Gig at the Goethe Institut on 12-7-12

Ambiance smambiance. Start thinking like a guitarist. Too much power is just enough :)

Seriously, I've played some gigs like that and you have my sympathy.

Hi Amethyste,

I would say most of it is really fine and every singer in the world has hit a few clam notes in live performance. I still enjoy your phrasing and vibrato. Like the voice, the theremin is subject to so many things that affect it in real time.

Maybe standing closer to the piano in the crook would have helped. The piano is really loud there! And your pianist was playing pretty gently. If you are playing big pieces I would say more distance, but for this one standing closer to the piano might have helped you a bit.

Singing at IDO sushi and other restaurants where the ambiance noise can get loud, If I really want them to stop talking and pay attention, I either do a loud high note or if you really want them to stop, have your pianist play the Phantom Of the Opera Chords. They stop talking in their tracks then you can get their attention. Then you play what you want. The Phantom of the Opera stops them every time. It makes me giggle to see this.

It is hard when you are hired to be background music though. I was hired to sing at one restaurant and was singing my usual stuff to get their attention and flirt with the audience. The owner pulled me aside and told me how much he really hated my singing and my kind of voice. He had wanted us to be totally in the background, muzak, which I hadn't known. More soft jazz, which we weren't.

Heigh ho the glamorous life.

As a learning experience it is fine. If you wanted to you could auto tune the damn clam note. 

now someone who says they hate your voice are either 'effin deaf or cannot appreciate the fine singer that you are. To hell with him!

It doesn't matter who you are, what you do, or how well you do it. Some people are going to LOVE it and others will HATE it. I am always amazed when someone comments negatively on a video from an artist I have admired all my life: "Victoria de los Angeles was the most overrated singer of the 20th century." or "Vladimir Horowitz is the worst pianist ever."

"My grade two violin teacher plays better than that Jascha Heifetz guy." 

"Why doesn't Natalie Dessay stop screaming and learn how to SING?"...etc. etc. etc.

Everybody is right, within the context of their own experience.

Coalport, I totally understand what you mean. But I guess I am surprised at the lack of tactfulness from the gentleman for telling right to her how he "hated" her voice. I am all for honesty, but there are nicer way to come across. I edited my post above to say point out his lack of tactfulness, but I guess I didn't press save or something cause it is not there!

I have never played in venues where there is either eating or drinking, so I have no personal experience with that sort of thing. I would think, however, that anywhere where people are consuming alcohol, one should expect the WORST!

"IN VINO VERITAS"

That's Latin for "watch out for folks when dey boozin ".

I play mostly low end venues where both audience noise and the house PA can be issues.

I like Chobbs's audience attention grabbing siren suggestion - my variation is a cheeky wolf-whistle.

To cope with a dodgy PA, as w0ttm suggested, I invested in the loudest amps my budget would run to - sufficient to fill a small venue - and if the local sound system is not up to par I put in earplugs and crank it up to a point where the PA is superfluous.