All Event and "Bar Night" Organizers Only!!

[Ravaana]

I also get a feeling from the comments that there might be more singers than other instruments players. I was expecting the exact opposite. Do you think the type of marketing you do might be affecting this? What I mean by that is that most gamers are not really interested in singing. In my experience everyone want to play the guitar or the base. I have friends who are drummers so that is not much of an issue although some still prefer the guitar because it's hard for them to drum the songs incorrectly (instead of playing them like they know it should be done, they have to follow the notes on the screen)... And we always end up having someone singing just to fill up the group. We do rotations on instruments because no one wants to sing all the time or be on the drums all the time. Maybe my experience is not the norm, I don't know. But I think that if marketing is aimed mostly at gamers, we will have many guitar players and if marketing is aimed at the Karaoke crowd, we will have mostly singers... what do you guys think?

Well, in a bar environment, the vocals part is pretty much considered normal. It reminds people of Karaoke, which is already an established past time. Unfortunately, getting people to play the other instruments can sometimes be a challenge. Especially here in Austin, where practically everyone is a musician. (not literally, but there are so many here that it seems that way, sometimes.)

They seem to shy away from the plastic instruments for a a good while. Each of them, eventually, coming back to try them. Maybe not the first, second, or third visit but they get there eventually.

We go through more vocalists than anything else, but with our last stun, started gaining a few guitar players. Our Bartender wanted to play, but he was behind the bar; so we took him a guitar and let him jam out on Ride the Lightning. Heh, and every once in a while the guitar sounds would die, as he got someone a drink. Pretty fun, and awesome.

I think that after you get it down, and people start thinking about it as an established entertainment stunt, they will start signing up for it more often. And with this, I suggest trying to get as many different people to go up as possible. especially if you are first starting out.

Even if you have to bring 5-10 friends and have them play on stage randomly, at different difficulty settings (this helps break the omg I am gonna suck mentality) It should spark the interest in the average Joe.

Oh..... And finding people that won't just stand there, stiff as a board and stare at the screen, may help a bit also. I watch those people and it seems boring to me.

[Zoologico]

Can anyone comment on ideal projector screen sizes and placement?
Are you able to tap into the audio system in the establishment?
What kind of audio system do you recommend for places that do not have audio and you have to roll your own?

[RockBandLosAngeles]

I also get a feeling from the comments that there might be more singers than other instruments players. I was expecting the exact opposite. Do you think the type of marketing you do might be affecting this? What I mean by that is that most gamers are not really interested in singing.

Aahh, now you are falling into the same trap Activision keeps falling into with GH. The vast majority of your people will be people who have either never played Rock Band before or have only played it passively. Until you build a strong following of experienced Rock Band players, which may never happen, the majority of the people who are at Rock Band Night will be there because of the bar and the drinks, not because of Rock Band. The vast majority of your players will be playing on either Easy or Medium, which is why it's imperative that you ALWAYS SET THE GAME TO NON-FAIL MODE, or you will be in for a long evening. These same people will also not be interested in contests or points because they are not gamers, which is why we mostly do Rock Band Karaoke. You will have a lot of women playing, and most women aren't gamers, but nothing works better in a bar than women on stage, and make sure you have the No Doubt pack downloaded!

Again, I host three nights a week in Los Angeles, and I have had one contest between two bands, and that didn't turn out well because one person was such a sore loser that I have never seen any of those four players come back again. My job when doing this is to entertain the people that are there, make sure they are having fun so they stay in the bar and order drinks and food. I am being paid by the bar to help them make money, not to host contests between gamers. If I ever start getting that kind of gamer crowd then I will change the format a bit, but I haven't seen it yet. You have to mingle with the crowd and encourage people who are new to try it out. You have to make sure that some people don't hog the stage, yet good players should play a bit more but put them with new people when they need instrument fillers.

[Zoologico]

Aahh, now you are falling into the same trap Activision keeps falling into with GH. The vast majority of your people will be people who have either never played Rock Band before or have only played it passively. Until you build a strong following of experienced Rock Band players, which may never happen, the majority of the people who are at Rock Band Night will be there because of the bar and the drinks, not because of Rock Band. The vast majority of your players will be playing on either Easy or Medium, which is why it's imperative that you ALWAYS SET THE GAME TO NON-FAIL MODE, or you will be in for a long evening. These same people will also not be interested in contests or points because they are not gamers, which is why we mostly do Rock Band Karaoke. You will have a lot of women playing, and most women aren't gamers, but nothing works better in a bar than women on stage, and make sure you have the No Doubt pack downloaded!

