The Garage Band Handbook - Chapter Three: Stage Setup Part Two

When you first start rehearsals you’re just trying to learn how to play your instrument. After a while you feel comfortable playing and you concentrate on playing the particular song correctly. After that, you’ll find that you no longer think about what you’re playing, your hands just play it themselves and at this point you’re starting to concentrate on your stage presentation. Now it starts to get real fun. Ever go to a concert and notice how the band doesn’t even seem to really be playing? Their hands are moving but they’re jumping around, looking out into the audience and having a good old time? That’s because they’ve reached the point where playing the music is so second nature to them that they can just let go and trust that their hands will play the right things at the right time. This comes after extensive live gigging but getting that second nature playing down can also come with rehearsal. Once you’re confident that you’re not going to suck, musically, then a lot of the stage fright will go away.          

  
    Remember, nobody knows how you’re suppose to sound, except you. If you make a mistake very few people, if any, are really going to notice. And if they do, it’s gone in a nanosecond and you have a few hundred notes left to make it up to them. What they will notice is the grimace on your face. If every time you hear a bad note you wince, the audience will read your visual cues a lot more than audio cues and that will register as a mistake. If you must show any reaction at all, smile. Make them think you did it on purpose, that’s how the song goes. They don’t know. Again, attitude goes a long way when it come to covering up a poor performance. A swaggering, confident demeanor lets you get away with a lot more than a stiff, highly concentrating exercise in musicianship. Just watch The Rolling Stones sometimes. They’re the masters of making a sloppy performance look cool.

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The Garage Band Handbook - Chapter Four: Image & Name Part One

The most important thing to a band is not their music, not their level of musicianship and not their song writing abilities. It’s their name. All those other thing will change over time, hopefully for the better, but their name is the constant in a career of change. Like any other product the brand name is what eventually sells the product. How many times have you asked for a Coke when all you meant was a soda? A Pepsi or even a Seven Up would do just fine but they gave you a Coke and the Coca Cola Company made money off you because you said the word, Coke.

    A band’s fans don’t really buy music, if they did, bands would only sell singles because what other product can you think of besides songs that you buy a dozen at a time? Eggs? One egg is pretty much like the eleven other eggs in a carton but each song on a CD is different. How often have you bought a CD because of the hit single just to find that all the other tracks are nothing at all like the hit? Then why do people buy CDs? Why do they buy band T-shirts or posters or stickers or even concert tickets? It’s not because of the music but because of what the band represents. The three minute single on the radio is simply a commercial for the band’s point of view and philosophy. We become attracted to what they represent and their name becomes the brand name for their particular trip. Some bands actually make more money selling their name on T-shirts, caps, posters, pins, stickers and other merchandise than they do on CD or concert ticket sales.

    Think long and hard on your name and then protect it. Contact the United States Office on Patents and Trademarks in Washington D.C. or go to their web site to learn how to copyright your name. Keep in mind that some words and proper names cannot be copyrighted but the name designed as a logo can be protected as a trademark. Why bother? Well for one thing, if your band is called say, The Owls, and you’ve spent years touring and building up a following in the Southwest until a major label notices all your hard work (and the money coming in) and wants to sign you but there is another band called The Owls in the Northeast, you’ve got a problem. If they’ve been using the name longer than you have then they can keep you from selling your records in the Northeast as The Owls. So, don’t sell in the Northeast? The record company isn’t going to want to invest in a band they can’t sell throughout the entire country. Change the name? If you change the name you just negated all the hard work you’ve done which attracted the record company to begin with. All those people that already like The Owls won’t be able to find you anymore and all the people who have heard of you and are interested in seeing you won’t know who or where you are. For the record company to build up the name recognition again from scratch takes away the reason they wanted you in the first place. Protect your name and do it early. Set up a web site at least that clearly indicates who constitutes The Owls, where you’re from and how to contact you. At least the domain name registration of www.The Owls.com might supply some proof of the date of origin.

