The Songwriter Forum - songwriting reviews, tips and chat
Songwriter Forum => The Bar => Topic started by: CaliaMoko on April 30, 2017, 04:55:26 AM
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Today (April 29) I sang (played some, too) to fill a two-hour time slot. Because I recently got an arts grant, I was invited to fill a "shift" to demonstrate my art during an Arts Expo. I even made business cards for it. I think I gave away at least 8 of them. ;D I made promising connections with both the local public radio and public TV stations.
I did mostly original music--used all the tracks Boydie has made for me. Also used tracks I've borrowed from others here in this awesome forum--"seriousfun", "skub", "PaulAds", "Neil C". I have videos of some of them, although every video has something embarrassing in it, so I probably won't post all of them. But I'll try to stifle my squeamishness long enough to post at least a couple.
I've been preparing, which worked pretty well. My voice was in pretty good shape, and my fingers didn't fall off from playing. It helped to have backing tracks to give my fingers a break. Plus the tracks sound way better.
I'll put an update here when I post the songs.
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That's amazing, Vicki. Incredible. Two hours is a long time - all credit to you. I'm looking forward to seeing the videos :)
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That's brilliant, Vicki!
You put most of us to shame :)
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Well done!
That is a major achievement
I am glad the backing tracks worked well for you and I am looking forward to seeing the videos
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Top stuff Vicki!! Well done :) I too am looking forward to seeing some videos
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Go Vicki. 8)
Filling a couple of hours is daunting enough at the start. The last wedding band I played with often did a 3 to 4 hour set and it initially came as a shock to my system. Over the border in Ireland the bars don't close to 2am,so after a 10pm start it was 3am before we were wrapped up. Mostly it seemed to fly in,but man I was tired at the end and I was only doing the odd backing vocal and guitar duties. Singing for a couple of hours will sort you out ok! :D
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Well done Vicki, hope the contacts pay off.
I second what the others have said, really looking forward to the videos.
Keith
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Vicki, that is amazing.Go for it. So good to hear you have played some of the forum members songs as well :)
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Well... >:( ??? :P :-[
I used to consider myself pretty tech savvy, but these days I find it very challenging to do anything new. Like working with a DAW. And now, trying to put up a video. Blech!
I really don't want to leave the extraneous material at the beginnings and endings of the recordings--it's just garbage--but I haven't been able to figure out a way to remove it. I thought Reaper could handle video files, but after I edit it, even though I render it to an mp4, the video screen is just black. I tried Windows Movie Maker, but after I edit the video, it won't save. I tried Filmora, but I don't want to pay for it unless I'm pretty I can learn how to use it, so it puts a really big watermark all over the whole thing. (I always considered a "watermark" something unobtrusive in the background...I must have been wrong!)
If anyone has any suggestions that might help me edit a video, I am all ears. Err, eyes... They're in AVI format.
Meanwhile, I appreciate all the supportive remarks. It was a real bonus for me to be able to use some of the songs from forum members. They all went over well with all 5 people in the audience. ;D
Now, I'm going to go search for help some more.
Vicki
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Hi Vicki,
if you have Windows then you'll have Windows Movie Maker. That should be all you really need to edit your videos and remove the beginning and end. I haven't used it for years but its what I started with. There will be plenty of YouTube videos showing you what to do.
If you still have any problems I'll edit them for you. Just ask and I'll pm my e-mail so you can create a shared dropbox folder.
Keith
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Sounds excellent! Two hours is a long time - me and Gaby have our first full gig on Saturday which is about 45 minutes which is long enough, trying to remember all the songs, what to do when, plus trying to perform and be entertaining at the same time. No idea how we'll be....
Would love to see any videos you made of your performance!! :-)
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Hey ! Good luck Tim and Gaby with your gig. Brizzle ? Let us know the venue see if I can drum up any support :)
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Err, umm, I didn't actually remember all the songs. I cheated. I had all the words, on paper, in front of me. And if I ever figure out how to get the videos posted, you'll notice I spent far too much time looking down at the words.
Meanwhile, since I continue to have one technical difficulty after another, I'm posting the cover I did of IronKnee's "Everybody Wants", so you can at least hear it. And tomorrow I'll have another attempt at downloading the video so I can start figuring out how I will upload it to my YouTube account. Problems, problems....
Take a listen, if you care to, right here: https://soundcloud.com/caliamoko/everybody-wants.
Vicki
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That's a really nice tune Vicki and beautifully preformed!!
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Thanks, Darren!
And I finally have gotten it uploaded to YouTube! :o
I have to say, doing a video recording of a performance is very useful. I did not realize I looked down so much of the time...nor that I have a habit of talking during the instrumental breaks. How rude is that??? Obscuring the lovely playing by some of the awesome guitarists in the forum.
Tonight I have three numbers in a local variety show, sponsored by the local community theatre. They haven't had a variety show for several years. And I don't recall singing alone in one before. I did do an "Edith Ann" style comic bit once, though. To avoid licensing problems, my little girl was Betsy Kingsley, and I didn't use any much of Lily Tomlin's material.
But I digress. My video is live at for those curious eyes....
Vicki
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Brilliant Vicki :) You have my absolute respect as getting up in front of people is the toughest gig ever. Love it. John
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Thanks, John!
I did it again tonight. The local community theater organization had a variety show and invited me to participate. I sang two of my songs: "Everybody Wants You, Baby" and "Makin' Lemonade", and Tom's song again: "Everybody Wants". I also did two songs with my former quartet--"The Rose" and Cohen's "Hallelujah". The microphones were having some problems while the quartet was singing.
I was SO nervous after the quartet and before my solo act. And then the sound system nearly quit working altogether. That did not calm me down at all. One of the other acts brought their own sound equipment, so they helped us out. Thank goodness!
My singing went much better than I expected, but I was so stressed by then, I had a knot in my stomach, which is now very slowly dissolving. I need to get out and sing more often, I think.
I hope to get a video from this show, too...I hope they don't have technical difficulties with that.
An interesting side note--there was a juggling and unicycle riding group performing at the show--the Hanson Family from Iowa. The dad holds the record (according to the Guinness book of world records) for fastest juggler in the world. Not only did he break the previous record, he went back again and broke his own record.
Anyway, I need to calm down so I can sleep tonight. :D
Vicki
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Got another song from the Arts Expo loaded into YouTube (). This one is "Makin' Lemonade". I have to apologize for talking in the middle of the awesome guitar solo. :( I didn't realize I talk so much when I have a live audience. It seemed like the thing to do at the time.
I have also finished "Everybody Wants You, Baby" (). Again, too much talking when I should be listening to the great guitar solo. Oh well. I got no manners....
Vicki