Gig Gab - The Working Musician's Podcast

Your fellow working musicians just handed you a year’s worth of gig hacks, and this week Gig Gab pulls the best listener tips from Instagram and Facebook into one episode. You’ll get a hand-raise monitor check that knocks out soundcheck in minutes, a dedicated soundcheck song for when the room’s already full, and the mixing moves pros swear by: high-pass the bass at 80 Hz, sidechain it to the kick, and carve 2.5 kHz out of everything else so the vocals cut through. Then you’ll build a smarter set list. Space out the songs that wreck your singer, keep a back-pocket list of crowd-grabbers, mark who sings lead for the sound person, and track song lengths so you never blow past curfew.

Booking and pitching get the same treatment. Pitch yourself as the hyperlocal fill-in for cancellations, ask for the next date while the room is still packed, send thank-yous that name the bartenders, and turn a dead Wednesday into a residency. You’ll dial in your in-ear monitor mix with the STP formula (self, time, pitch), add reverb and drum overheads so it feels real, and stop asking for “more me.” And when the crowd is thin, the song falls apart, or the applause hits, you’ll know exactly what to do, because the show starts the second you walk on stage. Always Be Performing.

00:00:00 Gig Gab 556 – Monday, October 19, 2026

October 19th: Evaluate Your Life Day

Guest co-hosts: Megan Ihnen & Alan Theisen from Neonautica

Soundcheck Tips

00:04:58 Roland J. Beckerman-Run the monitor check like this: go through each instrument one at a time while the other band members raise a hand if they want it in their ears or wedge. Move to the next player when no more hands are up. Quick line checks one by one for FOH. (also suggested by 3 others)

00:06:35 jbellitz775-We wrote a soundcheck song: a basic rock I-IV-V at around 124 bpm where each instrument enters one or two measures after the last, in this order: drums, bass, rhythm guitar, utility instruments like mandolin or fiddle, lead guitar, male lead vocal, female lead vocal, harmony vocals. We only use it when the room already has people in it. (also suggested by kurt_ackermann, +2 more)

00:08:56 More soundcheck tips

00:10:27 Donald Bundy on Facebook-Never ask the audience ‘how does it sound?’ mid-show; that got worked out at soundcheck, and breaking the rhythm is hard to recover from. Bassists and guitarists can check the house mix on a wireless; keys and drummers can’t, and don’t have a friend play your drums while you stand at the mixer, because they’ll never play like you. And the moment you walk into the venue, introduce yourself to the sound person and build a quick rapport.

00:12:33 A Facebook listener Tim Greig-High-pass the bass at 80 Hz; that’s about -12 dB at open E (41 Hz), a Motown-engineer trick, because the harmonics are roughly 10 dB louder than the fundamental anyway. Then sidechain a compressor on the bass from the kick so it dips about 3 dB on each kick hit, and the low end stays felt without drowning the guitars.

00:16:00 Notch 2.5kHz out of other instruments to leave sonic room for the vocals

00:17:15 Patrick Storey A Facebook listener-Keyboard players: leveling your patches is the single most important thing. Plug into a mixer with a PFL button to meter the input, go to your softest patch (a Rhodes is always quiet), note the level, then go through every other patch you use and turn them down internally to match it. (also suggested by 1 other)

Setlists & Repertoire

00:20:43 Todd Clark Sr. A Facebook listener-My 30-year formula for building a show: once the bulk of 30-40 songs is learned, ask the vocalist to label the most fatiguing songs to sing and the easiest ones, then spread them apart from each other. Then make sure no two slow-tempo songs sit together. That becomes the show list, and I play the list with confidence, never off the cuff, just like the pros. (also suggested by 2 others)

00:22:21 Gerard O’Neil A Facebook listener-Annotate your setlist for the sound person: to the left of each song, who sings lead; to the right, solos or other notes. That way the right vocal isn’t buried at the top of a song, especially when the drummer sings lead on a couple.

00:23:19 Steve Gallup A Facebook listener-Put your best songs off to the side of the setlist and call them when the time is right. It may be early, it may be late, but when you’ve got a full house or you need to grab the audience, they’re right there for you.

