Ep. 23: How to Improve Your Music Game for Free with Mike Hallenbeck

Stephen: Welcome to Secrets from the Scene. My name is Stephen Helvig and I'm your host. Today I'm joined by Mike Hellenbeck. Mike is a composer songwriter sound designer and mix engineer. He welcomes the opportunity to share the excitement of audio that inspires and communicates. His soundhouse Cool Cat Audio provides services ranging from voiceover engineering to custom music sound editing Foley Audio restoration and final mix for clients in the spheres of corporate communications film animation and [00:01:00] multimedia. Hellenbeck's experience in the world of original music started as first a drummer and then guitarist songwriter and vocalist in a variety of music projects that date. back about as far as his ability to play an instrument. His current band Ten Items or Fewer started as an album project abandoned in 2002 and picked up again during the COVID pandemic. He's also currently cultivating relationships with other artists as a producer arranger and mix engineer. Please welcome Mike Hallenbeck. Thanks for Thanks for having me Steven. known each other Mike: [00:02:00] Yeah. Stephen: for a couple of years kind of casually on the scene. And I've I've seen your space. it's really cool. And that's in Northeast right? Yeah how long have you had that space? Mike: Since 2016? Stephen: Okay. Yeah. Well I'm excited for people to get to know a little bit about what you do Because you you have your hands in kind of a lot of different sides of the audio industry Both like being a local musician playing shows being in a band but then the whole post production audio side of it too I'm also just excited about today's episode because I think it's really Useful for a lot of people that are going to be listening. But before we dive into it I want to start with your background. Let people get to know you a bit. Feel free to take it away wherever you want to start. Mike: Sure. I think a lot of people who work in audio started out playing in bands. That's definitely the case for me. you know I imagine probably 90 percent of people who are Audio engineers [00:03:00] on some level have some experience as musicians and that was definitely the case for me too. played in a lot of bands and I always wound up being the person who when it was time to make a demo or something like that even if it was pretty primitive I kind of wound up being the person to put microphones up and figure out how to record everything and do even kind of a rudimentary sort of a mix. And so from there it was kind of a natural progression to get sort of a collection of gear together just in a home studio kind of a way. Stephen: Sure. Mike: and that you know for me was back in the cassette four track days and then eventually into the you know Some folks out there will remember the the days of the horrid tabletop you know 8 track digital recorder. Wound up using those quite a bit. I was very much in a in a home studio mode for a very long time kind of kept doing the band thing both with my own [00:04:00] projects and other artists for a really long time longer than a lot of people would do it. and Eventually I started working with other artists a little bit but it was you know it was kind of difficult being trapped in that sort of tabletop system which you know backed up to dat tapes two tracks at a time. I don't know if you've ever worked with one of these things but it was just a nightmare. I mean at the time it was it was the most amazing thing in the world. But of course you know like it was just really cumbersome. So I was kind of like okay I don't know how I'm actually going to be a. Producer working with this kind of stuff you know and you know I was working as a security guard the whole time. So it was kind of hard to get budget together for early computer stuff that kind of came later for me. But I did what I could and I got you know I don't know how many people out there remember Pro Tools Free. It was a free 8 track version of Pro Tools that came out I don't think a lot of people [00:05:00] remember all that fondly but it would again was pretty amazing at the time. And that coincided with me sort of falling into working on sound design projects for theater which is something that I did for about a decade. Stephen: wow. Okay. Mike: yeah that's that's kind of how I wound up kind of making the move from music into into other stuff which sometimes involved music. But you know I I started putting together cues for theater shows which I didn't even really realize was a job at the time. But that was something that was a really interesting vein to explore because it it very much involved narrative it involved sound it involved sound effects it involved musicAnd around that time this is you know we're talking early 2000s here. That was also the advent of the minidisc recorder which is something I I took to pretty readily. that was really exciting because you could be anywhere. You could have binaural [00:06:00] mics in your ears. Nobody would even know you were recording and you could record literally any environment anywhere you were. Um and that that was pretty cool to you know to record things that were going to be used as backgrounds in a play. If you wanted a certain environment and you couldn't find anything on a on a CD or something like that you would. You know just go out into a place and record the environment. And that was that was just pretty fascinating to explore. So for a while I was on this parallel track of Working on theater shows and also starting to do experimental music much of which was field recording based. So I was exploring a lot of musique concrète sort of concepts andstarting to do improvisational music. there were was meeting at the time who were very into this kind of free improv stuff that was [00:07:00] happening. So that really expanded my horizons quite a bit. you know both in terms of working on something that was a little more abstract than the music I'd been doing before and also being able to use some of those same techniques for productions that you know often were pretty