#131: 9 Top Tips for Preparing for a Gig and Nailing Your Stage Debut

Have you ever faced the frustration of knowing how to prepare for a live performance? Or maybe how do I stop being nervous before a performance and overcome stage fright? What makes a great live performance? Or even what do I need to know before my first gig? Then check out EP 131 of the Inside The Mix podcast.

Embark on a journey with me as I unravel the complexities of a successful live music performance and bask in the warm glow of band camaraderie. With a treasure trove of experience in music engineering, production, and songwriting, I'm excited to offer a window into the world of live gigs. I tackle topics like connecting with your audience and the delicate dance of band chemistry.

Whether it's engaging with the local flavour of your gig's city or mastering the art of the perfect setlist, this episode is your backstage pass to the gritty, gratifying life of gigging musicians.

Don't miss the chance to send in your audio production quandaries for a spotlight moment on the show, because your question could be the next big discussion point for our passionate community of creators and audio aficionados.

Submit a music production or mixing question and feature on the podcast: https://www.speakpipe.com/InsideTheMixPodcast

Transcript

Year of the Fall: 0:00

Hey, this is Philip from Year of the Fall and I recently used Mark's Mix Feedback Service and, yeah, I must say it was an absolute game changer for my track. Mark provided incredibly detailed and insightful video feedback which, yeah, really addressed every aspect of the mix. So not only did he provide feedback on the overall sound of the track, but he also Precisely analyzed each instrument group, guiding me through each step to enhance my track, and he offered insightful suggestions and techniques to enhance the quality of my mix. Yeah, and I got to say, the impact of Mark's feedback was tremendous. Implementing his recommendations enhanced my tracks, clarity, depth and the overall impact in ways that I hadn't imagined possible. So, yeah, I highly recommend Mark's Mix Feedback Service to any musician or producer Looking to enhance their tracks and, yeah, trust me, you won't regret it. You're listening to the Inside the Mix podcast with your host, mark Matthews.

Marc Matthews: 1:03

Hello and welcome to the Inside the Mix podcast. I'm Mark Matthews, your host, musician and producer and mix and mastering engineer. You've come to the right place if you want to know more about your favorite synth music artists, music engineering and production, songwriting and the music industry. I've been writing, producing, mixing and mastering music for over 15 years and I want to share what I've learned with you. Hey, folks, and welcome to the Inside the Mix podcast. As always, if you are a new listener, make sure you hit that follow button on your podcast player of choice and if you're watching this on YouTube, make sure you hit subscribe and the notification bell so you know anytime there is a new Inside the Mix podcast episode. So, at the point of recording this episode, we are now in the beginning of February and it was a very, very busy January for the podcast and synth music mastering of the new Website and other various bits and pieces, other initiatives being launched as well and, obviously, planning for this year in particular.

Marc Matthews: 1:56

But one thing I want to make you aware of and I'm working on this today, so I've mentioned it a few times but the podcast artwork is changing. It's the exact same podcast. I'm just changing the artwork to make it more SEO friendly, so it will actually say what the podcast is about, rather than inside the mix, as I've mentioned it before. Inside the mix, I know what it's about and you, the listener, do as well, but if you were looking at just the artwork, it could be about mixing cement, mixing food, could be about numerous things with regards to Mix, right. So I'm gonna make it more SEO friendly so I can get more listeners involved in the podcast and ultimately have more view on the podcast as well. So in this episode, we're returning to an episode format that is quickly becoming my favorite, and this is where you, the listeners, submit a music production, mixing or Music industry question for me to answer and that then becomes the basis of the podcast episode. So if you want to get involved and do this, all you need to do is submit an audio message via speak pipe using the link in the episode description, and you don't need any specific Software to do this. You can use the mobile, you can use your mobile phone microphone, or you need is the web apps. You click on the link, you don't even need to create an account 30 seconds, record your question and then I'll play it on the Podcast itself before I answer the question. Alternatively, like in this episode coming up, if audio isn't your thing and you'd rather just write a question, you can submit it to me at inside the mix podcast on Instagram by DM, or you can email me Inside the mix podcast at gmailcom, but remember to include a link to where I can send our audience, because I want to give you a shout out for taking the time to Submit a question for me to answer.

