• 1 hour 7 minutes
    Post the Gig, Get the Gig: Social Media for Working Musicians with Edgar Solorzano
    Post the Gig, Get the Gig: Social Media for Working Musicians with Edgar Solorzano – Gig Gab 559 episode image

    You moved to a new city where nobody knows your name. Now what? When Edgar Solorzano left Venezuela for South Florida ten years ago, his answer was simple: hit record. He took a GoPro to a country gig with a band of firefighters, posted the highlights, and kept posting every day: under a minute, the best moment of the night, replying to every comment, even the mean ones. When the only calls were for country gigs, he started posting slap covers of Level 42 and the Red Hot Chili Peppers until the phone rang for everything else. It’s the same move that started it all back home, where a 2006 YouTube video landed him in the busiest band in Maracaibo, playing up to six shows a night.

    Then Edgar walks you through the working week: three or more nights of weddings, corporate gigs, casinos and clubs, almost no rehearsals, and what to do when you’ve pulled up the wrong charts for a 35-minute hora. You’ll hear how VAM Band’s system makes a gig easy to walk into, why Edgar turns the nanny tracks off, the in-ear mix where kick and bass melt into one instrument, and the dead-simple rig behind all those gig videos: an Insta360 X6 and a second in-ear receiver on the same channel. There’s also a warning about talkback culture before you go live, and yes, a detour to nerd out on Rush. Post the gig, share the gig, and Always Be Performing.

    The post Post the Gig, Get the Gig: Social Media for Working Musicians with Edgar Solorzano – Gig Gab 559 appeared first on Gig Gab.

    9 November 2026, 8:05 am
  • 1 hour 17 minutes
    Don’t Compete with the Couch: How to Get People to Your Gigs, Bar Band to Theater Band & AI for Musicians with Paul Kent
    Dave Hamilton and Paul Kent laughing on a video call, Gig Gab 558 episode art: Don’t Compete with the Couch

    Gig Gab was Paul Kent’s idea, and he’s back in the co-host chair with 27 years of running the ten-piece Houserockers behind him. You’ll hear how Dave’s Underground band learns a whole new themed set every six weeks at the Seacoast Rep, why moving from bars to an 800-seat theater starts with deciding you are a theater band, and the frequency-versus-scarcity tension every local act wrestles with. Paul’s answer to the fan who says they’ll catch you next time is blunt: stop competing with the couch. Find the people already looking to get out, let them get to know the band and each other, and host a two-hour party every single night.

    Then it’s AI for working musicians: gig posters, the Kanban booking tracker Paul built in half a day, lead lists, email campaigns, and Dave’s case for AI as the ultimate procrastination killer. Plus, a condo neighbor storms a 9:55 PM rehearsal demanding the band wrap by 8:30, and finds out he picked the wrong Dave. Stick around to hear who actually coined Always Be Performing.

    • 00:00:00 Gig Gab 558 – Monday, November 2nd, 2026
    • 00:02:36 Roberto’s The Loving Mosh
    • 00:03:02 Gig Gab as a marketing tool
    • 00:04:53 Paul’s 5 Projects
    • 00:07:32 Paul’s Houserockers Summer
    • 00:08:37 Dave’s Gigs
    • 00:10:44 The Underground Model
    • 00:18:21 Rotating Tribute Band
    • 00:21:06 Evolving from a bar band to a theater band
    • 00:22:57 Mixing bar gigs in with your theater band
    • 00:24:01 SPONSOR: Warby Parker – Our listeners can buy one pair of glasses and get 20% off any additional pairs at https://WarbyParker.com/GIGGAB — and using our link helps support the show. #WarbyParker #ad
    • 00:25:28 Frequency vs. Scarcity
    • 00:27:29 Creating a band with a local presence
      • Build your mailing list!
      • Two ticketed, four-walled events per year
    • 00:31:51 Audience Curation
      • What about: If I can see you “next time”, I won’t go “this time”?
    • 00:34:19 Finding the right people
      • The Gig Gab Green Room
      • Don’t compete with the couch: find your true fans.
      • Market to people who already want to get off the couch!
      • Let people get to know each other AND get to know the band
      • Live music is a visual art
      • You are the curator of an emotional experience for people
      • Create a social contract: “For two hours we’re gonna hang out together, let’s have some fun.”
      • Related: Your Competition Is the Couch with Neonautica (Gig Gab 555)
    • 00:41:37 Embrace your role as a facilitator for giving people a break!
    • 00:42:25 AI: Renaissance or Doomsday?
    • 00:45:03 AI as a tool for running bands
      • Making gig posters with the help of AI
    • 00:50:30 Paul’s Gig Tracker Pro
      • ChatGPT
      • Kanban Chart
      • Build a lead list: “Find all booking contacts for my area”
      • Bounce booking ideas
      • Workshop an email campaign
      • AI is the best procrastination eliminator, bar none.
    • 00:57:50 Using AI
    • 01:01:04 Noise Complaints!
    • 01:08:52 Gig Gab 558 Outro

