Engage Your Stage
By Ryan Patrick Imming

You’ve got your well-crafted original songs in tip-top shape. You’ve learned a selection of covers that are sure to impress, maybe an Ironic boy band/or hip hop song that you’ll do acoustically, or totally rock it out, whichever way, it’ll be sweet because it’s your unique style. Your band is tight, super tight, you’ve been rehearsing for months and you’re ready to unleash your musical prowess on the masses. You’ve got Twitter & Facebook a blaze with just the right amount of self promotion. Boom, you’d say this show is going to be epic, but you’re not that lame, you just know it’s gonna be great.

There is a checklist a mile long of things that bands and singer songwriters go over and over while preparing for a show, but one thing that often gets overlooked is developing stage presence. It’s a tough one, because there’s only one true way to develop stage presence, and that is to be in front of people, real people that aren’t your friends, families, girlfriends, boyfriends etc…. and learn how to carry yourself in front of an audience.

More than 10 years ago now, I was green, really green. I had a band that was made up of a few fraternity brothers and friends from the University of Missouri, where we all were students. We had started playing bars around town & then we graduated to travelling to Illinois, Kansas, Indiana, etc… playing fraternity parties, colleges, etc…

We got the opportunity to open for some amazing National acts and I was certainly star struck every time. One night in particular stands out. If you want to impress a 20 year old aspiring rock star, a good way to do it is to invite him & his band onto your tour bus before you let them open in front of you to a sold out 1000 person crowd in their home town. We were opening for Jackopierce at The Blue Note in Columbia, MO, they were huge at the time. For you younger people, they were doing what Corey Smith is doing now, and O.A.R. before him. They were selling out 1000 seaters at will with no radio play, strictly word of mouth, which was even more impressive considering this was the 90’s, pre facebook, pre myspace, pretty much pre-email. That night was magical, and I know this is a long way to get to my point, but one thing that I’ll never forget is when I asked Cary for any advice he said, “Play anywhere, everywhere, for anyone, all the time.”

He couldn’t have been more right. Musicianship, songwriting, etc… is very important, obviously, but what’s equally as important is your ability to connect with an audience. That can’t be taught or rehearsed, it has to be learned, plain and simple. And the only way to learn it is to do it, and do it and do it. Hang around comedians long enough and you’ll hear the term “stage time.” They know that they have to get comfortable on any stage, in any situation.

I’ve been lucky enough to make my living playing music for over 10 years now. I do between 150-200 shows a year, and a lot of them aren’t sexy. They’re at bars, where people are more interested in the drink special than who’s playing music at the beginning of the night. One of the most important things that I’ve learned is how to read and connect with an audience, any audience. Whether I’m playing at a resort town at 2 in the afternoon, a college bar on quadruple well night, or with a regional or national act in front of 1,000 people I’m comfortable now. I always tell younger bands that playing bar gigs is like swinging a bat in the on deck circle with a weight on it. It’s work, it’s still fun of course, but it’s work, and what’s more, it’s important work. You have to work to read your audience and determine how to connect with them. If you can do this at a bar, or a college cafeteria, street festival, etc.. you can do it anywhere, I promise you. Playing a ticketed show is when you take the weighted ring off the bat, step up to the plate and knock it out of the park. Now you’re on a comfortable stage with great light and sound and a crowd that PAID TO BE ENTERTAINED, and you’re ready to give them what they want, which is an experience that can’t be packaged and sold, it can only be remembered. Now get out there and give someone a show, whether they ask for it or not.

Ryan Patrick Imming on iTunes

www.rpimusic.com
twitter.com/rpimusic
facebook.com/rpimusic
youtube.com/rpimusic
soundcloud.com/rpimusic

1. A book I would recommend: Excuses Begone! By. Dr. Wayne W. Dyer
2. Favorite piece of gear: Boss RC-50 Loop Station
3. One thing I can’t live on the road without: I-pad
4. Who am I listening to these days: Lori Mckenna, Mary Gauthier, Darrel Scott

Ryan has played over 1700 live shows since quitting his “real job” in 2001 to focus solely on music.  In doing so he has played in every imaginable setting, audiences ranging from 25 people to 5000 people.  He has shared the stage with a wide range of national touring artists including Dave Matthews & Tim Reynolds, Sheryl Crow, The Zach Brown Band, The Dan Band, Hello Dave, Michelle Branch, Umphrey’s Mcgee, Better Than Ezra, Cowboy Mouth, and more.  Ryan’s show suits his venue.  Since he is a solo artist he caters his set to the venue he is playing. If he is playing in front of a national touring act for a short amount of time he will play all originals, if he is playing a “long set” at a college event, corporate event, fraternity party etc….you can expect to hear his original songs mixed in sparingly with cover songs from a wide range of artists including Johnny Cash, Paul Simon, Snoop Dogg, U2, and Govt. Mule.

The pursuit of success requires you to cultivate a commitment to consistency.

In other words, you want to always be prepared to give your best performance – while you also have a plan in place to keep getting better.

Life Happens

This makes sense and sounds simple enough, but simple isn’t always easy. Life happens – the unexpected or unthinkable shows up as Murphy’s law takes you to court.

Sometimes you have too much on your plate or there’s additional stress, and you find it difficult to focus. So, you have to cut back on rehearsal time.

