Gig Gab - The Working Musician's Podcast

This week front-of-house engineer Ryan Goldbacher calls in from the road with Tom Keifer, and you’ll quickly learn that landing the next gig comes down to two things: competence, and not being miserable to be around. Word of mouth is the real currency of touring life, so Always Be Performing applies long after you step off stage: when the tour bus is smaller than your bedroom and there are twelve people on it, how you treat the room matters. You’ll pick up honest strategies for protecting your sanity on the road, from taking a walk to renting a car and disappearing into the mountains, plus why testing your limits only works if you actually know where they are.

Then you and Ryan get deep into the craft. You’ll hear why the way FOH mixes your band one night can shape how it sounds for gigs to come, why you’ve got about thirty seconds to describe your band to a house engineer at load-in, and the EQ lessons Ryan learned the hard way dialing in loud rock guitars and high-passing the bass. Stop calling a kick a bass drum, leave some air in it, and don’t be afraid to turn the knobs until it sounds good. From the pressure-cooker of mixing monitors on Mr. Big’s final US tour to a frank take on AI mixing and building the next generation of engineers, this one’s loaded for anyone serious about live sound.

00:00:00 Gig Gab 541 – Monday, July 6th, 2026

July 6th: National Fried Chicken Day

Guest co-hosts: Ryan Goldbacher

00:01:17 Ryan on tour with Tom Keifer

00:02:29 Word of mouth is the key

Competence is key…that’s number one.

Close number two: you’re not miserable to be around!

00:05:09 The tour bus is smaller than your bedroom, and there’s 12 people in it

00:07:19 Creating your own personal space

Take a walk

Rent a car and drive into the mountains

00:08:45 Week off between gigs

Fly me to Spokane, then I’ll drive to Alaska

Skagway, Alaska

00:11:11 FOH for Tom Keifer for Summer, 2026

You can’t spread yourself too thin

If it won’t fit on your plate, get it off

Having a dedicated monitor engineer makes a huge difference

00:13:50 Test your limits, but don’t be afraid to know where they are.

00:16:52 Always be communicating

00:18:46 This tour Ryan brings a FOH console

House monitor engineer

Band is all on wedges

A&H Avantis

Tom Keifer goes over the entire set with the house lighting designer

00:21:12 Tom Keifer helps Ryan with producing the show for the night

The benefits of working with an artist who tells you how to make yourself more valuable to them

00:23:32 The FOH and Band relationship

The way FOH mixes the band for one gig could affect the band for the future. Respect this!

Communicate what your band sounds like to the engineer…early on as you’re loading in

00:29:42 Developing trust with your engineer first

00:31:03 Thirty seconds to describe your band

00:32:33 Making the next generation of engineers better

00:33:59 Engineers who are musicians / Musicians who are engineers

ProTools…great software, dumb name!

00:38:18 Learning from mistakes

00:40:16 Stacking EQs on Rock Guitars by mistake…and then intentionally!

Working with loud guitars on Stiff Little Fingers

Steve Smith introduced Ryan to Stiff Little Fingers

00:41:21 SPONSOR: OneSkin. Born from over a decade of longevity research, OneSkin’s OS-01 Peptide is proven to target the visible signs of aging, helping you unlock your healthiest skin now and as you age. Get 15% off OneSkin with the code GigGab athttps://oneskin.co/GigGab  #oneskinpod #ad

00:43:30 Accidentally learning to drop guitar EQ between 2k-4k

Adding a high-pass filter on the bass guitar in a rock band

00:48:21 Don’t call a kick drum a “bass” drum, otherwise you’ll mix it the wrong way.

You want some air in that kick!

00:49:07 Don’t be afraid to turn the knobs until it sounds good

00:51:27 The pressure of mixing monitors makes you a great engineer

Mixing monitors for Mr. Big’s final US tour

00:55:09 RTAs are great, but be able to do it by ear

00:58:29 Speaking of Toys…Let’s Talk AI Mixing

Mentorship and apprentice programs

01:08:43 Show Logistics

01:10:03 Gig Gab 541 Outtro

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The post Ryan Goldbacher on Touring with Tom Keifer, Mixing FOH (and Monitors), and AI – Gig Gab 541 appeared first on Gig Gab.

This week singer-songwriter Patrice Peris joins Dave to flip the script on building a music career. That question musicians always get – what’s your backup plan? – is a terrible one, because Plan A was never required to land where you first mapped it. Through COVID, a cancer diagnosis, and a bone-marrow transplant she now calls a rebirth, Patrice kept asking what each detour was teaching her and never stopped writing, landing sync placements on Netflix, HBO Max, and The Voice along the way.