    The post Don’t Compete with the Couch: How to Get People to Your Gigs, Bar Band to Theater Band & AI for Musicians with Paul Kent – Gig Gab 558 appeared first on Gig Gab.

    2 November 2026, 8:05 am
  • 1 hour 9 minutes
    You’re Not Their Backup Plan: How to Market Your Band’s Shows with Pat Watters
    You’re Not Their Backup Plan: How to Market Your Band’s Shows with Pat Watters – Gig Gab 557 episode image

    Twenty years ago, Pat Watters looked at Texas country’s self-sustaining scene, where bands lift each other up and fans proudly claim their own, and asked a simple question: why only Texas? He’s spent every year since 2008 answering it in Wisconsin, building the Pat Watters Band on unapologetic regional pride. As a marketing agency partner, he knows exactly how bands get found. Stop pitching your gig like a fallback. “If you’re free Friday night” tells people you’re the last resort, so talk like you’re the best option and they just haven’t heard about it yet. Guard against oversaturation, because if fans can see you anytime, they’ll never actually come. Load your originals early while the room is still listening, and give every song a story worth leaning in for.

    Then work all three relationships: artist to artist, artist to media, and artist to fan. You’ll hear how the Midwest Country Music Organization turned rival bands into a real community, and why one musicians’ dinner on a slow Monday could start the same thing in your town. Pat shares his show-promotion formula: title every Facebook event with your band name and the venue, drop the event link in the comments, and post one simple day-of line that gets your followers asking where. Don’t build on rented land. Own your domain and your mailing list, and spend a few smart dollars on Meta ads. Then dress like you meant to be on that stage. Become a bigger version of yourself, and Always Be Performing.

    The post You’re Not Their Backup Plan: How to Market Your Band’s Shows with Pat Watters – Gig Gab 557 appeared first on Gig Gab.

    26 October 2026, 7:05 am
  • 1 hour 4 minutes
    How Every Club Sounds Great: Running SXSW Stages & Changeovers with Nate Cross
    How Every Club Sounds Great: Running SXSW Stages & Changeovers with Nate Cross – Gig Gab 553 episode image

    Every club at SXSW sounds good, every night, all week, and we’ve often wondered how they maintain that consistency. This week Dave finally gets the answer from Nate Cross, SXSW’s Director of Production, who went from intern to Assistant Production Manager to running the whole show. You’ll hear how his team builds out 55 to 60 venues (down from 100+ before the pandemic), why they mic everything even when it looks like overkill, and how 20-minute changeovers actually run on time with bands who’ve never met. Then there’s the backline story: trading the free band beer for a drum kit and amps at every venue, which enhanced everything.

    Want to be the band every festival wants back? Show up on time, keep it simple, and put your current input list first, since it matters more than your stage plot. Add one sentence describing what your band should sound like so the engineer isn’t guessing. Nate also explains how SXSW went from a flat “no” on in-ear monitors to welcoming your split snake, and shares how his two-drummer, nine-piece band Water Damage turned one showcase into a challenge accepted. Whether you’re under the lights or behind the scenes, Always Be Performing.

