Portable Performances
Tools for Possibilities: issue no. 154
Fan-hosted performances
The Complete Guide to House Concerts
Once all music is available online, for free, what’s a musician to do? House concerts are one alternative. Instead of plying a circuit of poorly-paid bars, clueful musicians can now rely on their fans to organize, promote, and pay for small, intimate, private performances in their homes and other non-traditional venues. Fans win, and performers win (by earning more). This slim book explains to both fans and musicians how this new system works. I’ve been to a couple of house concerts and I found them 100% more enjoyable than arena concerts. — KK
- What is a house concert?The definition’s flexible, but generally, it’s a show that’s presented in someone’s home, or a nearby private space (barn, backyard, shearing tent, you name it).
- Usually, but not always, the audience capacity is smaller than at a coffeehouse or club.
- The money collected usually (but not always) goes straight to the performers, with no “profit motive” on the presenter’s part.
- Often, but not always, house concerts are conducted “by invitation” (for practical reasons we’ll get into later), rather than as “public” concerts like a club or concert hall.
- Often – again with exceptions – there is little or no “sound system” – performers play and sing acoustically, unless someone needs a little amp for their keyboard.
- Refreshments, if any, are usually either a “pot luck” brought by the listeners, or provided by the hosts using a bit of the gate receipts.
- Sometimes – but definitely not always – the performers get a meal and/or lodging with the presenters as part of their compensation.
— House Concerts, Tom Neff
- The bottom line for traditional venues isn’t pretty. The basic bar gig pays between nothing and $300, unless they’re hiring a big name band that will sell a lot of expensive tickets and alcohol to their audience while they are on stage. The standard cafe either sets out a tip jar or pays you $100 for three to four hours of singing your heart out. And it may be difficult to sell CDs, simply because people have already spent their money on drinks. What’s more, sometimes you get the sense that the audience would really appreciate it if you and your music would stay out of their way while they talk and have a good time.Ready for some good news? You can make considerable more money with alternative venues and have a much better time while you’re at it! If you play a house concert with 50 people and a $20 “donation” per person, you are guaranteed to go home with $1,000. And since house concerts are a practically perfect place to sell CDs, you may sell to 50 percent of the room or more, and at $15 per CD you stand to make an additional $375. If you have more than one CD, this figure will likely be even higher. Not bad for a night where all you have to do is show up, eat a delicious meal, and give a concert to a room full of captivated, music-loving people.
- I’ll be frank with you here. Almost every single great thing that has taken place in my music career has been because of a really dedicated fan. An unbelievable two-week tour of Brazil was set up for me by a fan. I played on nation-wide TV shows, got lots of airplay, was outfitted by clothing sponsors, played at the very best venues in the country, and experienced two of the best weeks of my life, all because of a fan believed in my music.Want more? Because of a fan, I played a show with Crosby, Stills & Nash and Carlos Santana on the same night. The fan set it up. He sold it to the concert promoter. He made it happen. All I had to do was show up and play.What about setting up tours across the country? Yes, my fans have rented out venues or hustled the owners to lend it to them for the night. They have gone on to get amazing press, print up tickets, set up venues, and make it possible for me to play sold-out shows to hundreds of people in towns where nobody has ever heard my music.
- At the end of every house concert, at least one person will approach you because they want to set up a concert with you at their house. And once people find out that Susie is going to host one, many more will want to show you off to their friends and family too. Before the night is through you will be in the lovely position of adding several names and numbers to your house-concert file and following up with them to book a firm date for each show.When you play bars or cafes, it is frequently a struggle even getting the booker on the phone! With house concerts, you are constantly juggling plenty of gig offers, which come with guaranteed money, a guaranteed audience, and a minimum of hassles. What could be better?
— The Complete Guide to House Concerts
Three portal sites:
concertsinyourhome.com
houseconcerts.org
houseconcerts.com
Multifaceted mini-amp
As someone who makes his living playing and teaching guitar, I love the tone and power that large, loud amplifiers provide. But there are many times and places where a big amp just doesn’t work. Sometimes it’s just carting it around; sometimes it’s space issues. If you live in an apartment or townhouse, playing a large amp at supersonic volumes can make for some really bad neighbor relationships or even get you evicted. You really can’t take a large amp camping either, unless you use a power inverter and drain your car battery. Also, you have a difficult time taking it traveling on business or vacation.
What to do? For all those places, the Roland MicroCube is perfect. This little amp has been around for about four years and is loaded with features closely related to its larger, louder cousins. The controls on the top provide a wide range of sonic possibilities. Along with a knob for tone, there are controls for gain (think distortion control) and volume. On the back is a headphone output (that shuts the speaker off when in use), an auxillary line input and power in for a 9 volt DC power source. I love portable, and for such a small amp this thing puts out, and with great tone. My favorite setting? Brit Combo with a little distortion along with my lapsteel. — Jeff Bragg
Backyard hi-fi
Cambridge SoundWorks Portable Speaker System
This is, hands-down, the best portable audio system I have ever heard. It takes a few minutes to set-up and pack-up, and you need a power source to run it, but wow! does it have great sound! I have used it for parties, outdoor BBQs, and on vacation and it never fails to sound great. The included speakers and amplifier, the necessary cables, and your iPod, all pack into the included hard case (which also contains the subwoofer).
My only gripe is that the connections are all clip-connections rather than banana connections, but Radio Shack and other sources sell small banana-style plugs to use with clip connections, making set-up much easier (no frayed wire ends).
I can’t recommend this enough for anyone who wants audiophile-quality music they can take with them to a cabin, condo, RV, or to their backyard as needed. The price is higher than your standard portable units, but Cambridge Sound Works constantly has sales and coupons on the net, making the price a little bit better. In any event, it’s well worth even the full list price!
There are few things I have come across that are “best of class” but this is certainly one. The only other thing I can think of that I have found to be as perfect are metal tongs for cooking; I use those more than any other piece of kitchen equipment to the point that I don’t see how I ever cooked without them. — Torgny Nilsson
Most portable PA system
There may be slightly better sounding or feature-rich PA systems in this price range, but nothing comes close to the outstanding portability of Fender’s Passport. It’s barely 30 pounds, and when it’s packed up and put together in its slick integral case no moving or delicate parts are exposed to scraping or damage. And since the case tapers at each end, it’s easy to carry without it bumping against my side with every step.
I use it primarily as a sort of keyboard amp for a laptop, also for playing music from an iPod. I play in a band with some friends and plan to use this Fender PA system for small or outdoor shows. There are three of us in the band, and we needed vocal and laptop amplification. The PD-150 has three mic/instrument inputs, so we’re all set.
It’s most cool as PA; the mixer is perfunctory but useful and welcome. It is a trade-off in terms of price, portability and integration, like a boom box versus a component system. The advantage of buying the speakers, amplifier and mixer separately is that you can customize the amount of power, mixer features, and speaker quality that you’d like, but it will be more expensive and harder to transport. The portable PA is just so cool in that it does the basics decently and packs itself into a supercompact little suitcase.
I purchased a PD-150 that I found on Craigslist for $150, but the current model is the PD-150 Pro, which supposedly has better sound quality, and adds a second stereo input. It’s also 3 pounds lighter. — Mark Groner
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09/8/25