Marc Matthews: 3:30

So this episode's question was submitted by my good friend, a layer, and he has been on the podcast as part of the producer kickstart and he's also submitted questions in the past as well, and if you want to find him on Instagram, it's underscore, underscore E R L E a. I'm looking to my left to get this right underscore, underscore. So that's underscore, underscore, e R L E a, underscore, underscore, and chuck him a follow and also listen to his music as well. It's really, really good stuff. So his question is this for someone who is really new at this, learning how to play your music live is something that I could really use help with. I'm sure there are youtube videos, but literally Hear it from somebody who started with zero knowledge and can explain exactly what you will need would be really helpful. Okay, cool, so let's dive in.

Marc Matthews: 4:16

So I'm going to answer this using my experience, having played over a hundred shows in what was essentially an independent band. So when I was in engraved dissolution, the death metal heavy metal quintet, I played over a hundred shows in the uk and toured in northern europe as well. So I've got a bit of experience when it comes to that really grassroots level, then building up to playing bigger shows. So there's a lot that goes with it. It's not just about how you perform and play your instrument, but there's a lot that leads up to actually hitting the stage. There's a lot that goes before it.

Marc Matthews: 4:48

So in this episode I'm going to go through my experience. Now I'm not saying this is all necessarily 100% correct. This is just what I experienced On the road as a gigging and touring musician. So these are my top nine tips. The tip number one really goes without saying and that is rehearse, rehearse, rehearse, practice, practice, practice. Right, and there's a few bits that go with that. So this is what I encountered as a gigging and touring musician.

Marc Matthews: 5:13

So, as a musician, I was a guitarist, I'm a guitarist, so that's why I played live. We always are practicing, but there are a few things that I felt really helped me when it came to actually performing live, because it's a different beast, right, it's a different animal. You're not sat down in the comfort of your own home. You stood up and you're in front of potentially thousands of people performing, playing your instrument, and you're very open there. It's a very open experience, albeit in the band there were four other individuals on stage with me, so it took a lot, took pressure off. In that respect, I wasn't up there on my own with my instrument. That's a very for one of a better way of putting it sort of naked experience right.

Marc Matthews: 5:53

So my first one is to play with your eyes closed. So rehearse your music and play with your eyes closed. Specifically, if you are an individual who is performing live and you are having to sing at the same time, that is quite a skill and it's not something I ever really got down. I was always a rhythm guitarist. I didn't provide back in vocals Between songs I would talk to the crowd and whatnot, because, being on the podcast, I'm a talker, right. But I found that if I could play the music with my eyes closed, it meant that I could focus on the crowd and I wasn't sort of stood there shoe gazing right Whilst I'm playing.

Marc Matthews: 6:28

It was heavy metal. You've got to have a presence, you've got to have a presence, you've got to be tall, you've got to stand tall and you've got to be confident, or at least you've got to appear confident. As part of rehearsing as well is to practice playing your instrument stood up. So it might sound weird, but I used to practice stood up and I would also practice my stance. We call it the power stance. So there was me and the other guitarist, toby, and we were referred to as the pillars in air quotes. So we would stand either side of the singer, in the middle, and then the bassist would just be gone wild in the background right, or we get nearer to the front and we were considered like the pillars. So we would have these power stances. That's like foot on monitor, guitar showing, looking out to the crowd, pouting, you know, looking menacing.

Marc Matthews: 7:07

So not only would I practice in the comfort of my own home would I practice stood up, I would also practice with my leg on the sofa with my power stance, so I could translate that live and it felt comfortable. So it may sound weird but I think it's important. Obviously it depends on what music you're playing, but this, once again, I'm taking from my perspective as a gigging heavy metal musician. I would actually practice my stance and also being practice, stood up, play my instrument. It's also important to look at the audience. Again, you are, you want to engage with the audience, right, you want to look at them.

Marc Matthews: 7:39

So what I used to do is I would pick a reference point and I would return to it and I'd know that actually, if I'm just zoning around the room, just looking sort of wildly around the room, I could look at this reference point and then I could use that and sort of center myself and then work from there, because I remember being in the band after we'd had a few beers playing live, as if you are listening to this, you've done this, you can sort of lose track of where you are slightly. So I always found having a reference point that I could zone in on and go back to and that was also a comfort for me in a way that if I had made a mistake or I was coming up to a particularly tricky part of a song, I would focus on that reference point and it sort of grounded me and relieve some of that anxiety, because, as we know, as musicians, there are parts of songs that we write in the studio that can be quite tricky to translate live. So having that reference point and being able to center yourself, calm yourself down during a during a song, I think is really, really important. Now, admittedly, that's probably moving outside of the rehearsing aspect, but it is kind of like preparing, rehearsing, practicing. So I'll lump it in there with the tip of rehearsing.

