A Virtual Return to Musical Fitness

Mike Lawson

As I write this, it has been 51 weeks since my last live gig in Nashville after playing the same awesome venue, Acme Feed and Seed, every other Monday with my band, “Hooteroll?” for about five years. By the time you read this, it will be over a year. That’s a long time to not be performing, if performing regularly was your thing before the COVID-19 crisis sent us all home.

The “good news” is that the club wants to have us back, ostensibly starting in April and gave us dates going through to the end of December. It’s awesome to be wanted back, and Acme is probably the chilliest, best-run venue in Nashville, so we are cautiously delighted. I mean, everyone in the band is of a certain age, so health issues are still a factor in a town where the mask-less wonders take great delight in showing how brave they are by potentially spreading a virus they might not know they are spreading. But I digress…

Health issues aside, the biggest fear I have about returning, provided we all can get vaccinated first, is my lack of physical preparedness. There is a gigantic difference between performing live and casually playing or recording at home. Since I carry a large share of the vocals, I have about eight weeks, if the target date to return holds, to get a voice that hasn’t had to sing with vigor back into shape after not using it for over a year.

Fortunately, we do live in a world where that is actually possible to do without leaving home. For many years I performed live audio over SHOUTCast, sharing the live stream into Second Life. That started over 13 years ago for me, and it was amazing to play two or three hour stream-of-consciousness sets for a live, responsive audience – even if they were dancing pixel people. They were a real audience. You have to put on a real show in real time or they will not stick around.

Doing a live performance radio show, which in essence is what that is, requires all of the components of an in-person show without the visuals. I did the first one again a couple of days ago. After three hours of playing “in front of” about 40 people whose pixel avatars were dancing and socializing and doing what people do in a real venue in real life, I was wiped out. I know I need to do it again, and again, and again, or I simply will not be ready to take the stage in front of hundreds of people at one of Nashville’s premier live music venues.

I dropped out of doing these livestream shows a few years ago. I was getting so busy with my band and life that I didn’t have time to do it. I’m doing it again now because I know that it is a serious boot camp that gets my hands back in shape, my voice singing with purpose, and improves muscle memory for chords and song structures, with myriad other benefits.

During COVID-19, some of your customers discovered that they could do this, but probably not in an audio-only format, with the onslaught of live video streaming. Some are performing over Twitch and, until the end of March when it shutters for good, Periscope, or Facebook Live, or livestreaming on YouTube and other services. While I personally am not opting for adding another layer of complexity by adding video, I’d venture most of your customers had not ever given thought to not using video. I, however, have a face made for radio and don’t mind not having the distraction of lighting, video angles, or trying to make it more visually interesting.

Supporting virtual concert livestream video or audio-only performances by your customers and helping them look and sound their best is smart business right now. One category of items that have sold like mad the past year have been these tools for all things home recording. Your customers need to have a solid audio interface, streaming software (much of which is free), an Ethernet connection for steady data streaming, good microphones, signal processors, and everything that goes along with doing a show in person.

Everything you sell to a customer for home recording or live shows is needed for livestream video performance. This includes stage lighting, which has probably not been a hot seller the past year. If you have customers like me, who played out professionally for years and suddenly had to stop last year, rest assured they are nervous and likely out of shape and not ready to jump back into performing live in person.

If you think you have customers who were not really into home recording before because they spent their efforts playing in cover bands, or solo gigs, now is a good time to put together livestream performance packages, gather how-to resources from webpages and videos, and point them to places they can use the equipment – but most importantly, express that these livestream performances can become the equivalent of hitting the gym musically before they enter into the marathon of live performance. They need to sound good and look good, so they can do the same when the clubs are reopened for real. You can help them get into shape again like a musical fitness guru. I think the ones who played out, even a few times a month, would appreciate your interest in their getting back into musical shape before they hit the real stage again. I know I would.