mainstream but Oftentimes I was working on dance pieces as well and some of that stuff got pretty abstract and so that was really fun. the dance stuff is kind of how I started getting into video because there were dance companies that sometimes would would be making films. Dance film is kind of a thing. so that was some of my first work with location audios. Kind of holding a boom mic for you know dance pieces that would happen. Umyeah I also started doing Foley work that way. Foley being performed sounds footsteps and cloth and all that sort of thing. Stephen: One thing just kept leading to the next to the next to the next. Mike: was a slippery slope. Stephen: [00:08:00] Well I have a I want to back up just a minute. Umwere you in the theater scene? Like were you doing some of that? Like how did that begin? Mike: I knew a lot of people who were involved in the theater scene and so I was invited Stephen: And at some point they knew you had some digital recording possibilities for them in the early days which was like Oh Hey we can maybe do some of this stuff on our own and create some of these was literally at first was like oh this guy's got some recording gear. Hey do you would you be able to do Okay. design? And I was like what's sound design? I had no idea that that Mike: was a that's kind of my next question then is you know you talk about doing field recordings walking around with the mini disc recorder with the binaural microphones and that sort of thing and starting to record environments now was that because you were curious about doing that or was that a product of Hey the theater that is hiring me or asking me to do this or whatever they want. Stephen: An environment of this noisy park or something like that. And so you're just like I gotta go figure out how to do this. was that the reason why that [00:09:00] started? Mike: was a little of both. Yeah. Yeah. It all just kind of dovetailed. Yeah. Yeah. cause I was I was starting to learn about field recording groups online. at first it was all about looking for extra musical sounds that I could use in the music that I was working on which was. Somewhat singer songwriter stuff but it also had kind of an experimental angle to it too. So you know back then it was this whole thing of trying to figure out where I could find these sounds because I you know I had no idea how to collect them myself. And so I happened on these groups online where People were uploading recordings that they had made and publishing compilations and talking about techniques and what have you. And I was like Oh this is something I could actually just do myself. Stephen: Right. Right. And then sort of the the recording of environments and doing like location audio which is dealing with environments and how to get rid of environment. Sometimes [00:10:00] you know you have both of those things happening and you have Foley happening all of that starts to lead down the path of just general sound design. Talk a little bit about what sound design is and why it's different from just say recording music or doing post product. Well I'll let you go into it. Mike: Yeah that's that's an interesting and thorny question. And if you ask you know if you ask 10 different sound designers to define it you'll get 10 different answers. And and uh Whew I it's I I think of sound design as a highly curatorial craft. I look at it as something that is as much about choices as it is about Anything artistic you know and anything craft oriented. I look at it as as a similar craft to thinking about you know if you're a production designer one of the things that you do is think about the color as it's going to proceed through the play or the film or the TV show or whatever it [00:11:00] is. I think of sound design as something where where you are making similar decisions to that you know what sorts of sounds are we going to hear? Are we going to be hearing hard edged things? Are we going to be hearing smooth things? Are we going you know how pleasant is it going to be? are things going to be very raw and sort of clacky as they say? Are they going to be more rounded off? How much are we going to hear backgrounds and room tone and all that sort of thing? How much are we going to be in dead spaces? How much reverb are we going to have on the Voices that are in certain spaces. I mean obviously that's getting into mix and what have you but you see what I'm saying is that it's sort of an all over sense of you know what the experience is that we're going to be having with sound because Anytime you're working in that kind of a collaborative framework I think the main job is to as much as you can download the consciousness of the director the [00:12:00] producer whoever it is that you're working for. Try to figure out okay what what is this person trying to say with this piece? What is the message as it were? There isn't always a message but an awful lot of the time there is. It can be a theme that a playwright or a screenwriter is trying to put across. It can be this idea of hey you should buy this product. it can be a lot of different things but that's really the point is What is this person trying to say and how can I help them articulate that with sound and and there's a million different ways That you can do that. So as far as sound design goes that's one answer. There's also I think I'm probably going to get this story wrong but I believe Walter Murch was working on a project. I don't think it was Apocalypse Now but maybe it was. It might have been The Conversation or something like that. One of those films. And there was some I think there was some dispute over union titles or something like that. Stephen: Okay. [00:13:00] Mike: he for some reason couldn't be credited with a certain title. And so he said how about sound designer? And supposedly no one had ever used that title. That's another I think disputed story. It might not be true. I don't know. But it has mythic resonance anyway as stories always do. So. it's kind of an abstract term it you know is it a BS term? I don't know. like you're saying there's this kind of Swiss army knife