Marc Matthews: 8:44

But my final, one sort of sub tip for rehearsing is this and this probably could be one on its own is know your weaknesses. So how does your music translate live and can you perform it live? Now, I know, having gone in the studio, there were riffs that I found really difficult to record and now and get clean and we would have to break it down. And when it came to playing it live, as we know, a lot of the time if you're not playing to click the drummer, the tempo can then go up by 10 bpm, which makes it even more challenging. Okay, so know where your weaknesses are.

Marc Matthews: 9:18

How can you play that same segment of music, that same passage, but make it easier for yourself specifically as well. If you're singing at the same time, how can you make it easier for you? Because what you don't want to do is trip up right and stop the song? Only did I do that once, and it was shocking. It was my section to come in and play this particular sort of bit of guitar I think it was a bit of lead, if I remember rightly and I totally fucked it up. We had to stop the song and start again, and I was just like man. I thought I was going to get through my whole stint in the band without doing it, but unfortunately I did, and that is because I hadn't identified my weakness and actually acted on it. I thought I'll just muddle through and hope for the best. So, identify the weakness and think, okay, well, how can I make this easier? Can I play the riff or play the song slightly differently in this section? Can I not sing? Can I get samples? Can I get another musician to play that part for me, and then I'll just drop out and just sing instead? Or can I get somebody else to sing that part and I'll just concentrate on playing? So use the tools that you have around you to your advantage. So, yeah, identify your weaknesses.

Marc Matthews: 10:26

How does your music translate live and can you actually perform it live? Probably could be a tip in its own, but it does fall under the rehearse, rehearse, rehearse. So my second tip is to engage with the audience. Think about what you're going to say in between songs and also at the beginning, at the end of your set. A key tip here is to look at what's happening in the local area and the local music scene leading up to the gig and then drop that in the middle of a couple songs or even at the beginning. That way, you're showing that you care about the audience. You've done a bit of research. You know that this festival is happening or this local band has done this or something along those lines. It shows that you've taken an interest in the actual local music scene, the local area, and this will put yourself in a really good position as well, with the local bands on the bill and also research. Obviously, you want to give the place a shout out as well, so make sure you get that right.

Marc Matthews: 11:20

I've seen countless videos on YouTube where I think I've seen this. I've been a WWE fan way back when. I think I saw Hulk Hogan do this. I've even called out the wrong city, right. He got it totally wrong. But, yeah, make sure you quote the right city, town or even village. If you're playing in a village or a hamlet, as we have over here in the UK, I don't know if that translates well in other countries, but, yeah, look at the local area, think about what's going on and how you can use that in your set as well.

Marc Matthews: 11:49

Also, have a call to action. So if you've got a new release, if you've got new merch, if you've got a mailing list, send that audience to your merch table. And what I recommend to do here is have a QR code for people to scan. We used to use a clipboard with a piece of paper where people would write their details, but I probably wouldn't do that now and I personally would be reluctant to do that to just put my name and my email address and have loads of people see it. But maybe that's my tin foil hat right. But I would have a QR code that people can scan for your mailing list and you can do that for pre saving a release that's coming up and also you want to sign, post them to music that's already out there that they can purchase, and also your merchandise as well. And it's also a really good time to just chat to people, to network and build a rapport with those people that I've just seen you, because networking is huge when you are a gigging musician, you want to make as many contacts that you can along the way.

Marc Matthews: 12:45

So my third tip is this is quite a cliched one, and that is to perform the same, whether it's to the sound guy and his dog or the musicians, girlfriends or boyfriends or partners, or it's a huge venue full of people. Okay, I had this experience. We went to Bristol and we played at a place called the Croft I think it's called the Crofters now and I remember we went on stage and the room emptied and it was just the sound guy. So we took that opportunity. We played as though we were playing to a room packed full of people, but we also took the opportunity to play new material and how it would translate live. So you could think on your feet there. Okay, well, if there's no one here they've all left for whatever reason we could use this opportunity to rehearse new material and perform it live. So it's a really quick one there, but that is to perform to the same professional level, regardless of who is in the room.

Marc Matthews: 13:35

The fourth tip is to have a backup instrument, and we found this out the hard way. We were playing the launch show for our album, the Eternal Rest, and we took to the stage. We were room packed full of people. It was a Halloween gig, it was. It was fucking incredible gig.

