Getting to know your live music gear

Once you have chosen the tools of your trade you need to spend time getting familiar with it. I don't mean you should take it out to dinner and buy it a few drinks, however you do need to treat it all with respect - so no snogging on the first date. Seriously there is an analogy here. You wouldn't take a new partner out and expect to know everything about them and how they were going to behave, what they liked and didn't like and then take them to meet your parents after five minutes would you? The same goes for your stage set-up.

Whenever you start using new equipment you need to spend a good few hours getting used to it before you go out and gig it in front of an audience. Knowledge is power and lack of knowledge with sound and lighting equipment is no power - Literally. You could end up having no sound or a dark stage if you don't know what you're doing. Or even worse you might start a show with a great intro, brilliant lighting, then you open your mouth to sing and.... nothing.

In his second autobiography, 'Saturday night Peter' he tells a great story about a Meatloaf tribute act he once worked with who made three attempts to start a show. Lights, sound effects, smoke etc. The Meatloaf impersonator rode into the club on a big motorbike, jumped up on stage, grabbed the mic and... nothing. The mic hadn't been faded up on the mixer. This happened two more times before he started screaming at his poor assistant who was running his mixing desk and obviously didn't know what he or she was doing.

If you are just starting out or you have purchased a new P.A. or some posh lighting, it will pay big dividends to hire a hall or a function room for a few hours and use it as a dry run for rigging, testing and de-rigging your stage equipment. Put the whole lot together as if you were about to perform a gig. Work out roughly how much time you need to set up and break down. Set all your volume levels to an acceptable gigging level and make a note of the fader, tone control, and effects positions on the mixer. Perform with the system for a few hours to get a feel of the sound and it's capabilities. I may be teaching grandma to suck eggs here, but you will save yourself the trauma of arriving at a gig and having gear not do what you expect it to do!

I'm speaking from experience here. There is nothing worse than turning up for a gig, rigging everything and then starting to the show with volume levels that are all wrong, or lights that don't work or worst of all - howling feedback the minute you start singing. Punters really dislike 105 decibels of high pitch squealing blasting at them from a P.A. - and it upsets all the dogs for miles around. If you don't know your gear - it's going to be one more thing to worry about. You should walk out on that stage / corner of the pub / function room etc., confident that all you have to concentrate on is your performance; Not whether the sound system is going to start whistling Dixey as you run around panicking on a pitch-black stage! Finally if you are lucky enough to have someone who comes with you on gigs and you've asked them to take control of your mixing desk, make sure they have plenty of experience or they have at the very least been with you for a few dry runs first. Giving an inexperienced person control of a mixing desk would be like asking a monkey to drive a car - you wouldn't do it would you! Seriously though, you wouldn't...

I once saw a young singer performing at a charity function. I had been asked along to compère the evening and I was talking with the young lady's father who told me that she was just starting out and that he'd given her a new P.A. system for Christmas and this was her first outing with the new gear. He was obviously very proud of his daughter but the smell of disaster wafted from his lips. I hadn't arrived in time for the sound check, but I presumed that everything was sorted. The girl was the first act on and every other act that evening was to use her P.A. system. I walked on stage to introduce her to the audience. As I approached the microphone there was a massive amount of feedback from the P.A. I ran over to the mixing desk and managed to tame the noise, and introduced the girl. She walked out on stage to much applause - however this soon turned to stony silence as people covered their ears. She kicked off with ('Black Velvet' - not a good choice I fear for a first song!) and it exploded like a distorted fart from the P.A. Both the input levels to the mixer and output to the P.A. were way too high and the system was peaking all over the blimmin' shop. A look of sheer terror spread across her face and she rushed over to the mixer to fiddle with some faders. After a few seconds she managed to tame the backing track slightly. The song has quite a long intro so she stood looking unsettled on stage looked upon by an equally nervous audience. Her microphone had a mute button on it, and she un-muted it just as she was about to sing. There was a howl from the P.A. that nearly shattered every piece of glass in the building. At this point I rushed on stage and pulled all the faders down on the mixer. She stopped her performance and I spent a few minutes re-setting her rig. By now the audience had lost  patience and they were stood at the bar chatting amongst each other - Charity or no charity they were obviously un-impressed. When everything was sorted she re-started her show. The final nail in the coffin was the fact that the poor young lady had very strong lisp and the opening line of Black Velvet is: "Mississippi in the middle of a dry spell..."

One final point, whenever you set up a stage rig, make sure you take the dreaded 'Health and Safety' issue very seriously. Firstly you should make sure your public liability insurance is up to date and all gear is electronically P.A.T. tested. Secondly when erecting speaker and light stands always assume that some idiot could fall into them. Make sure your stands are sturdy and set up with plenty of spread on the legs to support whatever they are holding without being unbalanced.

