Band Practice Take 2

Today the Hek-Atomic Cherries convened for our second and final practice before the show Thursday. I had made a point to get some XLR cables for my new microphones so that we could not only have our regular band practice but also run a complete test of my Pro Tools M-Box system. I am planning to record all four bands on Thursday night using the system with the two inputs coming from the FOH (Front of House) mixing console. Before I try to set it up at Grant Street Dancehall, I wanted to have a dry run and try recording practice.

So using two of my new mics, I set up one for drums and one to capture both the guitar and bass. I let the computer rip and we recorded eighty-six minutes of rock. Upon listening to one of the songs, I was pretty impressed with what can be accomplished with the M-Box. It is obviously not the greatest sounding recording (only recorded with two dynamic mics), but we have done a lot worse (four-track tape recording in the old days).

As far as practice went, we played through all of our songs on the list as well as two new songs we will be debuting on Thursday. We only had to play one of the new songs twice and not because we messed up but rather just because Steve, the drummer, wanted to do it one more time to feel more comfortable. All in all I was very pleased. If we can play half as well tomorrow night, I will be very happy. It really is like riding a bike though. The songs come back pretty easily once you get going. Plus it has only been a year since we last played most of these. Last year was definitely took more preparation.

Subtracting out the breaks we included in the eighty-six minutes of practice, I would say that our set is just over an hour which is ideal for several reasons. First, if you play too long, even if the crowd loves it, they start to get bored. At the show last year we played about one hour and forty-five minutes of music. The crowed loved it but they peaked somewhere around the one hour mark. Plus last year there were only two bands; this year there will be four.

Secondly, since I am recording the show, I really want it to be able to fit on one CD. So the most it can be is eighty minutes. Charles and Steve usually have a tendency to get caught up bantering with the audience during our shows so today I told them not to get carried away with it. They say that it helps make a connection with the audience, but I feel you can do that without getting caught up in a conversation.

Finally, you really have to leave the audience wanting more. Otherwise why would they come see us next year. There are several songs that I know the audience will want us to play. There are several songs that we are pretty well known for covering and we have some popular originals, but like Steve and I were telling Charles today, you can't play everything. We can make up for some of that next year.

I am getting excited about our show tomorrow night and hope that anyone out there in cyberspace within driving distance of Lafayette, LA can come and join us in the fun. Look for my review of our performance as well as the others in the coming days.