Pro Tips Every Production Person Knows

This week, we discuss 4 unspoken rules that every production follows and every person involved in live production should know.

(00:03):
Hey everyone. And welcome to behind the space bar episode three pro tips. Every production person knows, Hey everybody, this is will welcome to episode three. I'm having so much fun being back on behind the space bar podcast. I'm not gonna talk long up front. All I ask is if you're enjoying the show, do me a favor leave a radio review on whatever podcast app you are using, or if you're watching on YouTube, if you didn't know we on YouTube, click the link in the show notes to head over to YouTube. If you're watching there, do me a favor, subscribe, like turn on the bell notification, bell icon, you know, all the things. All right, let's dig into today's topic. I don't wanna talk a lot up top because I really wanna talk about the subject for today. And that's about pro tips that every production person knows, right?

(00:46):
If, if you are in production in any capacity, these are things you should know. I see that younger people just getting into production. These are things that sometimes they may miss. And so I thought this would be a really good episode to just stay thi say things that maybe to me feel obvious maybe to you, they feel obvious, but sometimes they're good reminders. One, it doesn't hurt for us to hear these again. And two, if you're brand new to this whole thing it, it's very, very helpful stuff for you to know. So I've got four tips, four things that we're gonna go through today. Really simple stuff, really straightforward stuff. Let's at the top. Number one don't update before going on stage number one, don't update before going on stage. The basic premise here is like if everything's working, don't go and update your computer just because an update's available.

(01:37):
And this includes a lot of different things. Let's expand this. We could be talking a about the, the hour before Showtime, you're sitting back in the green room you're on your laptop, which is also the laptop you're using on stage, which is generally not a great thing. You should have just a laptop or a Mac mini or a iMac or whatever. Probably not an iMac, but you know what I'm saying? A computer that you probably use on stage, it's great to have a computer off stage that is not that computer, but it's not a perfect world. So let's say you're using your laptop that you also use on stage backstage, about an hour before show things are going good. You open Ableton live, cuz you're gonna program a track that you got hired to do some jump programming for. So you're working on that and suddenly as you open Ableton live, Ableton says, Hey, we've got update for you.

(02:24):
And so you go in and you say okay, great. And you do your update and everything's good. Everything's fantastic. Life is great. Well, you then walk out on stage for the actual show and as you get on stage, you open your laptop, you press play and suddenly everything is just going crazy and just go on and you go, what the heck? You know, I don't understand what happened. I don't understand what's what's going on. And you realize suddenly that what's going on is the fact that you updated your laptop before the show you you, before you stepped on stage, everything was working. Then you went and did an update on Ableton, which reminds me I don't often do this cuz this is a podcast and not everyone on the podcast is is watching if you're watching YouTube.

(03:14):
It's great. But if you're in able to live, it's worth going over to preferences, command com, going to licenses and maintenance and disabling automatic updates. So the maintenance section, then it says get automatic updates minus set to always I'm gonna change that. It's not a huge deal for me cause I'm here in the studio and I'm not I'm not doing anything in the studio. That's like that's show crucial right in my session with Ableton law. But I do think that's a good good thing for you to check and to update. That would be very, very beneficial. So I think about like the one minute before Showtime, it's, it's super important that you don't update like a minute before the show starts, but I also think let's expand that out to you get hired to, to work on this gig, to do this show.

(04:01):
It's it's two months before and suddenly apple comes out with these brand new computers that are based on this brand new chip that you've never heard of before. M one and you say, okay this looks like a really, really awesome computer. So 1:00 AM I gonna do? I'm gonna go buy and M one Mac mini and I'm gonna make that at computer. Oh. And Ableton just came up with a new version, Ableton live 11. And so I'm gonna go download that and I'm gonna use that, which is gonna be super great. Oh, and this audio interface company that I love, they just made this new audio interface. I'm gonna grab that. And I'm gonna use that. Now you may hear that and you may go, what's wrong with that? Like, that's the new stuff that's really, really great. But again, that idea of don't update before you go on stage, even applies to like make sure the stuff you've used has been tested.

