked with...even if they are superb singers. I'm generalising of course but for the last 10 years I've been in bands only with female vocalists.

Also you really need to be rehearsing at close to gig volumes regularly, volume changes everything and only experience at volume will help that.

I could be telling you stuff you already know, though. What's the collective gigging experience of the band overall?

close2u

lloyd said:

  It could help mate, fresh eyes and that, we'll be gentle,