On Sunday afternoon The Negotiators played a return gig at Buff’s Bar in Port Adelaide. In case you’ve looked but can’t find, it’s in the fantastic old wreck of a building on the main corner just before you get to the Port Markets. Apparently there’s restrictions on what the publican can put up for publicity (ie nothing). It’s also just up the road from Cash Converters (plenty of ugly signage there), but more on that later.
We were booked to play from 3 – 7 pm. It’s been a while since we played a daylight gig. We usually reherse on a Sunday arvo (when we reherse), in my mind at least there was some of the relaxed informality of our show that goes with weekly practice (which we have been known to do in the ‘off season’). Which was good because, for me at least, quite a few things went wrong and it would sometimes be quite a battle to remain focused on the show. Being in the less-self-conscious mode that goes with practice certainly helped. More of those things-that-went-wrong later as well.
A good thing about playing Sunday arvo in summer time is that it doesn’t get dark while we play so we don’t need to set up the light show. The front of stage looks barely defined without all the lighting cables. Conversely, one of the sad things about daylight gigs is that there’s no light show (nothing like coloured lights to make you know you’re a rock star). Still, less time to set up and take down, less gear to cart back and forth.
Nancy and I got there around 2 pm. We were half an hour late, which isn’t as bad as the group of ‘fans’ who’d walked from Hendon the night before, thinking we were playing then. The publican was pretty impressed, said they stayed all night. Apparently they’d seen us play here last time and liked us. Quite an honour.
Terry had already brought in most of the gear from his van (as had sox and steve). We were all set up and ready to do a sound check with about 10 minutes to go. There were around a dozen people there already (I didn’t know any, I think Sox knew at least one). With five minutes to go, we’re out the front getting some fresh air, greeting some fresh arrivals we knew. What does Terry do? Wonders off to have a look in the pawn shop (no more free advertising), comes out without having bought anything, and we’re playing a couple minutes later! Almost surreal. And very Terry.
From my point of view, the gig was interesting. I broke my record of breaking strings, busting 2 B strings and a D on my guitar, and a D on Steve’s. I think I busted one at the end of the first set, two in the third (beginning and near the end, on stage change while Nancy first sang solo and then the band started ‘I’ll make you happy’). I broke the last in the final set. Normally busting one string can rattle a guitarist, let alone breaking four! I was moderately impressed with the way I changed the one on stage and joined the song in the first chorus during the third set. Perhaps the unprofessionalism revealed by the breaks was countered with the way we dealt with it. Perhaps I need a new guitar (I’ve never had a new guitar before).
The other thing of note for me was that it took a while for my ear to sort out my guitar from the general mix where I stood. We have a fair bit of room in this venue, and when I stood stage left (near my amp) I could hardly hear myself to start with. My ear started zoning in after I’d played while standing near the drums at stage centre several times. I sorted out my sound better as the gig progressed, even though I think Steve was turning up behind me (at least, I was hearing him as ‘louder’ as the show progressed). I know I consciously had to resist the temptation to turn up. I could hear Terry pretty clear all along, Sox and Nancy also.
Nancy put in a ripper gig, despite the fact it was an afternoon she gave a great performance. She nailed a few songs we’ve not quite nailed before. That was satisfying. Our interaction on stage was coming along nicely too, I think that some in the audience would have enjoyed the looks on stage. Hard to describe, but a communicative exchange of expressions in a song can add to the song for observant viewers. A friend of ours brought along a video camera and filmed a couple songs. Not planned, but it will be interesting if he caught some of the interaction.
The audience was an interesting cross section. We had around a dozen friends and family rock up. They range from one year old to somewhere in the seventies. There were around a dozen ‘classic’ port types – working class men and women of varied age, gender and shape. Had three members of an outlaw motorcycle club there for most of the show (lots of tats there), several ‘old digger’ types, and a handful of passerby that stayed. At least six times I saw someone on their way home from the market poke their heads in, surprised to see a band and, I suspect, that there was a pub in the building. I caught several people dancing outside out of the corner of my eye.
And we had an honoured guest, Santa, pass through. We welcomed him at the christmas pageant, and now he turned up for a few songs at a gig of ours. We must be doing something right!
At most, we had around forty there. At the end, around fifteen. Not bad for the trade I suspect.
We now have a few weeks off to enjoy the festive season. We play Buff’s again on the night of 13 January, a Friday, starting around 7 pm. On 11 Feb we play the Glynde (start around 9). On February 25 we expect to be playing Buff’s again (this gig to be confirmed). We then have bookings for 1 and 29 April, venue to be announced. Those, anyway, are the gigs I know of so far for 2006. Please note, however, that this is rock’n’roll and thus subject to change.
If I don’t post on this blog in meantime, I wish all my regular readers a safe and fun festive season! I hope to see you at The Negotiators next gig!
Tuesday, December 20, 2005
Saturday, December 03, 2005
Mastering the Music
Last week’s recording session produced 17 tracks, of which 15 are good enough that I would willingly put my hand up for them, warts and all. It’s a fairly neutral mix, perhaps a bit heavy on the drums. Makes me think of Nesta setting up the drum mikes while saying how he’d been “getting into” drums a fair bit in the recent past, having just “discovered” them (after 20 years in the business). Overall, satisfactory effort in getting what we sound like down on disc.
My guitar is ‘out’ on several of the tracks, though I sometimes manage to play around the deficiency. For example, although the guitar in Bobby McGee starts with an arpeggio where the bass note is ‘off’ to something else (and hence Terry’s bass in the background also sounds ‘off’, much to his disgust), within four measures I have transferred to playing in the higher registers of the chord. And then I stay there for the whole piece. Which removes the worst of the problem with the key, but leaves my sound a bit saw toothed. And it doesn’t help the fact that the track starts wonky. Never the less, it leaves a pleasant aftertaste.