phenomenon that can happen especially in the twin cities or some other place that isn't New York or LA or I don't know Vancouver or wherever is that. In one of those places you can be just a dialogue editor you can be just a Foley artist you can be just a re recording mixer and that's your entire career. outside of those markets you're you're generally what I call the Swiss army knife. You're doing everything on a production. You're doing the Foley you're doing the dialogue editing you're doing all of that stuff. And so you tend to be able to figure out like okay what is [00:14:00] what is my particular angle on this piece that we're creating and how do I help to facilitate that? Stephen: Got it. So you're developing all these skills kind of out of necessity through your network. where does that start to transition into your current company today? Mike: Yeah. from working on theater stuff and and doing field recording and all that sort of thing I started to understand you know how film worked basically from a sound perspective. You know that was just a matter of thinking like okay people are talking and they're saying stuff there are sound effects that happen both in terms of you know an explosion sound effect or somebody's footsteps which are kind of two different categories and then there's music and then there are backgrounds that seem to be put in. So. I kind of figured that out on my own. And like I said I had started working on dance films and then you know eventually that all just kind of snowballed into working on projects that became [00:15:00] more and more serious and then income generating you know a fair amount of animation work eventually corporate video and ads and things like that. You know eventually I just kind of had a practice together and went into business and formalized it and got more and more serious about it and figured out the business aspect of it and all that sort of thing.yeah. And so that's that's where cool cat audio came from. And as I've kind of described my route here has been really circuitous. So. It is like it's not really a typical thing where you know yeah I went to school and then I interned at a studio or whatever. Like I've definitely done things the hard way and and You know taking the long way around but along the way I've I've accrued a very wide variety of skills. And so I'm very thankful for that. So that's kind of where cool cat audio came from. at the tail end of. Sort of working on band [00:16:00] projects and then sort of getting into theater stuff. I abandoned what was going to be the latest album I was working on of singer songwriter stuff. This is about 2002. And like over that period of time since then every once in a while I'd kind of dip back into it and think Okay I gotta I gotta finish this thing someday because I really like the songs I was working on. But it just never happened. I Stephen: Yeah you busy starting another business? Mike: And then fast forward to COVID and a lot of projects went away and I wound up with a lot of free time. So eventually I thought to myself what about that album I was making? Maybe I can finish that. And I eventually decided like okay I'm I'm going to do this. And that involved going back to CDRs and mini discs. A lot of stuff was recorded to mini disc which was a huge mistake. Although at the time it was what I had. I literally had to resuscitate an old computer that I'd been using that time figure out the [00:17:00] iLOC situation get the uh the old mbox working. Um it was just crazy. Like figuring out all the compatibility everything had to be in just the right configuration. And I finally was able to. You know resurrect all these sessions. I wasn't even using Pro Tools anymore. So there was some OMF export. I wound up having to do. it was pretty Stephen: That's commitment to get all that stuff Mike: yeah there was there there was a mini disk that I wound up having to Yeah. play back into the system to get that to work. there was one part I wasn't able to resurrect. So I had to redo that. And of course I had to finish the rest of the record too. But I put all of that stuff together and kept working on it. And that was the genesis of 10 items or fewer my current band. and from there I got opportunities to play live. So I put together a band that's basically a dream team of musicians that I've known for a really long time. A couple people I've had the good fortune to meet more recently. and that's been [00:18:00] pretty exciting to get out there and actually play live again to put out a record. We have one album out. Now we're going to be recording another one probably this year sometime. yeah it's been cool. And an unexpected byproduct of that has been I've. Been starting to get interest from other artists to work on their projects in a production capacity. So that's pretty exciting Stephen: Yeah that's a win win. So one quick question about the the trans or you know getting the new band together for 10 times fewer were any of those members in the first version of it in 2002 or was 2002 just you working on it? Mike: point and some of those people are on it although I have people doing different things there's mandolin and banjo and stuff like that and I did ask two of the people I was playing with back then if they wanted to play in the new band and they were like no I got too much [00:19:00] going on. SoSo I do not have any of those folks playing with me live. Both of them said you know if you're ever desperate and you you know you need a sub or something let me know. yeah it's all new folks. It's all new material. I mean it's that material from back then. I'm writing new songs now. but yeah it's it there's a lot of newness to it. Stephen: Right on. So well that kind of brings us up to today with the new band you're back out in the scene and that's sort of when we reconnected you know the podcast going around for the local scene you were interested in that which we started chatting and I thought you had a great idea for an episode which was basically talking about things you can do when you're just getting started. do you kind of want to set