Then, what rehearsal time you have suffers because you’re exhausted or distracted. When the time comes for that special live performance gig you’ve been dreaming of, you stumble and fumble your way through, and it’s not quite up to speed.

Taxing Times

There will be times when things go wrong, or you’re busier than you’d anticipated. But, life works that way; and the entertainment industry will likely present challenges to tax your nerves, demand extra attention, run interference with relationships, and defy any perfect planning you’ve enforced for rigorous rehearsals.

Discipline Rules

Discipline is vital to your arrival, survival, and potential for thriving in the pursuit of your voice-driven career.

Realistic pacing and realistic goal-setting are both key to helping you stay disciplined and keeping your commitment to consistency.

Don’t Skip Steps

Think about how many times you lose focus when you start skipping or shortchanging something as basic as a daily warm up. How does that impact performance? How does it affect how you feel about singing or speaking?

How many times have you been unfocused in your daily practice? Maybe there are several areas of your voice that you know you need to work on. But you simply skim quickly through without focusing on anything specific. You’re afraid to take it all piece by piece – or you lack the patience.

It’s true that you worked out, but that general, non-specific approach may not have sufficiently addressed issues that need attention.

You want to set specific goals for a realistic, manageable routine so that you know what your focus will be on a daily basis.

One By One Point of Focus

If there are several key issues or areas of focus that need attention, don’t skim or shortchange any of them. Give each issue the time and attention that’s needed and deserved – one at a time.

Choose a different point of focus for each day, and set aside a day for a fully integrated and coordinated practice session or rehearsal that assimilates what have been your points of focus earlier the week or in the previous few days.

No Skipping – No Skimming

You must avoid rushing, skipping, and skimming because other aspects of your training, commitment, and quality will likely be compromised. It begins to snowball or spread like an infection. Then, you get more frustrated, stressed, discouraged, and your gift is not honored nor is it properly served.

Keep Challenges In Check

The same approach applies to issues with the material you perform. If a song or two in your set is presenting some challenges, set aside time to work it out. If it’s case where a piece isn’t working at all; find a suitable replacement.

The quality of your performance should never be compromised because of a lack of focus or by deficiencies in time and attention.

Rehearse Rough-Spots

Devote specific rehearsal time to the more challenging pieces, arrangements, staging, or other aspects of your performance. Then, incorporate that work into a regular rehearsal or run-through.

Set Specific Manageable Goals

By setting specific manageable goals for your daily and weekly practice sessions, you will be better prepared for contingencies and challenges that may come when show time has arrived; or when you’ve booked time in the studio.

Forums + Coaching

Share challenges and effective scheduling tips with your peers through the singingsuccess.tv forums. Offer advice on what works and what to watch out for that can throw you off track.

Talk about the impact of having more focus-driven practice sessions that are followed by a more integrated rehearsal or practice session where the pieces come together. Also, share any success stories where your performance has clearly been enhanced by this focused approach to practice with realistic manageable specific goals.

Discuss rehearsal and practice strategies when booking your next session with one of Brett Manning’s certified master associates.

Positive Results

The more you focus on meeting manageable goals in a timely manner, the more positive results you’ll see in delivering on your commitment to discipline, quality work, and consistency.

This approach will help you become more surefooted in directing the steps you must take to achieve the full measure of your true singing success.

You can find more tips on singing here:

10 Commandments of Independent Music Making

By Christopher Dicks and special thanks to Dotted Music and their continuing support of  H.A.M.

I have worked 9-5 in audio for 7 years (and sometimes 5 PM to 9 AM). When I studied recording engineering and production in 1996 at Fanshawe College in Canada, it was all about big studios, getting signed to a record label, and getting radio play. We learned to use magnetic tape, but we leaned toward digital. They taught me how to get clean sound through being methodical, but also to respect the crazy girl that tries anything and everything to make her mix radical.

But now I have a “real job” and I’m producing and marketing an album from home in my “free time.” It’s really reinventing the wheel since a big record deal and mainstream radio play are a longshot and physical stores are disappearing. So I thought I’d share with Dotted Music readers what I have learned over the last year from my own experience and from leaders and pioneers of this new internet music scene such as John Oszajca, Tunecore, Jango radio, Reverbnation, and Indie Bible. Here are my current 10 Commandments to reach the goal: Getting Known and Being Paid through the Internet.

• X Thou shalt make of thyself a graven image
• IX Thou shalt love thy fan base as thyself
• VIII Thou shalt have thy songs mastered
• VII Thous shalt focus thine efforts on the few most powerful websites
• VI Thou shalt give away free stuff
• V Thou shalt make a video
• IV Thou shalt not put thy music on a streaming cloud without reading the fine silver print
• III Thou shalt not neglect thy copyright
• II Thou shalt not dishonour thy timetable
• I Thou shalt GET it in WRITING

X. Image

Image credit: eatshitmotherfucker on Tumblr

Create your band image and do all your bio, design and photos to emphasize that. Be consistent. As Vanessa Carlton said, “Be Not Nobody.” Not everyone will like you, will they. Let them go… But some will love you! So be what you are, and do it HARD!

Remember, the only way a journalist is going to want to do a story on you is if you HAVE a story, something unique. So define it and then play it up. And if you have snagged a radio interview, excellent! So have some predefined answers to work from, that cement your image to listeners.

