Evaluation

What changed from our original plan?

At first, we wanted to perform at an open mic night to gain more attention, but we decided to wait so that we could bring all of our fans to one gig, because we figured that people wouldn't come to see two gigs so close together. Apart from that however, not much changed from my original project plan.

What did I think about the gig

My stage presence and confidence were at an all time high in my opinion, and I am very proud of myself for singing at a gig when I am not at all used to doing this. I also think my playing and technical skills have improved, especially due to my research into tone, helping me understand how playing can affect how my tone sounds. I think the visuals were very good, with all of us in time and genre appropriate clothing, and all of us looking connected and none of us seemed to stand out from one another, making us look like a stronger unit. I think our song choices were very well chosen, though some of them didnt go how they were planned. At the start of the gig, the bass amp was muted, and considering we started with 'Hey' by the Pixies, which is a very bass heavy song at the start (with it being the only instrument in the intro) the sound suffered from this. I also feel as though the vocals were too loud and were not all at the same volume. I also couldn't hear myself very well, and I made some mistakes during solos and vocally. If I could do it again, I would have spent more time writing the original, and I would have liked to have had more original material written for the show. I have also learnt the value of guitar tone through this project, with this genre especially. 

What were my strengths in this project?

I feel as though my songwriting was my biggest strength this project, as I was able to write the original song's instrumental myself, and give it to everyone else and let the give me feedback and add their own ideas. I also believe my teamwork was very strong this project, being able to work with such like minded people made it feel a lot more collaborative.

What were some challenges/improvements?

I found the mixing of the song very difficult, especially with the drum kit. Having to mic it myself was difficult, and I had to face a lot of audio bleed into other mics, which was very hard to work with during the mix. I will improve this next time by researching mic placement and focusing more on the recording than the mix.

Final Thoughts

I am very proud of how we sounded at the gig, and my vocal performance. I am also proud of everyone else's performance, and how well we all worked together. Overall, I have learnt how detrimental teamwork is in a band, and how important band theming and branding is.