    • 00:00:00 Gig Gab 553 – Monday, September 28, 2026
    • 00:01:16 Arrived in Austin 2003, interned with SXSW in 2006
      • Finally in 2012 the phone rings…Assistant Production Manager
    • 00:07:33 Learning the SXSW flow
    • 00:11:20 Dozens of Venues, 5-6 bands per night per venue
    • 00:12:40 Building out stages and PAs
    • 00:15:01 Setting up the stages for success
      • Everyone coming to that stage wants it to sound as good as possible…and so do we!
      • Micing everything
    • 00:17:18 Changeover
    • 00:18:10 Keeping the schedule running on time
      • Managing the 20-minute changeover
    • 00:22:44 How many production staff assigned per venue?
      • FOH engineer
      • Stage manager
      • Student Production Crewmember
      • Plus 2-3 stage crew
    • 00:24:05 Adding backline to every venue in 2026
    • 00:27:22 Setting Your Band Up For Success at a Festival
      • Punctuality
      • Communication
      • Simple Is (usually) best
    • 00:31:04 Advancing with Success
      • Stage Plot is truly for space allocation. Make sure your layout is up-to-date and correct.
      • Input List is the most important aspect
      • Update your Stage Plot and Input List once per year
    • 00:35:08 Put that “what my band sounds like” sentence on your input list
    • 00:41:21 IEMs, Split Snakes
      • Pre-pandemic the answer to IEMs at SXSW was “no”
    • 00:49:40 “My band doesn’t use monitors”
    • 00:51:27 Water Damage, Nate’s band
    • 00:54:05 The Thread of Serendipity That Runs Through SXSW
    • 01:02:14 Gig Gab 553 Outro

    The post How Every Club Sounds Great: Running SXSW Stages & Changeovers with Nate Cross – Gig Gab 553 appeared first on Gig Gab.

    28 September 2026, 7:05 am
  • 1 hour 5 minutes
    The Opener Sets the Tone: Set List Strategy, AI vs. the Artist & The Craft of Fronting a Band
    The Opener Sets the Tone: Set List Strategy, AI vs. the Artist & The Craft of Fronting a Band – Gig Gab 552 episode image

    Skylar Hamilton is back by popular demand for round two of your questions, recorded across an Airbnb kitchen table in New York City where a roll of paper towels doubles as a mic stand, because it’s the right height and it kills table rumble.

    Set lists first: your opener sets the tone, and the tone is yours to set. Easing a dining room into rock-band mode calls for something catchy and upper-mid-tempo with room to breathe; a room that came to see a band wants to know right away what kind of show they walked into. Start cold off a click in your ears instead of a count-off if you want crisp. Put the across-the-board crowd-pleaser second, not first. And treat the night as an exchange of energy: it’s great when the audience offers first, but you can’t plan on that, so you make the first offering. Always Be Performing, right from note one.

    From there you get a genuine on-air disagreement about AI and episode artwork, and where the line sits between using a tool and removing the human creator. The audience for your art is other humans, whatever you used to make it. Then stage etiquette, with Rush handing you both answers on one tour: Anika Nilles quietly fixing a wardrobe malfunction mid-song while the show rolls on, and Geddy Lee stopping 2112 to get a dead bass sorted. The call is yours in a split second: if you’re the focal point and the problem has you distracted, name it and bring the crowd in; otherwise let it go and keep playing.

    Crowd work closes it out: banter is a skill you learn to summon on demand, not a personality you’re born with. Pick one person or an avatar and talk to them, build a stage character the way Billie Joe Armstrong is already St. Jimmy every night, treat what you wear as a costume your audience assumes you chose on purpose, borrow the bits you love from the front people who inspire you, and then watch yourself back a few days later…alone, and generous enough to find one good moment for every three you’d fix.

    The post The Opener Sets the Tone: Set List Strategy, AI vs. the Artist & The Craft of Fronting a Band – Gig Gab 552 appeared first on Gig Gab.

    21 September 2026, 7:05 am
  • 1 hour 10 minutes
    Ask for the Gig You Want: Kevin Glendinning on SNL, Super Bowls, and 25 Years on the Road
    KG on Gig Gab 549 episode image

    Monitor engineer Kevin “KG” Glendinning joins you live from a Roman amphitheater in Pula, Croatia: eight countries in seven days into the Lorde world tour…and he’s got the receipts. You’ll hear how fifteen trips through the SNL stage started with a Carson Daly taping, why the rooms that treat you well are the rooms you remember, and what happens when a 32-year veteran finally plugs in a source expander and realizes the “new guys” were right. That’s the through-line: always be learning, always be open-minded, and never let a get-off-my-lawn attitude about new tech be the reason your phone stops ringing. Then it gets into the real in-ear monitor conversations: recreating a Celestion cab with a 2.6mm armature, the one-ear trick that quietly costs Adam Levine and John Mayer another 25% of volume, and why ear fatigue deserves the same respect a pitcher gives his arm.