Also, radio stations and record companies/distributors want a press kit. That will include a bio that is well-written and creates a mental image, 8×10 photo(s) and of course your CD with its album art and liner notes. Having all of this ready and shiny creates the image that you are professional and serious. Moreso, that you understand the industry you are entering and you want to help THEM do THEIR job. If they have your well-crafted 8×10 to pull out again later, then they’ll shudder each time (which is good), if you’re an evo death metal band, or if you were a fun-loving and upbeat dance band then look and be reminded “yeah, he was a riot.”

IX. Fan Base

Image credit: crsan on Flickr

Try to start dialogue with your fans on Twitter and Facebook. Ask them questions, demonstrate care about their lives. The most engaged fan will probably turn around and buy the interactive CD, buy the video boxed set, SHARE you, tell two friends. After all, they discovered you. On Jango internet radio, for example, if someone clicks to become a fan, the site lets you write individually to one fan, or do 2 mass emails a week. Make it personal and grateful, not just pushing your gigs or product. Reward them. Once I wrote some musical suggestions to singer on a big label. She didn’t write back. I would have liked that. I would have thought she was cool.

Speaking of Twitter, if someone follows you, you might want to follow them back. Check them out first of course. I tend not to follow anyone who tweets to their b*ches since that will be reflected on my page. If you follow back they say, hey she’s real, and maybe is even interested in me. You can always unfollow later.

VIII. Mastering

Image credit: bartku on Flickr

You’re good, youre studio’s good, your recordist is good. But you need to sound equivalent to what’s on the radio. A professional mastering engineer listens all day to new songs, shaving off the annoying peaks, increasing clarity, beefing up the bass, making your songs as loud as the world’s songs. No you don’t want to compromise or flatten your mix, but if each of your songs has the same deficiency, because of your speakers, the mastering engineer will pick it up. It doesn’t mean that anybody sucks. It just means that not all rectangular rooms and not all speakers and amps were created equal.

VII. Websites

VibeDeck

Commandment VII is probably the core commandment. Websites will help build your fan base. Twitter, Facebook, streaming radio, your videos on Youtube, Blogs. But choose maybe 3 or 4 to which you can commit to a schedule of adding content and interacting, while people’s attention is still intact. One writer commented that 4 times a day is too many tweets and one a month is too few. Have a good mix of promo and being personal with fans.

Yes, they’ll discover you on those public sites, but you need to SQUEEZE them to your PURCHASE page, perhaps to your band’s website. Consider that you got them there and they might lose interest quickly. So tell them “get my new single” or “share my player on your page” so that they’ll come to your money engine and act.

About your own personal band website: I was worried that I had to contact Moneris or somebody to give me credit processing on my page, and a web host that could set me up with adequate band width for viral downloads… and I was intimidated. Enter the WIDGET! No, not the Bruce Lee movie. The widget is enough computer code to paste into your html page so that the selling machine that someone else already created can be placed on your personal page AND handle downloads and payment! My band Max Jam is able to sell MP3s on Reverbnation, Bandcamp, Vibedeck, The Sixtyone, AmazonMP3, iTunes etc. etc.

Now, iTunes does reportedly 80% of internet music sales in the world. So you want to be there. To be there you must pay Tunecore to launch your music, and then they collectively keep 30% of your sales. Enter Vibedeck! They have decided that they will always host for free and will always pass 100%, of sales collected, straight to you through Paypal, without touching any money! When I regained consciousness…

I tried to embed just the player/selling engine on my page. Was only able so far to embed the whole Vibedeck artist page. In the interest of time, I instead embedded just my Reverbnation player (2 inches square) and created a link which opens Vibedeck/Max Jam into my own page’s lower frame when the visitor clicks “Buy MP3.” Here is my temporary website if you want to read the source code.

VI. Free Stuff!

Image credit: brendanmills on Flickr

Napster pioneered free stuff. Unfortunately. Now it’s expected. Yes, do give away a song, but I would do it as a reward for what you need: more fans, more exposure. I personally wouldn’t give away the song that I expect to gross the most money in sales, unless it’s to the hardcore fans that have true respect and have shown loyalty. You share stuff in order to reach more people, to foster gratitude, and once they know how cool you are, to attract them to the paid stuff and concerts. Saying “come and download my single for free” might bring lots of people to your page, so maybe make them earn the single by sharing your link or your player somewhere else.

Also, here’s a sort of Digital Copyright Management that I think I invented: If you’re giving away CDs to strangers, that you made from wave files, you’re basically giving away your master. No, no, no. Only for paying customers. Instead, use iTunes to convert to a 256 or 320 kbps MP3 file, then use iTunes AGAIN to convert that MP3 back to WAVE!! Now you can burn, basically, a 256 quality CD which sounds as good the net, probably quite good, but if they rip it to put it on torrents… ooo… what’s that nasty warbling? I heard of a DJ who lowers his mixes to about -50 dB on his CDs, so people can turn them up to hear them, but not enough to DJ with them! And if you now Normalize that, you’re going to be the proud heir of artifacts from heck.

V. Video

Image credit: sko11ie on Flickr

A music video is like a ribbon on a gift, or value-added packaging. It makes the music sound better than it is. Even if it’s just home-movie of your band playing the song through once, it’s more content to enjoy and to get to know the musicians and build your image (see commandment X). Yes, do a pro video if you can afford it, yes, submit it to MTV. But if you can’t, you can still do a great job with a high-end Nikon or Canon photo camera and a TRIPOD and free software. The critics are saying that even MTV is dying slowly.

