Be A Comedian

A good comedian always strives to be better, to give better lines with better timing and delivery after each gig. One of the ways a comedian can be able to hone his skills further is to review his past gigs by taping them.

Some comedians would definitely argue that there is no need to tape their sets, especially if they are experienced. They would argue that it disrupts the natural process by which a comedian acquires certain skills through maturity and wisdom. However, we should also see that taping a set is a tool which can rapidly enhance a comedian’s skills.

Here are some of the advantages of taping your set if you are a comedian:

a) A clear recording will capture the intangible factors which can make or break a performance

Factors such as timing and execution of the lines are some of the things that one can see (or hear, for that matter) by reviewing a tapped gig. Watching out for lull moments is also a good thing to do when you are listening to your tapes. Sometimes, these lull moments are necessary for building up the anticipation and sometimes, they are just plainly not needed.

b) The recording will let you review the tangible factors that are important to your performance

If you have a video camera, then it is really advisable to use that instead of a tape recorder. Reviewing your performance using multimedia recordings is so much better than reviewing it with plain audio recordings. You can see the reactions of the people to certain lines and to the whole thing in general.

You can definitely use an ordinary recorder to be able to check if your intonation and the constant changes in your voice’s volume are okay. It’s very important to take these factors in mind and not just concentrate on your material.

c) A performance is always unique, so you’d better tape it

If you tape all of your performances, then you have the opportunity to properly document your progress as time goes by. You can also use them to build a collection which you can share with your loved ones.

d) Taped performances are marketing tools

If you would like to get more gigs, then taping your acts is a preliminary step towards creating a great marketing tool. You can spread the tapes across to different comedy clubs in town or perhaps in other places. You can easily build a fan-base by uploading your recordings on a website where you can also post your gig schedules.

What’s not to love about taping your gigs? If you are convinced that you will greatly benefit from recording your gigs, then you’re probably asking about the proper way of recording them. “Do I go analog or digital?”

Some of the digital recorders today aren’t as versatile as the old-fashioned tape recorders out there. Some of these digital ones don’t capture the warmth of a certain performance and have a tendency to pick up distorted signals. However, these devices are so much easier to use if you are familiar with them. Once recorded, there is no need to convert the files and you can easily upload the material. Ordinary tape recorders can do just fine but once you are finished taping, you have to manually convert these files into digital format which requires additional time.

If you are using an analog tape recorder, you can use the default “sound recorder” program of Windows or other audio mixing programs to digitalize your recording. You also need a cable which connects to the earphone slot from your recorder to the line in socket in your computer. This cable can be bought from any Radioshack or electronics store. You may need to adjust the volume from your recorder so as to avoid getting muffled sounds from the process. Finally, you should convert your digitalized .wav file to an mp3 file so as to minimize the size of the file.

Remember to tape your gigs. It’s very important to document the gigs because it is the only sure-fire way of reviewing your performance and yourself on stage.

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