Benefits for The Negotiators include the shared experience of the day and the fact that we have the raw material for a demo (the stated purpose for the day). For each of us, our fans, friends and family, there is now a permanent record to replay. Hopefully, we did the music justice. Finally, for me personally, there was the additional benefit in seeing how the whole process fitted together, and seeing Nesta at work in the studio proper once we had laid down the tracks. This last allowed me, at last, to see how the mechanics of working through a wave editor interact with the process of engineering the sound (indeed, how one actually approached these aspects of production). I’ve had various wave editors for over a year, but never managed to get ‘into’ the packages. After last Saturday, however, it all made sense. I had finally got the big, if still blurry, picture of studio work.
In the last week I have been playing around a lot with Nero Wave Editor. It’s probably not the most modern or even the simplest of the software I have access to, but the interface makes sense to me. I have been learning by playing and trying things out and listening lots and going back again and again to try new variations. The trend has been to do less each time I tackle a piece. It is, however, still the case that the more I listen the more feel that I’m still doing too much. Of course, the less I do, the longer it takes.
Learning by experiment is a heuristic process with lots of redundant experience built in, yet it helps create a synthetic understanding of the whole as technique develops. It leads to refinement through time. I hope…
What I’m doing (putting the recording mix (thanks Nesta) into shape for release on CD – when it will need to be able to sound okay on any reasonably conceivable sound system. It is also when ‘buff and polish’ can be added to the individual tracks, levels harmonised, etc. Compression and volume normalisation also contribute to welding whatever the chosen tracks will be into a unified sound of experiences. The whole of the CD is greater than than sum of tracks it contains.
The one thing I have continuously read about record production is that ‘mastering’ is an arcane art, the domain of the experienced professional sound engineer (and access to their professional studios). There’s a lot of truth in this. But, this is (only) a demo, so I’ll take my crash course on the understanding that the labour involved will only be used if the end result is an improvement on the original mix. Which, after, about 20 hours and serious attempts at six different songs, is only true of one track so far.
But the method of what I do is now becoming more visible, allowing for efficiencies in time used in future attempts. Which allows more space for the creative spirit to work the subtle magic that I think is required.
My guitar is ‘out’ on several of the tracks, though I sometimes manage to play around the deficiency. For example, although the guitar in Bobby McGee starts with an arpeggio where the bass note is ‘off’ to something else (and hence Terry’s bass in the background also sounds ‘off’, much to his disgust), within four measures I have transferred to playing in the higher registers of the chord. And then I stay there for the whole piece. Which removes the worst of the problem with the key, but leaves my sound a bit saw toothed. And it doesn’t help the fact that the track starts wonky. Never the less, it leaves a pleasant aftertaste.
Benefits for The Negotiators include the shared experience of the day and the fact that we have the raw material for a demo (the stated purpose for the day). For each of us, our fans, friends and family, there is now a permanent record to replay. Hopefully, we did the music justice. Finally, for me personally, there was the additional benefit in seeing how the whole process fitted together, and seeing Nesta at work in the studio proper once we had laid down the tracks. This last allowed me, at last, to see how the mechanics of working through a wave editor interact with the process of engineering the sound (indeed, how one actually approached these aspects of production). I’ve had various wave editors for over a year, but never managed to get ‘into’ the packages. After last Saturday, however, it all made sense. I had finally got the big, if still blurry, picture of studio work.
In the last week I have been playing around a lot with Nero Wave Editor. It’s probably not the most modern or even the simplest of the software I have access to, but the interface makes sense to me. I have been learning by playing and trying things out and listening lots and going back again and again to try new variations. The trend has been to do less each time I tackle a piece. It is, however, still the case that the more I listen the more feel that I’m still doing too much. Of course, the less I do, the longer it takes.
Learning by experiment is a heuristic process with lots of redundant experience built in, yet it helps create a synthetic understanding of the whole as technique develops. It leads to refinement through time. I hope…
What I’m doing (putting the recording mix (thanks Nesta) into shape for release on CD – when it will need to be able to sound okay on any reasonably conceivable sound system. It is also when ‘buff and polish’ can be added to the individual tracks, levels harmonised, etc. Compression and volume normalisation also contribute to welding whatever the chosen tracks will be into a unified sound of experiences. The whole of the CD is greater than than sum of tracks it contains.
The one thing I have continuously read about record production is that ‘mastering’ is an arcane art, the domain of the experienced professional sound engineer (and access to their professional studios). There’s a lot of truth in this. But, this is (only) a demo, so I’ll take my crash course on the understanding that the labour involved will only be used if the end result is an improvement on the original mix. Which, after, about 20 hours and serious attempts at six different songs, is only true of one track so far.
But the method of what I do is now becoming more visible, allowing for efficiencies in time used in future attempts. Which allows more space for the creative spirit to work the subtle magic that I think is required.
Fish Shop R & R Studio - 26 Nov '05
Last Saturday The Negotiators recorded a demo CD at the Fish Shop R & R Studios in Port Adelaide. Neat little set up, with Nesta, a most pleasant techie, running the show. We were there for eight hours, and managed to get down 16 tracks plus ‘Mercedes Benz’ (with Nancy singing solo). At least, that’s what I hope happened as I had to leave over an hour early for parental duties. I left when we were entering the ‘mix down’ phase. Or, as Nestor said, “just when the real fun begins”.
It was a bit over an hour between arrival and having set up. It was nice to not have to lug around mixing desks, speakers, scores of metres of cables, etc. We would have been ready even sooner had not Terry gotten his days mixed up. Nancy called him at 10.15 and just caught him before he left for his day’s business. We took this minor hiccup in our stride, no angst. A good omen.
Then we got going. We firstly laid each track down in one hit as a band. Nancy was in a booth on her own (glass walled, so she could see us). Terry, Steve and I were in the largest of the spaces. Sox was in a booth with open ends and glass walls, in the same large room that us guitarists were. I think everyone else could see everyone else, I had a pillar between myself and Nancy (couldn’t do much about moving too far as I was limited by a baffle and the length of the headphone lead). The keyboard was DI’d (Direct Input), as were all vocals and the harmonica in Dumb Things. Each of our amps was set as normal, with a mike down its throat. The drums were miked up with similar to what we do with them these days on stage (I think). We had baffles (chest high, thick partitions) in front of the guitar amps to stop them splashing around the room.
