TRANSCRIPTION: "Success Beyond The Score" Podcast, S.3, EP. 11

Here is the transcription of episode 11 of season 3 of the podcast "Success Beyond The Score". Happy reading!

- Watch the video of the episode here: YouTube

- Listen to the audio of the episode here: Kajabi

INTRO:

Hiya! Hope you are well and [that] you can hear me okay. I'm ready to share a fantastic 11th episode of my Success Beyond The Score. Now, a couple of things to say before we get cracking about the sound engineer.

One is: I did it. I have got to 11 live shows on YouTube. At the beginning, I didn't think I'd manage it, but I did, and I want to thank you so much for being with me, for giving me those questions, and for just rocking up, and liking, and sharing, subscribing. Thank you so much for that. Going forward, just make sure you put the bell on, so you're notified of any future broadcasts I will be doing.

Now, the second thing —before I get cracking on the sound engineer topic— is to remind you that, if you're new here, there have been ten other episodes before this one. I've covered the seven stages of the gigging musician, talked about whether your music can build a fan base, how musicians get killed by not understanding sound engineering (and today I'm going to look at the other side of sound engineering). I've looked at: "Do you have a music hobby? Do you have a music business?" Um, "Three reasons why you should charge for your music" and also playing for free. It's a bit of a contradiction, but when do you? When? Why should you? All that kind of thing. Video recording your gigs, it's really important to do that. I've looked at sound recording, going into that studio to make your first live CD, mp3, whatever, and why you should wait —there are three reasons why you shouldn't do it straight away. I've looked at the essentials for putting on your own performance, your own show where you are the headliner, with your own support acts. And today, I'm looking at three reasons why you should contact the sound engineer.

Um, a third thing I need to say. I said there were two, but actually, there are three. I have got a gig today, and I've got to get to the soundcheck on time. You'll notice that I've taken off the chat, so you can't leave any questions right now. What I want you to do is to put them in the comments because, while I'm travelling, I'll be able to check back, answer you, and so you are sorted, but I cannot handle the questions and get there on time.

Yesterday was a really good session. We ended up talking for almost an hour and then everything keeled. But hey ho. So, let me get to my notes. Here we go.

ABOUT SOUND ENGINEERS:

Here's your question: Are there benefits for contacting the sound person?

Usually, it's a guy. Sometimes, it's a woman. But contacting the sound person —who handles the microphones and amplification of sound at the gig— in advance? Or is it best to wait till you get there? Hmmm... Good question, isn't it? Let me give you a couple of scenarios while you're thinking about that.

You turn up with your instrument and your music on your phone. They have sound equipment, microphones, but they don't have the right lead to connect your phone to their desk. And you say: "Oh, don't worry, don't worry. I've got my tracks on CD, I've got them on USB. They're my backups, you can use anyone, which one would you like?" And they say: "Actually, I don't have any facility to play back CDs or USBs." Now, you're probably thinking: "What? In this day and age?" Trust me, there are different types of sound systems and mixing desks. If they don't have the right one, they can't do it.

Okay, how about this scenario? You're booked for a gig. You turn up. You see there's a microphone. You're cushy, you're fine. You see everyone goes up and performs, and the MC talks, and all that kind of stuff. ‘Compare talks’, whatever you're going to call them. Then it's your turn. You go up there, stand in front of your mic, start to perform, but you are struggling to hear yourself. And when you do hear it, it doesn't sound right. Something's not quite right.

Okay. That may not be you. So let's try this one. You're part of a band. Even a group, a choir, even. You turn up, and you say to the person: "Hey, we need two microphones. We need to plug in a keyboard, and we need to plug in our bass." And they look at you and say: "I've only brought a DJ system, and it can only handle one microphone." And you realise: "Oh no!" You're stuck. You need the keyboard player, you need the guitarist, and the guitarist didn't bring his acoustic one. Oh my gosh, what are you going to do?

Back in the day, I had some really hairy experiences turning up to gigs and not getting my CDs playing, my backing tracks playing, nothing getting heard properly and all this kind of thing. I got to a point where I just got a bit fed up and thought: "You know what? Something's got to change." I got my head around some tech, so that wasn't too bad. But in the journey I had —with making sure I can hear myself, making sure the sound person has what I need, because sometimes I have gigs where they're providing the sound because the massive room and my system can't do it— one of the lessons I learned the hard way was: Speak to the sound engineer before you get to the gig. Really, really, really, really important.