When you put it on Youtube, make sure you fill out the tags, and make most of the tags for all of your videos identical, so that all of them come up together. There is another cool idea out there: do a cover and tag it to resemble the original hit singer. This could be your first big exposure on the coattails of someone who has guaranteed traffic.

As for editing programs, I have torn out more hair using Windows Movie Maker, but Cyberlink DVD PowerDirector rocks my world. It has effects, picture in picture, titles, the list goes on.

IV. Cloud

Soundcloud

I think “the cloud” is designed to steal revenue from CD sales and even iTunes. It’s more like “the smokescreen.” Apparently people want it. So you’ll consider putting your music there but: READ THE FINE PRINT. Do they say that they have the right to “copy, distribute, use your music in any medium existing now or in the future, without restriction, in perpetuity?” What do they mean? Is that what you want? You can’t remove it?

Should you click AGREE?? Maybe just not your hit, eh? And do read your options carefully, because you may be able to set your song as preview-only, or hidden except to invitees. This is the case on Soundcloud where technically you could create a private listening room to which you “invite” DJs or A&R reps but no one else can enter. Incidentally, those scary rights paraphrased above are from Soundcloud!

Read the final three commandments (Copyrights, Timetable and Get It In Writing) in the original article at Dotted Music. The article was written by Christopher Dicks, Recording engineer, Producer, Co-writer of Max Jam.

Efficient Practice

By Gerald Klickstein.

Author and founder of The Musician’s Way

What Artists Should Know About ReverbNation’s Promote It
by Brian Hazard and Passive Promotion

Running a Facebook ad campaign is confusing. You bid for ad placement, but the price you pay bears little relation to your bid. What’s the difference between reach and social reach, connections and clicks, CPC and CPM? More importantly, is there any way to tell how many people played, downloaded, and shared your song, or signed up for your mailing list? (answer: no, there’s not) ReverbNation’s new Promote It tool addresses those shortcomings, and then some. You pick a song, photo, and budget, and it automatically generates dozens of optimized Facebook ads based on past Promote It campaigns, and continually optimizes your campaign based on the performance of those ads. New fans click through to customized landing pages that track not just clicks and likes, but plays, downloads, shares, wall posts, and mailing list signups. As I’m quoted as saying in the press release, “It’s the ultimate ‘set it and forget it’ fan-making machine!” I was invited to try it out and provide feedback during the beta period, and I’m flattered that some of my suggestions made it into the final product. So far I’ve run six campaigns. Let’s walk through the creation and performance of my latest and most successful one.

As of this writing, there are two types of campaigns available: promote a song, and promote your Facebook page. Soon you’ll also be able to promote a show or release. Most of my experience is with promote a song, so let’s continue with that: Setting up your Promote a Song campaign requires nine simple inputs: 1. Which Song Would You Like to Promote? You should pick one that grabs the listener in the first 5-10 seconds. The song I chose starts right in on the first verse, with no instrumental introduction whatsoever. 2. Pick 5 Similar Artists. Since I was promoting a Depeche Mode cover song, I picked the band and its members’ solo projects: Dave Gahan (lead singer), Martin L Gore (songwriter), and Alan Wilder (long-departed yet still beloved keyboardist/producer) – plus Erasure, since half of that duo was in the original line-up of DM. The product manager for Promote It told me that artists who have between 50,000 and 500,000 likes work best, and my results bear that out: The Dave Gahan ads performed so well that they completely crowded out the rest. Perhaps it’s because Depeche Mode has millions of casual fans, but only the most serious ones keep up with the lead singer’s solo work, and are therefore more motivated to check out my cover. 3. Write Ad Text. You can choose to author one of the ads yourself, or let Promote It generate them all. Since my custom ad was outperformed by the auto-generated ads, I won’t bother sharing it with you. 4. Choose Picture. Your choice here can make or break the campaign! My previous campaign was identical to this one, except I used a close-up of yours truly. The results were pathetic. It should come as no surprise that a photo featuring 1) a world-famous band and 2) an attractive female does a better job of catching the eye. 5. Geo-Targeting. Choose between local (your state), national, all English-speaking countries, or global. Theoretically you should get the best results from global, but national did just as well for me in my limited experience. 6-8. Name Your Campaign, Sync with Facebook, Start Date. Pretty much self-explanatory. 9. Budget. Choose between $25, $50, $100, $250, or $500 on a one-time, weekly, or monthly basis. I recommend you experiment with successive $25 campaigns until you find a winning formula, and expand from there. My $50 campaign lasted six days. Here are the results (click to enlarge): I was most pleased with the 44 mailing list signups, but 57 likes is nice too. There’s sure to be some overlap between those two figures, but in any case, that’s a lot of new fans who will be hearing from me on a regular basis.

How does Promote It compare to running Facebook ads directly?

It really depends on what you’re trying to accomplish. If you just want to boost the number of likes on your page, direct ads have a serious advantage: you can structure them so that a click is a like. But if you’re looking for the kind of things we musicians tend to care most about: song plays, downloads, shares, and mailing list signups, there’s no way to know which is best. Facebook doesn’t provide that information. And no, you can’t just take the best performing Promote It ad and copy it over to Facebook. ReverbNation doesn’t share the text of its auto-generated ads with you, perhaps for that very reason. But who says you have to choose? I use both. How is Promote It working for you? Please share your results in the comments. To see it in action, check out this short video.

