New LineUp..New Issus

well We are trying to start a new band and we are planing on playing a bit of "Muse","Cranberries", and may be one or tow compos!!

so we already have a guitar-soliste , a drummer a bass-guitar player and a rythmic-guitar player!

so we were wandering about if we needed somebody on a keyboard or not ? and if we need another rythmic-guitar?

and for playing Soft-Rock and may be later some early-heavy Metal do we need both a guy and a girl in vocals , or would it better to have a main vocalist and some sort of a chorus ... ??

+ we intend on performing some acoustic tracks live , so what kind of mics and sono should we have ? and haw to get the acoustic and classical guitars to get over the drums sound ?? ( techniques?settings ?.... )

I have some recording questions also but I'll get to them later !

than'x

Why limit yourself? Get them all!

I mean, get a person who can do a bunch of different things, and then you'll have a lot of options on the table. Look to the band "Sleepytime Gorilla Museum" - they're a performance-art-metal band, but their violinist/female-vocalist Carla Kihlstedt is also responsible for the folk-y group "Tin Hat Trio" and her own little combo, "2 Foot Yard."

unfortunately I don't have access to people with skills like that!! and 2nd our recording/reversing studio isn't that large to get a lot of people + we are doing it to get in some paid concerts (and they don't give that much) so the less people the better :lol:

I second Christopher's suggestion. Get as versatile players as you can and then find your way.

I second Christopher's suggestion. Get as versatile players as you can and then find your way.

I say it again , if I could I would !!!

but It's already hard enough to find good musicians that play well enough ONE instrument ...

I have found this article in webzine

Your audience will be impressed?by the covers of all these popular bands and amazingly most people judge a great band by that band covering their favourite bands songs!?Example just play some technically difficult song with a zillion notes to PERFECTION that they don't know and they'll sit there like a bump on a log, then play a three chord Green Day song and they'll explode.

is that true ???

ps: should I recruit a female or a male singer? What is better in a soft Rock band ??

ps: would a keyboard be necessary ??

Well, I currently play in a club band, and in the past I've played in lots of bands, so I think I can give you some insight. First of all, I think the needed amount of players vary, but a standard setup for a pop-rock band (this includes metal) is 5 people. Guitar, keys, bass, drums and vocals. It would be helpful if some of other players can sing too, it's very useful for backing vocals. In general with backing vocals, they don't need to have a great voice, like a lead singer does, they just need to be able to sing accurately.

How much money you get will vary, but generally the fewer people in band, more money will all of you get. Now, if there is too few of you, you can end up sounding kind of empty and after a first round of gigs, the club-owners may not like you and end up not calling anymore. So you have to find the balance between a good sound and the least number of players with which you can achieve that sound. Thats why the ability to sing is so appreciated in any musician.

In my opinion the guitar is not the most important instrument in these kind of bands... it's the keyboard and drums. You need a good drummer, because, without a good drummer, no matter how good the other players are, the band will sound like it's falling apart. Keyboards are great for their versatility, they can emulate all other instruments, they can be used as a vocoder, they can have sound effects, loops and all that stuff that separates a pro sounding band from amateurs. Of course, get a person who can really use the keyboard to it's max, too many times have I seen a keyboardist who plays great but doesn't know first thing about keyboards and the power of MIDI. Most of the time they are pianists who took keyboards to join the band. Keyboard is far more complex instrument than the piano, and it shouldn't be played like a piano. You're better of finding a keyboardist who isn't that great of a player like your piano virtuoso mate, but who knows his stuff about keyboards. You should never get more than one guitarists. Guitarists are a strange kind, they are always jealous of one another, they all want to play that solo, and they all want to be louder than the rest of the band. In general, you should avoid having two instruments that play in the same register, because ultimately this muddies up the sound, and live, you can never get a good clean sound if you don't have lots of expensive gear and a pro sound engineer.

You should try to get a girl in the band (preferably as a lead singer) but also have male vocals too (this is were guitarists, keyboardists and bassists or even a drummer who can sing comes useful) This is to be able to do covers of female and male songs. And for the guys in the crowd to have something to look at :P I know, it sounds lame, but it really is like that.

Get all of this, rehearse like crazy, do lots of good songs, and you should make an honest living out of playing. Hope this helps.