Marc Matthews: 15:06

And within the first song, the Tobes guitar he is string broke and if I remember rightly, we didn't have a spare. So fair play to Tob. He managed to think on the fly and he ran off. He quickly restrung his guitar, but obviously restringing the guitar it puts it out of tune. So he was having to sort of work out the key on the fly to the tuning that his guitar was then in. He did really well in dealing with it. But had we had a spare guitar, we could have just picked that one up and immediately just switched the two over. So it might sound quite obvious to have a backup, but it doesn't always play out that way and we learned that the hard way. Thereafter we always had at least one road guitar that was strung strung, is that the right word, I think so that had strings in tune and was ready to go, in case that ever happened again. So I mean, it makes it easier if you have something like a guitar or trombone or something like that. Never played a trombone, I'm just picking random instruments with a drum kit makes it slightly more difficult, but you can think about having a spare snare. I don't know how easy that would be. It's just more stuff to carry around, I guess. But yeah, to summarize there, folks have a backup instrument ready to go so you can quickly just switch out.

Marc Matthews: 16:19

Tip number five another really short one Batteries and cables have spares. Okay, the likelihood is a cable's gonna break, batteries are gonna run out and you need to make sure that you have spares ready to go. What you don't wanna do is be scrabbling around the venue asking people do you have a battery, do you have a C battery, do you have some AA's, aaa batteries or, alternatively, do you have a spare cable? I could use blah, blah, blah. Make sure that you have spares ready to go. I have a flight case just full of spare cables and batteries. I've still got it here in the studio. I haven't used it in years, in fact. I opened it the other day to get a screwdriver out and I found some, the Lynx Africa deodorant. So that is another sub-tip If you are a gigging musician is to have a travel deodorant in your flight case ready to go as well. My poison was Lynx Africa, so a sub-tip I'm chucking in there for you.

Marc Matthews: 17:14

So tip six is to research the venue. When does it open? When is load in? Okay, what is the local parking light? Where can I load in? Where can I load out?

Marc Matthews: 17:25

Obviously, when you turn up to a venue, what we used to do was we would just put the hazards on and stick the van up on the curb, if we had to, and then we would load in. But make sure somebody was stood out with the van, in case somebody came and knocked in and said, hey, move your van Thereafter. We would then find a car park nearby, 24-hour car park. What you don't wanna do is get locked in a multi-story, so make sure it's 24-hour and then leave the van there, but make sure it's within close vicinity so we can quickly get to it. So quite a short tip. But research the venue, know where the load in and load out is, know the opening time and closing of the venue as well.

Marc Matthews: 18:00

And another sub-tip to go with that as well. That we used to find quite helpful if we were staying overnight would be can we leave our equipment in the venue and collect it in the morning? Because once you've played a show it's late at night. You might not want to be unloading gear, specifically if you've had a few beers. Okay, now you shouldn't be driving anyway, to be honest, and moving that van should have a designated driver. But think about, actually, could I just leave the gear here overnight and then collect it in the morning? Funny story with that. Actually we did that and we actually ended up sleeping in the venue. This was a venue in Essex somewhere and I cannot remember where, but we ended up sleeping. I remember sleeping on the stage. I used to have a camping bed that I would put up. That's another top-tip have a camping bed ready to go and I slept next to the drum kit. So that was quite an experience, quite a fun one. There was a massive party going on downstairs, but at that point I was knackered. But yeah, so I digress slightly there, folks, but research the venue, load in, load out, parking, local parking and opening and closing times.

Marc Matthews: 18:58

Tip seven is a really important one for me and that is to liaise with the other artists on the bill. Now, this is important to me because if you are sharing equipment or the idea or the assumption is that you are sharing equipment you need to have that conversation with the other artists. What you don't wanna do is leave it until you're about to go on stage and suddenly plug into their amp, or put your amp head on top of their cab and then just plug into it. I had this experience. I had my gear all set up, ready to go. We were the headlining act and somebody went on stage and they just plugged their guitar into my 6505, and then started playing and changing the settings that I had and I was like hold on a minute. This person hasn't had one conversation with me about using my equipment and also they're changing my settings on my amp and it's changing the sound that I had dialed in during the soundcheck. So had they had a conversation with me then it would have been a different experience.

Marc Matthews: 19:53

But don't assume that you are using the equipment that is there. Have that conversation beforehand. Reach out to the promoter, reach out to the venue. If you're reaching out to the promoter, ask them to put you in contact with the other bands so you can have that one-to-one conversation. I would recommend not going through the promoter, if possible, because you've got that man in the middle. Obviously if it's a huge gig then that's different, but I'm talking sort of that touring independent musician level at the moment and if you're talking to the venue, obviously just talk directly to the venue. But it's something that you can find out quickly when you get there, and another sort of subtip to go with this is to get there early so you can iron all this out. Specifically, if you're using the gear in the venue, what you don't wanna do is get there at soundcheck and then realise, oh, I need a cab or something along those lines. Yeah, so just communicate with the other bands. Don't assume that you're gonna be using their gear until you've had that conversation. Tip eight now.