Promoting Your Music on Facebook from

Promoting Your Music on Facebook from ReverbNation on Vimeo.

Follow @colortheory

So there you go LA club and restaurant owners. The advice is free. But you’ll most likely ignore it because “That’s not how it works”. But if more musicians kept telling them the same thing, perhaps it would start to sink in.

David Goldberg’s Recommendations:

MUSIC VIDEOS: RICK ROLL AND ROCK ‘N ROLL
By Sean Williamson of Jimmy At The Prom

So you just show up, plug in, the lights are up, the video is rolling, and someone just brought you a warm towel, right? Oh, and I forgot to mention it already has 100k hits on YouTube…right? Well, unless your name is Jack White

or that newswoman who fell out of the grape tub

you’re doing something wrong. Better yet, you’re about to get words that are suppose to help you get 100k hits from me…a musician scrambling to get out of debt working a bar tending shift tonight, just to get up and go back to work at the crack of dawn…just to free up enough time and money to invest in…the band. So, my 2 cents…

The trick is always in who you know in the “making of” a good music vid, but it needs to be paired with a ton of moving parts that work toward a common thread. Then it has to be interesting enough for people to care about. Jimmy at the Prom’s music video to “Made of Wax” was a perfect storm of who we knew, musical preparation, logistical preparation, and some luck.

A tattoo artist, an animator, a film director/editor, a technical director of a major local theater, two assistant engineers, and four musicians made up the endeavor. Two songs were chosen in hopes that one would land a live take from front to back, as the audio and video were to be recorded simultaneously. First, bassist Matt Turner and myself conceptualized the artwork and put the execution in the hands of Steven Bossler of www.greenseedstudios.com. Then, www.harvest-motion.com animator Dave Kiehl worked off a storyboard I drafted to put the artwork in motion. From there it was the magic of Bryan Mir at www.blend-studios.com to put the pieces together in a way to fit the song and vibe of the group. The endeavor coincided with the release of our first record, which was all recorded at the same venue in the same fashion, and served as a launch pad for promo.

So, where to start… If you don’t know anyone in the field, and money is tight…Google is your friend. Freelancers are going to be a lot cheaper than firms, and students are even cheaper than that. Get a list together of all your local film or tech schools and pitch your idea to an instructor. Go to a theater venue and find the photographer shooting a national act and get his/her card…chances are they’ll give you their personal card and not the venue you’re in. Go to a local film festival and start talking to people…chances are you’ll find some hungry directors with crazier ideas than your own. Research is so key. You can spend so many hours looking in the wrong places and at firms that charge six figures more than your budget.

Once you have assembled your team of sorts, then the work really begins. Coordinating and communicating with everyone at once is difficult. Tech specs need to be shared across the board, song length vs. frames per second vs. HD vs. your damn outfit vs. extra hands vs. everything else has to be ready to go…because you’re probably renting a venue, paying people hourly, and everyone is hungry and waiting for you to buy them lunch on the day of your big shoot.

Knowing your end-game budget is key, knowing your music is key, and having a solid timeline is key. You don’t want to get caught 1000 bucks short, you don’t want to show up unprepared, and you can’t launch the product unless everything is finished on time. Even with an air tight game plan, something always happens…but if you’re patient and give yourself a couple weeks of buffer time…you might not go entirely crazy managing all the working parts. For example, just look at the swiftness of Lana Del Ray’s campaign  from her October 10th single released on vinyl to her December 1st YouTube channel release. That is signed, label speed, and it should give you an idea of how fast you have to move to stay current.

All of that said, the music is the most important part of it all, and then still having a budget after that is hard to pull off. One must decide the most effective allocation of budget without dropping it all on one element. The decisions are tough.

Please pass along this video

to a friend, then tell that friend to tell a friend, and then watch this video (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQw4w9WgXcQ), and look how many hits it has.

Check out Jimmy At The Prom on iTUNES!

www.jimmyattheprom.com
youtube.com/jimmyattheprom

Sean Williamson’s Thoughts and Recommendations:

One book I would recommend is The Music lesson by Victor Wooten

Right now my favorite piece of gear is my white 89 MIJ Strat w/Evans SSH pickups & Floyd Rose.

One thing I can’t live on the road without is Emergen-C

I’m listening to Elixir on Mute & Kyuss these days.

]]> http://www.headabovemusic.com/music-videos-rick-roll-and-rock-%e2%80%98n-roll/feed 0 http://www.headabovemusic.com/the-quite-american-and-his-instruments http://www.headabovemusic.com/the-quite-american-and-his-instruments#comments Tue, 22 Nov 2011 14:08:38 +0000 admin http://www.headabovemusic.com/?p=2982

The Quite American and His Instruments
Interviewed by Bryan R. Sansom

Musician, luthier, historian and songwriter; Aaron Keim is a roots music renaissance man.  As The Quiet American, Aaron performs traditional and original folk music on guitar, ukulele and banjo. (which he builds himself!)  Inspired by depression era string band music, old timey gospel, lo-fi garage rock and the modern indie-folk scene, The Quiet American is a compelling mix of old and new.

