I was nervous when I took the stage, but 90 minutes later...
Published: Thu, 05/30/24
Updated: Tue, 06/04/24
My neighborhood was doing a "Porch Fest" recently
where random residents offer their porches as pop-up stages for musicians.
It basically transforms your neighborhood into a fun little music festival for an afternoon.
I thought, "sure, I can play some songs for the neighbors."
So I signed up for one of the slots.
Then they told me that that each slot was 90-minutes long!
And my eyes went wide like LPs in surprise.
I didn't have a band or anything. I was just going to play some solo singer/songwriter stuff...
90 minutes was going to be...challenging.
So I went through the old set lists from all the bands I've been in, found all the songs I felt comfortable playing from those bands, added in my originals and then sprinkled some covers top. A song smoothie if you will...
I think I ended up with 30 songs or so.
When the day came I hit those 90 minutes. Plus an encore!
And let me tell you, there's no hiding behind your mistakes when you're alone singing with your acoustic guitar. Every flubbed lyric and wrong chord jumped out at the audience like the Kool-Aid Man.
But I took on those 90 minutes because it was a challenge. I honestly wanted to see if I could do it.
I've always been the sideman in bands, playing guitar and singing backup vocals. I only ever sang lead on a handful of songs so it was never a part of my
main identity.
And I don't think I'm going transform into a troubadour any time soon. I'm fine just playing a Bard in Baldur's Gate instead of hustling for gigs in the real world.
And maybe being a "mixing engineer" isn't a part of your identity either.
But that doesn't mean you can't rise to the challenge of
mixing your own songs, even if you're not going to make it a career.
That's what the Step By Step Mixing Challenge will help you achieve.