(04:47):
Make sure you're not trying out new gear. I'm, I'm getting ahead of myself to one of the pro tips, actually the last pro tip, but basic idea of I'm not gonna update all my gear and use it for the first time on stage. Right. I need to make sure that the stuff I'm using has been road tested I've spent time using it and I feel confident about it. And so I'm not gonna update right before I go on stage. So whether it's firmware, whether it's a software update, whether it's new hardware or whatever it is, I would highly suggest don't update before you go on stage number two. And this one is a core principle that I think particularly all production people believe, but we can't always make happen because of the creatives that exist in the world. Now I'm cursed because I feel like I'm partially creative and I'm partially technical.

(05:33):
Those of us that are more on the technical side probably believe this in our core, those of us that are more on the creative side, struggle with this, but here's tip number two. Don't change last minute. The general principle kind of similar to what we said before, but general principle is man, if things are working and the cable that you're using is working, don't suddenly unplug it and decide to change the cable because you need all the cables to match or whatever. If everything's working and the process is working, don't suddenly change your mid controller just because you got a new mid control and you wanna try it out. If everything's working, don't change things last minute. Now, obviously that's a easier thing to say than to do. That's a easier core value to hold than to execute when you're stage.

(06:16):
And you're hired by an artist who wants to make last minute changes. Now to that point, this is not something that I have listed here as a, as a pro tip, but a pro tip that I've learned. That's why it's super important to manage your files really well. That's also why it's super important to build and use templates so that you can work really quickly so that if, if a last minute change comes up that you don't feel like is going to affect or hinder or harm the show, or has the potential of hindering or harming the show and you can make happen. And it's a fairly reasonable thing. Then do that. And, and the way that you can make that happen is by formatting your content the right way. I just last week recorded an episode and I'm recording a few for worship leaders that are the content, but on how to format your stems for live performance.

(07:00):
And one of the reasons I do that is for freedom and flexibility, which, which isn't, and doesn't just mean jumping around your song. But it means to be in rehearsal and someone wants to make a change last minute, or to be two hours out from Showtime. And the artist wants to change the set list, formatting things the right way is gonna give you the ability to do that. But generally don't change things last minute. It's a good principle to live by. It's gonna avoid if you're gonna change something last minute, you obviously wanna test it and make sure it's working, but it's gonna avoid that. You know, you kind of as a production person live by if, if, if it ain't broke, don't fix it, right. If everything's working great, just don't touch it. Now the downside to that is we talked about last week's episode behind the space bar, humbly confident, humbly curious, that curious part.

(07:46):
We have to kind of keep working on that. We have to keep exploring that if we tend to be a little more on the technical side, or we tend to be someone who's kind of like, if it ain't broke, don't fix it. We still have to lean into that. We don't wanna lean into that. Right, right. Before Showtime, right. We don't wanna change things last minute and try something new for the first time right there in the moment. Number three have a backup plan, have spares. Your backup plan just could be, Hey, if my computer goes down and we lose all tracks, what are we gonna do? That's a difficult thing to have a conversation with a artist who hire you that says like your job is to make sure this doesn't go down. So if you basically, part of your job is like, ensuring that this works, then you've gotta buy the proper gear to ensure that it works.

(08:29):
That's a getting a, a play audio 12 for eye connectivity to make sure you've got a redundant audio interface. It's having a separate a backup mini controller in case your mini controller goes down. It's I don't have a cable next to me. I thought I did. It's having more than one USB cable, right? If you have just enough USB cables and you throw 'em in your backpack and you go hit the road and one of your cables goes bad. You don't wanna tell the artist that's paying you money and it's hired to you that, oh, we, we can't have tracks tonight because I don't have a USB cable. So we have spare cables. We have spare pieces of gear as much as possible. We have a backup computer and then we have maybe a backup for our backup computer. We have a redundant rig we've done and taken whatever steps and precautions necessary to make happen.