00:24:51 Kevin Ilsen A Facebook listener-We record our shows and enter each song’s real duration into BandHelper. As I tap from song to song on my iPad, mounted low on my mic stand, it shows the estimated end time of the show. If we’re running late we skip a song, or cut the break short if it’s before the last set. (also suggested by 2 others)

Sponsors

00:26:09 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

Booking and Pitching

00:27:35 Booking isn’t our favorite, but it’s a valuable skill to develop!

00:29:14 chrisriccomusic-Send your EPK to venues in your home area with a line like ‘in the event of cancellations we’re hyper-local and would love to fill in.’ You’ll get last-minute bookings at a premium; then melt their faces off and send a follow-up email saying you’d love to discuss future dates. (also suggested by 1 other)

00:30:25 scottie0501-On the way out of a gig, thank the owner and ask for the next date right then, while the room is still packed and drinking. He looked around and gave them a September date on the spot. (also suggested by 1 other)

00:31:09 Doug Shankle A Facebook listener-The day after a gig, send a thank-you note to the venue that names the bartenders and staff, plus a private note to the person who booked you saying you’d love to come back.

00:34:25 Michael Harvey A Facebook listener-Build a spreadsheet of every area event planner you can find online (about 80), sort by neighborhood, and call one neighborhood each week asking for an in-person meeting with a 5-minute laptop presentation and video. Get on the short list of just two or three planners and you’ll work constantly.

00:35:55 Andres Lerma A Facebook listener-Have decent-quality video content to send bookers. Set up a tripod or bring a friend to rehearsal and record something so you can send one URL; a flyer-only page with no proof of how you sound is a much harder sell. Social media is the new demo tape. (also suggested by 1 other)

00:36:34 Joe Gillis A Facebook listener-Pitch a residency that fixes a dead night: I walked into an empty restaurant on a Wednesday, sat next to the owner and offered to play the ignored patio for ten Wednesdays in a row for twenty bucks. I brought my own posters, and by the fifth week the place was packed inside and out.

IEMs and Monitoring

00:38:22 east_coast_fxco-A 25-year A-list monitor mixer’s formula for building any mix: STP. Self (they have to hear themselves sing and play), Time (a time reference like snare, hat or kick), Pitch (a pitch reference like keys or guitar). Start there, then refine. (also suggested by 6 others)

00:39:49 flyabstract-IEM tips from a monitor engineer: start low and add, never blow anyone out. Roll off everything above 16 kHz and below 80 Hz to fight fatigue, and always add the FX, overheads and crowd mics alongside the dry channels so it feels real. Run a split snake into a dedicated monitor console, even a Wing Rack, so you don’t share preamp gain with FOH, and give everyone an iPhone app for their own levels.

00:42:39 ggonzalez1337-Never say ‘more me in my monitor’ unless you’re alone on stage; the engineer is looking at a console and doesn’t know who ‘me’ is or whether you mean instrument or vocal. Say ‘more guitar vocal in the guitar monitor.’ (also suggested by 1 other)

00:43:23 Sid Cooper A Facebook listener-A monitor engineer’s protocol for mid-show changes: he scans player to player looking for eye contact. If you’re happy, smile and nod; if not, point or look at what needs to change and signal more or less. Then keep watching him and tell him when it’s enough, or you get what he thinks you should have. Bring a written note of who gets what in their wedge and he’ll have you close before the first song.

Stage Presence and Showtime

00:45:04 Eric Essenberg A Facebook listener-When the crowd is thin, pick one person in the audience and pretend they’re from a record company, then play like your goal is to convince them you’re the best they’ve ever heard.

00:46:20 johnnybolomusic-Don’t step on the applause. Applause is the audience telling themselves they enjoyed it, and talking over it is basically telling them to shut up.

00:47:07 Mike Hart A Facebook listener-The solution to every problem in a stage show, especially after a mistake: start the next song. Avoid dead time and just nail the next one.