I don’t know what sort of rig Nesta was driving in the control studio, but it looked quite visual and complex, with a triplet of VDUs providing the visuals from the computer and the mix desk (both a virtual and actual type appeared to be in use).
The technical equipment problems were all mine to deal with. To start, both my pedals failed to pass a signal across from input to output jacks. Very strange. Both worked last time I tried to use them, both have fresh batteries, there’s been no obvious damage to them, I tried various combinations of four different leads to make sure leads weren’t the problem. Eventually I plugged straight into my amp and adjusted it accordingly. I bet the pedals’ll work fine next time I try (after blogging this).
The other problem I had was more fundamental, my guitar kept losing tune. I haven’t suffered this to this extent before (or, for years at least). Either it’s been knocked around that I don’t know about, the G string is fading, or the atmospherics were just enough to stuff it up. We persisted for four songs, me retuning each time, and then I changed to Steve’s Les Paul (after lengthening the strap). Fustrating. I guess I’ll have to take Fernandez to a guitar doctor.
Anyway, we put down a basic mix as a band for each of the songs. This took about four hours (including listening to the final takes). After we’d played a piece, we took a concensus of what people reckoned. It’s usually majority rules, but only because, usually, the minority concedes. We don’t analyse how we make artistic decisions as a group, we just do it. It has a lot to do with respect for each other and not taking ourselves too seriously. Doing a demo isn’t a perfect science, there’s a lot of room to compromise. Ideal for The Negotiators!
Ended up we played most songs twice, and we played a couple three times. I think there are clangers in most of the final versions. Luckily, there’s usually no more than one falling down per song and it is most often at the very end (can usually be dealt with by fading the mix, and won’t be heard by our principle targets, venue booking managers who will tend to only listen to the first half a minute of each track). There were a couple songs (Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door and another (?)) where we seriously diverged from the usual way of piecing out the texture between instruments – but we managed to hold onto even the wierdest improvisation in a manner that will hopefully be interesting to listen to. I think the way we do this is a function of our amassing public ‘flying hours’, as well as the raw fact of having made music together for over two years (some of us, six years).
Once we had agreed all the first takes as minimally acceptable, we overdubbed backup vocals. To do this, Steve and I each had a mike in the main room, and Nancy was back in her booth. We therefore skipped over those phases in the recording ritual where, ususally, at least the vocalist and often the lead guitar (if not the whole band) overdubs their own parts until they are ideally ‘perfect’. Nancy didn’t overdub any of her main vocals (she has a strong voice, doesn’t need it for present purposes). And it isn’t economical for the rest of us to do it, considering the purpose of the exercise (a demo CD).
I think Steve and I, alone with two mikes in a quiet main room, found it alien to begin with, but were getting into it properly by the eight track (we put backing vocals onto eight tracks – all of them over ‘chorus’ sections only). Neither of us is much of a singer though, so we’ll be mostly right in the background. This took less than an hour, with Nesta rapidly taking us from one chorus to the next.
The next stage is the one that I left shortly after it began, the Mixing Down. This is really interesting, as you can get to hear just your own instrument, or hear it relative to one or more other sound inputs (eg the vocal). The idea is to adjust the relative levels of the various inputs to what is appropriate to each song and, if necessary, parts of each song. This can encompass adding effects. For example, a touch of reverb on the vocal, a bit of ‘fattening’ on the guitar. Thus, we could bring the keyboard solo out more in ‘Me and Bobby McGee’, and the level up generally through the whole piece.
It was really interesting to listen to some of my guitaring in isolation, the little bit I heard Nesta separate for whatever reason was actually pretty good – a lot of variety with a steady pulse, and I know I can repeat the patterns if and when required. This despite my rarely learning specific ‘riffs’ for general rhythmic work. Maybe that’s the flamenco in me – pick up a basic riff and then run with it within the confines of the form and piece, ideally combining with my emotion of the moment.
So, that’s where I’ll leave this. When I get to hear the final mix, I’ll report on it. By the way, I am starting a new webpage at ‘negotiatorsnews.uk.geocities.com’. As I learn more about http it will develop. I’ll keep you posted.
It was a bit over an hour between arrival and having set up. It was nice to not have to lug around mixing desks, speakers, scores of metres of cables, etc. We would have been ready even sooner had not Terry gotten his days mixed up. Nancy called him at 10.15 and just caught him before he left for his day’s business. We took this minor hiccup in our stride, no angst. A good omen.
Then we got going. We firstly laid each track down in one hit as a band. Nancy was in a booth on her own (glass walled, so she could see us). Terry, Steve and I were in the largest of the spaces. Sox was in a booth with open ends and glass walls, in the same large room that us guitarists were. I think everyone else could see everyone else, I had a pillar between myself and Nancy (couldn’t do much about moving too far as I was limited by a baffle and the length of the headphone lead). The keyboard was DI’d (Direct Input), as were all vocals and the harmonica in Dumb Things. Each of our amps was set as normal, with a mike down its throat. The drums were miked up with similar to what we do with them these days on stage (I think). We had baffles (chest high, thick partitions) in front of the guitar amps to stop them splashing around the room.
I don’t know what sort of rig Nesta was driving in the control studio, but it looked quite visual and complex, with a triplet of VDUs providing the visuals from the computer and the mix desk (both a virtual and actual type appeared to be in use).
The technical equipment problems were all mine to deal with. To start, both my pedals failed to pass a signal across from input to output jacks. Very strange. Both worked last time I tried to use them, both have fresh batteries, there’s been no obvious damage to them, I tried various combinations of four different leads to make sure leads weren’t the problem. Eventually I plugged straight into my amp and adjusted it accordingly. I bet the pedals’ll work fine next time I try (after blogging this).
The other problem I had was more fundamental, my guitar kept losing tune. I haven’t suffered this to this extent before (or, for years at least). Either it’s been knocked around that I don’t know about, the G string is fading, or the atmospherics were just enough to stuff it up. We persisted for four songs, me retuning each time, and then I changed to Steve’s Les Paul (after lengthening the strap). Fustrating. I guess I’ll have to take Fernandez to a guitar doctor.
