Little Things: An Advice Thread

[MathOfInsects]

This thread is for all those "little things" we wish we'd learned earlier, to make life, gigs, performance, or keyboard ownership in general easier. 

Like, always buy two power supplies for whatever boards you get. Not only can you leave one set up in your home studio or practice area, but if you happen to lose one you can still use your board and play your gigs. 

 

If you do cycle a keyboard into and out of a rehearsal area or studio, leave a full set-up for it there, even beyond that power source--cables, stand, pedals. Not having to pack and unpack a gig bagjust to play your board at home will keep you productive and encourage you to do whatever it was you were going to do with the board (which you might bail on if you have to do a full set-up each time).

Have one gig bag for single-board gigs and another for two-board (+) gigs. Go ahead and duplicate anything that means duplicating. Then you can grab n go for whichever type of gig you are playing.

What "little things" have you learned, that might help others make the most of their time and opportunities?

[nursers]

1. Don't buy a house where you need to store your gear upstairs

 

2. Invest in a great mixer / interface that allows you to output what you want, and also get a good FOH feed.

 

3. Always have something to mop up liquid

 

 

[Stokely]

The OP hit a bunch of mine, mainly having to do with not getting cute with rigs and supporting gear.  Any time I try to get "efficient" for different gigs I end up forgetting something.  Short of duplication (as mentioned) I just bring my normal gear case even if some stuff in it won't be used.

Have a backup gear case in your car (unless that is too far away to be helpful).  Don't have backup stuff in your main case, it just gets in the way during normal setup.

Bring a light if you play down and dirty bars.  Those things are often dark as pitch when you shut your lights down!   Actually so are some resort gigs, we did a poolside one recently that went into evening.

In the theme of "mop up liquid" I learned not to put anything important directly on the floor.  I have a couple cheap FC5 pedals on the floor, but now my Key Largo and monitor mixers and any other pedals go in a pedalboard--and that fits in my main gear case so it won't be forgotten.

Get a "stage black" colored Lasko drying fan.  Can't believe I ever gigged without one.  Make sure you get one that can tilt.

Definitely have an "outdoor kit" especially if you live in a place like FL.  Towels, tarps (or grill cover), plastic bags for floor gear in case rain starts running through the stage (as has happened to me.)

I make sure any keyboard stand I use has a mic boom attachment.  I tend to leave mic stands at home!  The boom fits in my gear case along with everything else that isn't a keyboard or stand.

Something I learned years ago--if you are running more than one cable to a mixer or box on stage, use or build a snake.  I have a custom "snake" with split-sleeve plastic, because one of my cables is ethernet (no off the shelf snake has this I don't think).  Been using this thing almost 10 years to hold up to 5 or 6 cables and it looks brand new.  So convenient, doesn't catch on anything and protects the cables a bit.  Looks good on stage too.

[drawback]

Don't sweat the small stuff.

[cphollis]

One big chunk of advice for playing an outdoor festival in FL:

- bring at least a gallon of water, two towels and a spare shirt

- bug spray, suntan lotion and a big floppy hat

- sunglasses and a stage fan

[Canoehead]

Protect your hearing, whatever it takes!   If a band insists on playing at volumes that hurt, make sure you have earplugs that work.  If it’s so loud that earplugs don’t help; move on.  There’ll be lots of other opportunities.  You only have two ears.

 

cheers,

Gord

[bill5]

This isn't specific to music, but regarding saving of data:

 

- Always have at least TWO backups of files/data you really care about and are irreplaceable (soft copies of photos, etc).

- Keep in mind that hard drives don't last forever - in fact you shouldn't count on more than 3 or 4 yrs. After that, copy it to a new one.

- One of those backups should be online, like google drive or emailing things to yourself, etc. That way if you're robbed or the house burns down you still have it 

[miden]

Wished I'd of learned guitar instead

[ProfD]

Be able to play every song in the setlist as if the only KB avaliable was a piano.😎

[Outkaster]

Don't eat yellow snow.

[o0Ampy0o]

Carry a roll of TP and some Lysol. 

[CowboyNQ]

1.  Never, ever, ever let a third party handle settlement funds on your behalf.

 

2. Don’t lose sleep over FOH.  They’ll either do a great, terrible or moderate job.  Regardless you’ll have zero control over it.

 

3. Don’t play in a band with people you struggle to get along with.

[Synthaholic]

• Always carry a voltage regulator in your vehicle. 
• Always plug your power cable into the outlet before connecting the other end to your piece of gear. You dont know how loose/safe that outlet is.
• If part of your compensation is a bar/food tab, order something earlier in the evening that will keep well until you're finished playing. Don't order food right before the kitchen is closing down. 

[KuruPrionz]

Always have some paper and a writing utensil with you. You never know when a song might come or you need to write down something. Could just be a couple of chords. 