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The Garage Band Handbook - Chapter Four: Image & Name Part Two

Image is a tricky question. Everyone has an image. It may be as a student, as an athlete, as a gang banger or as a punk. A person’s clothes, hairstyle, makeup, attitude and a number of other factors help to construct an image. Sometimes we can’t see a person’s image because we have the same image and as with an accent, we can’t identify  it because it’s so close to what we have and we certainly don’t have an accent. Well, to other people we do. To the people with accents we speak with a very definite accent and they have preconceived ideas about us as people and as a society just as we do about them. That’s our image. That’s not necessarily true, you say. Those preconceived ideas are stereotypes and prejudices. Yeah, image. Not real, not fact, not matter, not of any real substance, just an image, a mirage, a caricature, a cartoon. You’re going to have one whether you like it or not and once you step onto a stage and into a spot light it’s going to be magnified a thousand fold so you better construct one yourself rather than leave it to someone else or to fate. 

If you decide you feel it phony to perform as anything other than “yourself”, you better have a very strong self image to begin with otherwise start looking for a character to play while on stage. It isn’t being phony to assume a persona while performing in a rock band any more than it’s phony to play a role in a play. You are an entertainer, that’s what you’ve chosen to do. Chose to do it well and without restrictions of your own making otherwise your time on stage will seem self-indulgent and your audience will lose patience. Ever dress up for a party or for Halloween? Why? Because it was fun. That is what you want to give your audience, fun. If you’re too self-conscious to wear something other than your street clothes when other people are dressing up just to see you, then maybe you need to wonder about why you dress different when you go to church or to a wedding or to a party. Now, you shouldn’t wear something that’s so silly you feel inhibited. You don’t have to go on stage in full KISS makeup and platform shoes, but if you joined a ball team wouldn’t you want to wear the uniform? Your band should have it’s own uniform. It should be something that, although perhaps not all exactly the same, still identifies each member as belonging to the same group. It should reflect who you are as people as much as possible and what you represent musically. Your clothes, hair, musical style, instrument sound, lyric subjects, instrument selection and band name should all work together to represent the separate but compatible pieces of a unified whole. Your audience should be able to look at you, hear you play and then say to themselves; “Yeah, that name really fits them.”

    When it comes to choosing names be careful not to pick a name too trendy because when the trend is past your band may be perceived as being passe even though you’ve progressed musically with the times. Choose a name that is easy to pronounce and easy to read. You don’t want your fans being unable to buy your record or concert ticket because they can’t remember or pronounce your name. Also remember that when choosing a band name you are also choosing a brand name and logo for all your merchandise. As time goes by your band will discard songs from their set to be replaced by new ones and their costumes may change as often as fashion dictates but their name will always represent them.

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The Garage Band Handbook - Chapter Five: Demos Part One

    Although it is advisable to get a lot of practice in before you spend any money recording your music, taping rehearsals with an inexpensive cassette recorder is a good way of hearing what you’re doing right and what needs to be changed. Many cheap recorders have a hard time picking up the bass frequencies so you may have to adjust your volumes to allow for more bass to the microphone.

    It is terribly difficult to objectively judge your band’s performance while you’re actually playing so having a tape to listen to helps a great deal. A video tape can work even better but be prepared for a potential shock as sometimes the truth hurts. But as you improve, that too, will be noticeable on the recordings.

    After you’ve gotten at least three tunes down tight, with the instruments working together as a team and the songs edited if they’re too long and repetitive or if the solos aren’t impressive enough, then you can consider going to a demo studio and getting a demo tape. There is a very wide price range of demo studios these days because of the popularity of home digital recording equipment. If you ask around you’ll probably find someone in your own neighborhood that has a decent multi-track recording set up in his home. You shouldn’t have to pay over $25.00 an hour to record but at that rate you should still budget for around $300.00 for a finished demo.

    A lot of time in the studio is taken up by micing the drums. Some studios have small pads that attach to the drum heads and relay the beats into a computer that then recreates the drum sound onto digital tape. The drummer is still playing whatever he wants to play but the sound is able to be manipulated in a variety of ways to give you whatever drum sound you could possibly want. Otherwise, it does take time to adequately record an acoustic instrument such as the drums or an acoustic guitar. Most of the time the electric guitars and bass can be plugged directly into the recording console by way of a small preamp that simulates a variety of different amplifier models. Don’t expect to get each song down in the first take. A whole new set of nerves take over in a recording studio and it is often times more stressful than playing live. For one thing, it’s costing you money.

