Get Onstage
You've found the bandmates. You've picked the name. You've written a few songs and maybe learned to cover "Love Is a Wonderful Thing." Now you need to find an audience — and you can't get an audience without first getting someone to let you onto their stage.
Brendan Pester works for Opus One Productions and books local talent for Mr. Small's Theater; he offers some advice for hopeful musicians.
"Honestly, one of the biggest things [leading to local bookings] is how professional and broad the band's web presence is," Pester says. "We don't accept physical press kits. We're going to look at a band's Facebook page, their ReverbNation page. If we see a lot of activity on there, that's a good indication that they're working hard to promote themselves, which is good.
"The quality of the recordings, too, is big: Even if you go into a studio to just record a couple of demos, that makes a big difference."
If you see a show that's just been announced by a local promoter or venue and are interested in playing it, feel free to get in touch. "We almost never have the opening slots booked when we first announce a show," Pester says. But be specific — don't get in touch to say you want to open any and every show. "That pretty much automatically ends up in the trash."
Open mics are another way to get heard; Hambone's in Lawrenceville and Club Café on the South Side both host notable weekly nights. And don't forget your other option: booking it yourself. Besides house shows, which are cheap but can get you in trouble with neighbors, some venues, like the Mr. Roboto Project, allow just about anyone to book shows. (In the case of Roboto, you must be a member in good standing, and pay a rental fee for each show.)
Ready to Record
Garrett Haines, chief mastering engineer at Treelady Studios in Wilkins (and a contributor to Tape Op Magazine), has mastered thousands of albums, including last year's Grammy-winner for Best Children's Album (All About Bullies ... Big and Small, by The Sugar Free Allstars). On behalf of studio engineers everywhere, he offers a seven-step plan for first-time studio-goers:
1. Rehearse the songs you want to record. Rehearse them more.
2. Tape your rehearsal. Stick a jam box in the room, anything. Listen to this to see where things can be improved.
3. Guitarists and bass players — have your guitar set up by a luthier. Pittsburgh has several top-notch guitar technicians. With our climate, gigging musicians should have their guitar set up twice a year.
4. Drummers — change your heads the week before you come in. (Not the day of). Have extra sticks and snare heads. Realize your live cymbals may be too bright for the studio. Ask if the studio has cymbals you can use.
5. Decide if you're going to play to a click track. Agree on the beats per minute (BPM) of the song and document it. The studio is not the place to first use a click track.
6. Singers — work out harmonies and backing vocals ahead of time.
7. Rehearse more.
