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Hi Rob, thank you for sharing this excellent material! Is there any way I contact you directly? Thank you!

Why can’t you have the web browser open

Would you be so kind as to share your template?

Rob, I really enjoyed watching this video. Really appreciate your candidness and wisdom. I especially loved that you emphasized how we're there to be remembered, and we should use our full souls (and the "windows" to them) to our fullest capacity. Best to you and thanks

wow that was so beautiful thanks !!

Sir I have a roland xps 30 keyboard, and my question is can i use this keyboard as a midi while I’m using mainstage daw in live concert.. how can i setup my keyboard with mainstage daw.. I’m from India.. Please help me sir if possible…

What's the name of the piece in the beginning of this video?

Thank you for making this video! It was a frustrating two days until I found this.

I am curious to know how do you balance different publisher libraries together? :)

This helps. Thank you. All the best.

My musical debut was in 2020. All pit rehearsals, stage rehearsals, 6 performances = a $10 ice cream gift card. For my next 3 shows i was paid $100. It's fun.

I've worked at a theater company as a trumpet for 20 years. They've always covered each book. Until now.. we are about to start a production of Merrily We Roll Along and will only have one trumpet (out of 3) and one reed player (out of 4). Luckily they still hired the one trombone player required! Opens in two weeks. Sitzprobe this week. It's a bummer. Hopefully this isn't the new trend everywhere. :(

I have been using sequenced material (this is a single instrument part played with other single instrument parts - pulled together in a DAW) for 40 years. I sing and play guitar. I played regularly in bars in very remote places in Canada (yes, and on freezing cold below zero nights for coal-miners who just came off shift)...,it was done quite often in the "bar circuit"....,so one musician (me) played for four hours with a happy medium between live and "canned" - I had the sound of a four piece for the price of a one piece - I did all the sequencing myself - it required knowing all the charts I played and arranging the individual parts(sequences) in an appropriate, scaled to the venue, sound system. At times I felt like Leo Da'Vinci....., and Henri Mancini...,

This is the perfect video for the exact time I needed it! Thank you very much.

Thank you for being blunt. I honestly was trying to build a template for every articulation of every library and have been driving myself mad. I’m still tempted to get preset patches, templates, etc.. for all my libraries. It just doesn’t have to be today. From this moment, I’m building small, writing music and build as I go along. Yes it’s two years later but any videos about templates are useful. Thank you.

I don’t think devamps work anymore in the free version. It now doesn’t allow you to select the target by dragging and dropping and throws up a message saying a license is needed.

If you pay your actors, you should pay for musicians. If it’s volunteer work, than go for the tracks!

So I found this solution worked for my Casio keyboard also.... Using the footswitch in the damper input and using the sustain in the SOSTENUTO. Mapped each accordingly. However if I hold the sustain through a patch change the polarity changes. I feel like I just can't win.

I just finished setting up a little template with Iconica Sketch, BBCSO Discovery and ProjectSAM The Free Orchestra. Great tip here regarding disabling tracks. Do you use the score editor in cubase while composing, and if so, how do you set up the score editor?

HI! Maybe Roland uses a CC message in the FC input pedal that causes some kind of conflict with MainStage. Few months ago I was helping to the 2nd keyboard in Book of Mormon here in Spain to solve problems like these with Roland. But in this case we were fixing the problem through the app controller in Mac OS (A88 Mk2)

This is golden! Pretty much sums it all up!

Rob, I love your videos and your blog! Thank you so much for creating these resources. How would you go about applying these tips as a piano-conductor? I’m MDing for a small production with three weeks to opening, and am totally guilty of keeping my eyes glued to the book. But…I have a lot of notes to play, not to mention synth patches to manage! Also, our space has a “thrust” stage, with the band off to the side, so while I can see the actors, I’m not generally in their line of sight. I’d love to find ways to maintain connection with them during performance despite all this. Is it possible? Thanks!

So very helpful thank you.

Your videos have been a huge help for me - very clear and steady. I began my musical direction journey last year and have so much to learn especially with the technology aspects of it, and these videos have been amazing. Thank you :) Anto

Thank you so much for making this video, it's great.

Hi Rob, interesting video, thank you. Can you clarify if FOH have control over the individual instruments too or if it is just you who does? I'd be really interested to know how you connect the band to FOH as you briefly mentioned towards the end of the video. Thank you in advance, Ewen.

Thank you so much for making those videos. I am a college student aspiring to go into music directing roles, and this video is really helpful giving me a broad understanding of the role.

Thank you very much ❤

Thank you. I must say that communication is key. A venue I work at do not have a pit due to the interesting and annoying accoustics of the auditorium. It's great for vocal but for anything else then you are entering a battle but anyway I digress. We had a musical come in and the MD wanted makeshift pit in the auditorium due to who the performers were. Prior to tech week, the MD did visit the venue as it was his first time plus after an email conversation explaining the issues, he wanted to hear for himself what the accoustics was like and we found a compromise that it would be a silent pit including the drums as it would cause serious issues. Along comes bandcall + Tech and this is where the can of worms were opened. The drummer either forgot or was not informed that it had to be an electric drum kit. That Tech did not go to plan as the drummer did have a 2hr drive back to his place. This is where the MD and Sound Engineer do need to work as a team.

really interesting video, currently training as a sound technician for theatre :)

Thanks to this video, our rehearsals are gonna be incredibly awesome!!! THANK YOU MAN!!!