Again, I host three nights a week in Los Angeles, and I have had one contest between two bands, and that didn't turn out well because one person was such a sore loser that I have never seen any of those four players come back again. My job when doing this is to entertain the people that are there, make sure they are having fun so they stay in the bar and order drinks and food. I am being paid by the bar to help them make money, not to host contests between gamers. If I ever start getting that kind of gamer crowd then I will change the format a bit, but I haven't seen it yet. You have to mingle with the crowd and encourage people who are new to try it out. You have to make sure that some people don't hog the stage, yet good players should play a bit more but put them with new people when they need instrument fillers.

The strategy makes a lot of sense since you are catering to the masses and you want the game to be as inclusive as possible. If it gets too competitive, then it turns the casual and mass crowds off.

Along these lines, I have a question:

Getting the triple cymbal pack goes along with the tenet of not just showing up with the basic instruments and really jazzing up the hardware you bring to the table.

However, it also goes against the tenet of keeping tings simple.

The way I see it is that the majority of the people trying this out as you say will not be expert Rock Band players, but novices. I can see a triple cymbal kit getting in the way by making the drum set seem too complicated and then my team would have to get involved in explaining that it doesn't make a difference which one of these you hit, but it does make a difference here.

I am thinking the original Apple mouse paradigm of putting only one button on it since there would be no question of which button to push.

The difference would be that a plain set has 5 buttons to push but the triple cymbal expansion bumps that up to 8.

I have half a mind to visit LA just to witness one of your established Rock Band nights.

I don't own a 360 so I am still curious about the restrictions on DLC. If my 360 dies, can I get a replacement one and redownload all DLC relatively easily?

Can I download DLC to multiple XBOXes?

Can I play DLC without being connected to XBOX Live?

Are there any other limitations I am not considering before going with a 360 on this?

360 got major points due to stage kit integration, lower price tag, and larger install base.

[RockBandLosAngeles]

I have half a mind to visit LA just to witness one of your established Rock Band nights.

Come on down!

I don't own a 360 so I am still curious about the restrictions on DLC. If my 360 dies, can I get a replacement one and redownload all DLC relatively easily?

Yes, we just transfered from a 20gig drive to a 30gig drive, they supply the special transfer cable when you buy a hard drive.

Can I download DLC to multiple XBOXes?

Only if you get someone to 'crack' those boxes.

Can I play DLC without being connected to XBOX Live?

Yes, you just have to log into the game with your xbox ID

Are there any other limitations I am not considering before going with a 360 on this?

Not that I can think of. There are several different xboxes, so you need to do your homework.

[RockBandLosAngeles]

The way I see it is that the majority of the people trying this out as you say will not be expert Rock Band players, but novices. I can see a triple cymbal kit getting in the way by making the drum set seem too complicated and then my team would have to get involved in explaining that it doesn't make a difference which one of these you hit, but it does make a difference here.

We have been using the RB1 drums since Circuit City swallowed a complete RB2 kit that we had sent in to have replaced under warranty. I have the cymbals for RB2 but was completely unimpressed with them, so they are more for gimmick than anything else, I just received the ION kit this weekend and played around with them, they are better with the ION, but unless they are mapped separately like GHWT, I just don't see any point in them, especially since the are made of rubberized plastic. Give me some real cymbals hooked up so I can get the feel of that and then I might like them.

[Calendyr]

Yes I downloaded for over 200$ of music yesterday. And I got the No Doubt pack I really wish there was more radio hits to download, seems like much of the DLC content is not mainstream. I decided not to download everything. I got maybe half the DLC now, I imported the RB1 songs into RB2 and downloaded the AC/DC Live pack into it as well. I think I have enough music now to have a good offering to start with.

Now I have to decide if I will get a second Starpex Obsidian guitar or if I will go for a warbeast. My major problem is that the Warbeast is not sold here in Canada, so if it breaks it will be complicated to have it repaired under warranty. The Starpex seems very sturdy, I think it would last longer than any other guitars for Rock Band available at this time.

For sound I was planning on using the bar's sound system which have speakers in every corner of the bar and also hook up a sound system so that I have have 2 speakers right in front of the stage to dampen the noise from the stage (drums mostly). This will require a lot of cabling.

I will listen to your advice and not to competitions to start with. If there is demand I can add it later. The no fail mode is something I had already decided to use Don't want song after song to fail. It would make it very annoying to new people trying it out and would scare away the other ones.