I know some people are risk-takers, and you're like: "Oh, it's fine, when I get there, I'll deal with it," but it can go one of two ways. It can work out fine and you come away thinking: "That's good." Or it can go down, and you go: "Why, why, why?" You know, you don't want that. You absolutely don't want it. You need to do everything you can do to make sure your performance is stellar, is great. And one of those things is speaking to your sound engineer well before the gig.

I don't mean on the day of the gig you're phoning that person, because they're running around, loading up their van and trying to get there to set up. And I'm not saying the day before, it's a little bit too late. I'm saying a couple of weeks before, you should be having that conversation. Minimum, the week of the gig. You need to do that.

Now, then, I'm going to give you some more concrete reasons why you should do that in advance. Even today, I turn up to gigs and I can point to the performers who have not bothered to check with a sound engineer. It's so easy to see. But before I do that, it's advert time!

Please, if you like what you're hearing me say, like it, share it, put comments in, put questions down there. Click the bell for notifications and just tell everybody about it. It's just great free information to help musicians become the best they can be. I firmly believe in that. The world is big enough for all of us to have a piece of the pie, I've said before, to get paid and to do a great job. The information I'm giving are things I've learnt the hard way, and I don't see why you should do that. You can learn it the easy way and get there quicker than I did.

If you're new, I've got a couple of free gifts for you for just sharing and liking and subscribing: "25 Secrets of the Successful Gigging Musician, Singer, Rapper and Spoken Word Artiste" is a download PDF that I created with 25 excellent tips that will help you to just level up straight away on your music. I've got another one called "10 Reasons Why They Will Pay You Before Gig Day." You can get both of those, one of those, whichever you prefer, from www.successbeyondthescore.com/freegifts. Also, I have a store, so you might want to go over there and see some courses there that you [could be] interested in for benefiting, uplifting and changing the way you do music.

Okay, so let's get to the juicy bits. I'm going to give you one, two, three, four reasons. They always say three, don't they? Four reasons why you should contact the sound engineer in advance, and some other side tips I've picked up on the way.

1. TECHNICAL COMPATIBILITY:

Number one: You need to check he has the right equipment. I know I said he, and I know women do, but I'm just going to say he, they, I'm trying to keep it neutral. But you need to check that they have the right equipment for your needs. You know, if you still use your backing tracks on CDs —and there's nothing wrong with that, it just depends on if that's what you do, that's the tech you can afford, that's a tech you understand— let them know you're doing that, because they can bring out a CD player. They might be the type of person who's just thinking about what they've got, and they've got their things all on their laptops and stuff like that. They may not even want your CD in their laptop, they may have a different device that they want to put the CD player CD in, so you should let them know: "I'm coming, I'm going to be performing three songs, and I'm bringing my backing track on CD" and then they can get prepared. Or USB: "I'm coming, and I'm bringing my tracks on USB" or "I'm bringing my tracks on my iPad, on my tablet, on my laptop, on my phone." You just need to let them know so they can bring the right equipment for your needs.

I may have told you this story before, when I spoke a couple of episodes back about musicians getting killed by sound and not taking an interest in this, but I remember doing a gig where I saw people going to the sound person with their phone in their hand, and one or two of them struggling because the sound person didn't have the right lead. All phones are different. You've got different inputs. Some phones are happy to take a 3. 5mm jack where you put your headphones. The more modern phones now are using USB, I think it's called USB-C, the different shape. Look, they just need to know, so they bring the right ones and you can perform.
You know, you don't have to really worry about your music being played back. Check that they have the right equipment for your needs. Also, PA systems. Let me tell you about this. That's Public Address Systems. Maybe you've not paid much attention to looking at the boxes and things that they use, but they're different sizes and different types. A DJ system is very different to a mixing desk for a sound engineer. So it's really important that you let them know so they bring the right thing.

2. TIME TO PLAN:

Number two: It makes life easier. By knowing what they want, they can prepare. The sound engineer wants to prepare. He wants to be comfortable, you know, they just want to do the job they love and do it well, and they know that if they get their job right, you're gonna sound good. You're gonna be happy. They're gonna be happy. The audience is gonna be happy. They're gonna get booked. They're gonna get more work. They're not gonna be told: "Oh my gosh, that sound was— oh my gosh!" And feel really embarrassed and not get a booking because they messed up your sound. And it's not that they messed up your sound, it's because you didn't give them the heads-up, therefore your sound got messed up. Not that they're doing it deliberately, but they were just working with what they have, and they were just trying to make it work.

If they're happy, you're happy. That's one thing I've found about sound guys. I always say hi, I always say hello, I always say thank you, I relate with them, I liaise with them, and they will do a great job. Remember, they're the professionals on sound, so make it easier for them. They love their job. Help them out.