Just came across your channel and am enjoying your content, in terms of QLab and MP3s, yes they can and do work but years ago when computers were slower and had less RAM QLab began indicating MP3 is QLab’s least favorite format. Not only can it sound less than ideal, but it also has inherent timing problems that can interfere with critical timing in unpredictable ways (from QLab 3 documentation), in particular with complex cue sequences/prewaits etc. While some will say there are no audible differences with MP3, in general there is more overhead required to process MP3s compared to other compressed formats. There are many free ways to convert MP3 to a preferred QLab for such as Audacity or similar audio processing software, so my thinking is just not worth a risk especially in live theater productions.

It’s such a hard line to walk, but yes I agree. For smaller companies, if it’s make or break of “We either use tracks or we don’t do a show at all”, there’s a clear option here. However, I will always advocate for creative solutions. Can’t afford the whole band? Hire half of them, three of them, whatever. As much of the live element as you can keep.

Two things have served me above all others…first is being predictable. I use the same motion for vamps/rests/whatever every single time and it’s never surprising or confusing (at least I *think* so…maybe everyone hates me and the horrible truth is being hidden). When I’ve played in ensembles under other directors, nothing is worse than confusion or lack of clarity on the bandstand. The second is the most important…that’s friendly confidence. “This is the way we’re going” but as the driver on a road trip as opposed to the captain of a slave ship. The most respected MDs in my area are the ones who work really well with others and command respect via their talent and their taste as opposed to their attitude. Musicians are *highly* sensitive/astute people and they can sense your bluff from a mile away. Friendly confidence is the thing that keeps people from making stick figure animations about you, even if you occasionally get distracted by shiny stuff and lower your cueing hand.

Thank you! This is what I wanted but couldn't explain to people properly. Automatic quantization will save me so much time

There’s one thing I (as a non-professional) would consider very tricky when it comes to conducting a musical. Let me give a specific example first: „Not my father’s son“ from „Kinky Boots“. The scene starts with a dialogue between the two main characters. Then, while they are still talking, the intro of the song starts underscoring the spoken words. It’s exactly four bars of introduction. The thing for me would be the timing! When should I give the cue for the instruments to start, so that for the actors onstage the transition between speaking and singing is seamless. My point is that the actors don’t have a given tempo while they still speak. Sometimes they might speak a little faster, sometimes a bit slower. This might result either in a small pause before they start singing or that there is still dialogue left when they have to start singing. How is it achieved conducting-wise that the transition between speaking and singing is perfectly seamless?

The headache issue is a real thing!

Reallly Well done video Just I was searching for!! Thanks a lot Today I will try to configure MS to play backings and VST togheter Then I’ll try to send also program changes to my keyboards Have a good music Daniele from Italy

I know this is a few years old but this is great advice! Got roped into music directing with no experience in it and this is exactly the type of stuff that made it go smoothly for me.

Thank you so much. I have done a lot of choral conducting and some big band conducting, but now for the first time Ill be conducting a musical. Your tips have helped me a lot.

Parent/Child is a computer type term. It's a little more clear than calling it a node and a sub-node or whatever.

OK You have your opinion and I have mine! I disagree with you totally.!! I've played percussion in the pit on and off for 25 years. When the bean counters take over and cost dictates staging and orchestrating a production becomes more important than the aesthetics of a live performance, we're all in trouble. I've played 42nd Street, South Pacific , and My Fair Lady just to name a few. I've also played Hairspray and Phantom many times too. So, I'm not just a clueless someone who speaks from ignorance.. My question to you is this. Why would I take the time and trouble to go to the theater to listen to a Pre-recorded lifeless, lackluster performance when I can watch it on my 70 inch Tv and play it thru my 500 watt stereo system? You know where this is going mister MD? A.I. will be replacing you soon too. We won't need a music director if they're no musicians to direct. You are "Respectfully totally wrong on this. If this trend keeps up no one will go to see pre-recorded lifeless crap! Maybe the people up on stage can lipsync too? Poppycock!!!

One thing I do, and I highly recommend this, is setting up a black light right in front of you. Wrap some fluorescent tape around the tip of your stick and voila, everybody can see what you are doing in darkness.

Hello, this worked great for my patch change pedal thanks! However now my sustain pedal isn't working! Is there anything I need to check?

Thank you!! I've experienced similar issues using various different keyboards (none being Roland) - Kawai, Korg and Yamaha even. Usually your explanation is the one that works, because I wasn't paying attention in my original setups, but i have found certain footswitch pedals (sometimes even a keyboard player uses a damper type pedal) does interesting things in the midi send, making a 2 or 3 skip issue. The joys of technology - note to self, test test test, and ensure the basic set up is done correctly as explained here, as that is usually going to be the problem.

So, did I get this right? Using the free version of QLab, every time you load "a file" (or "the show," if you will) you have to go back and devamp all vamps in the show because their attachments to the sound file don't get saved? You mentioned that it was no big deal, but to me it seems like a very big deal. What am I missing? Thank you!

That’s why I hate capitalism so much…

Thank you so much for your great help I’m looking forward for your next videos