PG Music Home Forums General Discussion Off-Topic The Songs We Should Retire

Eddie, it's much easier for me to do it myself than to do all that tweaking, cutting, pasting, and so on. Plus when I do a song myself, I know the chords, I know the inversions used, and I know all the parts inside and out. And I can change parts to my liking to make the song more effective in a live setting. I can extend the solo or add an A or B section to the solo.

Charlie, about live mix. Each song is individual, and a lot is trial and error, but here are a few pointers to get you thinking in the right direction.

When you go to a club with live music, walking from the parking lot what do you hear first. Bass and snare drum if it's a rock, blues, or country band.

These things need to be louder in a live mix than they do in a karaoke or at home listening to the stereo or earbud mix. But they have to be EQ'd so the bass isn't boomy and the snare has a lot of crack to it. On funk or reggae songs sometimes it's the kick drum instead of the snare that needs the boost.

"Call and response" parts that are response to the lead vocals need to be pumped up. Especially if it's a peppy song and the parts are designed to have some punch.

No fade outs - ever.

If it's a dance club, nix the eerie or rubato intro and get to the recognizable part of the song right away. If the verse is not strong, and the people don't recognize it and start dancing right away, start with the hook as an intro if possible.

Never put reverb on the kick drum. It makes for mud in a live mix. Reverb on the snare is nice though.

Notes in the band that are accented, need to be accented even more in a live mix. I remember a band I was in, the trumpet player used to say he hits the accents like Bruce Lee. James Brown told his bands that they are to accent as if they were playing a drum.

No backing vocals, unless they are your own voices. I even prefer to play the backing vocals on an instrument, synth, brass, or whatever seems appropriate to the song. That way you get the call and the response without the audience wondering, "How did all those singers get there."

Not quite "live mix" but a couple of beats per minute faster than the recording is often a good idea. When you see the band doing it live, quite often it's faster than their recording. Sometimes pump up the B section a beat or two per minute, if the B is designed to add energy, or slow it down a tiny bit if the B is designed to calm down the song.

Groove. In a live setting, the groove should often be exaggerated. If the recording rushes or lags the 2s and 4s, rush or lag them even more. If the eight notes have a bit of swing to them, add a bit more.

Live arrangements should often be longer than the recording or karaoke track. Two and a half minutes is not enough live. Often by the time the dancers decide to get on the floor, almost two minutes have passed.

I've played in live bands for the first half of my life, and even though I'm in a duo now, I'm a member of a group that holds jam sessions (the core band gets paid well) and if I'm not working, I go to sit in. I want the mix of my backing tracks to sound as much as I'm used to hearing a band sound, and I will fuss and tweak them until I'm satisfied with the output.

We play a club about once a month, and another regular is a karaoke band. They sing over k tracks. A regular customer asked us to learn a couple of songs, and I learned them, but mixed them for live performance, not a listen to the recording or karaoke mix. The customer not only thanked us for learning the songs, but said that they sound much better than the record (by that he means the karaoke jocks because they sound like the record with background vocals and all).

When you go to hear another live band, analyze the mix while you are enjoying the music, and you will open your ears to getting better live mixes with your backing tracks.

Insights and incites by Notes