Playing live – a small big audience

Well, thanks to the staff of Paekakariki 88.2FM for inviting us into the studio, and for looking after us so well when we got there.

The audience in the little studio was perhaps five. I know we were actually playing to more than that, including the twice daily repeats for a week. But we were made to feel welcome and at home, from arriving about 15 minutes before going live, to finishing our 25 minute live spot and beyond.

The studio is in a little old building in Wellington road, and with four of us plus instruments we were squeezed almost into the front bay window – you can even hear the odd car drive past.

But how to perform, and record the sound? We can overcomplicate things sometimes. We’re getting used to having a vocal mic each, and more for instruments. DI as well. A decent venue sound system.

Mollycoddling I hear you say !

And it also means we’re in the hands of the soundies for how we … well … sound. Even if there are that many mics and a soundie used to close harmonies. So could we do a performance acoustically?

Yes, we can.

We tried it out before we went down to the studio, with a main condenser mic set up at practice, and another pointed at instruments (mandola and guitar mainly). We even worked out how far back or forward each of us needed to stand to get the right ‘mix’.

And with practice gathered around the one mic stand and a friendly welcome, we felt we could happily unleash the four part folkiness on air.

In true ‘O Brother Where Art Thou’ style, we sang and played around the one mic. Four songs and a bit of chat.

So thanks 88.2FM. We think it worked, but you can listen for yourself here;