Performance, Pedals and Preparedness
I’ve taken a bit of time away from blogging to sort out what exactly it is I do creatively, and therefore what knowledge I can actually add to the plethora of content that’s already written. Over the past few years I’ve found that my interests haven’t exactly changed, but have found directions and strengthened. It seems I might now have something to say!
Guitarists and their effect pedals are intrinsically intertwined. It’s a point that has come up in both theses I’ve written, and through all my research. Since we found ways to amplify the instrument’s sound, guitar players naturally follow a primal instinct to adapt, sculpt and shape their sound into something unique, personal, and often not guitar-sounding at all. In the past few years I’ve gone down a rabbit hole of tone shaping and tweaking, trying to find my optimal sound and versatility. It’s resulted in two very different (and horrifically expensive) pedal boards, as well as a separate laptop rig.
One factor that has driven me from early on is the ease of which I can set up my rig on stage or in rehearsal, as well as how well I know the function of each piece of equipment, and how effortlessly I can pull in the sounds I want during performance. I’ve spent a lot of time cutting my own leads, securing everything to a board in the optimal placement for foot control, and rehearsing my pedal tap-dance while playing.
It often strikes me as odd, if not frustrating, when I see musicians in live performance scenarios who either haven’t taken the time to know their equipment inside out, or construct their set up in a way that is manageable for everyone in the performance. This includes sound engineers who might have to deal with widely fluctuating levels; stagehands who might have to set up their equipment for them; or the audience who is forced to watch while a dud lead is found, power is plugged back in, or the song takes 5 minutes to set up loops before it really begins.
Two recent performances weigh on my mind, both televised performances that I was in the audience for. One was a musician who used an elaborate looping system, which while he was being interviewed live on air was being set up by stagehands. Across two pieces of wood lay a spaghetti of cables and pedals, none of which were secured. The stagehands, who landed the task simply by being stagehands for the show itself and contained no obvious knowledge of their setup, struggled to untangle the mess and set up for the performance in a matter of minutes. When the artist took to perform, he was greeted with a lighting state and a wide camera zoom, while he spent a minute moving the pedals and plugging leads in differently. He then went about the performance after a significant period of dead air, in which he took excessive liberty and played one of those standard ‘I’m going to loop and layer everything for 5 minutes’ moments – masturbatory looping, I’ve come to call it (but that’s a topic for another post).
The second saw a very impressive musical duo looping and effecting didgeridoo playing. The performance was captivating – when they were actually playing. Between each piece, the leader took a minute to reset all his patches to suit the next piece, all of which were about 30 seconds – 1 minute in length. In the final televised cut this would surely have been edited, but it completely wrecked the mood in the audience. There’s obviously some level of manipulation needed, but I didn’t really hear anything special that warranted the lengthy set up for each tune. It’s a common cry I’ve heard from many music fans who have seen artists setting up loops on stage, and adjusting settings between songs. It drops the mood, it causes impatience, and the audience loses interest.
I’m going to go into more detail in the coming months sharing my methodology for preparing for performances. In the meantime, this is the general concepts I follow, and suggest my students to also.
- Prepare and lay out equipment to be minimal – as close to plugging in power and a couple of instrument leads as possible. Buy a decent pedal board with a proper case rather than a kitchen cupboard door; clear Spotlight’s Velcro supplies; and spend the time making sure everything works, is secure, and simple to transport and set up. A reliable rig doesn’t just save setup time, but also allows you to get to playing music and thinking creatively sooner.
- Know your equipment – Rehearse turning effects on and off easily. Know where your optimal settings are for each sound so you can dial them in quickly without boring your audience (or without giving away the secrets of the song before you play it). Learn the optimal volumes for each so your boost, distortions, loops etc are close to level before you soundcheck. Again, knowing the capabilities of your gear also allows your creativity to flourish sooner.
- Invest in good gear – While for some people it’s not an immediate option, having reliable and effortless equipment makes a tremendous amount of difference to your performance, including removing anxiety before shows. When I knew I could rely on my equipment, all I had to do was focus on being in the moment for the performance. Double check your leads; use better patch cables than that old green rubber one you’ve had since 1992; get a better power supply than a Dick Smith adapter and a daisy chain; carry a spare of everything in case of emergencies; take a powerboard and extension cord etc. Knowing you are equipped is just as important as knowing what each of your pedals does.
Performances are about the entire time you are on stage, not just the sounds you make when you are playing. Your audience will absolutely appreciate a tight performance from your gear too, even if they don’t notice that it’s all working as planned. That’s probably the point, isn’t it?
– As an aside, for those of us who are in the eternal spiral of setups and pedal concepts, check out www.pedalboardplanner.com. It’s a great way to work out where that new pedal is going to fit, or how your board could look more polished and fancy. I also thoroughly suggest Pedaltrain boards. Lots more of this to come!