Anyway, we put down a basic mix as a band for each of the songs. This took about four hours (including listening to the final takes). After we’d played a piece, we took a concensus of what people reckoned. It’s usually majority rules, but only because, usually, the minority concedes. We don’t analyse how we make artistic decisions as a group, we just do it. It has a lot to do with respect for each other and not taking ourselves too seriously. Doing a demo isn’t a perfect science, there’s a lot of room to compromise. Ideal for The Negotiators!
Ended up we played most songs twice, and we played a couple three times. I think there are clangers in most of the final versions. Luckily, there’s usually no more than one falling down per song and it is most often at the very end (can usually be dealt with by fading the mix, and won’t be heard by our principle targets, venue booking managers who will tend to only listen to the first half a minute of each track). There were a couple songs (Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door and another (?)) where we seriously diverged from the usual way of piecing out the texture between instruments – but we managed to hold onto even the wierdest improvisation in a manner that will hopefully be interesting to listen to. I think the way we do this is a function of our amassing public ‘flying hours’, as well as the raw fact of having made music together for over two years (some of us, six years).
Once we had agreed all the first takes as minimally acceptable, we overdubbed backup vocals. To do this, Steve and I each had a mike in the main room, and Nancy was back in her booth. We therefore skipped over those phases in the recording ritual where, ususally, at least the vocalist and often the lead guitar (if not the whole band) overdubs their own parts until they are ideally ‘perfect’. Nancy didn’t overdub any of her main vocals (she has a strong voice, doesn’t need it for present purposes). And it isn’t economical for the rest of us to do it, considering the purpose of the exercise (a demo CD).
I think Steve and I, alone with two mikes in a quiet main room, found it alien to begin with, but were getting into it properly by the eight track (we put backing vocals onto eight tracks – all of them over ‘chorus’ sections only). Neither of us is much of a singer though, so we’ll be mostly right in the background. This took less than an hour, with Nesta rapidly taking us from one chorus to the next.
The next stage is the one that I left shortly after it began, the Mixing Down. This is really interesting, as you can get to hear just your own instrument, or hear it relative to one or more other sound inputs (eg the vocal). The idea is to adjust the relative levels of the various inputs to what is appropriate to each song and, if necessary, parts of each song. This can encompass adding effects. For example, a touch of reverb on the vocal, a bit of ‘fattening’ on the guitar. Thus, we could bring the keyboard solo out more in ‘Me and Bobby McGee’, and the level up generally through the whole piece.
It was really interesting to listen to some of my guitaring in isolation, the little bit I heard Nesta separate for whatever reason was actually pretty good – a lot of variety with a steady pulse, and I know I can repeat the patterns if and when required. This despite my rarely learning specific ‘riffs’ for general rhythmic work. Maybe that’s the flamenco in me – pick up a basic riff and then run with it within the confines of the form and piece, ideally combining with my emotion of the moment.
So, that’s where I’ll leave this. When I get to hear the final mix, I’ll report on it. By the way, I am starting a new webpage at ‘negotiatorsnews.uk.geocities.com’. As I learn more about http it will develop. I’ll keep you posted.
Sunday, November 20, 2005
Bush's Bar 19 Nov '05
Last night The Negotiators played at Bush’s Bar from 7-11 pm. Bush’s Bar has only recently opened up in the site of one of Port Adelaide’s landmarks, Black Diamond Corner. It is a vast rambling ornate two story edifice, mainly run down, of which the present bar is only a small part of the structure. The publican is working on renevating the rest. The locals are right behind him. Good luck to them.
We played at the conclusion of the Port Adelaide Christmas Parade. Maybe ten thousand people were lining the streets that the parade passed down, and there would have been close to a hundred different community groups which each put their own float or marching group together. Brilliant. They passed by right out front of the pub so we got a great view of Santa.
Again, we set up at floor level in a corner in the front bar. Used less space than the last couple of shows, but it was much cleaner on stage (not having cables etc crowding the stage space). We must be getting better. Sound check before 6 pm. Had Steve and Sox in the back row, with my amp under the keyboard (and thus accessable to me in front of it). I, at least, could hear everyone (including myself!).
We had between 50 and 60 people in there when we started, between 40 and 50 for second and third sets. Maybe 30 left when we stopped playing after a long fourth set and encores. On top of this, perhaps a dozen kids aging from 1 – 15, some of them to the end. The kids loved it, often had three or four dancing away. Particularly our youngest grandson kicking on was cool to watch. The teenagers all got up at some stage to dance together.
Opened the first set with “Stuck in the Middle” for a change, aim being to get straight into lively music and warm everyone up at the same time. Worked fine, drew quite a few in as they were leaving the official festivities down the road. This seemed to be the way of it, we would only have known around a dozen of the audience and the rest were drawn in. I noticed that there were quite a few who stuck their heads in, but had to go because of their kids. Also saw several people dancing on the footpath outside on several occasions, either waiting for a bus at the bus stop or walking past. Haven’t seen that since we played ‘The Federal’ a couple summers ago.
Four notable members of the audience for the first set were some clowns that came in. They were having a ball. Quite surreal to see clowns rock’n’rolling to ‘Waterloo’, even stranger to see them headbanging to ‘Smoke on the Water’. We finished the set with ‘Ring of Fire’, one of our better harmonised performances of it this year.
As if four clowns weren’t enough, we had ‘Tweety Bird’ and ‘Slyvester’ come in for the second and third sets. The kids loved Sylvester in particular, especially as he stalked and played with them in front of stage. ‘Tweety Bird’ got up on stage with Nancy during ‘Eagle Rock’. Weird.
Sound was pretty good throughout. No need for drum mikes in this venue (narrow, high, deep room with pillars and vinyl flooring). I noticed Terry adjusting Steve’s amp in the final break. Added sparkle to his guitar in the last set, but the volume was a touch too loud in my opinion. Although we played several pieces a bit quick, it was only marginal. Some of the music got a bit muddy in the final set, not sure why. It was disjointed parts, even though we were all coming down on the same beat notes. Will have to work out why.