this up? Mike: Absolutely. Yeah the uh the broad theme that I have here is that imagination is free. And that's really important in this situation because it is really interesting getting back into the music scene because nobody knows who I [00:20:00] am. nobody remembers what I was doing back then which is actually fine. You know it's nice to be able to make a fresh Stephen: And that's what everybody's dealing with when they are just starting. Mike: Yep. I figured it would be good to put together some advice based on things that I've been doing simply because when you're starting out from zero you have no resources you have no network you know it it can seem really overwhelming. It can seem. You know hopeless a lot of the time. So I've put together a list of things that you can do to sort of add value to things without actually spending any money which I'm assuming for people is an obstacle. You know if you're someone who's lucky enough to have money then you have some advantages. Stephen: But all the things on this list are still useful. you know when you're getting started and you're waiting or not even maybe waiting is the right way way to say this. If you're just getting started and you're still in the development phase even or perhaps you've been [00:21:00] practicing maybe you've been in the basement for a few years the band's feeling tight you're starting to do shows but it just still feels like that wheel is turning really really slowly and You've got time but you don't necessarily have resources to push things forward and you want to start figuring out what can you be working on to keep pushing things along. You want to get to the next level. These are all really easy things to start working on which is why I thought this was a great idea. it's all stuff we kind of know but I I just love thinking about it in this way of like these are the free things to start focusing on that will that will make a difference in your career. Mike: Yeah so the first thing that I've got is the idea of matching outfits. Now hear me out. I think a lot of people find this kind of dorky but something I've been doing for the past few years is really digging into soul music quite a bit. So I've been spending some time on YouTube watching footage of a lot of these artists [00:22:00] and You know you might think you're too cool to wear matching outfits but are you cooler than you know the Supremes? I think not. I mean you look at what some of these bands are wearing. It is sharp. It's really cool. brings across this idea of really caring about what you're doing and wanting to make a good impression. And you don't necessarily have to you know be wearing suits. this other band that I'm working with Mama Fairy my friend Rhiannon she has this idea of let's all just wear the same color for example or let's wear the same group of colors or sort of the same color palette things like that can be really Stephen: Yeah I think that some of this is a little bit genre dependent so you know take this with a grain of salt. But what's important about this point is being intentional. It doesn't have to be perfect matching suits. It doesn't have to be even a matching color or something. So obvious but you should think about what you're going to wear and [00:23:00] how you're going to present yourself on stage and make it different from your everyday self or if it is your everyday self just make sure everyone else matches that vibe too just so that it looks like there's thought behind it and that ideally you you stand out in some way. It doesn't have to be a flashy way but it does need to just set you apart from the rest of the audience. Ideally. Mike: Yeah it can help. It can help. next things I've got on the list are all things that honestly you can cultivate during rehearsal. Stephen: right? I mean if you're waiting around for your next show or you're getting things started This is the time to be practicing you know obviously this probably doesn't need to be said but it's just a nice reminder that In the early stages these are the times to be working on your instrument maybe try to study something new whether it's through lessons or YouTube or whatever else. you know working on songwriting working on anything that you feel like is a weakness. this is the time to be putting in [00:24:00] the hours towards that stuff. But during rehearsal you also have some really good tips of specific things that you can work on with your band. Mike: Yeah absolutely. In terms of structuring your show it can be really helpful to use your lineup somehow in terms of who's on stage and who isn't. Oftentimes if you've ever seen the film Stop Making Sense where David Byrne comes on by himself at first and then he's joined by Tina Weymouth and the band sort of gradually shows up on stage you know something like that is A thing that you can do that again doesn't cost anything that I think audiences really appreciate because again it shows intention. Yeah. And that can be really helpful. Agreed. I have this idea of humor. There's a couple different. ways that you can deploy this that I'm thinking about if somebody in your band is particularly witty you can make that person your spokesperson while you're on stage. I've seen bands do that in the past. I have seen [00:25:00] bands where even the drummer is the person saying stuff in between songs. Making fun of somebody in the audience et cetera et cetera. and that that's something again you can do that you know costs you Stephen: Stage banter is important. Now some bands choose to not do anything that's an artistic choice. More power to them. But if you're doing nothing then you need to plan your transitions to be as quick as possible. Don't have a bunch of awkward silence while you sit and tune your guitar. You know If you don't like stage banter as a as a general rule of thumb then sure just work during your rehearsals work on getting through songs to songs maybe having no stoppage time or it's just a song goes into the next one. In fact a mix of the two is really nice in my Mike: Absolutely. Stephen: but work on the stage banter. It might feel