Band handling tips?

[RayKnight]

So...a couple of issues that people usually encounter. I am also one of the few. I was wondering if we can start a discussion on how to handle band management...PR and all.

In this topic, lets give each other a scenario and we try to advice on how we personally handle it or what are the alternatives to handling the situation.

Problem 1:
During jamming, everyone can hear one another in the jamming studio. They can either...
1. Hear their own instrument but not others
2. Hear other's instrument but not their own

Problem 2:
Member A don't like Member B. But Member B is okay with Member A. You, as a band leader, how are you gonna resolve this?

Do post more if you guys know of any, also, do contribute ideas on resolving them. Thank you!

 

[an2]

I had both problem a couple of years back...
What we did for problem 1 would be to spend 10 to 15 (15 when we did jamming at one of our basements) minutes before jamming to make sure all our volumes are level so we hear every instrument as one. However some guitarist I had love to turn their mids down... That makes them unable to cut through the mix
Problem 2: i was the one not liking this other band member... But proper reasoning from a lot of people told me that hating on the dude is only going to make the music worse, thus lovelovelovelovelovelovelove up the performance. So I had to keep childish emotions outside of the jamming sessions.
Hope this helped

Problem for me: the bugger of a bassist don't want to learn the songs, so every week kp go jam act big say he improved, nothing changed in the end. I can't kick him cause him and drummer best friends... How? X)

 

[J.custom]

If you don't like each other, why be in the same band? But if your goal is to make music, just have to put your differences aside and just do it. If that still doesn't work out, I suggest you approach that particular member and just have 'the talk' with him/her and discuss which of his/her actions that you disapprove of and come to a compromise.

 

[NooDles]

Good demonstrative scenarios here, let me share my knowledge.

Problem 1:
During jamming, everyone can hear one another in the jamming studio. They can either...
1. Hear their own instrument but not others
2. Hear other's instrument but not their own

The problem in this scenario is the members' lack of understanding about the frequency spectrum.
Think of it like a picture collage: If you dont trim & crop your pictures of instruments, its going to end up looking like a scrapbook mess. If you trim & crop the unwanted edges and compromise to place focus on the main object(vocals/solos) however, everything will fit nicely in the canvas.
The basic rule of thumb is that the instrument of focus (primarily vocals or guitar during solos), gets the full frequency space he needs, while the rest of the band cuts their unimportant frequencies to stay clear of his space. Volume is then tweaked (e.g if the guitarist suddenly stands out too much because everyone else dropped their 2-4KHz) Also, placements of amplifiers & drums can also be made. Of course, you can't lovelovelovelovelovelovelove do that in the normal jamming studio, so volume still plays a big part. This is hard on a drummer who's hand techniques are not fluent enough to play dynamically yet, & can be very demanding. Finally, be mindful that the sound foams most jamming studio uses cannot absorb frequencies below 70KHz, so bassists particularly need to be mindful that his sound doesn't turn the room into a nightclub!

Problem 2:
Member A don't like Member B. But Member B is okay with Member A. You, as a band leader, how are you gonna resolve this?

I loosely recall an interview with drummer Quest Love where he said "Before you bond with each other musically as a band, man, you gotta bond with each other has human beings". Pretty self-explanetory if you ask me. Sort it out; You wont be happy with music if youre not happy with the band.