All in all, again a good gig. Better performance than last week, rolled from one song to the next without long breaks. Instrument changes very smooth, even me picking up Steve’s spare guitar when I broke a string (haven’t done that for ages – will have to get clear of D’ario strings). So we’ve pulled off three weeks in a row of good gigs. We know we can do it with the covers. Next challenge, bring in the originals.
By the way, we played two encores. Well done.
Next Saturday we are off to a studio recording a demo disk of covers, hopefully to help get us more work. Will fill you in on the joys of recording once it has happened.
We played at the conclusion of the Port Adelaide Christmas Parade. Maybe ten thousand people were lining the streets that the parade passed down, and there would have been close to a hundred different community groups which each put their own float or marching group together. Brilliant. They passed by right out front of the pub so we got a great view of Santa.
Again, we set up at floor level in a corner in the front bar. Used less space than the last couple of shows, but it was much cleaner on stage (not having cables etc crowding the stage space). We must be getting better. Sound check before 6 pm. Had Steve and Sox in the back row, with my amp under the keyboard (and thus accessable to me in front of it). I, at least, could hear everyone (including myself!).
We had between 50 and 60 people in there when we started, between 40 and 50 for second and third sets. Maybe 30 left when we stopped playing after a long fourth set and encores. On top of this, perhaps a dozen kids aging from 1 – 15, some of them to the end. The kids loved it, often had three or four dancing away. Particularly our youngest grandson kicking on was cool to watch. The teenagers all got up at some stage to dance together.
Opened the first set with “Stuck in the Middle” for a change, aim being to get straight into lively music and warm everyone up at the same time. Worked fine, drew quite a few in as they were leaving the official festivities down the road. This seemed to be the way of it, we would only have known around a dozen of the audience and the rest were drawn in. I noticed that there were quite a few who stuck their heads in, but had to go because of their kids. Also saw several people dancing on the footpath outside on several occasions, either waiting for a bus at the bus stop or walking past. Haven’t seen that since we played ‘The Federal’ a couple summers ago.
Four notable members of the audience for the first set were some clowns that came in. They were having a ball. Quite surreal to see clowns rock’n’rolling to ‘Waterloo’, even stranger to see them headbanging to ‘Smoke on the Water’. We finished the set with ‘Ring of Fire’, one of our better harmonised performances of it this year.
As if four clowns weren’t enough, we had ‘Tweety Bird’ and ‘Slyvester’ come in for the second and third sets. The kids loved Sylvester in particular, especially as he stalked and played with them in front of stage. ‘Tweety Bird’ got up on stage with Nancy during ‘Eagle Rock’. Weird.
Sound was pretty good throughout. No need for drum mikes in this venue (narrow, high, deep room with pillars and vinyl flooring). I noticed Terry adjusting Steve’s amp in the final break. Added sparkle to his guitar in the last set, but the volume was a touch too loud in my opinion. Although we played several pieces a bit quick, it was only marginal. Some of the music got a bit muddy in the final set, not sure why. It was disjointed parts, even though we were all coming down on the same beat notes. Will have to work out why.
All in all, again a good gig. Better performance than last week, rolled from one song to the next without long breaks. Instrument changes very smooth, even me picking up Steve’s spare guitar when I broke a string (haven’t done that for ages – will have to get clear of D’ario strings). So we’ve pulled off three weeks in a row of good gigs. We know we can do it with the covers. Next challenge, bring in the originals.
By the way, we played two encores. Well done.
Next Saturday we are off to a studio recording a demo disk of covers, hopefully to help get us more work. Will fill you in on the joys of recording once it has happened.
Monday, November 14, 2005
Glynde Hotel - 12 Nov '05
Last night we played the Glynde Hotel for the second time. Again, good gig. Relatively large audience greatly enjoyed performance. The Negotiators played within their limits, extending themselves twice over periods of four or five songs into what we appear to have the potential of becoming. No major falling downs (except for one in the audience).
We’d met to set up by 7.30 pm. We learnt from our last show here (when we had competed on a cold wet night with a ‘Showdown’ footy game), by setting up at a bit of an angle, effectively utilising our space better. Big advantage was a bit more ‘focus’ of the amps at stage rear, I think allowing each of us to hear each other better. Biggest disadvantage to me was my distance from my amp controls, I had to wonder right around Steve to get to them. So, if I couldn’t hear myself properly and I couldn’t correct it from my spot on stage, I was stuck with the fact until either the problem removed itself as the music mix changed or I found/made time to dart around and make the change myself. Not a major issue …
We played until a few minutes after 1 am. Played four sets, with around 13 songs in each. First set again was definitely more steady and stately music, again starting with Stand by Me and ending with Ring of Fire. Lost about three people that I know of (they came back later). Sets two and three were the most lively, both in terms of audience participation and band dynamics. Definitely created a high. Final set fell back a abit, perhaps partly due fatigue, definitely affected by inappropriate settings on amps. Ended with a chopped up and distorted Little Aeroplane. Failure to take up the audience on their request for encore (which upsets me a little, in future we need be more respectful of our audience for who they are and what they want).
Had around seventy to eighty people in the room at peak. Maybe thirty odd left at the end. Publican was happy. Although there was no advertisement in the paper there were some great posters up, and we had spread the word that we were celebrating Nancy’s birthday. About half of the crowd made a point of coming for that reason (nearly all of these folk have seen us before, some of them many times, so it’s not quite ‘rent a crowd’). Also, there was someone (‘Adrian’) there for his 25th birthday, with around a dozen mates. So it was a fairly unusual crowd for a public gig, but that’s Rock’n’Roll. The teenagers who were there seemed to enjoy it, always something special to us.
