Tips for a Growing Movement...
This blog post is dedicated to Inky Da Kat. She was always such a big supporter of the EMOM community, and will be sadly missed by all of us.
Well, we've managed to get to the giddy heights of 21 EMOM sets now, and with the confidence of ignorant naivety, I've started to notice some rules of thumb about what makes an event go with a bang for all concerned.
I've split them into a list of Dos and Don'ts for performers, organisers and sound engineers. these are just things that have occurred to me. I hope you agree. If I've missed anything, or you wish to argue that I'm wrong, please get in touch, but be kind or I'll set Libby on you.
Thanks to the vibrant EMOM community, this is a living document and I'll strive to keep it updated as a resource and fount of knowledge as more comes to light.
Performers:
Do: Level your set. Run through the whole thing with a free LUFS meter, such as Youlean, on the very end of the master bus to make sure that the levels of all the tracks in your set are basically the same. How I arrange my set in Ableton is to group all the tracks for each song and feed them into their own mix channel, which in turn feeds into the master channel. I can then easily tweak the gain on these mix channels with a utility module to trim the volume for each song according to what Youlean tells me. If you're working entirely in hardware, I realise levelling your set will be more difficult. You can keep an ear on your master level and adjust it throughout your set, or better still, you could talk to the sound engineer and ask him to ride the faders to keep you from going over the level of loudness he thinks is appropriate.
Do: Keep the bottom and top ends of your mix in check with a high and low pass filter respectively if at all possible. The PA will accentuate both quite a lot. I once saw a debutant act at Bleep with so much bass that it actually gave my head a weird resonant feeling. The rest of the track was lost underneath this huge amount of energy. As a rule of thumb, using a tool like SPAN on the master channel with the time set to 6 seconds and averaged out over 1/3 octave will give a good indication of where the energy is in a track. If it looks a little like an ADSR curve with a slight bump before the release portion, you've probably cracked the balance.
Do: Book a practise room that has a PA if at all possible, and run through your set at full blast before your first EMOM performance. Set all the EQ levels to zero dB. The sound will be quite different from what you expect. It can be quite a surprise to hear yourself through a PA for the first time, and in front of an audience in a strange venue it could be off-putting if you're also terrified. If possible, take a friend or two to listen. This is partly to play in front of people, and more importantly to ask them specifically what's wrong with your sound. Don't ask if they like it; only what they think is wrong with it. That way you'll get feedback that is more honest and useful to you. If you can't get a practise room, you could try building a PA simulator like the one described in the description to this YouTube video.
Do: Book an EMOM slot and work towards it. Deadlines focus the mind!
Do: Build up and keep a list of contact emails. When another performer exasperatedly asks if anyone knows the contact details for an organiser, share them.
Do: Promote your gig as much as you can. Spread the word online, on your social media accounts, and in person. Tell them at work. If you can, bring as many friends and relatives as you can to support you.
Do: Tell the venue as early as possible if you know you cannot make it. There may be a cancellation list, but if you leave it until the last moment, other performers will also miss out.
Do: Plan your route to the gig well in advance, including where you're going to park if you're driving, and how long it'll take you to get from the car to the venue. Google Maps is your friend here. Save the destination to your phone. On the day of the gig, pack early and keep checking the current journey time. Most EMOM's are in the early evening, and as rush hour ends, the journey time will fall. When it stops falling, that's the optimum time to leave. Also, leave mobile data on for any updates to live traffic data. Google Maps will automatically adjust the route according to changes in traffic conditions and get you there on time if at all possible.
Do: Write a gig packing list (storing it on your phone is ideal) and always pack in the order it's written. If you do this, you can never forget anything. Seriously, don't assume!
Do: Take EVERYTHING you think you'll need. This includes jack leads and even a mains extension. Personally, I also take spare USB cables of all the different types I need, and also a spare USB hub, spare knobs (I've had one come off in transit and break inside. It wouldn't grip the potentiometer shaft when I put it back on, leaving just the black spindle, and I had to guess what the setting was!). I recently played with a young man who thought the organisers would have a stereo jack to 2 x mono jack lead for his laptop. The answer was obviously no.
Do: Arrive on time and announce yourself to the organiser. You will usually be OK to drop your kit out of the way at the back of the stage, but ask first.
Do: Have something you can play from your set to get the right level before you start. I play what I call "the doof-doofs". A couple of notes of the synth I will be playing in the first song (the first few notes of Bach's Toccata and Fugue!). If that's nice and loud, the rest of the set will be a little louder at its loudest. If you use an audio interface, you can adjust your overall loudness yourself. I use the Focusrite Scarlett Solo. I set the "loud" knob in the middle to 50% and let the sound engineer turn the desk up. This setting gives good presence, and I have somewhere to go if they let me have more volume.
Do: Breathe.
Do: Have lots of fun playing your set! You worked very hard on it and people deserve to hear it. Your hands WILL stop shaking after a while, especially if you make your set your "happy place" and you take a few deep breaths.
Do: Shutdown and pack up immediately you've finished and taken the applause.
Do: Take time to look around and under the table when you've packed up after your set. At my first gig, I managed to leave behind £30-worth of USB hub and associated cables by not doing so.
Do: Make new friends. EMOM is a great community of fellow travellers (literally!). You'll keep seeing the same faces at different venues. Share stories. Help each other.