00:48:08 Peter Wade A Facebook listener-When a song is falling apart and the drummer can’t just stop, I drop out and start telling a story, usually about someone in the audience or a band member, while the band lowers the dynamics. Then bring everyone back in at a chorus, double it, and finish the song.

00:49:16 Ed Peace A Facebook listener-Use the iPad only for lyric prompts: just the first few words of each line. If every word is there, you end up reading it to keep your place. With prompts you only glance when needed and engage with the audience otherwise.

00:50:25 Rob Parker A Facebook listener-Design your entrance: get out of sight before the set and walk on together ready to play. No audible tuning, no playing the opening riff early, no tone-checking, no sitting around on stage, no straggling on one by one. Good options: an intro tape that covers the walk-on, lights down and no count-in then first chord bam, or walk on, wave, and straight into song one. (also suggested by 1 other)

00:52:04 Sal Barone A Facebook listener-At the end of the night my band always played our theme tune: short, upbeat, and it told people who we were one more time. I’d hear customers singing it as they left the venue.

00:52:42 Gig Gab 556 Outtro

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The post Don’t Step on the Applause: Listener Tips for Working Musicians – Gig Gab 556 appeared first on Gig Gab.

Megan Ihnen and Alan Theisen of Neonautica went from contemporary classical recitals to headlining dubstep parties in New Orleans, and they brought a theater kid’s discipline with them. You’ll hear how they split band duties so nobody has to wonder who’s handling what, why the only correct response to a note is thank you, and why there’s no such thing as a good or bad sound, only the sound you meant to make and the one you didn’t. They also explain why they wrote an hour-long set the way a composer writes a symphony, and what it means to control the room instead of just reading it.

Then it gets into the fun, nerdy stuff! You’ll learn why the decisions in a duo are unanimous or they don’t happen (a rule worth stealing for any band), why a Rick and Morty sample got its one word bleeped when both dads showed up, and how bass music meets Stop Making Sense became the Neonautica pitch. Live music is a visual art, so give your audience a way in on the joke, use a character to quiet your nerves, and remember that you’re not competing with other bands. You’re competing with the couch. Get them off it. Always Be Performing.

00:00:00 Gig Gab 555 – Monday, October 12, 2026

October 12th: National Pulled Pork Day

Guest co-hosts: Megan Ihnen & Alan Theisen from Neonautica

00:02:42 Neonautica!

00:03:49 Dividing the labor in your band…clearly!

Communication is key

Classical Music and Theater

00:10:00 Hearing information

00:11:50 Learning to Take the note

00:14:36 Developing that self-awareness “objective remove”

00:15:38 There’s no such thing as good and bad sounds

There’s the sound you meant to make and the sound you didn’t mean to make

I’d rather be right in the future than have been right in the past

00:19:05 Maintaining humanity, fun, and flexibility…with tracks

What are the parameters of the show that are theatrical?

00:21:04 The flow of Neonautica’s hour-long original dubstep sets

Reading the room vs. controlling the room

Lights vs. Lovin’ Touchin’ Squeezin’

00:26:34 Different genres in bass music set?

Gospel in Dubstep

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00:31:01 Working with your partner…and surprising and delighting each other

Shared ownership unlocks the creative freedom

(In a duo) The decisions are unanimous or they don’t happen

00:41:51 Should we bleep the word “dad”?

00:46:37 Getting people on your side…by getting people in on “the joke”

00:50:51 Recording your shows and gathering valuable information

Live music is a visual art!

Like Bass Music meets Stop Making Sense

00:59:32 The influence of being in a mime troupe in high school

Alleviating performance anxiety by adopting a character

The Alter Ego Effect

01:14:07 The importance of showing up for live music

01:17:11 Connecting with your audience

01:23:24 Gig Gab 555 Outtro

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IG: NeonauticaMusic

NeonauticaMusic.com

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The post Your Competition Is the Couch: Building Fans Through Theatrical Live Shows with Megan & Alan from Neonautica – Gig Gab 555 appeared first on Gig Gab.