As I had to control my sound a lot more from front of stage (not with the amp itself), I readjusted my pedals and guitar settings (I use Boss Distortion and Chorus pedals with a generic ‘Fernandez’ guitar) a lot more than usual. This will probably have good consequences long term, but detracted from my ability to immerse myself in the music on the night. I think I did alright at it, but found myself using the overdrive in places where I shouldn’t and had to compensate in strum. It’s nice to know I’m up to recognising and responding to the challenge on this level. It will be nicer to master it. Rest of the band kept pretty tight. Only criticism would be that the bottom heavy chunk of Steve’s guitar was a bit overwhelming at times. The levels overall, however, were pretty good. I think this important aspect of the band was much better than the week before at the Lockleys.
I borrowed a digital camera that day, getting the owner to take a few snaps during the third set. I should get them back soon. If any are up to what I imagine a Rock Photo should look like, I’ll post them on the web somewhere and tell you. I saw the ‘proofs’ on the camera and liked what I saw.
I know that overall the audience enjoyed the performance. You just had to look and listen to know that. I know that there were a couple of stretches when we were really grooving along as a band for several songs in a row (that we had it happen twice in a gig, and were able to prolong the experience is a good sign). Despite the ‘heaviness’ of the last set being inappropriate at times, I think we’ve got the distorted Nutbush et al up to the level we were trying for a year ago. We played a song (Voodoo Child) together for the first time, for the first time in a gig, and pulled it off! Audience loved it. Not enough originals (we need to start writing again).
We play again next Saturday down the Port, as part of the Port Adelaide Pageant celebrations, at Buff’s Bar (corner St Vincent St and Commercial Road) 7 – 11 pm. Third gig in a row. Busy season already.
We’d met to set up by 7.30 pm. We learnt from our last show here (when we had competed on a cold wet night with a ‘Showdown’ footy game), by setting up at a bit of an angle, effectively utilising our space better. Big advantage was a bit more ‘focus’ of the amps at stage rear, I think allowing each of us to hear each other better. Biggest disadvantage to me was my distance from my amp controls, I had to wonder right around Steve to get to them. So, if I couldn’t hear myself properly and I couldn’t correct it from my spot on stage, I was stuck with the fact until either the problem removed itself as the music mix changed or I found/made time to dart around and make the change myself. Not a major issue …
We played until a few minutes after 1 am. Played four sets, with around 13 songs in each. First set again was definitely more steady and stately music, again starting with Stand by Me and ending with Ring of Fire. Lost about three people that I know of (they came back later). Sets two and three were the most lively, both in terms of audience participation and band dynamics. Definitely created a high. Final set fell back a abit, perhaps partly due fatigue, definitely affected by inappropriate settings on amps. Ended with a chopped up and distorted Little Aeroplane. Failure to take up the audience on their request for encore (which upsets me a little, in future we need be more respectful of our audience for who they are and what they want).
Had around seventy to eighty people in the room at peak. Maybe thirty odd left at the end. Publican was happy. Although there was no advertisement in the paper there were some great posters up, and we had spread the word that we were celebrating Nancy’s birthday. About half of the crowd made a point of coming for that reason (nearly all of these folk have seen us before, some of them many times, so it’s not quite ‘rent a crowd’). Also, there was someone (‘Adrian’) there for his 25th birthday, with around a dozen mates. So it was a fairly unusual crowd for a public gig, but that’s Rock’n’Roll. The teenagers who were there seemed to enjoy it, always something special to us.
As I had to control my sound a lot more from front of stage (not with the amp itself), I readjusted my pedals and guitar settings (I use Boss Distortion and Chorus pedals with a generic ‘Fernandez’ guitar) a lot more than usual. This will probably have good consequences long term, but detracted from my ability to immerse myself in the music on the night. I think I did alright at it, but found myself using the overdrive in places where I shouldn’t and had to compensate in strum. It’s nice to know I’m up to recognising and responding to the challenge on this level. It will be nicer to master it. Rest of the band kept pretty tight. Only criticism would be that the bottom heavy chunk of Steve’s guitar was a bit overwhelming at times. The levels overall, however, were pretty good. I think this important aspect of the band was much better than the week before at the Lockleys.
I borrowed a digital camera that day, getting the owner to take a few snaps during the third set. I should get them back soon. If any are up to what I imagine a Rock Photo should look like, I’ll post them on the web somewhere and tell you. I saw the ‘proofs’ on the camera and liked what I saw.
I know that overall the audience enjoyed the performance. You just had to look and listen to know that. I know that there were a couple of stretches when we were really grooving along as a band for several songs in a row (that we had it happen twice in a gig, and were able to prolong the experience is a good sign). Despite the ‘heaviness’ of the last set being inappropriate at times, I think we’ve got the distorted Nutbush et al up to the level we were trying for a year ago. We played a song (Voodoo Child) together for the first time, for the first time in a gig, and pulled it off! Audience loved it. Not enough originals (we need to start writing again).
We play again next Saturday down the Port, as part of the Port Adelaide Pageant celebrations, at Buff’s Bar (corner St Vincent St and Commercial Road) 7 – 11 pm. Third gig in a row. Busy season already.
(Photo, courtesy of Wayne)
Tuesday, November 08, 2005
Gig at the Lockleys - 4 Nov '05
Gig at The Lockleys – 4 Nov ‘05
The Negotiators played at the Lockleys Hotel for the first time on Saturday night. ‘Twas one of our ‘private’ shows, this time for Steve’s friend Phil on his 50th. Over a hundred people when we started, probably 60 still there 5 sets, 56 songs and 4 ½ hours later. They were rocking from the start of the second set until the end of the last.
We set up by 6 pm, having a sound check then. I guess, in retrospect, we’re kidding ourselves when we think of these checks as ‘level’ checks, the acoustics change totally once people are present. Still necessary however, because at least we know everything is working. And, Nancy reckons, it’s good to just blow the nerves away a bit, make the stage space our own before the show. Nancy and I went to a friend’s place nearby and had a bbq before returning to start at 8.30 pm.
First set, at the request of the pub, was meant to be ‘quiet’. How does a rockband be ‘quiet’? We don’t have an answer to this, but keep trying. The way it comes out is very middle of the road, and the volume of hubbub in the room usually makes it hard for us to track each other musically, particularly as the songs we play in ‘quiet’ sets tend to be songs we haven’t played a lot recently. I remember looking out and seeing a few cynical looks on some of the audience – probably wondering if they’d have to listen to fairly low energy covers for the rest of the night.