(09:14):
But I still think, and you gotta, you gotta walk this, this, this path carefully, cuz again, if an artist is paying you good money for things to work, they're gonna expect things to work and you've gotta make things work. But I still think it's worth having a conversation maybe with a music director. If, if you have that trust and and you know, have the relat to ship with him that you could say, Hey in the case of something happening, what do you want me to do? You, you should come proactively with a plan. That's at least what I've found that that works is like, Hey, in case this goes down and I have no reason to expect it. It does. And if it does go down, it's gotta go through two different computers, two different mini controllers. Like there's a lot to, it has to happen, but if it were to happen, what's our backup plan or even just a conversation of Hey, if you are if this artist wants to go change something last minute in the middle of the show, when we don't have a plan for that with tracks, do you want me to kill tracks?

(10:12):
Do you want me to just go to click? What's the plan that you I just talked to David who's a from CS H student and he went through our coaching cohort. And one of the things that we talked about was this idea of, of communicating and having a backup plane with the artist that he's working with as they go out on the road and they do these shows where they may not have the best possible setup. They may not have the best what's the best and nicest way to say it. They may not have the best help possible for that show that they show up to a venue that they don't necessarily know that everything's gonna work. And so have a conversation with the artist of like, Hey, if this thing were to happen, if this thing were to go bad and not work what do you want to do?

(10:56):
What, what you, as the artist want me to do, do you want me to go this route or to go that route? And again, you're you, you wanna be careful. You wanna make sure that there's enough relationship. There there's enough trust there that they don't think that you're trying to get out of a job or that they don't think that you're trying to like skirt your you know, your work opportunity by saying, you know, if goes bad, you know, who cares, but I do think that will appreciate you coming to them with a plan. Again, if that relationship is there that trust is there coming to them with a plan and saying, Hey, if this were to go wrong, here's what I think we should do. And again, on the heel of that, not just having a backup plan, but how spares doing everything you can to ensure that if something were to go wrong, that you've got a backup.

(11:40):
Now you can't do this to the extreme. You, you could travel with a backup sound console. It's difficult to sound travel with a backup sound system, but almost every venue you, you go to has a house system and that's a backup and it's not gonna sound great in most places, but it's an option. But even having that conversation of okay, if our speakers go bad and we have to go to the house system, is there anything we cut? Do we simplify? Do we have a acoustic set? I think those conversations are important to have before you get out the road and they happen for the first time. So having a backup and having a game plan, having spares is super important. Our fourth and final thing, and I've kind of mentioned this already is don't try something new for the first time on stage a general principle when I'm working with teams and bands.

(12:27):
Particularly when I'm working in like a church setting and working with volunteers and in my current capacity, the doing this with broadcast, with broadcast video which does relate to this E even though we're talking about playback stuff in Ableton and tracks is I don't want us to try something for the first time live. And so we've implemented checks of like, okay, the person that builds all our graphic files, we wanna run through those with them before we start the service. Before we start the show, because I don't wanna see something for the first time in the show and, and stupid mistakes happen all the time. We have the wrong font, we did this wrong thing. We loaded in the wrong arrangement of disabled to file. We have the wrong click track. If we wait to the last minute, you know, let's, let's go back to the top.

(13:11):
If we change things last minute, if we, we decide that, okay, last minute, we're gonna do something. If we update something last minute and we decide for whatever reason, you know, this, this red color cable on stage, doesn't look right, it's gotta be a black cable. I've gotta then go test and make sure that before I try it live that I know that it worked right. I need some extra time, some buffer to say, I, we swap this, we changed it. Let's make sure it's actually working for us. And so we don't wanna try something for the first time live in the moment. And I see this happen with so many people. It's hard for me personally, if I'm just being honest, because as a musician, I've always valued, improv more than I've valued playing the part. And part of is like laziness.

(13:56):
And part of that is I would rather come up with a part it's more fun than like learn the part. And that's definitely laziness. And, and to a certain extent, I'm, I'm maybe a little more okay with this, like trying things on the fly to see if it works and if it crashes and comes crumbling down, that's okay. But I have learned as a professional that is hired, that's been brought to something I wanna spend my time rehearsing. I wanna spend my time in a lab environment. That's one of the things I love about my current setup. I'm not out on the road with an artist doing tracks. So I have a lot of space and a lot of time here in the studio at home to try things out. I have a lot of space, a lot of time, a lot of opportunities to go Hey, let me try this new plugin.