3. LOGISTICS:

The third point is this: You can carry less or more. If you're dealing with a bona fide sound engineer —he's done it, he's got the miles, he's got the t-shirt and everything, and he's got the right equipment— it means you don't have to bring out your equipment. If he says: "Look, I haven't got the leads. Do you have your leads to put into your phone or your iPad or your laptop?" And you say yes, he will say: "Bring it." He will ask you some questions about the leads and you'll just describe it. And he goes: "Yes, that will work in my system." So he may have his leads because he's using it for his laptop, but you bring yours and he can connect that into his system, because he knows he's got space to put it in and your laptop can work. It means you're just bringing a lead, you don't have to bring your full PA.

Now, of course, if it's a sound engineer you've not worked with before, if the venue is of a size that fits the PA system you have, you can carry yours in your boot, just in case there's a problem. But more than likely, if you know who you're dealing with, you work with them time and time again, you can just warp lights. You don't have to think about bringing your boxes in, you can carry less. Or you can carry more, but you can only decide that when you speak to them in advance. And of course, if they're bringing a DJ system, you know: "That's not going to work for me." You can bring yours, or you liaise with the organiser that you're going to arrive early and set up. So that's really, really important.

4. THE RIGHT PEOPLE:

Number four is really something you will acquire as you go along, and that is: You will be able to check out if they have the level of understanding and competence to make you sound good. You know? The other day I had a gig I couldn't do, when I passed it onto a couple of my students. My students are quite good, so I was happy to let them have that work. I was speaking to the sound engineer and I just got the distinct impression that, well, maybe he might not be able to do what he says he can do. So I gave my girls some advice about some things, said: "Put your stuff in your boot" and what have you. And it did happen that, you know, the experience they had wasn't a very pleasant one, because this person, he was relying on some equipment to come in and that didn't come in. That impacted what my students had to do. They're just learning about sounds, so they weren't able to correct certain things. The gig happened.

It is kind of a gut feeling sometimes with people. Sometimes, it's just the choice of words that they use. You think they're making this sound bigger and better than it is. You're just picking up on that. Sometimes it's just trial and error. You know, you get there, right? You hoped it would work out. You did your due diligence. You spoke in advance, you sorted things out only to find, when you got there, [that] it didn't. And that is such a shame when that happens, you know, such, such, such a shame.

So those are my four points before I go into some other tips for you: It helps you to know they've got the right equipment for your needs. It makes their life easier and they can do their job. You can carry less or more, and also you can check out the competence of that individual, if you're in safe hands or not. Plan your plan B and your plan C. Maybe you might decide to go a cappella if it's just not working. Just a mic and no music. Who knows? Who knows?

Now, then, there is another side to consider with sound engineers. But just before I say that, don't forget, grab your free gift from my website, www.successbeyondthescore.com/freegifts. It's " 25 Secrets of the Successful Gigging Musician, Singer, Rapper, Spoken Word Artiste," or "10 Reasons Why They'll Pay You In Advance." Also, if you're liking what you're hearing so far, please press the like button. Please share it with someone straight away. They can catch this immediately, or they can watch the replay. Subscribe for more and put the bell on so you get notified when I next upload.

BE READY FOR EVERYTHING:

There is another side to trying to liaise with sound engineers in advance, and you may not have this happen to you. If it does, you can commiserate with me, I guess, and we can plan things going forward together, but I'm going to give you my tips.

Sometimes, there is no big solution. You really don't know, like I said a few minutes ago, what you're going to walk into. But I have come across some DJs —and when I say DJs, they're disc jockeys. They're the people who just like to play the music, and they're into music, and they're happy to allow you to plug into their system, provided they know what you're bringing. Because a DJ system... let me just explain that. A DJ system is basically a flat, not flat, well, it is a flattish thing where you can put CDs in and they just mix that one mic socket. That's it. Or they plug their laptop in, that's it. It's really, really simple. A sound engineer is going to bring a mixing desk, so he's going to have something a little bit bigger, you can plug in mics, depending on how big that is. They can plug in keyboards, guitars and all that kind of thing. A DJ system can't do that.

It's worth having a look at some of the pictures online. You know, mixing desks for public PA, PA mixing desks, DJ desks. And just have a look at pictures. You'll see they look completely different. And if you're looking for more advice on that, please check out my friend Vince Hyatt. He's my sound engineer consultant. He's absolutely fantastic, has loads of experience, and he's happy to take your call. His number is in the description.

