[video:youtube]https://youtu.be/-hVbnx4aZLs?si=ShjSi1hwjMiWlena[/video]

Hi folks,

In June, I only had three gigs, but July has really picked up and thankfully I’m booked every weekend and a few weekdays too . Normally my June’s are really busy but July’s are slow so it’s exact opposite this year, go figure.!

I’ve been doing weekend shows with a six piece group and I actually use auto accompaniment quite a bit. At first it was kinda hard for the Percussionist to get a hang of the strict auto accompaniment tempo which you might notice in the video, but the venue has since provided in ear monitors and it has made a big difference. Even with some slight temp fluctuations, I prefer working with other players rather than doing the OMB routine. Nothing wrong with OMB all, I normally do just a duo with my wife because most of our clients have a shoestring budget, but every once in a while like now, we find a client with a budget for a lager ensemble.

Anyways, in the clip above I like that the crowd was having fun. You’ll see people of all ages and races enjoying themselves. Kind of refreshing in this polarized world that we seem to live now. In all honesty, I was a little bit, worried about being booed off stage since all our material is sung in Spanish and the venue doesn’t really cater the the Hispanic market. But regardless, everyone was really nice and seemed to have a really good time!

A lot about working successfully with percussion players and drummers in an arranger environment depends on mixing the Drums hot enough that the percussion player can easily lock to them.

One of the most common mistakes I hear, listening to everybody’s demos is that, compared to listening to a live band or even to a well recorded CD, we tend to swamp the drums with whatever we are playing. The minute you swamp the drums, there goes any chance of locking solidly With any other rhythmic players!

Many of us may have not played with a live drummer for decades, and have very little realization of just how clear the beat is when you are sitting next to a drummer! But try to add a percussion player, and all of a sudden the problem becomes apparent lol…

If your registrations allow live control over the parts, it pays to add 10 to 15 to the volume balance of the drums and bass versus the rest. All of a sudden, everybody locks together and time drift pretty much goes away.

There’s really only one way to judge Whether your volumes are correct, and that is to record yourself playing live, and then try to see if you can lock to it solidly. If you can’t, if your percussion player can’t, it’s time to bump those drums!