Want to break into sync licensing yourself? Get resourceful and bullheaded: take a class, build multiple streams of revenue, and gamify the grind: how many gigs can you find, how many music supervisors can you email? Every musician is an entrepreneur, and the numbers game rewards whoever keeps opening doors.

Then Patrice gets practical, because gigging musicians are athletes. You get her playbook for protecting your voice across three-set nights: a real warmup, scale work, stretching, smart placement that pulls the sound out of your throat and into the mask, and the vocal rest you keep skipping. From there comes the band conversation nobody wants to have: in-ear monitors and the whole mix exist to serve the lead vocalist, so drop the ego and decide together what you actually want your band to sound like. Build a backup bench while you’re at it, because life happens and roles need filling. Patrice stepped back from the stage but never stopped creating, and that’s the whole point: keep writing, keep adapting, and Always Be Performing.

00:00:00 Gig Gab 540 – Monday, June 29th, 2026

June 29th: National Waffle Iron Day

Guest co-hosts: Patrice Peris

00:02:36 Live has given me things in waves that weren’t what I wanted

Welcoming the unexpected

00:05:20 “What’s your Plan B?” Is a terrible question

And Plan A doesn’t have to go where you planned

00:07:55 COVID and Cancer…all a journey

00:09:10 Perspective… always be asking: what is this teaching me?

00:10:43 Always writing

00:11:40 How do you get started writing for sync?

A nod to bullheaded persistence

00:15:10 Starting a Sync Business

Always have multiple streams of revenue

Take a class (or two)

00:19:44 Being resourceful is the key to bullheaded persistence

Gamify it all!

How many gigs can I find?

How many people can I email?

00:22:57 Learn to be strategic and mindful

Anytime you’re climbing the ladder, failure is inevitable

Invest energy into the creative realm and also into the business realm

00:25:54 “No Plan” isn’t a plan

Listen to your inner 16 year old…sometimes!

00:29:47 Coaching people to let go of the hat

The 80% Rule

00:35:20 Growing your music business

00:35:38 Vocal blowout

Learn to Sing Like the Pro’s with Patrice Peris Voice Studios

Gigging musicians are athletes

Good warmup

Scale work

Physically stretching

Take some vocal rest

00:41:00 Listening for Placement

Where is the voice going?

00:42:31 In Ear Monitors can make a big difference

Bands need to understand the sound has to serve the lead vocalist

00:44:42 What do we want our band to sound like to people listening?

Bands need to come together as a group

Communicate and decide upon the goal for what the BAND is going to sound like

00:49:38 Get two of everything

00:50:56 Gig Gab 540 Outtro

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The post Patrice Peris on Sync, Survival, and Why You Don’t Need a Backup Plan – Gig Gab 540 appeared first on Gig Gab.

This week you start things off digging into the craft that separates good gigs from great ones. You’ll get the playbook for prepping and surviving sub gigs, learn (again!) why a splitter snake earns its place in your rig, and sort through the real options when you need a mic mute switch that actually works. Then you wrestle with a question every working band faces today: are fan-posted videos helping your brand or hurting it? It’s the kind of practical, in-the-trenches breakdown that reminds you to Always Be Performing, whether the camera’s rolling or not.

Then guest co-host Jesus Hernandez joins, and you trace his path from a Portastudio kid to the engineer bands trust with their sound, along with the philosophy he’s built along the way: you’re serving people’s ears, and the console is your instrument. You’ll hear why you should ask a band what they want to sound like before you touch a fader, why learning to mix yourself turns your engineer into a producer, and how routing a digital mixer keeps everything simple when the power flickers. He shares the gear that’s earned his trust, hard-won war stories from the road, his time subbing as a bass player in Nashville, and life on tour with a Phil Collins and Genesis tribute. By the end you’ll be listening to your own gigs with sharper ears and a hungrier inner critic.

00:00:00 Gig Gab 539 – Monday, June 22nd, 2026

June 22nd: National Chocolate Éclair Day

Guest co-host: Jesus Hernandez

00:01:32 Prepping for and playing Sub Gigs

Ultimate-Guitar’s Pro Charts…now with lyrics!

00:04:25 The benefits of splitter snake

Listener Questions

00:09:55 Mark-What’s the best MD Mic Switch?

D’Addario Mic Mute Infrared Mic Sensor

Optogate

Radial HotShot DM-1 or HotShot MD

LILYP4D Mic Mute

00:20:25 Mark-Are fan-posted videos good or bad?

00:24:36 SPONSOR: OneSkin. Get 15% off OneSkin with the code GIGGAB at https://www.oneskin.co/GIGGAB  #oneskinpod

00:26:54 Guest Co-host: Jesus Hernandez

00:28:20 Lady and the Tramp Start taught him to record multi-track

Then the Portastudio

Tascam Multitrack Recorder

Jesus became the go-to guy for recording bands and fixing sounds

00:34:27 A2 at a local theater

Then the A1 went on vacation, and Jesus became the A1

00:35:38 Then a jazz club

Sound reinforcement at the most basic level

Ultimately what you’re trying to serve is people’s ears.