a little corny right away but it's worth practicing because we've all been to shows where the stage banter is. Awful and it's painful. It's so [00:26:00] painful. So yeah maybe you have a member that's particularly good at it. Give them that role or plan some of it out in advance. You don't have to have it word for word. It doesn't have to be scripted or something like that but you could be like well okay. In between these songs is when we're going to do the banter at least. And maybe in between later on in the set in between these songs we're going to do a little introduction of the band and things like that. There's typical things. If you've been to shows you've seen this. Everyone has got this down. So if it's something that you're still uncomfortable with it's time to start working on it. Mike: Absolutely. Yeah that structure is really helpful. I have to write all that stuff down. You know I there are things I want to make sure to mention even if it's thanking the venue or something like Stephen: Good point. Or Hey we've got stuff for sale in the back. You know you pretty much can't say that enough. and so finding less awkward ways To weave that in obviously if you don't have a sign or a banner behind you of who your band is chances are a lot of people in that venue don't know who [00:27:00] you are. So working in just how to reintroduce who you are who your band is and that sort of thing casually throughout the set all that kind of takes a little bit of practice. Some of it comes as you do more and more shows but if you're just starting off this is all stuff you can be working on. Mike: yep absolutely. the other deployment of humor that I'm thinking about is in terms of press releases and you know whatever communications you're doing with the media and even your fans you know again is there some way that you can make your communications either funny or somehow different from what people read in other contexts? That can be really really helpful because after a while if you're sending out a lot of information to people that they've seen it if they're a press person they're getting press releases all day long and you don't want them to say oh Oh no here's another press release from such and so band. You want them to say oh good here's another press release. I want to [00:28:00] read this. And maybe it's because it's funny. Maybe it's because there's I don't know recipes in it or something. You know it can be Stephen: ways to be unique to stand out particularly. ways that feel like they fit your personality. if the band has a sense of humor then that's great. Go for it. If that's not really your vibe then just find other ways to capture your real personality when you're writing these things whether it's to press or even just to your fans communications whether it's an email list social media anything just finding ways to not just. Say here's the date here's the time here's the John you know like ah facts alone are not quite enough. They're important. You got to include those but try to spice it up a little bit. Try to give some personality. Mike: Yeah assuming your music is good in the first place you have to be able to somehow deliver the essence of it and you have to find the authenticity [00:29:00] thereof. there's artifice to all this. Obviously it's it's promotion it's marketing but you have to find some way to sort of showcase whatever the nugget is at the center of your craft. Stephen: Absolutely. Yeah. find something unique about what you're doing. And there's art in that for sure. On the topic of being unique I think another awesome thing on your list was if you have people that in your band that play multiple instruments planning something in your set where you switch instruments is always a crowd pleaser. Mike: That is something I've noticed and I don't know why that is but audiences love people switching instruments or playing different instruments over the course of the set or introducing a brand new instrument. halfway through the show or something like that. if that's something that you're capable of doing and it fits with your set then I highly recommend doing that. Or if there's some talent that somebody has you know if they're if they're [00:30:00] acrobatic in some way if they're able to do magic tricks you know if if that fits with your act you know go for it. People love to you know Trivia. I don't know Stephen: Yeah again it's it's it depends on your crowd. Obviously you don't you don't want to do something that you think your crowd's not going to like but don't be afraid to introduce as many entertaining elements as you can and have something change through the set. So that's not just static all the way through. Cool. outside of practice we can go to things like gathering information and starting to get your systems together. Do you want to talk about the gathering info part? Mike: Yeah yeah. Gathering information is really really important and it's all over the place if you want it. one of the things I've noticed is that I have had less of a connection to What's going on in music press? There was a really long time where I wasn't reading music press [00:31:00] at all. and one thing I've realized is if I get on the email list of other artists or look at their websites look at their social media I can find out about all of these publications that they're getting reviews in or that they're getting articles in and just compiling all that stuff is Something that you can do again that doesn't cost anything that allows you to confer some advantage on what you're doing by allowing you to hook up with publicity. And that's invaluable. Stephen: I love that tip because It has so many advantages to it. For one it's easy right? And it allows you to sort of tap into what's happening in your community. If you're getting on the mailing lists of particularly local artists that are a few years ahead of you or maybe more than that but you're going to see like what's within reach. Rather than you know what's out of reach from huge artists for instance. So by getting on those mailing lists and following artists and that sort of