Learnings

I’ve only been at this music thing for just over a year. My first gig was in a stairwell at the St. Paul Art Crawl, completely unplugged. Since then I’ve played coffee shops, bars, events, living rooms, festivals – all offering up their own teachings of all things sound. I was never picky. If they didn’t have a PA, I would just bring my amps and plug in the guitar and mic and just play. I wasn’t worried about the mix, never thinking it mattered. I was just a girl with an acoustic guitar, after all. How much mixing did I really need?

Even a gig I played with my drummer at a bar that did not have a sound system, I still just plugged in and played. I’m sure we sounded terrible. I couldn’t hear myself over his drums (and all the conversations happening around me). But still, we played on and I learned some new things.

Harm's Bar, with drums, sans PA.

Last night I played at a coffeehouse that did have a sound system. The venue is big enough where they allow a full drum set; they even have full rock bands play there. But after my set, I’m not sure how they manage that. I couldn’t hear a thing. Maybe it’s because I’m playing an acoustic and it’s just generally quieter. But they had the monitors cranked and I could just barely hear my guitar and since I couldn’t hear it, I knew Shawn couldn’t hear it back there banging away on the drums (and I later confirmed that he couldn’t).

It’s crazy how much not being able to hear everything clearly can affect how you play. You’d think that just knowing your songs is enough. I mean, I play these songs all the time. I know them inside and out. Yet, if I can’t hear my thumb hitting that bass note, then it throws me all off.

I used to be one of those live music watchers that would get so annoyed with the overextended soundcheck. Just play already! It doesn’t have to be perfect! Or giggle at the folk singer asking for “more guitar in the monitor”. Come on, you can’t hear that? It’s you and a guitar. Just play.

Tuning and soundchecking at Acadia.

The first time I saw Dan Bern play was at a coffee shop in St. Paul. His whole set (which was excellent) he kept asking the sound girl over and over to turn the vocals up, turn the guitar down, wait turn the vocals down, turn the other guy’s guitar up, etc, etc. I felt so bad for this girl. I thought, I could never do that. I would just deal with it and move on.

But I wasn’t a musician then, out there playing shows, trying to sound my best so that people want to listen to me and maybe see me again.

I didn’t think Dan was being a dick by asking for those things. I just felt bad for the sound girl.

But, now I understand why he did.

When Shawn steps out from the drums to play electric guitar, it is so important that I can hear his guitar. Otherwise, I don’t know where he is, he doesn’t know where I am and the whole thing is a big mess.

The music sounds different from the stage. Without the monitors, your sound is being projected away from you. Shawn’s guitar is mic’d to go out to the audience, not to me. If the mix in the monitors isn’t right, I can’t hear it at all. Then we aren’t playing together, we’re just kind of up there hitting strings each on our own.

So, last night, I asked twice for “more guitar in the monitor”. I still have to suppress the laughter when I say it as I can’t actually believe I’m saying it. When I realized that it just wasn’t going to get any louder, I played on. It certainly wasn’t my best set, but it was a set and I learned something new.

Set List

-Good

-The Paul Simon Song

-Can’t Even Tell

-The Party

-Good To Know

-Cohabitate

-Here