Do Not: have an open drink on the table with you. At my first ever EMOM I had half a pint of orange squash with me which I knocked all over the damned table (thanks to Andy C for the constant reminders LOL!). Luckily, my kit is all raised on stands, but yours might not be. Embarrassed? Yeah. VERY! (eternal appologies, as ever, to Anna Hapax who was making her debut on the damp table straight after me!)
Do not: Worry if people are talking during your set. In the early days, I always had the temptation to turn it up so loud they can't talk, but that would only have brought me into conflict with the sound engineer. People talk. It's natural. They may be talking about how great you are. Likewise, the people who spend their time texting. They may be telling a huge TikTok following about this great new act they're watching. You just never know, so relax. Some people will stand there, stony-faced, just looking at you. They are taking the music in. It's surprising how these statues will suddenly spring into life and clap like giddy toddlers at the end, so don't worry if you're playing and no one's D-ing to your EDM.
Do Not: Deliberately over-run your set time. A couple of minutes may be OK (get permission first, though, if you're song-based and one of them just clips over your slot if people clap), but starting a new track when you should be packing up will only annoy people!
Do Not: Go home right after your set. Stay and watch as many other performers as you can. Absorb the influences. Talk. Make contacts. Find out where others are playing or have played.
Do Not: Compare yourself to the other acts. Ever. Comparison is the thief of joy, and EMOM is NOT a competition. Everything is equally valid. The more EMOMs you attend, the more you will find to discover in other people's sounds.
Organisers:
Do: Publish your contact details! Time and again, I've had to hunt down email addresses and Google forms from obscure sources to contact you to play. It's hard enough booking things in for the month without having to chase information halfway across the internet. This may seem harsh, but pick an EMOM from Martin Christie's excellent monthly list and try to track down the organiser as if planning to book a slot. It's not easy, is it?
Do: Hold your event near decent parking. Anything from a simple pay and display to an NCP multi-storey will be greatly appreciated.
Do: Communicate with performers! Respond to requests to play. Tell us when to arrive, how long the slots are, and if there's anything special we will need to bring. Answer our questions. It's sometimes like pulling teeth trying to get answers out of organisers. One word answers do not fill us with confidence that his will be a well-run event. Sorry, but first impressions do count. I know of one person who cancelled their slot because they had a bad feeling due to poor communication. I was lucky enough to be offered their slot and had a great time.
Do: Publicise your event. There's nothing like playing for a real audience, and nothing worse than an empty room. I've always found real audiences very receptive to all kinds of EMOM music. If you have flyers, get them into cafes, bars, taxi offices, anywhere, and everywhere else you think people will see them. Call the local newspaper or radio station. Get the word out.
Do: Maintain an open dialogue with the venue about the night. View the room well in advance. What does the venue have already set up and available to you? Is a sound engineer going to be on hand, or are you going to have to busk it? Can you busk it? Are there lights? What does the venue NOT provide, like power to the tables, a mini mixer for the acts to plug into, and cables (XLR would be best) back to the main desk? What's the venue's live music curfew time (this may be dictated by the local authority, so treat it as the Word of God!). Things can change, so keep talking.
Do: Offer a minimum slot time of 15 minutes. It gives each act time to give a good account of themselves. Longer (20-25 minutes) is appreciated by seasoned performers with bigger repertoires, so some EMOM organisers will offer one or two extended slots at the end of the night for them to show what they can do. But, performers, if these are not offered, just take the 15 minutes, because it ensures more people get a go.
Do: Publish the running order BEFORE the event, and try to curate the running order. Obviously, this is up to you and may mean digging into what people sound like in advance. This is where a Google Forms signup comes in useful. You can ask people what they do, and get any links to their music. Perhaps you might want things like ambient soundscapes to break up periods of banging EDM on the night. Also try to put newbies on earlier than seasoned performers because I know when I started out I just wanted to get on and do it. Some new performers I've met have been absolutely terrified and just want it to be over. Also, I've swapped places and gone on first because someone on their first ever gig had the collywobbles and needed a moment.
Do: Have TWO tables onstage - while one act is playing, another is setting up or packing away. This means there is always an act ready to go when the current one stops, and you'll keep the evening bouncing along.
Do: Welcome the performers when they arrive, remind them of the running order, where to set up and when.
Do: A soundcheck.
Do: Introduce each act on-mic, and thank them AFTER the applause at the end. This will generate a second wave.
Do: Have at least one 15-minute break in the evening, either filled with a DJ or Spotify, so that you can get back on time if things start running late.
Do Not: Tell a performer to cut their set short, especially when they are playing. It's not our fault if you're running late. Incorporate breaks to get back on track.
Do Not: Talk to or otherwise distract a performer while they are playing. I have actually seen an organiser asking a performer on mic about their kit while they were performing! It didn't go well.
Do Not: Allow members of the public to approach the performer onstage mid-set. I have had two separate occasions when drunk people tried to shake my hand while I was playing because, apparently, they had to leave and wanted to say thanks. Other performers have similar stories.
Sound Engineers:
Do: Keep a clean stage. Tape down any wires.
Do: Keep the EQ at 0bB unless there is a terrible problem with the sound.
Do: React when there's a terrible problem with the sound.
Do: Mute all channels immediately when not in use, including microphones.
Do: Respond to a performer's questions, especially when they ask if it's OK to plug in or out. A thumb's-up will do. They are thinking of your speakers, and the ears of the audience. Also respond to requests for more or less foldback.
Do Not: Turn an act down suddenly if you think they're playing too loud. Do it smoothly and sensibly, and actively ride the faders throughout each performance just in case you need to bring the level up or down by a couple of dB.
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