thing you can start to see Oh they got a write up in [00:32:00] this publication. Maybe that's accessible to me. And you can just jot that down. And you're getting all of these insider sort of hacks without even having to do much for it just by following along. But the the win win here is that you're also then becoming a fan and a supporter of other artists in the community and you get to be more tapped into what's happening in your scene which is always a good thing. Mike: Yeah I find it really helpful to keep a Google Doc or some kind of a list in Notion or you know here's a list of places that I should send my album to. you know here's such and so person who does such and so thing that I might want to consult. The other day it was a place that made stickers that I wrote down somewhere. And that's great because you might be in the middle of something else but I'm just going to write this down on this list. And then the next thing you know you have a really long list. and that is uh that's a system that I think can be really valuable. Stephen: Yeah well and on the topic of systems I know we're going to move to that next. You talked about Notion which I love. And for anybody that doesn't know Notion it's a it's a really [00:33:00] great app. It's free. You can do a paid version of it too but as you start writing all these things down one of the problems is it might become quite a mess pretty quickly especially if you're on the internet a lot gathering a lot of information quickly. It can just feel like okay who is this person again? And so if you are looking for a way to keep your notes better organized definitely check out notion. I use them for pretty much everything in my business and I just couldn't live without it. Google docs is also great. Very very popular. Nothing wrong with that. Nothing wrong with any of them really but whatever you can stick to and you feel like can get your life organized then it's worth it Mike: I've finally settled on Notion. I kind of bounced around between all these different systems for a while and I finally settled on Notion just because you can do it really simply but it has bells and whistles if you want them and being free is hard to beat. Stephen: definitely. So what other systems do you think [00:34:00] are useful to get together? Mike: I am big into templates and checklists. Those are those are my two big things. templates. I use them in you know two major categories. One is for audio projects. You know it's the classic thing. If you know if there's something you wind up doing a million times you do it every time you open a project. If you're like Oh I'm going to make these three tracks and route them to these subgroups. And then I'm going to route them this place and then add a certain kind of reverb. Just make a template that has all that stuff in it already and you save hours and hours and hours of time. The other is for things you wind up typing a lot. If you're someone who sends a lot of emails it's great to either have a template with you know a short bio in it or lists of different things uh input lists is one thing that I have a template for you know every single instrument in the band. Cause like every venue they [00:35:00] play at they're like can you send me a stage plot and an input Stephen: So having that Mike: I have having that. And another thing you can do is If you have some way of hooking up key commands that will type out entire sentences or paragraphs there's something I use. There's a million of these so I'm not you know it's not necessarily the best. I have no idea but I use something called Atex that you know you establish like a three letter key command or whatever it is that you want and it can just spit out an entire paragraph for you. Stephen: That's something I use every day you know for my address or my email address my website does that sync up with all your devices? Mike: It can yeah. Yeah I think you can you can put it on maybe two devices or three. I don't remember but yeah I have it. it must work for phone. And if it doesn't I'm sure there's something that Stephen: Then somebody else will. Yeah. Mike: yeah. I I would really like to be able to use it on my phone. I'm not a big phone user for business stuff anyway but but yeah you can use it on [00:36:00] different computers and Stephen: Templates could also be applied in your promotional world. So social media stuff captions hashtags you can template all that stuff out. Mike: Mm hmm. That's a good idea. I never even thought of that. Stephen: There's also there's also literally templates for photos and videos and things like that. You can be searching through those and finding the ones that you like. if you know what kind of content you're making maybe you're making sort of a checklist or a template for this is how I create these videos or this is how I create this podcast. Or you know there's repeatable tasks starting to get those things. Organized and actually wrote down. I mean in business world it's the standard operating procedure. And you might think well whatever I do this all the time. I've got it memorized but people still show up to shows and forget cables or forget guitar stands and things Mike: memorization piece of it is what bedevils me. I have a terrible memory. And so one thing I've done is to literally put together A checklist of [00:37:00] everything I need to take to a gig. Everything I need to do before I go to the gig. You know everything I need to pack. And then when I'm at the gig everything I need to do while I'm there. Put out all the point of sale materials. Set up the mic to record if if I'm going to be doing that. you know make sure I have extra picks on hand et cetera et cetera. Yeah it's that's a lifesaver because otherwise I I forget everything. Stephen: Yeah you know there's nothing lost by doing that. And particularly if you're if you've got a complex show and you have a lot of moving pieces between merch table and maybe there's multiple people helping you. If you've got people helping with the load in or people helping set up the merch or somebody's recording something with the an