Chris Cron posted what he thought was a one-off video about how to sound like the Beach Boys, set his phone down, and came back to 10,000 views. A few days later it was near a million. A few years later, he’s a touring member of the actual Beach Boys. Chris joins Dave to show you what was underneath that “overnight” success: a full-time session vocalist gig since 2018, years of throwing content at the wall, and the social media lessons that made one video stick: Frame your post as a question, reply to every comment, and treat the haters as fodder for a lesson or a laugh. From there, the path runs through a John Stamos follow, a coffee with the band’s musical director, a one-off Post Malone fill-in, and a phone call you don’t say no to. When the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity shows up, you throw the door open wide.

Then Chris pulls back the curtain on harmony stacks, and it’s less mystical than you think. Learn the melody first, figure out the chord, and your harmonies are what’s left. Knowing every lane on the highway is how you stay in yours. You’ll hear what it’s like learning new parts on bass, guitar, and keys for the same songs in different bands, getting corrected on lyrics by the guys who were in the room when they were written, and turning the whole skill set into Harmony Build, his remote vocal and arranging business.

The big takeaway: Chris landed his dream gig in his forties, after construction jobs and eight-dollar-an-hour shifts. Humility is a superpower, the long game is the only game, and the job is to keep doing the thing. Always Be Performing.

00:00:00 Gig Gab 554 – Monday, October 5, 2026

October 5th: National Be Nice Day (Wouldn’t It Be Nice? Day(?))

Guest co-host: Chris Cron

00:01:43 Posting to instagram…and a million views!

Session Vocalist since 2018

Simply Sing

When someone comments on your instagram post…reply!

Frame your video as a question (“How to sound like the Beach Boys?”)

00:09:53 Haters are fodder for a lesson or laugh

Come hang out

00:15:09 Learning the economy of songwriting

Chris Cron in Mêlée

00:17:24 Thanking John Stamos for the follow

Chris Cron, “Don’t Be Afraid”

Coffee with Brian Eichenberger

00:22:43 Post Malone asks Chris Cron to fill-in on background vocals for one show

00:27:49 Saying Yes to EVERY Once In a Lifetime Opportunity When It Shows Up

00:31:16 Learning all the different parts to play…same songs, different bands!

Bass for Pet Sound Live tribute band

34:37 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.

00:36:03 The stage as your classroom

Learn as much as you can

00:40:19 Finding your home in the vocal stacks

00:42:27 De-mystifying harmony stacks

Learn the melody first

Then the chord

And your harmonies are what’s left!

Focus training

00:51:29 Chris Cron’s Harmony Build

Learning things wrong…and then

00:52:35 Playing music for the fans!

00:55:44 Learning the Beach Boys…from the Beach Boys

“Surf Route, Surfin’ Safari”

00:59:59 Harmony Build from Chris Cron

AirGigs

SoundBetter

01:06:24 Humility is a superpower

01:13:58 Gig Gab 554 Outtro

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Email on Linktree

IG: @chriscronmusic

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The post Instagram Paid Him Tens of Dollars. It Also Got Him Into the Beach Boys: Social Media, Session Vocals, & Harmony Stacks with Chris Cron – Gig Gab 554 appeared first on Gig Gab.

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

September 28th: Ask a Stupid Question Day

Guest co-hosts: Nate Cross from SXSW

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

Water Damage Instagram – @wwwaterdamage

00:54:05 The Thread of Serendipity That Runs Through SXSW

Dave says get a Platinum Badge!

01:02:14 Gig Gab 553 Outtro

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

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.

00:00:00 Gig Gab 552 – Monday, September 21, 2026

September 21st: National Pecan Cookie Day

Guest co-host: Skylar Hamilton

00:02:28 Use a paper towel roll

Keep Rolling With It

00:04:45 Setlist Management

Starting Songs

00:18:33 How do we continue using AI to maximize efficiency without removing the artists?

Waves NS1

00:31:51 feedback@giggabpodcast.com

00:32:09 Stage Etiquette: What happens when something goes wrong?

The Alter Ego Effect

00:43:13 Crowd Management: Being a front-person

01:03:01 Gig Gab 552 Outtro

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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.