Use your eyes to serve that purpose.

00:37:38 Recording was rough at first, but you learn!

Making recordings with a live performance in mind

Let it Be…Naked

00:41:24 Ask the band: what do you guys want to sound like on the recording?

“Take a picture of the band, then paint on top of it!”

00:32:36 For live sound: how do you find out what the band sounds like?

Before arriving: listen to the band’s records (or the band they’re covering)

00:47:26 When doing sound, consider yourself a band member

“Playing the console” – The mixer is an instrument

I’m controlling the arrangement

00:48:50 Singing the praises of bands that can set levels on stage

00:49:20 A band whose levels are ALL over the place

So bad the band was sent home after the first set.

You have to be your hardest critic

00:53:25 Learn to mix yourself, then your engineer can go from problem-solver to producer!

00:55:26 “If the power goes out at the mixer, you’ll still sound good”

Fixing it at the source

The night the power-flickered and factory reset the mixer!

PreSonus StudioLive

01:00:19 Keeping it as simple as possible

Soft-patching, routing, matrixes, oh my!

Learn how to route a digital mixer

01:06:39 The downsides of strictly analog

But you learn how to ring out frequencies

Fix low-end feedback by popping in/out the polarity button

Rick Carmona (From “No Peace At All”), the engineer who mentored Jesus

Every business is in the customer service

Davis Thurston on Gig Gab

The engineer has multiple customers: the band, the audience, and the staff at the venue

01:13:38 Bands vs. Reunion Gigs

01:18:25 Bringing an analog mixer…and no snake!

01:24:50 Soca Music

01:26:00 Time for some war stories

01:31:46 Subbing in Nashville as a bass player

01:08:21 On the road with Face Value, Phil Collins & Genesis Tribute Band

01:37:24 Jesus Hernandez Home Studio

01:38:23 Gig Gab 539 Outtro

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IG: @jesusandthecomplaintdepartment

Jesus is my Sound Guy

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The post Sub Gigs, Mic Mutes & the Art of Mixing Live with Jesus Hernandez – Gig Gab 539 appeared first on Gig Gab.

Three Rush fans — a father, a son, and Spartacus — walk into a podcast. There’s no punchline, just the tape rolling on a conversation that was going to happen anyway, and you get to be the fly on the wall. Two of them just flew home from LA, where they stood in the room and watched Rush kick off the tour nobody was sure would ever come. The third has been taking it all in from a distance, which is its own peculiar thing when you once mixed front of house for the band for years. You’ll get the origin stories — a kite-flying contest in early-seventies St. Louis, an R40 playlist that turned a kid into a lifer — plus enough on the drummer question (yes, Anika Nilles) and show-count stats to earn the Rush-nerd badge none of them will quite cop to.

Then it gets real. This is a band that fans and insiders alike once quietly accepted was finished, now back out there proving otherwise, and that turns the talk toward something bigger than setlists. You get to do this. Whether it’s thousands of people or a Tuesday night for a dozen, that gratitude is the whole game — the reason to Always Be Performing no matter how rough the bus ride was. Stick around for a ten-year-old’s perfectly timed gut check that still lands two decades later. Press play, and join Lucas Hamilton, Robert Scovill, and Dave Hamilton for a tour through the opening of Rush’s comeback — from inside the room, and from afar.

00:00:00 Gig Gab 538 – Monday, June 15th, 2026

June 15th: British Beer Day

Guest co-hosts: Lucas Hamilton and Robert Scovill

00:02:46 Rush Stats

All three co-hosts have seen Rush live with 2 drummers

Lucas and Anika are tied for Rush shows… as of this recording

00:04:39 Robert Scovill was living in St. Louis when he saw Rush with Rutsey

KC Kite Flying Contest

00:07:31 Lucas’s Rush origin story

00:08:31 About that whole live concert sound thing

Spoiler: Rush always sounded good

00:11:02 Favorite Rush heirlooms

00:13:55 I want a Red Barchetta for my midlife crisis

Rush 2026 Tour started with 12 dates

00:16:02 That opening song, that opening night

Rick Beato’s Breakdown of Xanadu

00:23:40 Anika Nilles’ dropped stick recovery

Getting the first mistake out of the way moments into the first song of Rush’s 2026 Reunion tour

00:27:21 Time Stand Still for those emotional moments

00:33:11 Lights and video for 2112 – in the cave!