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The Garage Band Handbook - Chapter Five: Demos Part Two

The real fun in the studio is after all the tracks are recorded. The band may play live, all at the same time, or they may play one by one over-dubbing each instrument in sync with the one previously recorded, but either way each instrument and vocal is recorded onto a separate track. In this day of digital recording the number of tracks is often infinite. It used to be standard to record in either four, eight or twenty four track. Remember, the more tracks you record, the more tracks have to be mixed together for the final product. 

Each track can be given a combination of different sound effects such as distortion, flange, tremolo or harmonizer and then placed in it’s own spot in the mix through the use of reverb, echo and pan. With so many options the time in the studio can pile up quickly. Keep in mind that the recording is just the first step. You’ll need to duplicate the tape onto cassettes along with cover art and cases. You’ll also need a nice cover letter and mailing costs for sending out all those tapes to local clubs, parties, concerts in the park events and the like. If you can set up a nice, atmospheric live set and video tape it, that can be a very effective demo for getting live shows even if the music and the sound is less than polished. Again, it will be the attitude, confidence, stage demeanor and visual style that the potential booker will be impressed by, not necessarily the music.

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The Garage Band Handbook - Chapter Six: Promotion Part One

Go ahead and send your tape or video out to local radio stations especially if you’ve an upcoming gig to promote but except for some “Local Licks” shows that showcase local talent, radio is extremely hard to get into these days. Easier will be some of the cable access shows that highlight local bands, although many of these require the bands play live, so don’t do it if you’re not ready. In fact, the fastest way to break up a band and throw out months of hard work is to take a gig before you’re ready. Don’t rehearse three times and then have the drummer book you to play his cousin’s wedding. This is where having a band leader comes in very handy. No matter how equal everyone is musically, there needs to be one person established as the band leader. This need not be the most talented member but the member with the most common sense and maturity. There should be one person in charge of calling and organizing the rehearsals and one person with veto power over any band decision. Of course if any single member feels absolutely that he or she is not ready to gig then the other members should respect that decision as a band is only as strong as it’s weakest link. But many times the excitement and anticipation gets to be too much and hasty decisions are made that will lead to embarrassing moments that can haunt you the rest of your life. You don’t want to ruin anybody’s cousin’s wedding.

    A battle of the bands is not a good choice for a first gig either. A neighborhood party is a good choice. Even starting by inviting friends to your rehearsals is a good idea. This is only after you’re ready to start playing in front of a crowd and by no means ever let a band member bring a date to a rehearsal. That should be strictly forbidden, that’s what gigs are for.

    Your tape, or if you ever record your own CD, should really only be considered promotion for your live shows. You’ll end up giving away so many you’ll never get your money back but each one you give out marks you as a serious contender. A record company that listens to a CD they get in the mail, if they even bother to listen to it at all, will only hear the mistakes and what they would do different. It’s your image and personal style that’s going to get them excited. A video is a much better marketing tool. After all, making records is what they do and they’ll never admit that you did something as well on your own as they can do with their vast resources.

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My Mentoring Experience

One day many years ago when my first son was a baby I was taking him for a walk around the neighborhood in his stroller. As we strolled I heard the sound of a garage band nearby and walked over to see the band. They were fifteen year olds rehearsing in a garage and I introduced myself as a lifelong musician and publisher of PaperCuts, The Illustrated Lyrics Magazine, being published at the time, and I offered my guidance.

The talented guitar player relished the opportunity to get some experienced advice and I came to their next rehearsal, sans the baby carriage. The band was set up in a semicircle with the amps all pointing at each other and they all faced the drummer.
    “First of all,” I said, “put your amps in a line facing your audience and you guys all face forward.”
    “This is how we like it, man,” the lead singer snapped back.
    “But when you’re playing a real gig at a club they’re going to want you to set up your gear so the audience can hear and see you. You wouldn’t want to pay money to see a bad that has their backs to you.”
    “This is how we do it, man,” he reiterated.
    “Okay,” I said then I turned around and left.

When opportunity knocks it is unwise to tell it to get the hell off your front porch.

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