 

Breath mints are good to have handy, if somebody comes up to chat and their breath smells like an unflushed toilet, take out the breath mints, put one in your mouth, smile and offer them one. It might keep you from making an unmistakable face. 

[Adan]

Tip your waitstaff even when you’re the performer. It’ll likely benefit you down the line. 

[stoken6]

Great advice through this thread. Mine:

- Buy the in-house sound engineer a drink

- DC barrel connectors will break (I broke three in my early gigging days)

- Buy once, buy well

- Being a sub is often more fun than being a full-time member

10 hours ago, ProfD said:

Be able to play every song in the setlist as if the only KB avaliable was a piano.😎

This. Or Hammond Organ.

 

Cheers, Mike

[rickzjamm]

Treat everyone with kindness the way you'd want to be treated & always have a smile. Not always possible on every gig but remember that's the kind of musician you'd want to hang with, right?

[cphollis]

If you realize you're the best musician in the band, time to find a new band.

[Mark Zeger]

Never get involved in a land war in Asia.

Never go in against a Sicilian when death is on the line. 

[Paul Woodward]

Marry someone who understands your compulsion to buy music gear... 😉

[TommyRude]

[JamPro]

Gig Miscellaneous Go-bag:

1) a towel to mop up sweat (or beer)

2) face mask; hand sanitizer

3) extension chord and multi-outlet junction box (it never ceases to amaze me how many self-proclaimed gig "pros" forget this mission-critical gear)

4) your ear protection

5) your preferred thirst-quencher in a clean container you can keep away from "fans" who want to dose you

6) I keep a throw-away paperback book handy for downtime and delays

For outdoors

7) clips to hold the sheet music to the stand

😎 tarp large enough to cover your gear

9) sun-block; mosquito repellent; baby powder for when the humidity makes your fingers stick to the plastic keys

 

[bill5]

8 hours ago, KuruPrionz said:

Always have some paper and a writing utensil with you. You never know when a song might come or you need to write down something. Could just be a couple of chords.  

...or a hand-held recorder. More than once I came up with something while driving home, felt it was really good, kept repeating it to myself over and over so I wouldn't lose it...and lost it anyway.  

[MathOfInsects]

Just seconding the snake suggestion. Have setups ready for all configurations of your rig. I have presnaked sets of two and four cables, and I also snake together my pedals, so that at a gig it's just drop n plug. Don't forget to wrap colored tape or some other way of differentiating the cables BEFORE you snake. 

Also, remember that in a two-cable pair, you only need to mark one, not both. (A truly "little thing" but we don't get any of these wasted minutes back at the end of our lives.)

I use the fabric cable wrap the hot-rodders use for their bag-ass subs in their cars. It looks slick, is dead-easy to use, and it's cheap to replace or augment.

 

[Synthaholic]

2 hours ago, JamPro said:

Gig Miscellaneous Go-bag:

1) a towel to mop up sweat (or beer)

2) face mask; hand sanitizer

3) extension chord and multi-outlet junction box (it never ceases to amaze me how many self-proclaimed gig "pros" forget this mission-critical gear)

4) your ear protection

5) your preferred thirst-quencher in a clean container you can keep away from "fans" who want to dose you

6) I keep a throw-away paperback book handy for downtime and delays

For outdoors

7) clips to hold the sheet music to the stand

😎 tarp large enough to cover your gear

9) sun-block; mosquito repellent; baby powder for when the humidity makes your fingers stick to the plastic keys

 

This took a dark turn!  😳

[o0Ampy0o]

11 hours ago, Synthaholic said:

• Always carry a voltage regulator in your vehicle. 
• Always plug your power cable into the outlet before connecting the other end to your piece of gear. You dont know how loose/safe that outlet is.
• If part of your compensation is a bar/food tab, order something earlier in the evening that will keep well until you're finished playing. Don't order food right before the kitchen is closing down. 

Consider testing outlets on something expendable. If using an iPad or iPhone Apple advises that you avoid connecting hot power cables to the device and says they should not be connected to an outlet first.

[Synthaholic]

3 minutes ago, o0Ampy0o said:

Consider testing outlets on something expendable. If using an iPad or iPhone Apple advises that you avoid connecting hot power cables to the device and says they should not be connected to an outlet first.

If I'm suspicious of voltage I use my Kill-a-Watt to test outlets. But I've had outlets spark when something was plugged into them, and I've had outlets so loose that either the plug fell right out or the entire outlet wobbled around. Ever since those events I've always plugged in an extension cord before connecting any gear to it. I also avoid ground lifts. They're dangerous. If it's the only thing available I get my voltage regulator from the vehicle. It has protection built in.

[JimboKeys]

Rubber plugs or gaffer tape on all unused jacks (learned this after too many times of finding that my damper pedal wasn't working because i plugged it into the keyboard's headphone jack).

[TommyRude]

Always ask for I.D.

[Piktor]

A roll of gaffer’s tape makes a pretty good drink holder.