    The road stories land hard from there. Super Bowl XLV in Dallas with snow, the Black Eyed Peas, and a lesson in letting the pros run their own show. Red Rocks (aka “Wet Rocks”) and why a mountain full of shuttle trucks is worth every minute. A locked-up console mid-residency and telling Christina Aguilera the audio will come back, all while genuinely hoping it would. A charter plane struck by lightning over the Amazon, an emergency landing at a decommissioned airfield, and waking up to the news about Taylor Hawkins. Plus the covert phone call that became seven years with Justin Timberlake, and the soft ask years earlier that made it happen. Rehearse enough that nerves turn into muscle memory, thank the people who opened doors for you, ask for the gig you want…and Always Be Performing.

    • 00:00:00 Gig Gab 549 – Monday, August 31st, 2026
    • 00:02:38 Pula, Croatia. 8 countries in 7 days
    • 00:04:36 SNL stage for The Deftones with the Carson Daly show
    • 00:06:20 Making an impression on touring musicians with
    • 00:08:35 Always be learning about the new tech
    • 00:13:55 Always be open-minded
    • 00:18:57 Mixing ears and the respect of it all
    • 00:21:02 Chris Rabold mixing monitors for REM
    • 00:22:06 Now some REM stories
    • 00:24:23 Helping get Adam Levine & John Mayer through ear fatigue with one ear monitor
    • 00:26:46 OzFest System Engineers and hearing fatigue
    • 00:27:45 Sometimes it just doesn’t sound right
    • 00:30:44 Super Bowl in 2011 in Dallas…with snow!
      • And The Black Eyed Peas
    • 00:35:45 Being rehearsed enough to just do the gig (and fix what goes wrong when it goes wrong)
    • 00:36:25 Lorde’s large-and-resilient fanbase
    • 00:39:21 Working Red Rocks..”Wet Rocks”
    • 00:44:33 Christina and the reboot
      • “Don’t worry…the audio will come back.”
      • Dave’s issue with the Mackie DL32S losing input signals
    • 00:49:58 Batteries Matter
    • 00:52:31 Miley Cyrus, Taylor Hawkins, Lightning-stuck aircraft, oh my!
    • 00:56:28 Getting paid to see the world
      • The pros and the cons
    • 00:59:11 The “covert” phone call… and Justin Timberlake
      • Get to know ML who works for ShowCo
      • Ask for the gig you want (and, specifically, ask Anthony Giordano)
      • The Victoria’s Secret Awards!
      • Watching Muse with Justin
    • 01:06:11 Have gratitude for everyone who you’ve worked with
    • 01:08:14 Kevin wants to answer your questions!
    • 01:09:52 Gig Gab 549 Outtro

    The post Ask for the Gig You Want: Kevin Glendinning on SNL, Super Bowls, and 25 Years on the Road – Gig Gab 549 appeared first on Gig Gab.

    31 August 2026, 7:05 am
  • 1 hour 14 minutes
    From Broadway Swing to Principal: Eight Shows a Week...with Victor Carrillo Tracey
    From Broadway Swing to Principal: Eight Shows a Week – Gig Gab 548 with Victor Carrillo Tracey episode image

    Your voice is the most temperamental instrument you’ll ever own, and this week Victor Carrillo Tracey – original company member of Broadway’s The Outsiders – walks you through what it takes to keep one working eight shows a week. Hydration and sleep swap places at number one, alcohol and caffeine cost more than you think, and inspiration doesn’t get a vote when downbeat is 8pm. You’ll hear how a single college voice lesson with a head cold taught Victor to navigate around a compromised instrument years before he needed it on Broadway, and why nerves usually answer to preparation rather than talent. Book the room. Play your opener as the last song of soundcheck. Always Be Performing starts well before anyone’s watching.

