I’m now into session 3 of performance coaching. Andrew has been giving me tips on how to make my songs more dynamic on stage, and today he introduced mic technique as well. I have been practicing at home over the last week or so with an unplugged mic on stand, to learn to be comfortable with it there, but Andrew has even covered where to put your feet, and how to move to and from the mic during the performance.

I was sure once I saw the mics at The Hop, that they were Shure SM58’s, and today confirmed it. They are, after all, the world’s most “bomb proof” microphone for quality sound and robustness combined, and often the stage mic of preference. Today one of them was used for me to get positioning and posture right.

I currently have a set-list of three songs, namely: Chasing it Down, Watching the Rain and (Don’t Hurry) Slow Down, and I have been busy practicing these for the last three weeks. We’ve discussed me doing some cover songs, but I’m really not so keen, as I have so many of my own songs to choose from. I did play a couple of possible covers to Andrew three weeks back in session 1, so they can remain as reserves for now, while I concentrate on perfecting the current set. This set is to build upon over time, so we can choose to include the later if need be.

Along with this, I have just been given access to The Songwriting School course for recording. This, I hope, will smooth some of the gaps in my knowledge on recording technique, and help me mix my home studio tracks better, as I really want to be able to record and present my tracks, songs and instrumentals alike, in as professional a quality as possible. Looking at the syllabus, some of the topics covered are already familiar to me, but my hope is that the depth of material covered will be greater than my present knowledge. The next few weeks will decide, I guess.