Just about 2 weeks since the Easter solo sessions at Hut Ab and it is time to look back at what happened before and during the night.
On the whole things went a lot better than a few months ago, with the help of more practice and experience. Playing was definitely better but more than anything I could feel (and hear through the monitors) that all this singing under the shower really paied off !
But as you would expect there are still lessons to be learned for next time:
- SOUNDCHECK: fact is people make up their mind in the first 30" of the first song and sound quality is at least half of these impressions. So learning from past experience, I spent time chosing the right FX for each song. And I also made sure there was ample time to do a proper soundcheck a few hours before the gig itself. From all account, it made a huge difference but I'm thinking now of going all acoustic as it will work better for a solo set .
- SETLIST: again this is something I laboured on for some time, looking at varying styles, mood and pace throughout the set. Eventually I did not get to play as many new songs as initially planned (still 4 in total including one of my very owns) but I made the choice to focus on songs I could play well enough with the right vibe.
- RECORDING: clearly one of the areas where things could have gone better. I used my new Zoom H4N to record the gig but was quite disappointed afterwards when listening to it. Which is when I realized that recording directly from the FX boards into the mixing board meant I missed all the "live" feel of the concert. Not sure yet how I will tackle this in the future.
- PROMOTION: as a good marketeer I know very well that there is no point pushing a product with consumers unless you are 100% sure they will be convinced by the experience. Which is why this was not really a big focus (yet). Although I got some positive feedback on the use of QR codes on the flyers (with a link to my SoundCloud cage). But there is definitely (a lot) more work to do on this in the near future, starting by posting some of the live tracks to promote the next event.
It's a long way to the top, especially when you take one step after the other as I do. But I'm sure next time will again be a notch better.
Can't wait to be there ...
