Playing live: sound checking and gig frequency

As rock ‘n’ roll as it might be to appear late, storm on stage and slay the crowd with your music, you really need to put in some good graft first to make sure that what comes out the speakers is an orchestrated sonic onslaught and not the sound of slaughtered cats. Always make sure that soundcheck times are scheduled in your show bookings and do not be late for these. 

 

Often when playing with a big band, they will soundcheck and try to insist that you just use their settings. In these cases request at least a line check – where the sound engineer simply checks that all your cables and connections are functioning properly – once their soundcheck is over, so that you can get your instruments set up and reassure yourselves that everything can be heard. In most cases, the general sound balance will be good and the sound ready to go, but if you don’t at least do a line check, you run the risk of not having one or other of your instruments or vocalists coming through for the first couple of songs. Make this agreement with the sound engineer and the manager, so that the big act is not inconvenienced or bothered in any way.

 

Key things to look out for in soundcheck:

 

 

Frequency

 

Once your band has broken onto the scene, the next question that comes up is: how often should you play? If you were to make a living off gigging, ideally you’d play as often as four times a week. But the truth is that in South Africa there are not enough venues to sustain a host of bands all playing four nights a week. In very short order the average punter would have seen their favourite band once a week for the last three months and would probably have gotten bored. A key factor to consider here is that, for most South Africans, watching live music is not really an entertainment option like going clubbing or seeing a movie. Many more people need to be converted to the idea that it is something that you do for fun, and many more venues need to open in the many towns around the country to afford original bands the opportunity to make more money from playing live.

 

So when gauging how often a band can afford to play, the members need to aim for the following: playing enough to get the name recognised and make people aware of you, and not playing so much that people stop coming because they are bored. The trick, of course, is to get the balance right: to play to the right people and make sure that your performance is top-class on every occasion. As a general piece of advice, never play the same venue in the same town more than once a month. If you are going to play in the same town two or three times, make sure that this is in venues that are in different parts of town, so as to spread your reach to different residential areas.

 

 

Playing small towns

 

New bands especially are intimidated by the idea of playing outside their hometowns, but you really shouldn’t be. The reception is often warmer outside your hometown and South Africa has so many smaller towns around each major centre that you can get out and about without going too far, or overplaying your home turf. Take Johannesburg as an example. You can play the central areas, the northern suburbs, the south (including Soweto) the East Rand and the West Rand. Then you have Pretoria, Centurion, Potchefstroom, Klerksdorp and the Vaal Triangle all within two hours’ drive of the city. That’s ten areas you can play without playing the same venue twice. If you play two venues a week, it will be over one month before you hit the same part of town again and if there is more than one venue in each area, you can stretch it even further. You might think that this is only true of Johannesburg because of its size, but if you take most major areas and apply the same thinking, you will see that it’s true mostly everywhere. Take Bloemfontein: there are Welkom, Kimberley and a host of small towns in the area. In Durban there are the North Coast and South Coast towns, the Midlands and Pietermaritzburg. In Cape Town you have Stellenbosch, the northern suburbs, the city, and Hermanus, Somerset West and Gordon’s Bay down the road. It just requires the correct attitude. If you as a local band make the effort to find and develop these venues, then you can act as host for out-of-town bands and together you can grow the local scenes, making sure there is a living to be made for everyone.

 

So the reality is that you can play quite a bit, even as a new band. But always be wary of overplaying. The truth of the matter is that when you are successful and in demand, you can play as much as you like and you can move and tour at will. But when you are still building a reputation, you need to be slightly careful. You must still play a lot, because your live shows are the best word-of-mouth advertisement you have, but beware of exhausting your audience.

 

Next week: Playing live - rockstar rules

 

Originally published in David Chislett's One, Two, One, Two: A Step By Step Guide To The South African Music Industry. Download a free copy of the book at www.davidchislett.co.za.