The rest of the night went well. They were up and dancing from the start of the second set. The first of my favorite moments came at the end of the second set. We were playing ‘Ring of Fire’. As always, when we start people tend to be sceptical. At the end of it, we have their attention (the way we play it is loosely based on Eric Burdon’s version). It has a crescendo climax. This time, I did one of the classic guitar hero jumps into the air, coming down with the emphatic final crashing chord to coincide with the last beat of the drum. Sox noticed it. Funny experience, you just know to do and do. If you’d think about it, you’d miss the moment and just look silly. Very liberating, as all great moves are, I guess.
Second favorite moment was in ‘500 Miles’, the whole pub was moving, including bar staff and strangers at the rear of the dining area. There was a huge fellow (one of the initial cynics) possessed in the middle of the dance floor by the dance god, and cooking up a storm somewhere between a psychotic head hunting mantra and scottish fling. Lightening to the soul to watch a big fellow move with such speed, purpose and grace.
Third favorite moment for me was second last song of the evening, our cover of the Rolling Stones’ “Paint it Black”. For the first time in years I more or less kept the lead riff going throughout the piece, reverting to the triplet down strokes in the last verse vaguely like the original. I was very much into keeping my mind on my fingers and just expanded my sense of occasion to feel what others felt. And they loved it. I think the crowd went wild (not because of my riffs, they were still experimental and fell apart occasionally, but Nancy belting it out). I put the gain on the pedal up to about 2/3 (very rare for me) for it, and was swinging with the melodic rhythm. A new step forward on my path as guitarist, realising the wide and open territory for the non-lead guitarist to explore.
As a band, once we got through the first set (which wasn’t bad), adjusting minorly both our ears, amps and playing styles, we settled into a good fun night of hard rock. We work well as a unit. The proof was each of the first set cynics coming up to me at some stage of the evening and complimenting/thanking us. Must have been something to do with both the eye contact we’d had, and their appreciation.
Looking forward to next week at the Glynde. Start at 9pm. Expecting a biggish crowd to show, should surprise the management a bit I suspect. Hope to see you there…
The Negotiators played at the Lockleys Hotel for the first time on Saturday night. ‘Twas one of our ‘private’ shows, this time for Steve’s friend Phil on his 50th. Over a hundred people when we started, probably 60 still there 5 sets, 56 songs and 4 ½ hours later. They were rocking from the start of the second set until the end of the last.
We set up by 6 pm, having a sound check then. I guess, in retrospect, we’re kidding ourselves when we think of these checks as ‘level’ checks, the acoustics change totally once people are present. Still necessary however, because at least we know everything is working. And, Nancy reckons, it’s good to just blow the nerves away a bit, make the stage space our own before the show. Nancy and I went to a friend’s place nearby and had a bbq before returning to start at 8.30 pm.
First set, at the request of the pub, was meant to be ‘quiet’. How does a rockband be ‘quiet’? We don’t have an answer to this, but keep trying. The way it comes out is very middle of the road, and the volume of hubbub in the room usually makes it hard for us to track each other musically, particularly as the songs we play in ‘quiet’ sets tend to be songs we haven’t played a lot recently. I remember looking out and seeing a few cynical looks on some of the audience – probably wondering if they’d have to listen to fairly low energy covers for the rest of the night.
The rest of the night went well. They were up and dancing from the start of the second set. The first of my favorite moments came at the end of the second set. We were playing ‘Ring of Fire’. As always, when we start people tend to be sceptical. At the end of it, we have their attention (the way we play it is loosely based on Eric Burdon’s version). It has a crescendo climax. This time, I did one of the classic guitar hero jumps into the air, coming down with the emphatic final crashing chord to coincide with the last beat of the drum. Sox noticed it. Funny experience, you just know to do and do. If you’d think about it, you’d miss the moment and just look silly. Very liberating, as all great moves are, I guess.
Second favorite moment was in ‘500 Miles’, the whole pub was moving, including bar staff and strangers at the rear of the dining area. There was a huge fellow (one of the initial cynics) possessed in the middle of the dance floor by the dance god, and cooking up a storm somewhere between a psychotic head hunting mantra and scottish fling. Lightening to the soul to watch a big fellow move with such speed, purpose and grace.
Third favorite moment for me was second last song of the evening, our cover of the Rolling Stones’ “Paint it Black”. For the first time in years I more or less kept the lead riff going throughout the piece, reverting to the triplet down strokes in the last verse vaguely like the original. I was very much into keeping my mind on my fingers and just expanded my sense of occasion to feel what others felt. And they loved it. I think the crowd went wild (not because of my riffs, they were still experimental and fell apart occasionally, but Nancy belting it out). I put the gain on the pedal up to about 2/3 (very rare for me) for it, and was swinging with the melodic rhythm. A new step forward on my path as guitarist, realising the wide and open territory for the non-lead guitarist to explore.
As a band, once we got through the first set (which wasn’t bad), adjusting minorly both our ears, amps and playing styles, we settled into a good fun night of hard rock. We work well as a unit. The proof was each of the first set cynics coming up to me at some stage of the evening and complimenting/thanking us. Must have been something to do with both the eye contact we’d had, and their appreciation.
Looking forward to next week at the Glynde. Start at 9pm. Expecting a biggish crowd to show, should surprise the management a bit I suspect. Hope to see you there…
Tuesday, November 01, 2005
Big Netball Gig 7 Oct
The Negotiators played at the Marleston Leageball Centre on the night of 7 October. The Combined Australian Netball Associations had just concluded their annual weeklong carnival, attended by over 700 netballers aged 7-21 and a large number of family and supporters from around Australia. Despite inclement weather towards the end of the week, around 400 were present for closing ceremony and the party that followed. We had volunteered to provide entertainment for this, and played 7–11pm. In terms of numbers it was the biggest gig since Peterborough, and at least as big a buzz!