Marc Matthews: 20:51

This is really important to me because I was in a venue in Bournemouth and there was sudden feedback in the loudspeaker on the right hand side and it went right through my right ear, almost blowing my ear, and thereafter I used ear protection. So I invested in actual proper ear protection for touring gigging musicians and it made all the difference because at that point I was like you know what obviously ears my ears. I need to be able to hear what I'm doing. It's my livelihood. So invest in ear protection.

Marc Matthews: 21:22

To begin with, when I put them in, I found it quite isolating on stage and it would also attenuate certain frequencies. So my top tip there is when you are dialing in and soundcheck your sound, do it without the ear protection, obviously, when you're playing as the whole band, put them in. But what I found was with these particular ones they weren't the most expensive, admittedly, but it did attenuate some frequencies. So what I was hearing with my ear defenders in the audience was hearing something slightly different. So do bear that in mind. Bear that in mind. You may think, oh, this guitar tone is absolutely banging, but then you take them out and you've got this incredible sort of like 3K weird shit going on. So just bear that in mind as well. But I do recommend investing in high quality ear protection, and this also falls under the rehearsed, rehearsed, rehearsed.

Marc Matthews: 22:12

Tip one is to practice playing as a band, as a musician, with ear protection in as well, because, as I say to begin with, I found it quite isolating. I felt like I was in a different room to the other performers on stage to my bandmates, but you get used to it after a while. So I guess two tips there use ear protection and then practice performing playing your instrument as a band and as an individual, with ear protection as well. So my ninth and final tip is this, and that is stay to watch the other artists. So that includes being there at the beginning, if you are the sort of headline act, or further up the bill, to show support for the other artists Because, as I mentioned earlier, there are gigs where you potentially play to no one and at least if you're on a bill with four other bands, you know there's potentially gonna be 10, 15 people in the room, even if it's the other artists is to stay and support them at the beginning and also at the end. Obviously, if you have a train to catch or something like that, totally understandable, there's mitigating circumstances. But, where possible, show your support, stay and watch the other artists, because the likelihood is they'll do the same for you, so it's only right that you do the same for them. So stay and support the other artists. So there we go, folks, my nine top tips for preparing for a live performance.

Marc Matthews: 23:29

Now, admittedly, they're not all directly linked to actually performing and playing your instrument, but hopefully there are some nuggets of wisdom in there from what I experienced in my tenure as a gigging and touring musician. I had a great time, by the way, and I've got three extras for you. These are really short. Keep the sound guy on side. Don't piss them off. Number two don't drink too much. Our drummer fell off his stool once and once I drank too much and there's a picture of me somewhere online on our band's social media and I'm stood in the crowd with my back to the crowd and I look lost, but I had a great time. Number three this is specific to the UK, but if you've got an equivalent in the country you're in, seek out the nearest weather spoons, because as touring musicians, we want to get the food as cheap as possible if it's not put on by the venue, and weather spoons is great for a meal a relatively cheap meal before you hit the stage. So, folks, a couple of things just before you go.

Marc Matthews: 24:25

To learn more about performing live and band chemistry, check out episode 94 of the podcast Harmonizing Live Music, band Chemistry and AI, a conversation with Pensacola Mist. And if you want to learn more about my experience within the band and grade dissolution and a chat with my bandmates. Check out episode 10, way back when of the podcast behind the inside the mix podcast, where I get together with Chris and Tybe, the drummer and the guitarist from the band and grade dissolution, and we chat about our time in the band and also recording as well, and it's a really funny listen, really really good stuff. So go check that out as well. And if you want to be like my friend, alea and you have a burning music production, mixing or music industry question, remember you can submit a message via speak pipe.

Marc Matthews: 25:10

Again, all you need is your mobile phone and its microphone, using the link in the episode description. Or you can send me a DM with your question via at inside the mix podcast on Instagram, or you can email me at insidethemixpodcastcom and remember to include a link where the audience can find you online, because I want to give you a shout out and send some people your way. And, before you go again, make sure you head over to Instagram and give Alea some love. That's underscore underscore. E-r-l-e-a underscore underscore.