    Then it gets nerdy. Victor breaks down what a swing actually is (think relief pitcher), and how he covered nine tracks at once before working his way up to playing Paul full-time. You’ll pick up forced perspective, the staging trick that tells an audience exactly where to look and translates straight to your own stage. Plus the band sealed in the pit under the apron, monitor wedges in the floor and sidefills in the wings, a rig that tracks each voice around the house, watching a Broadway book get written in real time, and Dave’s case for mixing your in-ears in stereo instead of piling everything up the middle. Victor’s last Outsiders show is October 11th, right around performance number one thousand…and he still tells himself this is the best job ever before every show.

    • 00:00:00 Gig Gab 548 – Monday, August 24th, 2026
    • 00:02:45 The voice is the most temperamental instrument
      • 00:06:04 The benefits of an education
      • Always Be Learning – Beginner’s Mind
    • 00:08:54 Learning to navigate around your voice when things are non-optimal
    • 00:13:28 Taking care of your voice
      • The most important thing is hydration.
      • Except Sleep is the most important thing.
      • Be aware of alcohol and caffeine
    • 00:17:01 Inspiration won’t always strike
    • 00:18:35 And taking care of your body
    • 00:20:55 Preparing yourself for success
      • Play your opener as your last soundcheck song before the house opens
      • You can visualize this, too!
      • Book the room to rehearse in advance
      • Always be preparing
      • Having a preparation mindset
    • 00:28:40 SPONSOR: Hims. With Wegovy® at Hims, lose up to 20% of your body weight when combined with diet and exercise. Visit https://hims.com/giggab to get a personalized, affordable plan that gets you.
    • 00:30:08 Being a Swing
      • Kinda like a relief pitcher
      • Nine tracks at once!
    • 00:33:33 Ok, a detour into musical theater and The Outsiders
    • 00:39:02 Forced Perspective
    • 00:43:12 Missing playing a non-voice instrument
    • 00:45:19 Playing with the band in a theater show
      • …without seeing your bandmates
    • 00:50:46 Watching the Broadway book being built
    • 00:56:11 Mixing a musical…and hearing it on stage!
      • Monitor wedges in the apron
      • Sidefills in the wings
      • Cody Spencer
    • 01:04:55 Previews are grueling, and great!
    • 01:05:45 Mix your in-ears in stereo
      • Nothing up the middle: kick one degree right, snare one degree left.
    • 01:07:43 Victor’s leaving The Outsiders after 2.5 years
      • Choosing your destiny…follow your gut
        • And make it happen!
      • Gratitude!
        • “This is the best job ever” before going on stage every time.
    • 01:12:37 Gig Gab 548 Outtro

    The post From Broadway Swing to Principal: Eight Shows a Week – Gig Gab 548 with Victor Carrillo Tracey appeared first on Gig Gab.

    24 August 2026, 7:05 am
  • 1 hour 13 minutes
    Matt Beck on Matchbox Twenty, The Outsiders, Hot Cocoa and a Green Tartan Suit
    Matt Beck on Matchbox Twenty, The Outsiders, Hot Cocoa and a Green Tartan Suit – Gig Gab 547

    Matt Beck taught himself guitar strung upside down and backwards and has never once found a reason to stop. He joins you this week from the pit of The Outsiders, where he’s played since opening night three years ago, and from a July that had him running Jon Anderson, the B-52’s, and Matchbox Twenty in the same month: seventies, eighties, and nineties, back to back to back. You’ll hear why a guitar player who can actually read on a staff gets calls other players never see, how orchestrators bury Easter eggs in a score, what it does to a band when the pit is closed and the audience only sees you on camera at the curtain call, and why the plight of the freelancer always comes down to the same thing: your calendar, and what you said yes to eight months ago.

    Then it’s the road stories. Matt traces twenty-three years with Matchbox Twenty back to a Lisa Loeb tour with Dweezil Zappa standing next to him, and the Zappa family connection that put his name in the right room. He talks about building parts alongside Bono and The Edge for the Spider-Man musical, writing live arrangements for Rod Stewart, and finally getting Sugarjar out the door with Richard Hammond and Sammy Merendino. You’ll also get a Matchbox soundcheck shut down by something nesting in the rafters, three cups of hotel cocoa and a green tartan suit that taught Matt everything he needed to know about a pre-show routine, and the discipline underneath all of it: on Band Geeks off-days, he ran the entire Jon Anderson show every single morning. Always be performing and, as Matt adds on his way out, always be practicing.