[YRDaddy]

Again, I host three nights a week in Los Angeles, and I have had one contest between two bands, and that didn't turn out well because one person was such a sore loser that I have never seen any of those four players come back again. My job when doing this is to entertain the people that are there, make sure they are having fun so they stay in the bar and order drinks and food. I am being paid by the bar to help them make money, not to host contests between gamers. If I ever start getting that kind of gamer crowd then I will change the format a bit, but I haven't seen it yet. You have to mingle with the crowd and encourage people who are new to try it out. You have to make sure that some people don't hog the stage, yet good players should play a bit more but put them with new people when they need instrument fillers.

Agreed! More new people then experienced gamers. Some of the people in the bar might even be afraid of this new wierd experienced called Rock Band. There has been a few times that myself and the "roadies" have played cover band so to speak because the other bar patrons where afraid to try it out. Odly enough, everyone was still thouroly entertained, the bar still made their money, and we got the stage to ourselves all night!

Getting the triple cymbal pack goes along with the tenet of not just showing up with the basic instruments and really jazzing up the hardware you bring to the table.

However, it also goes against the tenet of keeping tings simple.

The drum set is stil simple once you tell them that they do not have to use the cymbols. Enivitably, they will attempt using them just because they look so cool!

Yes I downloaded for over 200$ of music yesterday. And I got the No Doubt pack I really wish there was more radio hits to download, seems like much of the DLC content is not mainstream. I decided not to download everything. I got maybe half the DLC now, I imported the RB1 songs into RB2 and downloaded the AC/DC Live pack into it as well. I think I have enough music now to have a good offering to start with.

Now I have to decide if I will get a second Starpex Obsidian guitar or if I will go for a warbeast. My major problem is that the Warbeast is not sold here in Canada, so if it breaks it will be complicated to have it repaired under warranty. The Starpex seems very sturdy, I think it would last longer than any other guitars for Rock Band available at this time.

For sound I was planning on using the bar's sound system which have speakers in every corner of the bar and also hook up a sound system so that I have have 2 speakers right in front of the stage to dampen the noise from the stage (drums mostly). This will require a lot of cabling.

I will listen to your advice and not to competitions to start with. If there is demand I can add it later. The no fail mode is something I had already decided to use Don't want song after song to fail. It would make it very annoying to new people trying it out and would scare away the other ones.

Sounds like you are off to a good start. Definitely take advantage of what ever the bar has to offer, wheather it is TV's, sound, or a stage. I would stick to the regular guitars beacause they are cheaper and easier to replace when something breaks. The fanciest guitar I use is the Precision Bass. Jazz em up with decals to make them look different from standard issue equipment, again... for the sake of the show.

Also... Please do not let the Stage Kit be a deciding factor when choosing between Xbox and PS3. Using the stage kit in a bar setting sucks! It has no RB to navagate the menue for song selection and it is wired. There are plenty of similar priced lighting and smoke alternatives that would work just as good.

[LiquidKourage]

I agree about the Stage kit. I think the thing is pretty gimmicky and only really intended for an "authentic" experience in the home. In a bar environment, you're much better off getting professional-quality effects anyway. Personally, I don't use any stage effects, but I see how people think it adds a nice touch to the presentation aspect.

FWIW, I recommend myrockbandsongs.com for songlist generation. It's got a good interface for tracking your DLC and a really convenient karaoke-style songbook generator.

As to some questions about a/v setup, i STRONGLY recommend you invest in your own sound system. Yes, some bars have existing sound setups that might work, but what kind of "stage" experience is that? (Unless they have an actual stage setup for bands, DJs, etc... then you can use your discretion). But the point is, you need to be versatile to be successful. With your own sound system you can set up anywhere, any time.

My experience has been you don't "need" to buy every DLC song, but it's not a bad idea either. There are probably 200 songs I own that have never been played in a bar setting, but it does lend credibility when people see the size of your catalog.

I'm tossing some organization names around, let me know if anyone likes them, or has other ideas:

ORBIT-- Organization for Rock Band In Taverns
NARBECA-- North American Rock Band Event Coordinator Alliance
MARBLE-- Member Association for Rock Band Live Entertainers
REVERB-- Ring of Experts on Venue Entertainment using Rock Band

There aren't a lot of good acronyms that use "RB", but there's a few if anyone wants to discuss. I can get some simple groundwork going from there.

[RockBandLosAngeles]

I vote for ORBIT, easier to remember what the anacronym is for than REVERB.