SOME EXPERIENCES:

So, let me tell you the other side. Some DJs —I tend to find it's more the DJs than the sound engineers, although there was one sound engineer I can think of— may not be interested in hearing from you. They just don't want to know. I was doing a gig the other day and I rang up this person, and I said: "Hey, I'm coming. I just wanted you to know, this is what I'm bringing, and I can't make a sound check, but I can make a line check." Prior to that, I had difficulty getting through to that person. And then when I did get through them, they were like: "Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, but I don't do sound checks. I just roll with it live as it goes." I'm like: "Uh, what?" In my head, I'm like: "That ain't gonna work. That really isn't gonna work." He wasn't really interested in going much further in the discussion. He was driving, he said: "See you on the day."

I thought: "Okay, I've been shut down. Okay. What am I going to do?" Well, yours truly packed her sound system in her boot. It was quite a big haul. My system would just about do it, but I thought: "Okay, I'm going to struggle with my sound system on this end." So I went there, got there, and spoke to him. He was just about to get his meal. "Okay, come back later," he said. Great, so he's flubbing me off. Okay. I went and got something to eat, came back, I kept an eye on him from my table, to see what he was doing. Someone else went up to perform. I could see he was mixing them. The sound wasn't too bad. I said: "Okay, he kind of knows what he's doing."

What I did is, I went ahead of my time. I always do. I just set up on the side. I plugged all my mic and things together, got it all set up. Then I went over to him and said, "I need to plug this in, get that plugged in. I need to check the sax over your thing. So, when this person's finished, can you just play a track, and I'll play over?" and he goes: "Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, I've just got to mix this person first, you know?" He was busy. Okay, fine. Good.

That person finished their performance. I went to him, and I tell you what? It's a good thing I had said to him what I needed —and it was a ‘him’, it was a guy. Not to say that guys don't want to do it, I'm just saying in terms of gender, it was a guy. I went over and he played his track. I switched on my mic and one piece of howling! "Skeeee!" I'm like: "Whoa, what's going on here?" And I just switched my mic off quickly. And I'm like: "The fade is too high, mate. Your gain is too high." We started to talk and get it down, get it down. He got it down to a level. I made some adjustments at my end as well. We got it down. Then I just busked over to his track and I went: "Yeah, that can work." And then I said: "Right, just check. Can you hear mine?" So then I pressed play on my iPad and then he could hear it. Right, we're good to go. So that was like a live mix in a live situation. A live soundcheck. I'm glad I did that, because anyhow I had followed him, if I'd said: "Okay, yeah, sure, we'll do it and plug, plug, plug, go." The whole audience would be like deafened, and it wouldn't look good on him, wouldn't look good on me —although I'd make sure I give him the look so it looks like he made the mistake and not me, because I did call him.

Well, that was one. You know, they may not be interested in hearing from you at different stages, but you gotta stick to your guns. Stick to your guns and get it sorted. I'm glad I did, because then I could go, perform and not worry about what's happening, and looking back at him and stuff, you know.

There was another guy as well who I didn't hear from. I was ringing this person, got his number. Ringing, ringing, nothing, nothing. Nothing at all. Now, it was a jam session, so I wasn't too worried about it. I thought: "It's a jam session, I'm fine." I got there on time to set up a session and organise, just let him know I'm going to be there at such and such a time, which is like an hour before. I rocked up, he wasn't there. People are turning up, he wasn't there. About 15 minutes before, he was turning up and plugging in. All right, what's going on? He was so grumpy. He was one of the most grumpiest sound engineers I've ever worked with. He knew his onions, because once he plugged, he knew what he was doing, but something must have just ticked him off.

I don't know the drama behind the drama, but these things happen, and you just don't know when they're going to happen. You have to deal with them and roll with it when it does happen.

The other type of person you might meet, it's not just that they're not interested in you. It's that they haven't got a clue what they're doing. I've met people like that. When you improve in your knowledge, and you understand what you're doing, you'll be able to spot these people. But when you don't really know, you would just assume. You take what they say, when they say: "Oh no, what you got doesn't work" or they just blame you. You know, you find that they're just blaming you, blaming you, but you realise it's not that my stuff's wrong! You don't know what you're doing!

I've met people like that. I have done gigs, and they're like trying to tell me about my equipment. And I'm like: "No, no. It's such and such, and such and such." And then they realise I know what I'm talking about. I've got to admit, it tends to be those men who think women don't have a place in sound that I get that kind of pushback from, but I have just continued to learn and learn, and learn and learn. So I do not get pushed back at all.

So yes, you'll get some people who don't have a clue. You'll get some people who don't return your calls. I remember another occasion when someone didn't return my call. When I turned up, I decided to bring my equipment in, because I knew it would do the room, and I just set up. I realised that that person was just very shy, and they didn't really understand their equipment. That's what they knew and that's all they were interested in.

