No Bill this time, which was expected because everybody seemed particularly busy this weekend, and getting four of us together was the best we would do.
The main objective of the session turned out to be working out our PA issues, which was fine with me after the last show. The core of the problem is that Keith was having trouble hearing his own guitar, so he kept turning up, leaving me unable to hear anything other than Keith's guitar, including lead vocals. In addition, Andy and I can't hear each other on stage, and Dale can barely hear my bass. Hardly a mix that lends itself to a tight band and good group vocals.
While waiting for Keith, the remaining three of us experimented with Andy and I going directly through the mixing board. It had the intended mix effect, but sounded muddy. Not good. After Keith arrived, we ultimately arrived at a reasonable compromise and tried it to see what would happen. Bottom line is that the compromise seems to be a success. We'll be running a small amount of my bass and Andy's guitar/keys through the monitor system, turning up the vocals, and putting an additional monitor speaker back with Dale. Worked like a charm in practice; I've never heard the vocals and Andy's guitar so clearly.
We did run through some songs, including "Surrender" and "Movin' On", with myself and Keith on lead vocals respectively. Not bad; it should be no problem to include both in the upcoming shows.
I was doing some experimenting of my own, turning down the output level of my five string bass to more closely match the Rick, so I won't have so much difference in volume when I change from one bass to the other. Still needs some work, but better.
Dale had made provisional set lists for the March show. Lots of commentary; not much settled. Looking forward to next weekend, with Bill expected back and an improved sonic balance.
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