Presets for musical theater?

S

SteveCass

Member
Hi everyone, so I mostly play musical theater pit bands and am looking forward to using my new FX3 for my upcoming shows. Does anyone know of any resources where I might be able to find presets already programmed for specific shows? I know this exists for keyboard players; you can get keyboard patches for entire shows sometimes direct from the company that licenses the shows. I wonder if there is a similar resource for guitar presets and specifically for Fractal Audio units?
 
SteveCass said:
Hi everyone, so I mostly play musical theater pit bands and am looking forward to using my new FX3 for my upcoming shows. Does anyone know of any resources where I might be able to find presets already programmed for specific shows? I know this exists for keyboard players; you can get keyboard patches for entire shows sometimes direct from the company that licenses the shows. I wonder if there is a similar resource for guitar presets and specifically for Fractal Audio units?
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Keyboards are a bit more standardized. In musicals in my experience, guitars parts are usually written for clean, crunch, lead. Very generic tones. It’s also more about the guitar itself - strat, nylon, steel acoustic - than specific tones. Sometimes specific delays are needed like One Song Glory from Rent.

what are some examples of shows you might do?
 
chris said:
Keyboards are a bit more standardized. In musicals in my experience, guitars parts are usually written for clean, crunch, lead. Very generic tones. It’s also more about the guitar itself - strat, nylon, steel acoustic - than specific tones. Sometimes specific delays are needed like One Song Glory from Rent.

what are some examples of shows you might do?
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Agreed, the keyboard parts are very specific patches. As of now in 2020 I’ll be playing “9 to 5” (lots of country style playing), “Jesus Christ Superstar” (lots of lead, funk, etc), “13” which is a hard rock show, “Legally Blonde” which has lots of styles: rock, funk, jazz, acoustic, etc. I usually try and match tones as close as I can to the broadway recordings when I play these shows and am really looking forward to doing this with the III.
 
SteveCass said:
Agreed, the keyboard parts are very specific patches. As of now in 2020 I’ll be playing “9 to 5” (lots of country style playing), “Jesus Christ Superstar” (lots of lead, funk, etc), “13” which is a hard rock show, “Legally Blonde” which has lots of styles: rock, funk, jazz, acoustic, etc. I usually try and match tones as close as I can to the broadway recordings when I play these shows and am really looking forward to doing this with the III.
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great lineup! the Axe should make it easy to get what you need. maybe you're the one to start this database ;)
 
You should be in good shape.

FAS has a slew of great presets across all sorts of styles, so it should be easy to pick out what you need (and tweak to your satisfaction). If you need immediate help, check the Vendors posts, where preset masters create tones that cover pretty much EVERYTHING is out there. Most of them are ready for both monitoring and FOH. All of which you can do yourself, but in your case it would be a business expense if you're pressed for time.

Yeah, that sounds like a great gig! I'm kind of a Broadway wonk, so that might be my dream job.

Ron
 
When I played in the pit for "Motown," the company provided each guitarist with an Axe Fx II. We were not allowed to edit the patches and there were riders outlining which specific guitars were required, down to pickup type and configuration. I'm sure the conditions were in part an attempt to help maintain consistency (along with authenticity).
 
CactusTone said:
When I played in the pit for "Motown," the company provided each guitarist with an Axe Fx II. We were not allowed to edit the patches and there were riders outlining which specific guitars were required, down to pickup type and configuration. I'm sure the conditions were in part an attempt to help maintain consistency (along with authenticity).
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Wow, and was it your responsibility to get outfitted with new pickups if your guitar had the “wrong” ones? Or to get a whole new guitar that was up to their specs? Seems a little extreme...
Thanks for your feedback!
 
electronpirate said:
You should be in good shape.

FAS has a slew of great presets across all sorts of styles, so it should be easy to pick out what you need (and tweak to your satisfaction). If you need immediate help, check the Vendors posts, where preset masters create tones that cover pretty much EVERYTHING is out there. Most of them are ready for both monitoring and FOH. All of which you can do yourself, but in your case it would be a business expense if you're pressed for time.

Yeah, that sounds like a great gig! I'm kind of a Broadway wonk, so that might be my dream job.

