There are two huge rules I learned over the years. The first is never read open chat while you play. The second is to open an IM window only with the venue host.
The reason for the first is that in the Bad Silas Days, people would try to break me up when I played and things got so outrageous that the only way to do the gigs was after midnight. It's not that anyone actually did anything but it didn't faze women to get naked and say all kinds of raunchy things just to see if it would crack me up. It would. So that created the don't read chat rule.
Note: you'll attract a lot of cougars doing this and take fair warning, young grasshopper, them cougars are dangerous.
Reading chat is necessary, tho. If the venue host is worth anything, she or he will send you feedback messages on how your sound is coming through to the world. Cat looks to me for the technical as I can usually tell what causes the audio problem and let you know. We mean always to help and have done it many times.
It's difficult as a musician when you get your groove and you really don't want to divert any thinking away from what is driving it in your head. Nevertheless, it's still a live show and part of that drive is the energy from the people listening so you do need to give some attention to it. How much is your call but there can be important messages you really need to see.
As to keeping an IM open with the host. This one is just common sense to me. If the host can't reach you in chat then she or he will try to reach you by IM. You absolutely need a channel open to the host at all times. My preference is IM as then I don't have to search through chat to find the message and it will light up to bring attention to it.
We want to help and we can do it. If your stream has trouble, we can set you up on another one. If your audio clips then we can usually tell what instrument does it. Most important to keep in mind is that your sound may be perfect on your end but it may not get transmitted that way depending on the complexity of your kit. Keep that channel open with the host and you will know immediately.
That's how it works at Cat's Art MusikCircus. Also important to know is the audience there is always highly-focused on listening. This isn't a hey, baby, what's your sign kind of place.
The reason for the first is that in the Bad Silas Days, people would try to break me up when I played and things got so outrageous that the only way to do the gigs was after midnight. It's not that anyone actually did anything but it didn't faze women to get naked and say all kinds of raunchy things just to see if it would crack me up. It would. So that created the don't read chat rule.
Note: you'll attract a lot of cougars doing this and take fair warning, young grasshopper, them cougars are dangerous.
Reading chat is necessary, tho. If the venue host is worth anything, she or he will send you feedback messages on how your sound is coming through to the world. Cat looks to me for the technical as I can usually tell what causes the audio problem and let you know. We mean always to help and have done it many times.
It's difficult as a musician when you get your groove and you really don't want to divert any thinking away from what is driving it in your head. Nevertheless, it's still a live show and part of that drive is the energy from the people listening so you do need to give some attention to it. How much is your call but there can be important messages you really need to see.
As to keeping an IM open with the host. This one is just common sense to me. If the host can't reach you in chat then she or he will try to reach you by IM. You absolutely need a channel open to the host at all times. My preference is IM as then I don't have to search through chat to find the message and it will light up to bring attention to it.
We want to help and we can do it. If your stream has trouble, we can set you up on another one. If your audio clips then we can usually tell what instrument does it. Most important to keep in mind is that your sound may be perfect on your end but it may not get transmitted that way depending on the complexity of your kit. Keep that channel open with the host and you will know immediately.
That's how it works at Cat's Art MusikCircus. Also important to know is the audience there is always highly-focused on listening. This isn't a hey, baby, what's your sign kind of place.
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