The third thing you might come across is, if you are performing for a large organisation, like a university. I've done that whereby the organiser has an events team with the uni or with the festival, and they ask you to send your tech details to them. And then that gets passed down to the sound engineer. Sometimes that works and sometimes it doesn't.

Sometimes, the events team forget to pass my details on. So when I turn up for my soundtrack, they're like: "Uh, who are you?" And I'm saying: "I'm so-and-so. I sent some stuff ahead." " We didn't get it." I said: "Oh, never mind. Let's try and figure it out." You know, because sometimes it happens. Best will in the world, you work in advance, the sound engineer is geared up, he wants to work in advance. But the middle person does not do their job. Those kinds of things happen.

Thankfully, I have met many, many, many great, fantastic sound engineers who know what they're doing. They're on time. They're there for the sound check. They make me sound good. I'm happy. I'm delighted. And I tell them they are fantastic. So, I just wanted to share that with you.

CONCLUSION:

Please put your questions and your comments in the comments box. I've disabled the chat because I've got to shoot off to this gig, and I've just got to get to my soundcheck. But later on, when I've done my soundcheck, I'll be checking on my phone, and I'll be replying back to you. Don't forget to grab your free gift from my website www.successbeyondthescore/freegifts which are "25 Secrets of a Successful Gigging Musician, Singer, Rapper and Spoken Word Artiste," or "10 Reasons Why They'll Pay You Before Gig Day." You can grab both or one.

If there's any other topics you'd love me to do a session on, please let me know. You can put that in the comments box. You can go to my website, www.successbeyondthescore.com. There's a contact box. Just click that and send me an email through that. I'd love to hear from you. And, of course, when you grab your free gifts, you'll be put onto my mailing list. I'll be putting out some more free content. I tend to send out emails with some stuff I'm learning about in music, maybe some opportunities that I've come across, things like that.

Let's keep in contact as I help you to be the best musician you want to be. Check out Vince Hyatt —his number's in the description— if you want more information on mics and stuff. I've done a webinar with Vince before about microphones, PA systems and stuff like that, so if that's something you would love, please put that in the comments, or on my contacts on my website, and I'll arrange a date to do a webinar for you.

Thank you again for listening. Thank you for being here for my 11 sessions on YouTube. I've loved it. I've enjoyed it. I've learned a lot about tech and things that didn't work and worked, as you know if you'd been with throughout. But it's been great. It means a lot that you were sharing, and you're liking and subscribing.
I plan to do some more lives, so keep in touch. Also, while you're waiting, put your feet up with a nice drink and just go through the other 10 episodes, or even this one again. I'm putting links with the titles in the description. It's kind of a long description today, but it's like the catch-all.

So let me tell you the 11 topics :

"The seven stages of a gigging musician." That's number one.

Episode two: "Does your music have the juice to pull a crowd?" It's all about fan base.

Number three: "Why do musicians get killed by sound?" And I'm just looking at why we don't get our head around tech, you know.

Number four: "I'm a musician. Do I need a business plan?" Trust me, check that one out. It's really helpful for you to now help you to navigate your career.

Number five: "Three reasons why you should charge for your music, starting today!" I'm a big believer in musicians getting paid as many, many, many times as you can, for every gig you do.

There are maybe 2%, 3% reasons why you don't, which I pick up in episode six: Is it a contradiction to play for free? So it's: "Playing for free, a contradiction for musicians."

Episode seven, see, I've run out of fingers now. Episode seven: "Do you have a music hobby or music business?" There is a vast difference between the two. This will help you to grow. Check that one out.

Episode eight: "This is why you should video record your gigs." I'll give you some reasons why you should do it. And some in depth things about that, so check that out.

Number nine, ta da da: "Stop! Do not record until you've done this." And that is, don't go into a recording studio until you've done this. Please, please, please, please, I'll give you some reasons for things you should do, not do, before you get there, so you have a good time and you can sell your CDs.

Number 10: "Three essentials for putting on your show." When you want to do your own show, you're the headliner, you want to fill in some support acts, I give you some essential things you should do, so your show is successful.

And finally, number 11. Ten plus one: "Three reasons why you should contact the sound engineer before your gig." That's the one I've just done.

Thank you. I've enjoyed working with you. Don't forget to leave your comments, I'll check them later today, just after my sound check and maybe after the gig. Like, subscribe, share, notification bell and www.successbeyondthescore/freegifts or the store. Lots of stuff for you to do. My gosh, lots of things for you to do, but just take your time, work through them. I'm still here.

Okay, bye for now.