00:34:00 Singing 2112: Presentation at the tops of our lungs

00:38:50 Moving Pictures to open night 3 set 2

00:40:13 Loren Gold’s keys and vocal harmonies

And Geddy Lee’s voice, too!

00:44:29 The composition of YYZ

Alex Lifeson is the most underrated guitarist in rock and roll

00:45:48 Anika Nilles is just a star

00:49:25 Anika grooving during A Passage to Bangkok

00:52:22 The physicality of playing Rush music

The wisdom of days off in between shows for the entire Rush Fifty Something tour

00:57:41 You know what we get to do today? We get to go play music in front of thousands of people!

This is the best job on earth

01:01:23 Who is Spartacus?

01:03:33 Gig Gab 538 Outtro

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RobertScovill.com (where you’ll find The Back Lounge)

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The post Three Rush Fans and Rush’s 2026 Comeback Tour: From the Room and From Afar – Gig Gab 538 appeared first on Gig Gab.

This week on Gig Gab, Dave Hamilton sits down with guest co-host Rand Lempert of the Broken Rings, a two-piece recording project built on 15 years of musical kinship between Rand and guitarist Gio da Silva. You’ll hear how these two have crafted an intentional, travel-fueled recording process across cities, cutting live instruments and vocals together, passing files between New Orleans, Tampa, and now Denver, and why that friction and urgency is exactly the point. Rand makes a compelling case for keeping things analog as long as possible: real amps, minimal pedals, old-school mic placements like a modified Glyn Johns setup, and the conviction that nothing replaces the feeling of having a human being in the room when the tape (or hard drive) is rolling.

The conversation ranges wide, from Rand’s vivid 9/11 tour story, stranded in St. John’s Newfoundland on one of the last planes to land before U.S. airspace shut down, to a deep dive into the art of the perfect pop song, with nominations for Tempted by Squeeze, Big Star’s Thirteen, Bryan Adams’ Cuts Like a Knife, and Fastball’s Out of My Head. Whether you’re a working drummer obsessing over beat placement, a songwriter who only writes when the muse actually shows up, or a road veteran who knows that idle days on tour are far worse than grueling ones, this episode has your number. Get out there, stay curious, and Always Be Performing.

00:00:00 Gig Gab 537 – Monday, June 8th, 2026

June 8th: Name Your Poison Day

Guest co-host: Rand Lempert

00:01:38 The Broken Rings are a 2-man band

Drums, guitar, vocals all handled by Rand Lempert and Gio da Silva, his bandmate

They consider themselves musical kin: They agree on 95% of all music

Met in Houston, played in bands, then moved to different corners of the USA

00:04:48 Songwriting duo starts with a long distance relationship

Lutefish Stream

00:07:03 Recording remotely doesn’t have the muse of travel

So many different avenues to approach recording

Finding a way to record with technology in a less sterile way

00:15:08 Preserving analog recording to digital “tape”

00:17:07 The process of recording drums

Don’t mess up the end of the track!

00:21:14 Country music

00:23:25 Drummer kinship: Tris Imboden saves the day!

Learning by visual

00:31:41 SPONSOR: Claude.ai – Ready to tackle bigger problems? Sign up for Claude today, which includes access to Claude Cowork, too, when you visit https://Claude.ai/giggab

00:33:37 Surviving the road

00:34:45 Road story: hanging out in St. John’s Newfoundland for 5 days

Sonny James and the Centers in Europe in 2001

“There’s nothing wrong with this airplane, but this plane is being diverted because of terrorist attacks in the United States.”

Canadian authorities: “What do we do with these people? Bring them to a hockey arena!”

Memorial University of Newfoundland

00:44:35 Opening up for Bo Diddley in 2004

In Beaumont, Texas

Touring is a lot of driving, and you’re doing the driving

It’s a lot of lugging equipment, and you’re doing the lugging

You get a hotel room…for the entire band!

00:48:55 When touring, days off are worse than the grueling days on

00:51:02 It’s important to travel

Touring is the way to do that for a lot of us musicians

00:51:25 Making touring maps as a kid is a good sign Rand needed to do this as a career

00:52:50 First concerts, sound nerding, and getting lost in the music for the first time

Rand got lost at four years old!

Nerd out about sound and recording

First concerts!

Weather Report for Dave

Air Supply for Rand

00:58:05 The Best pop songs

Gravitating towards the hook!

Cuts Like a Knife – Bryan Adams

Tempted – Squeeze

Thirteen – Big Star

Out of My Head – Fastball

One Headlight – Wallflowers

No Matter What – Badfinger

01:12:22 Gig Gab 537 Outtro

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The Broken Rings

Sick in the city – The Broken Rings

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The post Road Stories, Recording Secrets, and the Perfect Pop Song – Gig Gab 537 with Rand Lempert from The Broken Rings appeared first on Gig Gab.