After falling in love with music in the school band and choir, Aaron studied music education and french horn in college.  He stumbled upon an old time hootenany outside of Cimmaron, NM in 1999, which inspired him to learn the upright bass and start The Paradise String Band.  While teaching orchestra in the public schools, Aaron began his career building and restoring string instruments.  In 2003, Aaron moved to Colorado and earned a master’s degree in music history from University of Colorado.  In 2004, Aaron founded Boulder Acoustic Society, which has played over 1,000 shows all over the US, focusing on a genre bending mix of folk, rock, jazz and classical.  While traveling with BAS, Aaron taught workshops and masterclasses on roots music, studied banjo, ukulele and guitar with the masters, performed for huge festival crowds and embedded himself in the modern folk scene.

What inspired you to start building your own instruments? First I was inspired to restore old, broken instruments. I love old things and am fascinated by taking things apart to see how they work. Later, I started building because no one else was making instruments I wanted to play.

As someone who has built the instrument they perform with, you have a more intimate   connection with it versus something bought in a store. Have you found that this connection has inspired you and affected the way you play? I don’t think I have a greater connection because I built it, by I do think I build better because I play. It has led me to insist on certain design features that I think professional musicians need and want.

How did you turn your interest in making instruments into a business? I met Heidi and Rob, who are musicians and entrepreneurs. They believed in me and worked hard to start Beansprout Banjos and Ukuleles. I worked with them for 2 years before I bought them out. Then I ran Beansprout on my own for about 18 month while I started my collaborations with Mya-Moe ukuleles. (www.myamoe.com) That has led me to a full time spot building with them.

Like most musicians, I didn’t have any training in business in college. Years of touring got me a lot of business experience, but I still had so much to learn about running a business properly.

How has the business affected your musical career? Over time, my building and my music have grown closer together and more supportive of each other. Now, most of the people who see me play also know about my instruments and most of my luthiery customers are also fans of my music. My solo act, The Quiet American, uses mostly instruments I build or modify. www.quietamericanmusic.com

Building ukeleles must be time consuming, as is being a musician. What advice do you have for maintaining balance between the two, and prioritizing your life? I used to be sort of a jack of all trades, but as I get older, I have specialized more and more. I stopped teaching, writing and blogging etc…so that the two things I do could be the best they could be. I also work towards quality and efficiency in both fields.

What is one book you could recommend to our readers? The Rose and the Briar. It’s about folk ballads. Geeky, I know, but I love it.

What is your favorite piece of gear? It’s a tie between my 1930′s Maybell archtop guitar (I put a ’60s gold foil Teisco pickup on it) and my Big Muff fuzz pedal.

What is one thing you can’t live on the road without? A book, my iphone and an ukulele. I know that’s three things, but that’s how I roll.

Who are you listening to these days? I just got a 100 track compilation of 60′s garage rock. There is some weird stuff on there!

Going Outside the “Bar”
by Luke Andrews

As an acoustic artist, Playing to your friends and family, around the campfire, local coffee houses and small bars is a no brainer.  But, I challenge you to go outside your comfort zone .

I once opened up for 5 punk bands at the Speakeasy in Downtown Toronto with simply an
acoustic guitar. Since I had just a couple friends there to watch me, I wanted to fit the mold, so I played an acoustic version of Nirvana’s Lithium.  In the middle of the song, I had everyone clapping, singing along and having a blast in the audience. I don’t intend to sound vain or cocky, but this sort of thing is how I have gained “fans”.  In order to gain new fans that are not your friends and family, you have to go outside the “bar”.

As a solo acoustic act, I have played private parties, antique stores,
backyard b.b.q.’s, small venues, huge venues and pretty much anywhere
anyone will let me set-up.  With my band, The LA Accident, it takes a little
more logistics, but we have played just as many different types of venues;
The LA Marathon (while people run by), car races, little theaters, campgrounds,
kids parties where I’ve had to learn Justin Bieber and Jonas brothers.   I’ve had
people ask me to sign their running suits, race car jerseys, books and
anything that they have on them.  I am in no way a famous person, but
when you are playing with a microphone or a band in public places,
people assume you are special.  This is “outside the box” or more
relevant “outside the bar” thinking.

I have played countless bars where I leave half in the bag with no energy
or excitement left, because I am not gaining new ground; I am playing covers
and originals to people that could care less who was on the stage.  If you play
somewhere that 1000 other bands have not, you are creating something
new. That’s when the pictures are taken, the articles are written and
the people remember you.

I am planning a summer tour in Arkansas and Texas and I have literally
just showed up at venues and asked to play.  Like the Little Theater
in Mena, Arkansas; unless you walk in, like me and my girlfriend did,
you wouldn’t know they rent out this 250 person venue for $200, that’s
potential to make $10×250 people = $2500 – $200 (rental fee) = $2300
PROFIT POTENTIAL! You don’t always have to make a cash deal to make
money and most of the time you will make more if you think Outside
your comfort zone.

In Hollywood I have “paid to play” many times, but
never reallly paid. I have seen young musician pull out $400 out of
their personal bank accounts to play at The Whisky A-Go-Go, Viper
Room, Key Club, Roxy, etc..  Fortunately, we usually break even,
except for our residencies; that’s when we start making some money.
Find a booker that will let you play somewhere more than once; like
once a week or once a month.  Then, you can promote the hell out of it
and people know that The LA Accident are playing at The Derby every
3rd Friday. When we did this, we made either $20 or when our friends
brought their friends who turned into fans; we made $400, $750, etc.
Usually, in Hollywood, if you have a good relationship with the
booker, they will allow you to make money after you have a certain
amount of people through the door that say your name.  The booker that
we have done the best with is “Can of Jam” who is now also “The
Codega”.

