Now it is the day after and I've had some time to reflect on my experiences of my first real gig. So what went well? Clearly many of the songs we had were right and people did join in. We even had an encore - we didn't have another number to play so we replayed the best song - House of the Rising Sun. What didn't go so well? Backing tracks - we were out on a couple of them - in fact one of them were out by such a way that I muted the backing track part way through. I forgot to bring up the vocal MIC for the first track - oops.

What was I pleased with? My performance was good, confident and mainly all together. I had a few slip ups but I heard the others making some slips as well. My best parts? The solos in Summertime and my party piece (The Loner) - not because I did it perfectly - because I didn't - but I managed to continue with confidence and pick it up - people didn't notice or realise. By the time I got to the second half I was enjoying myself - that was a major goal.

You can see the photos of the event at this album

Well tomorrow is the day of the big gig - well for me anyway. It is my wife's brother's birthday and I'm playing with my wife's brother (guitar and vocals) and his friend on bass. My roles are several - a) sound engineer - I'm setting up the PA, mixing desk, foldback, MIC as well as the levels and the mix; b) technician for the backing tracks - the creation, mixing, editing; c) initiating the backing tracks using a MIDI footboard to trigger the tracks on the laptop; d) also playing guitar.

So I'm busy both beforehand and after with kit set up and take down as well as during the set when I'm playing and triggering the backing tracks.

I've been practising for nearly 12 months and my wife and I cannot agree on the estimate of the hours I've put in to this practice. Let's just say we agree that it is hundred's of hours in the 12 months.

Now, of course, I am desperate to 1) let everything go well 2) play well and 3) enjoy myself. I'm struggling a little with the latter one. But once #1 has been done then I can concentrate on the rest.

I'll report back early next week with my thoughts and feelings on the big gig.

Topics covered in Episode 2:

Christmas
Coffee
Ableton Live
Getting Started

This is a standard mp3 format at 128kbps.

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