extra rig camera lights whatever. Having it all wrote down gives somebody a resource to start working on stuff without you having to literally say every single step along the way. Mike: Yes. Stephen: Totally. let's recap a few things [00:38:00] here. We've gone over a lot of things that you can do in your practice in your rehearsal including literally practicing working on your instruments studying. working on songwriting that kind of thing obvious stuff but during your rehearsal doing stuff like working on your stage banter when you're going to do it how your songs are going to transition all of those things how you're going to use your lineup. Does everyone always need to be on the stage? Can you have people come in and out? Can you make the show less static by using your lineup to change? Can you use your lineup? To introduce new instruments. Can you switch instruments? Can you maybe somebody has a unique skill that could be incorporated into the show. You can be working that out so that you don't improv that on stage. we talked about. What else was during rehearsal? I think using humor that's sort of the banter thing right? we've talked about gathering info signing up to other people's email lists so that you can start to learn where other people are playing shows where other people are getting press where they're submitting [00:39:00] to radio whatever because everybody kind of celebrates their wins and by seeing what is happening with other artists it can give you some more ideas for maybe where you want to submit music or To what venue you want to talk to. And then finally we just went over getting systems in order particularly a note taking app just so that you can kind of keep track of the things you want to follow up on people you want to connect with companies that you need to reach out to and so on. Notion is a great one but use anything that works for you and. Creating templates and checklists for yourself whether you use them all the time or not even just the process of creating them will be helpful.did I miss anything that we've recapped so far? Mike: Not that I remember but I wouldn't remember it anyway so. Stephen: Alright well let's move on. We've got a couple more things that I know were were great. yeah it looks like two more things. Mike: the uh getting on other people's email list et cetera I think is a nice transition to thinking [00:40:00] about your being a part of the music community as being part of a gift economy. you know showing up to support other bands in various ways can be really helpful to everybody. just in you know in in terms of you go out to a show and your body being in that space makes a huge difference to the artist that you're supporting. It really does. Yeah you know it like you you might not even be aware of that but simply being there especially if you take other people it it is a huge thing. It is a very big deal that you are there because otherwise there would be empty space where you are standing or sitting. and that's that's that's really worthwhile. And another thing about attending other people's shows. That's you know I mean of course I if you love a band then you want to go anyway but it can benefit you in all kinds of ways socially that I don't know how many [00:41:00] times I've gone out to an event or show and wound up running into somebody who you know so many opportunities that you wind up getting. You get just because you are standing in front of a certain person at a certain time. It's weird and I'm not a big fan of nepotism but it's a thing. You know what I'm saying? Like cause somebody's somebody's talking about like yeah I need another band on this but what about your band? I've gotten all kinds of work that way too. Like yeah and we need to find a sound but hey you do sound stuff. I mean I don't know why it works that way but it it sometimes does. So Stephen: just how the world works. Especially the music industry. Especially the music For better or worse. It just is what it is. It doesn't matter. The fact of the matter is is if you're there And you're being supportive and you're growing your network and you're making friends and showing up. And I mean that not even just going to shows but showing up to anything that's going on your chances are going to be greatly [00:42:00] improved. Greatly improved. If you're staying home and I mean it's kind of the other side of the coin right? You do need to put in work and practicing and working on songs and all that kind of stuff but equally you need to be going out and Being in the scene you can't just be on your own all the time. It it will come to a halt. You'll hit a plateau a lot faster versus having people in your network that you're growing with. Mike: kind of too bad in a way because so many creative people are introverts who would rather Stay home and do their thing and and do great stuff when they do that. it's a it's a hard thing to to encourage people to go out but You kind of have to do it Stephen: Well listen if nothing else just think about how much it means to you when people show up to your show. So just try to make sure that you're doing that for others as well. Mike: Yep Stephen: Absolutely. Which kind of leads us to the last point too. Which is just to keep a [00:43:00] positive attitude. Like when you go to other people's shows It puts a smile on people's faces it makes them feel like what they're doing is working people are showing up it's good right? keeping a positive attitude and faking it until you make it is key. No matter where you are or how frustrating a process might be it's something that you just have to maintain. Because being the person that's sort of just complaining or unhappy. It doesn't attract much opportunity to you. Mike: Yeah this this is something that is easy to Think is cheesy but I you know again talking to myself In the past you know I mean I it really resonates for me because I'm someone who for a long time really was mired in cycles of negative thinking and people would tell me like Oh you should be you should be an audio engineer. You should maybe you could do this. Maybe you could