What should an artist booked to play WBRS know?

• This is not an interview, it is a live music performance.
• Arrive on time. If you are very late, the show will be cancelled.
• There is an extensive sound check. You will receive a recording of the show before you leave.
• The set length is up to you. You may play for as little or as long as you want to.
• If you need monitors to hear yourselves, bring powered monitors.
  
if you do not bring some form of monitor, you will only have whatever sounds you make in the room.
• Smoking & alcohol are prohibited.
• A live studio audience is welcome.

Who can play?

The Joint and the WBRS Coffeehouse are both all-genre series. This means poetry, storytelling, folk, rock, jazz, klezmer, bluegrass, funk, hip hop, industrial, latino, blues, funk, celtic, african, new age, classical... In fact, we've had all of those in the past, and would be happy to feature anything new or unique. To play The Joint, you must have original material. However, you will not be limited to playing only original material.

Generally speaking, we prefer acoustic performances during WBRS Coffeehouse...although by no means is it strictly limited to that. Anything and everything goes during The Joint.

What is the format?

This is not an interview, or an appearance on a DJ's show. There will not be a host, only an engineer whose job is to get the best mix possible and to announce the show at the beginning. Once you are on the air, you play what you want. You may talk if you wish to. In fact, you might be poet or storyteller, and do nothing but talk. You may play electric, acoustic, or any combination in between, using whatever instruments you would normally use in either a live or studio setting.

Do we get paid to perform?

Sorry, but we cannot pay artists to perform on these series. We are a noncommercial cooperative student and community radio station, supported by student funds and underwriting. All of our money goes into station maintenance and operational expenses, and occasional new equipment. None of our staff are paid, not even the general manager and program director. The Free Live Music Department is the largest chunk of our budget, and we are committed to its continued existence and quality.

Will there be an audience?

It's hard to tell. Sometimes people come, and sometimes not. You're more likely to get an audience at the Coffeehouse, since it's in the daytime. Also, you are free to invite friends. The shows are free and open to the public of all ages. Make sure everyobody knows that smoking and alcohol are prohibited.

When do we need to arrive?

The Joint goes on air at 9:30pm, and the WBRS Coffeehouse goes on air at 11:30am. Since we do an extensive sound check and studio quality mix, you must arrive early. Exactly how early depends on how complex your setup is. You must tell the person who books you about your instrumentation, and they will let you know when to arrive. In general, a full band with drum kit needs to arrive 2 hours before show time, and an acoustic duo or solo about 1 hour before show time. A spoken word artist may only need to arrive 20 minutes early, and a 7 person ska band may be asked to arrive 2.5 hours before show time.

What if we're late?

Arriving on time is important. We won't put a show on the air if we don't have time to do a quality mix. We do often start a little late, but if you arrive very late, your show may be cancelled. This is up to the engineer's discretion. As a general rule, expect to be cancelled if you are 45 minutes late. If you're running late on the night of the show, stop and call the engineer at the station, 781-736-5277.

How long do we play?

The length of the show is up to the artist. Really. You can play 1 song, or you can play for several hours. You can do one long set, or several sets with breaks. There is no end time - we can and will push back the shows afterwards to later times to allow you to keeping playing if you want. You decide. Really.

What should we bring?

WBRS has enough microphones, stands, and cords for most setups. You need to bring yourselves, your instruments, you amps, and anything else you need in order to play. You will not be set up with headphones, so if you need a monitor to hear your vocals or anything else, bring it. If you bring a monitor, make sure it's powered, or bring an amp for it. The same thing applies if your preferred form of monitor is headphones: bring a headphone amp to plug them into. If you have special microphones you want to use, bring those too. If for some reason it is not possible for you to bring your own powered monitors, we may have them available, but you must arrange and confirm this with us in advance! Do not expect us to have monitors available for your show if you did not arrange that at the time you booked the show.

What about a PA?

If you've got monitors, then no PA is required, since this is a radio show. You can think of the radio transmitter as your PA. The room you play in is small enough that if you have appropriate monitors for yourselves, that will be good enough for the live audience. However, if you are expecting a crowd and want to bring PA for their sake, you may. If you don't have monitors, you can bring a PA system and use it as monitors.

What microphones and board do you use?

We close-mic all instruments for a good studio mix, but also use ambient mics for a room sound on many acoustic shows. We use mainly Neumann KM184 and KM185, Sennheiser 421, and ElectroVoice RE20 instrument mics, and Sure SM-58 vocal mics for electric setups. For acoustic setups, we often use the RE20 or 421 mics for vocals. We also use Sennheiser 441, Sure SM-57, ElectroVoice DS35, and other miscellaneous mics. If you have any favorite mics you would like to use, please bring them. Phantom power is available. We mix straight to stereo, using a 36 channel Soundcraft K2 board.

Is the show recorded?

We record all of our live music events. We make at least one cassette master, one of which is usually given to the artist. We use Maxell XLII-90 cassettes and Tascam 122mkIII decks. We have the ability to make CD burns live using an Alesis ML9600 CD Recorder with hard disk capacity. We also make one PCM recorded on a Sony 501 16bits 44.1KHz, which goes in our archive. We have an archive of over two thousand shows, going back to 1982. We have a DAT deck and minidisc recorders in our studio, so if you'd like a DAT or minidisc, bring a blank with you and give it to the engineer when you arrive for sound check.

Can we use this recording for a demo tape or album?

Certainly, as long as you credit WBRS somewhere on the label or booklet. Local bands that have included WBRS recordings in their released albums include Chucklehead, Hullabaloo, Exhibit A, Halley DeVestern, and others. Note however that we mix direct to stereo; we do not record separate tracks. Our board has direct outputs on all channels, so if you bring your own multitrack recorder and cords to your show, you can make your own multitrack recording.

Can we use our own engineer?

Certainly. If you plan to bring your own engineer to do the mix, please let us know that at the time you book your show. There will still be a fully qualified WBRS live music engineer at the show, who will supervise and be familiar with our equipment and procedures. We will expect your engineer to arrive on time with the rest of the band, and to do a full length sound check for a studio quality mix.

How do we get to WBRS?

See the directions page for driving directions and where to park. The parking part is NOT obvious when you get on campus, so we strongly recommend you review this.