We knew it was going to be an interesting night when we arrived to see about 300 netballers and a couple hundred associates in the hall we were to play in. It was filled to capacity and spilled several layers around the building’s wall-long windows. Somehow and without drama, room was made to let us get our gear in (although we couldn’t set up until the multitude decided to conduct their presentations outside between rain showers). By good fortune, experience and organisation, we were set up by 7 pm, when the award ceremony had concluded and people began lining up for food (a huge bbq and salad).
The organisers said we could start when we wanted, so we started. Even before we’d begun, there were around twenty teenage girls clustering around the front of our ‘stage’ (we played at floor level). They were obviously quite excited.
They didn’t let us down. We had the whole place rocking into the first set. It didn’t stop until the last song. Over the evening, it was funny to watch the dancing/foot tapping contagion spread from the dancers in front of stage (who were pretty good), through the queue of people waiting to eat and those serving them, to those that were sitting in ‘quiet’ spots at the back and, finally, even to those outside.
Highlights of the evening were varied. Some of the ‘dancing circles’ of netballers were amazing to watch, fun beautiful interactive. My favorites were the Tasmanians at the start and, towards the end, the Queensland/South Aussie remnants that kept going to the last song. Lots of parents, coaches and associates particpated at various times also. At one point all the lights in the hall were down, leaving only the coloured stage lights. Looking out, I couldn’t see the back of the hall because there was a solid wall of people as far as I could see (most of whom were taller than me!), arms up and singing along. Not every pub/party band gets this experience! I was pretty busy, but was able to think ‘wow’!
The band enjoyed ourselves, no problems at all with the fact that this was our ‘charity show’ for this year (we usually fit at least one in). ‘Twas interesting to see that most of the girls knew most of the songs in our repertoire, even if we didn’t know the songs they probably most thought they’d like to hear. I think it disproves the theory that we need ‘modern’ songs if we are to keep the attention of teenagers. Again, as at Milang F.C., ‘Decisions’ went down a treat (the only original we played on the night).
Musically, we did okay over four sets without a sound check. I don’t think we’d played together since the Glynde, but we held it together fairly well and had no major crashes. Steve was fluid on the guitar, didn’t sound forced at all (he’s been gigging independently a bit). Sox and Terry did their usual solid backing. Nancy engaged well with this audience, and brought a young fellow up for a couple of songs (Old Time Rock’n’Roll and ‘500 Miles’) which his friends loved. We also had a group of older netballers up to help with Eagle Rock, which was fun. I didn’t hear my guitar in the full ensemble until I turned up in the second, but the mix sounded okay from there. I kept it simple, reflecting the fact that I’ve played less in the last month than I should have (mainly because of the demands of my ‘day job’).
My favorite moment: between songs near the end of the second set, an aged lady (75+) came up to the side of stage on her way out and said that she’d really enjoyed it. She said her husband (“gone twenty years”) had been a drummer and would have loved it. I thanked her, and said I hoped he’d enjoyed it. She smiled and left. You can’t buy moments like that…
Next Gig, a fiftieth at the Lockleys, and then we play the Glynde again on November 12. Should be big.
We knew it was going to be an interesting night when we arrived to see about 300 netballers and a couple hundred associates in the hall we were to play in. It was filled to capacity and spilled several layers around the building’s wall-long windows. Somehow and without drama, room was made to let us get our gear in (although we couldn’t set up until the multitude decided to conduct their presentations outside between rain showers). By good fortune, experience and organisation, we were set up by 7 pm, when the award ceremony had concluded and people began lining up for food (a huge bbq and salad).
The organisers said we could start when we wanted, so we started. Even before we’d begun, there were around twenty teenage girls clustering around the front of our ‘stage’ (we played at floor level). They were obviously quite excited.
They didn’t let us down. We had the whole place rocking into the first set. It didn’t stop until the last song. Over the evening, it was funny to watch the dancing/foot tapping contagion spread from the dancers in front of stage (who were pretty good), through the queue of people waiting to eat and those serving them, to those that were sitting in ‘quiet’ spots at the back and, finally, even to those outside.
Highlights of the evening were varied. Some of the ‘dancing circles’ of netballers were amazing to watch, fun beautiful interactive. My favorites were the Tasmanians at the start and, towards the end, the Queensland/South Aussie remnants that kept going to the last song. Lots of parents, coaches and associates particpated at various times also. At one point all the lights in the hall were down, leaving only the coloured stage lights. Looking out, I couldn’t see the back of the hall because there was a solid wall of people as far as I could see (most of whom were taller than me!), arms up and singing along. Not every pub/party band gets this experience! I was pretty busy, but was able to think ‘wow’!
The band enjoyed ourselves, no problems at all with the fact that this was our ‘charity show’ for this year (we usually fit at least one in). ‘Twas interesting to see that most of the girls knew most of the songs in our repertoire, even if we didn’t know the songs they probably most thought they’d like to hear. I think it disproves the theory that we need ‘modern’ songs if we are to keep the attention of teenagers. Again, as at Milang F.C., ‘Decisions’ went down a treat (the only original we played on the night).
Musically, we did okay over four sets without a sound check. I don’t think we’d played together since the Glynde, but we held it together fairly well and had no major crashes. Steve was fluid on the guitar, didn’t sound forced at all (he’s been gigging independently a bit). Sox and Terry did their usual solid backing. Nancy engaged well with this audience, and brought a young fellow up for a couple of songs (Old Time Rock’n’Roll and ‘500 Miles’) which his friends loved. We also had a group of older netballers up to help with Eagle Rock, which was fun. I didn’t hear my guitar in the full ensemble until I turned up in the second, but the mix sounded okay from there. I kept it simple, reflecting the fact that I’ve played less in the last month than I should have (mainly because of the demands of my ‘day job’).
My favorite moment: between songs near the end of the second set, an aged lady (75+) came up to the side of stage on her way out and said that she’d really enjoyed it. She said her husband (“gone twenty years”) had been a drummer and would have loved it. I thanked her, and said I hoped he’d enjoyed it. She smiled and left. You can’t buy moments like that…
Next Gig, a fiftieth at the Lockleys, and then we play the Glynde again on November 12. Should be big.
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