Ron
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It’s a fun gig for sure - thanks for the feedback and tips! I’m looking forward to dialing in the tones I’ll use for my upcoming shows.
 
CactusTone said:
When I played in the pit for "Motown," the company provided each guitarist with an Axe Fx II. We were not allowed to edit the patches and there were riders outlining which specific guitars were required, down to pickup type and configuration. I'm sure the conditions were in part an attempt to help maintain consistency (along with authenticity).
Click to expand...
I have encountered this practice as well, where the touring production provides pre-configured processors along with notes for the guitarists such as the pickup type, requirement for a whammy bar, and once, even an eBow! It definitely makes the music director's job easier, as they aren't having to deal with getting guitarists to adjust their patches or levels. In some theater productions, I've had processors that were configured along with time code for lighting / backing tracks and so on, so the patches would automatically change at the right times (which means everyone better follow the chart EXACTLY!).
When setting up your own patches for theater, definitely listen through the factory presets. You can also check out the AustinBuddy (third party) "naked amp" patches for the AxeFX III, as those are really amazing as foundational tones, and you can readily modify them with effects and so on.
 
CactusTone said:
When I played in the pit for "Motown," the company provided each guitarist with an Axe Fx II. We were not allowed to edit the patches and there were riders outlining which specific guitars were required, down to pickup type and configuration. I'm sure the conditions were in part an attempt to help maintain consistency (along with authenticity).
Click to expand...

Funny, since my first post had more to do with this. Stage shows are about consistency, so your part is static, and even the tones and playing are EXACT every night. If you are in the position to create those tones, that's great, but I would think that you would work out exactly what you'd need for each song WAY before you are sitting in the pit, so when you're playing with rehearsals (bodies on the stage), it's automatic.
 
SteveCass said:
Wow, and was it your responsibility to get outfitted with new pickups if your guitar had the “wrong” ones? Or to get a whole new guitar that was up to their specs? Seems a little extreme...
Thanks for your feedback!
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Luckily I had what they needed, ES-335 with PAFs. They didn't specify in greater detail than that. There were a couple other options, but I don't remember what they were. I was allowed to slide on the acoustic. All I had was a Taylor GA, but they wanted a Gibson.
 
I think for most shows you're on your own for creating presets, at least until you get to the touring level. Even then it's going to depend on the show and production company.

EDIT: Just had a thought, there's a group on Facebook for professional theater guitarists you might be interested in checking out. They also have an archive of scores which can come in handy. Legally Blonde is a surprisingly tough read! I dont think I post enough to add a link, but search "musical theater guitarists" and see if it comes up.
 
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Sleestak said:
I have encountered this practice as well, where the touring production provides pre-configured processors along with notes for the guitarists such as the pickup type, requirement for a whammy bar, and once, even an eBow! It definitely makes the music director's job easier, as they aren't having to deal with getting guitarists to adjust their patches or levels. In some theater productions, I've had processors that were configured along with time code for lighting / backing tracks and so on, so the patches would automatically change at the right times (which means everyone better follow the chart EXACTLY!).
When setting up your own patches for theater, definitely listen through the factory presets. You can also check out the AustinBuddy (third party) "naked amp" patches for the AxeFX III, as those are really amazing as foundational tones, and you can readily modify them with effects and so on.
Click to expand...
I knew for sure that the Axe III was special when I first plugged it in and auditioned the stock presets...I thought “Wow, I could gig with these without any modifications”, something that I never could say with earlier modelers (not Fractal) that I’ve used. They definitely put some thought into those. And I have looked into the AustinBuddy tone packs as well. Between the excellent stock presets and those, I will have plenty to start with for sure. Fortunately the local theater groups I play for aren’t as strict in their requirements as the touring shows you guys describe so they generally leave it to us to bring our own tones into the pit, so long as they are generally appropriate.
 
mpatton523 said:
I think for most shows you're on your own for creating presets, at least until you get to the touring level. Even then it's going to depend on the show and production company.

EDIT: Just had a thought, there's a group on Facebook for professional theater guitarists you might be interested in checking out. They also have an archive of scores which can come in handy. Legally Blonde is a surprisingly tough read! I dont think I post enough to add a link, but search "musical theater guitarists" and see if it comes up.
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Thanks for the tip, i will definitely check into that!
 
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