Even though Los Angeles is huge city, once you get inside
the music industry and think outside the box, you will realize there
is not that many “players”; meaning people you have to compete with.
If you are doing something all the other bands in Hollywood are doing,
like playing for 30 mins at the Whisky on a weekday for 50 ticket
sales, then you aren’t gonna do much but that. On the other hand if
you are networking with random guests a the Whisky that you did not
sell tickets too and they book you are for a private backyard bbq, now
you are a “player”.

Back in 2008, I responded to a craigslist ad for a Kids Bday party.
Even though the thought of playing 2 hours of Jonas Brothers and Miley
Cyrus made me gag a bit, I was willing to take this risk.  When I
walked into the women’s house to “audition” she immediately hired me
because I was young, polite and dressed appropriately.  This has now turned
into 3 parties for different families over 3 years. This year, having
to learn the new pop idol, Justin Bieber’s songs and told that Miley
and Jonas’ were OUT was amusing yet painful, but was a big paycheck.
What bands don’t think about is that for the other 2 hours we are
playing, we get to play our funk, rock, reggae and blues originals
and sell CD’s to the parents…Outside the bar, inside a hall attached
to a church.

Unfortunately, against your will, as an independent artist you have to
promote yourself constantly.  It would be great if we had Madonna’s
manager to push our CD’s, but this just isn’t the case.  If you put
out an album independently, there is two ways to look at it and
generally two different outcomes; they sit in the box or they get out
to the world.  In 4 years, I have released two full-length albums and
4 EP’s and usually break even with the hard copy sales totaling about
2000 units. The reason I break even is usually because I give about
half of that 2000 away and call it sales.  At LA Accident shows, we
hold dance competitions and the winner gets a CD. This usually leads
to sales that may of not occurred if we said had not said anything
about our merchandise booth.  We let radio stations, cities, charities,
family and our friends give them away and when the physicals are gone,
we are in 5 local newspaper articles and we have digital sales that
continue forever (make sure you check out Tunecore)

(Sign Up for a FREE TuneCore account, and take advantage of our Anniversary Special! ).

Finally, it’s important to always carry your cd, if possible, or at
least have business cards wherever you go. Living in Hollywood, I have
met Brian McKnight, Ryan Tedder from One Republic, Shaun Murphy of
Little Feet and guitarist Ben Carey from Lifehouse, to name a few.  I
talked to them for a bit and handed them my cd at the end of our
conversation.  I’m not telling you this has gotten me really anywhere,
other than encouragement, but if I didn’t have anything on me, the
potential of connection down the road vis 0%.  Who knows when someone
could call? Bottom line is, I would rather have 1000 cd’s out there,
then 1000 cd’s under my bed; Outside the box, outside your comfort
zone, outside the “bar”.

www.lukeandrewsEPK.com

Luke Andrews on iTunes

Luke Andrews Recommendations:

What is one book you would recommend- A New Earth by Ekhart Tolle

What is your favorite piece of gear – Line 6 DL4 Delay Guitar Effects Pedal

What is one thing you can’t live on the road without – merch table with sales rep.

Who are you listening to now?  The Black Keys

How to Help Your Guitar Survive Your Next Flight
By Kristina Olsen
Permission given by Artist.

I am standing at the baggage claim, crowded with grumpy travelers pushing for their luggage. The conveyer belt is at an alarming angle and seems to be running way too fast. I can’t make my way to the front. All of a sudden dozens of huge heavy wood crates start careening down the belt. I see my guitar dwarfed by them, and I cry out involuntarily as a particularly large crate falls on my guitar. The usually noisy baggage claim area becomes painfully silent as we all hear the horribly distinctive sound of a musical instrument, designed to transmit sound, transmitting its own death as it is reduced to splinters. I wake up in my hotel bed, a cold sweat permeating the sheets, mattress liner, mattress, and box spring. Oh thank God, it was just a dream.

How do we do it? Traveling with our beloved instruments is a nightmare. Should you check it or try to carry it on? Here are some tips to help you and your guitar survive your next flight.

CHECKING YOUR GUITAR

If you are going to check your guitar in baggage, be prepared to lose it. I have lost my guitar six times, and once it was missing for more than a month. So far I’ve been lucky: my guitar has always made it back to me, like those pet stories, “We lost old Sparky in Nebraska, but she caught up to us in Hong Kong.” I only travel with guitars that I am emotionally prepared to lose. I can’t tell you how much stress that has removed from my life.

Pad the peghead. One of the most common injuries to checked guitars is broken pegheads. Even in most good cases, the peghead is not supported. If a case is dropped, the weight of the tuning gears can snap the peghead right off. This happened to one of my guitars. Pack the peghead securely on all sides with T-shirts, socks, and other soft articles of clothing, or buy a case with padded peghead support. Crumpled newspaper or magazine pages will work well in a pinch, too. Just make certain that the peghead is wedged into the case so that it can’t move in any direction if the guitar case is dropped.

Loosen the strings. On an average steel-string guitar, the strings pull 150 pounds of pressure. You won’t want that kind of pressure on your guitar’s neck while it is getting heaved around by sumo baggage handlers. Taking the tension off will also reduce the risk of snapped pegheads.