do that. And I had such cycles of negative thinking happening [00:44:00] that I would just respond like Oh that's you know that's something I could never do. And you come up with reasons like well because of this and this and this you think up all these roadblocks. It's it's just so easy to think that you're always going to be trapped in whatever situation you're in. I'm always going to have this terrible job. I'm always going to not have any money. I'm always not going to know anybody. I'm you know nothing's ever going to change. it is very easy to get. stuck in that kind of mindset. So whatever it is that you need to do to get out of that I I highly recommend it because it can be infectious you know it can dispirit other people while you're at it and uh it's something to escape any way you can. Mm Stephen: And you know for everybody that escape and that means of getting out of that mindset is going to be different. It's going Mm hmm. it's easy to say fake it till you make it. And for some people easier said than done. But what we can say though is that if you find that that's what's [00:45:00] going on just try to shake it. try to do what you can to put that part to rest because it will have a a real strong negative effect on your career. 'cause if you're around people that don't feel that way they're not gonna wanna hang out. You're not going to be the person that gets that opportunity because no one wants to be around somebody that's negative all the time. Well maybe another negative person. I don't know. I guess. Mike: How does that work? Yeah there's a real feedback loop between what you think and what you do. So if you know if you're wanting to change negative thought patterns and you're wanting to change your behavior trying to do of those things at once and and just Trying on a new thought pattern. Change the tapes. Think you know I'm I'm I'm someone who's going to do such and so. I'm someone who does such and so. You know think of that. And then just try doing things that you didn't think you could do. I you know again it sounds kind of cheesy but like trying to [00:46:00] get out of your comfort zone is It's a thing. I mean that that's something I've really been doing lately. I've been saying yes to a lot of stuff just because you know I hear that voice saying like Oh that's not something I do. That's not just as a reflex. I'm starting to say like Yeah I'm going to do that. I'm you know whatever it is whatever those obstacles are I'm going to figure out how to get past them. You know I'm going to try to figure out how to actually move on Stephen: Yeah. It's it's kind of a chicken or the egg problem sometimes where you can be stuck like well I'm never going to get that opportunity and I'm never going to meet these people. And it's like well Yep. Yep. Why don't you try first or like for instance if you say I'm never going to get. This opportunity because I don't know anybody well then take the step of going out more often like try to get to more and more shows and talk to some people and the negative critic in your head might be saying nah they'll never. They'll never offer anything. You'll never get to know these people or whatever. Right? But that will continue to be true if you don't try. So [00:47:00] that's the chicken or the egg thing. Like you can prove yourself right as much as you want but why not try? Because if it doesn't work from trying new things nothing's lost. Absolutely nothing's lost. Mike: the whole networking thing can be can be really rough. Cause you might think like Oh I'm going to go to this event and it's going to be really awkward. And I'm not going to meet anybody and I'm you know it's just gonna be humiliating. And then I'm going to go home. And you might be right you know because like plenty of networking events are like that. You know it feels like a waste of time. But as a cumulative practice doing these things over and over again and sort of exercising the muscles necessary can be really helpful. Stephen: Yeah. It's not easy. Mike: Nope. Stephen: The only way to break that cycle is to do something different. Cool. Have we covered the list? Mike: I believe we have covered the list. I was just thinking about that. And as far as I know we have done it. Stephen: Awesome. [00:48:00] Well I think this is a great place to wrap it up. I hope that everyone listening has found some you know one or two things that they're like you know what that is something I can start working on. Whether you're just getting started or maybe you just have a break in between some gigs you're looking to do something a little different whatever. I hope there's some great takeaway.Mike if people want to connect with you learn more about your company or your band where can they do that? Mike: Yeah my soundhouse cool Cat audio is@coolcataudio.com. That's all how it sounds. that is also on Facebook and Instagram at Cool Cat Audio. is the moniker. as far as the band goes that is 10itemsorfewer. com number10itemsorfewer. com and it's also Facebook and Instagram at 10orfewer number10orfewer. Stephen: Are you going to be playing shows over the course of the next year? Mike: We have a bunch of stuff planned yeah especially during the Stephen: Cool. Well I look forward to [00:49:00] catching the show at some point. I just want to say thanks for doing this. Thanks for bringing a lot of great ideas. I think for people that are just getting started out and feel like they're strapped for resources but still want to push things forward. All this stuff is really great. Well Mike: a lot of fun to talk about this stuff. Stephen: for everyone listening thank you so much for tuning in. I hope you got something really useful out of it. if you've got feedback if you want to suggest new episodes new guests anything I'm I welcome anybody's messages. You can hit me up on Instagram or Tik TOK at secrets from the scene can also email me at Steven at secrets from the scene. com. I will put all these links including Mike's in the show notes. If you'd like this. Please share it with a friend and I'll see you next time. Thanks for listening. [00:50:00]