    • 00:00:00 Gig Gab 547 – Monday, August 17th, 2026
    • 00:03:48 Musicals trying to make it on to Broadway
    • 00:04:50 Theater work in NYC
      • Playing, orchestrating
      • “Play like Steve Gadd”
      • “Play like Steve Vai”
      • “A la Larry Campbell”
    • 00:09:45 Acknowledging the band
    • 00:11:56 Reading guitar on staff music
    • 00:14:36 Knowing your castmates
    • 00:15:59 Managing the schedules of multiple projects
      • Going from Jon Anderson to B-52’s to Matchbox Twenty…in a month!
    • 00:22:07 Logistics of travel on gig day
    • 00:24:37 Matchbox Twenty…23 years!
      • Got the call for…Lisa Loeb, alongside Dweezil Zappa.
      • And the Zappa family connection delivers, along with great networking.
    • 00:30:38 Studio vs. Live
    • 00:32:28 SPONSOR: Claude.ai – Ready to tackle bigger problems? Sign up for Claude today, which includes access to Claude Cowork, too, when you visit https://Claude.ai/giggab
    • 00:34:15 Working with Bono and Edge on the Spiderman Musical
      • Creating those signature moments
    • 00:35:32 Live arrangements with Rod Stewart
    • 00:37:03 Creative collaboration is the key
    • 00:38:06 Playing in original bands as an informative piece of the career
    • 00:39:27 Learning how to be in a band
    • 00:40:24 Sugarjar, Matt’s 3 piece band
      • Richard Hammond
      • Sammy Merendino
    • 00:42:30 Learn to play every style authentically
      • And play with as many people as you can.
      • Diversify!
    • 00:45:01 Growing up with professional musician parents
    • 00:47:09 The risk of a day job
    • 00:48:21 As if a swarm of bees
    • 00:50:44 Slipping through the crowd in a green suit!
    • 00:54:47 Pre-show routines and biological imperative
    • 00:57:30 “If You’re Gone” – matchbox twenty
    • 01:02:08 Band Geeks and Jon Anderson…and Matt Beck
      • Off-day routine: run the show
    • 01:11:15 Gig Gab 547 Outtro

    The post Matt Beck on Matchbox Twenty, The Outsiders, & Hot Cocoa and a Green Tartan Suit – Gig Gab 547 appeared first on Gig Gab.

    17 August 2026, 7:05 am
  • 1 hour 22 minutes
    Hired From an 11-View Video: Sean Mullaney on Opportunity and Owning the Stage
    Hired From an 11-View Video: Sean Mullaney on Opportunity and Owning the Stage – Gig Gab 546 episode image

    Guest co-host Sean Mullaney joins Dave Hamilton to prove that the gig you want is usually hiding inside the gig you almost skipped. A video with eleven views got Sean hired, the same way a YouTube clip landed Alexandra Mullaney in The Book of Mormon, so the lesson is simple: put the work out there, then be ready to say yes when someone finds it. You’ll dig into managing your niche without getting trapped by it, and the bigger question every bandleader eventually faces: who do you want to be as a frontman? You can’t make a face unless you’ve seen it, so study the greats, then get authentic to who you actually are. Preaching from the stage is hard. Performing as yourself is harder, and better.

    Then things get deliciously specific. You’ll hear what it’s like to chase Robert Plant with Mr. Jimmy, where nobody’s speaking English, everybody’s in full costume, and the details are so meticulous that imposter syndrome becomes something you manage rather than something that eats you. Sean said no. Then Sean said yes…and ended up on a sold-out stage at the Whisky a Go Go, a little petrified because the stakes were higher. That’s the point. You’ll get the upcoming Whole Lotta Heart show, why theater runs are a fun grind, what happens when you make that first mistake in front of everyone, how to honor your influences by studying the film instead of copying the notes, and how to manage your voice so you can keep doing this. Always Be Performing! Even when nobody’s watching yet, because view number eleven might be the one.

    The post Hired From an 11-View Video: Sean Mullaney on Opportunity and Owning the Stage – Gig Gab 546 appeared first on Gig Gab.