Choose the strongest case you can afford and/or carry. I’ve heard many musicians recommend Calton cases. They come in bright colors, which makes it less likely that someone will walk off with your guitar by mistake, and they have a good arch over the face of the guitar that gives the case more strength. Flight cases (usually triangle-shaped fiberglass cases) are also very good, but they are bulky and heavy. Sadly enough, I know many musicians who have developed tendon injuries not from playing their instruments but from carrying heavy cases. Generally, the heavier the case, the better the protection, so you will have to find a balance. Even the toughest cases, however, are not indestructible. One airline managed to spear a forklift right through the best case a musician friend of mine could find.

Pack your instrument and case in a cardboard shipping box. You can usually get one of these boxes for free from a music store, but you will have to get the box in advance since most stores don’t get daily shipments of guitars. When I pack my guitar, I throw all my clothes and an empty duffel bag around the case for padding. The great thing about this method is that it makes your guitar so awkward and bulky that the baggage handlers have to handle it gently by default. The obvious problem with this system is that the box is awkward and bulky for you as well, and you end up taking a big empty box on tour with you for your return flight.

Once, when I wasn’t using this method, I saw a baggage handler throw my guitar case over a baggage train where it landed miraculously headfirst on the conveyor belt. The baggage handler jumped up and down ecstatically at the sheer beauty and accuracy of his throw, while from inside the airplane I was screaming inaudibly and pounding on the airplane window. Of course when I checked my guitar the airline made me sign a waiver saying that any damage they inflicted on my instrument was my responsibility. Had I packed my guitar in a shipping box, I would have saved myself a $250 repair bill.

When you get to your destination, go directly to the baggage claim area to get your guitar. I once coincidentally ran into guitarist Nina Gerber as I deplaned and stood talking at the gate for ten minutes while my guitar went around and around the baggage claim carousel. Pretty soon my guitar was the only thing left, and when no one was looking someone stole it. Through some clever detective work on the part of the airline, I got my guitar back, but not until after I had played the festival.

CARRYING YOUR GUITAR ON BOARD

If you plan to try to carry your guitar on board, get a great gig bag, one that you can wear on your back. That way your guitar is pretty much hidden by your body so that when you saunter on by the ticket takers they may miss your guitar entirely. Find a bag that isn’t too bulky but offers some protection. I use gig bags by Blue Heron and Reunion Blues. They use a foam similar to backpacking insulate, which is very dense and offers good protection. Gig bags don’t need as much padding as regular cases because they aren’t subjected to baggage handlers. And because they are so light and comfortable, you’re not always setting them down, so they don’t get knocked about and are less likely to get stolen.

When you make your reservation, find out what the airline’s policy is for carrying guitars on board and what type of carrier the airline uses. Make sure you are not flying on an L10-11. TWA flies a lot of those. They have tiny overhead compartments that will not hold a guitar. The 700 series (e.g., 737, 747), the airbuses, and the DC-10s are generally fine. But, whether or not there’s room for your guitar on board, many airlines are now refusing to allow passengers to carry them on. A friend of mine used to disguise her guitar (in its gig bag) in a hanging wardrobe bag. It worked for her a few times, but now she just uses a heavy flight case and checks her guitar. In the past, I have had especially good luck with Northwest, Alaska, and Delta, but airlines are getting more strict about carry-ons all the time. When I fly overseas, I check both guitars through baggage. Most overseas carriers won’t allow you to bring your guitar on board. I also have insurance for my instruments that covers airline damage and loss.

When you fly on tiny commuter planes, you will have to relinquish your guitar, but you can watch the baggage person put it in the hold yourself, and at the end of the flight you pick it up right outside the plane, so it doesn’t go through the maze of conveyor belts. I have never had a problem on these little flights.

Don’t push the airlines. If you are attempting to carry a guitar on board, don’t bring a lot of other carry-ons. Many people have to share limited space. I have seen musicians carry on needless extra stuff and act indignant when they get called on it. A friendly positive attitude and gentle persistence will generally get you and your guitar taken care of in the best possible way.

I always fill in the customer survey cards in the in-flight magazines and tell the airline that I am flying them because they have always been great about letting me on board with my guitar in a gig bag. Airlines cater heavily to business customers, and I remind them that we musicians are business customers, too. I always try to be friendly and polite, especially if I am carrying a guitar, so that airline workers will like accommodating musicians.

Bon voyage!

Luthier and Acoustic Guitar contributor Frank Ford has some wonderful tips for flying with your guitar at Frets.com. Be sure to read his photo essay on packing the peghead.

You can check out Kristina Olsen on her webpage : http://www.kristinaolsen.net/ and on iTunes

Can you name one book to recommend?

To Kill A Mockingbird

What is your favorite piece of gear?

My instruments!  My real favourites are the guitars that now stay at home due to the very reason I wrote that article!  Airline damage!  Those are my Bown hand built guitar and my Beltona metal body resonator, but I travel with pretty cool guitars, a folding Voyage-air guitar and a fiberglass Beltona resonator, half the weight!

What is one thing you can’t live on the road without.

Really, my guitars, but yerba maté tea, gourd and thermos.  It is the stimulant that makes me appear to be a normal functioning human!

Who are you listening to now?

Gidon Kremer playing music of Astor Piazzolla which is three cd’s; Hommage À Piazzolla, Piazzolla: El Tango, and my favourite, Tracing Astor.