(14:39):
Let me see if this works. I'm not waiting for the next gig that I get, excuse me, I'm not waiting for the next gig. I get to try something out for the first time and to say, oh, I've actually never used this before, but let's try it. I, I watch a YouTube video on it. It must be good. I'm I'm I have the space and time to do this so that when it's time and that opportunity arises, then I can try that thing out. If you're on the road, working with an artist again, you don't suddenly download a, a, download a plugin and try it out the week that it him out on stage for the first time, like you, you put that through its paces you know, that it's road tested. You talk to friends, Hey, have you tried this? Have you used this?

(15:20):
You wait for the one brave soul. Even if you wanna be this, this, this particular about it. You wait for the brave soul that goes out on a tour and does it, and does the tour and goes, yeah, I feel good. This piece of hardware is road where of the it's, it can hold up to the road, it's ready to, to make it happen. And then you try it then, but you don't wanna be the person that tries something for the first time live. And that means putting in the work, putting in the effort, doing the prework, to try things out, to practice things, to rehearse things set up your computers in the hotel room with your gear and, and run things as if you're doing the show live to make sure you feel comfortable, make sure you can make edits really quickly.

(15:58):
So again, to recap, pro tips that every production person knows don't update before. Go ahead on stage. That may be a last minute firmware update a, a last minute software update, but also think even further back and go to kind of tie it into thing we talked about is the gear that I'm using. Do I know it? Do I trust it? Don't just throw something new in last minute. Two don't change things last minute, as much as possible. I know an artist will, the only thing you can depend on with artists is that they will 100% change their mind and being consistent but do your best to not change things last minute. And if they do then ask for that buffer, like we talked about number or ask for that buffer. So you have time to practice and try things. Number three, you have a backup plan, have spares, communicate a plan.

(16:39):
If something were to go wrong with your team, with the people you're working with to see if they are okay with this plan, if they agree that this is what we should do. And then for you personally have spares for your equipment, have backups or your equipment to even something as simple as a backup cable, an extra cable that's super, super crucial and important. And then number four, don't try something for the first time on stage, live in the moment, make sure you've spent time in practice in rehearsal communicate with, with your friends and see what they're doing and try it out. Don't be the Guinea pig don't person that tries it for the first time, fails miserably, and then becomes the part of the text side with everyone else that says, yeah, don't do what will did. He was an idiot.

(17:20):
He tried this. If you're gonna try something, spend a lot of time beforehand, testing it out, making sure everything works before you dive in and commit to it. So there's are four pro tips that every production person knows. I'd be interested to know what, what else makes a list for you? What are things that are like core values as a production person, as a musician that you're like, I have to live by this. If you're going out for the first time as a production person tour for the first time, working with an artist for the first time, this is important to know as well too. I'll I'll end with the fifth final tip from my friend, Tony Z who played B3 organ with a buddy guy for many, many years. And his tip when asked what's super important for young people that are going out on tour to know was don't poop on the bus.

(18:06):
So there's your fifth final tip for today that everyone should know probably most important of all is don't poop on the bus. And with that, I think it's time we wrap this up and land the plane. Hey, if you are looking for free resources, completely free resources to help you run tracks on stage in a way that's efficient, flexible, stable, and efficient headed from studio to stage.com/free. We don't talk about not pooping on the bus, but there's some good stuff there from studio stage.com/free. And you could download all those resources in and become a pro at running tracks and able to live. It's a great community there as well, too. And a lot of really good stuff going on. Thanks for listening to this week's episode of behind the space bar. You can find all the episodes@behindspacebar.com.

(18:51):
Again, you can watch on YouTube, you can listen to your podcast player of choice. Thanks for joining me every single week. This is super fun. If you have idea suggestions for shows, feedback, comments you know, leave a comment on a video, let me know what you want to talk about. And again, I would love, particularly for this episode, what are pro tips? What are things for you that are sent that you think everyone needs to know? Thanks so much for watching. We'll see you next Monday. 10:00 AM. Central, same place wherever you're listening to this, wherever you're watching it, I'll be there next week as well, too. 10:00 AM central. Take care, everybody. Bye.

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