    11 August 2026, 1:43 am
  • 1 hour 38 seconds
    Nobody Bought a Ticket to Watch Load-In
    Nobody Bought a Ticket to Watch Load-In – Gig Gab 545 episode image

    It’s just you and Dave this week for a full mailbag episode, with road stories up front: Matt Musty behind the kit with Train at Great Woods, three nights of Phish and Rush at MSG, and the Rush policy worth stealing: when a mistake is a one-off, don’t talk about it. Then into your questions. Should the front-of-house feed live in your in-ears? Here’s pre-fader versus post-fader, and why the answer’s usually no unless you’re a drummer. Maybe. Bass distorting in your IEMs? Start with gain structure, work down the chain one variable at a time, and suspect your earphones. Plus the cable fix for that hummy mono click, and the Zoom Q2n-4K for filming your gigs.

    Nobody bought a ticket to watch load-in. That old adage – you’re not paid to play, you’re paid to haul gear – gets retired here, because the performance is the product, and that’s exactly why we Always Be Performing. From there: sitting ahead of, behind, or dead on the click and why none of it’s wrong, how to stop cringing at your own stage videos using the Alter Ego Effect, and why demand for small-act live music has softened: drinking age, drinking habits, and the couch you’re competing against.

    • 00:00:00 Gig Gab 545 – Tuesday, August 4th, 2026
    • 00:01:20 Matt Musty with Train, then Phish/Rush/Phish at MSG
    • 00:03:31 Rush’s rule: don’t talk about a one-off mistake
    • 00:04:51 Frankie Valli tribute nights with The Underground
    • 00:05:46 Drums mushy in the wall the sound
    • 00:06:36 Issue Mackie DL32S
    • 00:10:49 Jeremy-What about adding the FOH mix to my IEM mix?
      • Pre-Fader vs. Post-Fader
    • 00:16:49 Glynn-Why is my bass distorting in my IEMs?
    • 00:23:42 Steve-Solving the mono click hum problem?
    • 00:27:42 Drew-Recording Your Gigs with a Zoom Q2n-4K
    • 00:31:50 Adam-Playing for free vs. being paid to load gear
    • 00:37:10 SPONSOR: Hims. With Wegovy® at Hims, lose up to 20% of your body weight when combined with diet and exercise. Visit https://hims.com/giggab to get a personalized, affordable plan that gets you.
    • 00:39:00 Joe-Playing with the click vs. ahead or behind
    • 00:44:54 Kim-How do I learn to control my body on stage?
    • 00:52:34 Noah Kirkeide-Why is demand for live music down?
    • 00:57:46 Drinking laws morphed during World Cup
    • 00:59:28 Gig Gab 545 Outtro

    The post Nobody Bought a Ticket to Watch Load-In – Gig Gab 545 appeared first on Gig Gab.

    4 August 2026, 7:19 pm
  • 1 hour 27 minutes
    When Your Worlds Collide...and the Drummer Becomes the Sound Guy
    When Your Worlds Collide — and the Drummer Becomes the Sound Guy – Gig Gab 544 with Dan East episode image

    Daniel East is back for a no-agenda episode that turns into Gig Gab therapy. You’ll hear about Brit Drozda’s fifth record in pre-production, unannounced pop-up gigs built from cajon, guitar, and keys, and the Rayvel grand opening on Florida’s Space Coast, where a rocket went up over the stage during Starman. Then Daniel gets into those moments of bliss you can’t fish for…the ones that arrive because you prepared enough to stop thinking. If you’re feeling it, they’re feeling it. And when a piece of the puzzle is missing, that’s your cue to admit a gig isn’t the right fit for you and be willing to walk.

    Then Dave takes the couch: three gigs in a row where he became the accidental sound savior. A theater where nobody knew how Dante was routed. An outdoor stage hard-panned left with monitors EQ’d to the disco smile. A club that handed him the iPad at line check. Daniel’s prescription: an expectations agreement when you don’t have a contract, an audio tech who also speaks IT, and permission to say no. Always Be Performing is real, but you set a standard, you don’t meet one.

    Plus: find your clock first, and Gear Gab on Earthworks drum mics, the Kompakt 421, and why a high-pass filter beats deep EQ cuts every time.

    The post When Your Worlds Collide…and the Drummer Becomes the Sound Guy – Gig Gab 544 with Dan East appeared first on Gig Gab.

    27 July 2026, 7:05 am
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