You should make sure that all leads are taped down. That is what gaffer tape is for! Keep a few rolls handy. Even if your rig is up on a stage and out of the way of the general public, taping cables and leads down ensures that you don't trip and go flying off the stage and into the lap of the audience.

You should realise by now that knowing how your gear works and how to set it up is just as important as knowing your material and looking after your voice. You have been warned!

Getting to gigs or the road to nowhere...

Transport - Without it you're on the road to nowhere.

A reliable means of getting yourself and your equipment to and from gigs is just as essential as looking after your voice and making sure you've got a decent sound system. If you break down on the way to perform at someone’s wedding you will quite frankly ruin the biggest day of their lives and will be bad mouthed by the bride, groom and all their guests to anyone who will listen - and quite rightly so.

Therefore make sure you some have decent transport or at the absolute minimum a decent road-side recovery contract with the AA or RAC that will get you to the venue if you do break down. (Worry about getting home later!!).

P.A. and lighting equipment has physically reduced in size and weight but has increased in performance over the past ten years and it's now possible to get a full stage rig in the back of most medium sized cars. However if you intend to be gigging more than two nights a week you are better off having a van. A van rigged with the best security you can afford is invaluable because it means if you have to you can leave equipment in it overnight. Obviously all equipment should be separately insured but we'll come to that in another blog later.

If you are in a band, why not club together or forgo the money for a few gigs to get a van? For a band van you will need something like a 'spitter van' which has seating for all the band and a separate compartment at the rear of the van for gear. These can also be hired from companies like: www.tigertours.co.uk

Splitter bus hire or tour bus hire.
In the past my band has even hired a full blown tour bus (a converted coach with beds, living rooms, toilet, galley storage area for gear. These are great if you have a really long way to get to the gig and you want to get back over night. For example, we did a gig in Loch Rannoch in Scotland. The bus picked us up from our base near Cardiff in the morning. We arrived at around 6PM in Scotland - did the gig and got back on the bus and we were home by 8am the next morning - nice and refreshed and ready for the next gig.

Owing to the nature and location of many venues you will often find yourself pulling up outside a venue that has either no off street parking or no easy access. This can be a pain in the arse, but something you should be prepared for. I had a yellow flashing light fitted to the top of my van and many of my friends ridiculed me saying it made it look like a motorway maintenance van. But believe me it was well worth the money as it allows me pull up almost anywhere and unload equipment without hassle from the police or traffic wardens who can immediately see that you are loading / unloading. In addition I often find that I have to reverse out of side streets onto main thoroughfares, and switching the light on makes most other drivers aware that you are reversing blind. Oh and I almost forgot, switching the light on when you are on double yellow lines makes the van invisible...

Seriously, the investment in decent transport is as important as a decent P.A. system and should not be overlooked.

One final point, whatever you use to get yourself around, don't plaster your name all over the vehicle! It's a great ego boost to see your name on the side of a van but you might as well put a sign on it saying 'Steal me! - expensive gear inside.'

Stage lighting - Turn your gig into a show!

Stage lighting is not just for theatre or arena concerts. With a little bit of thought your stage area can be transformed making YOU the focal point of the room.

As a busy gigging musician I am still surprised to see solo artists, duos and bands working without any stage lighting. Let’s face it, most pubs and small venues don’t have in-house lighting and it doesn’t take much effort to transform a room into a proper venue.
So you’ve been rehearsing for the past six months. You’ve got a great set together and invested a small fortune in backline and P.A. You’ve thought carefully about what your hair will look like and what clothing you are going to wear for your gigs. You’ve done all this and spent a lot of time and effort doing it – so imagine turning up at your local pub and playing under cold-faceless strip-lights (like the ones your gran has in her kitchen) or even under ornate wall lights that give off just enough of a glow to stop you tripping and dropping your pint… The band might sound fantastic but it all looks a bit crap really – especially with the pub menu behind you as a back drop or even worse the football on a 50” flat-screen.
Panic not. Help is as hand. In the words of AC/DC, “Let there be rock!”.

Transform you gig from this:

 to this:

OK so you might not be playing at the Millennium Stadium but similar principles apply to lighting a band or solo artist. There are a few things you need to bear in mind;

Power requirements
Most small venues will only supply 2 or 3 13amp electrical sockets (I have turned up to find just one!!!). If there is anything else plugged into the socket such as a TV or game machine you need to point out the venue manager that they will have to be unplugged before you can connect to the mains since you will have to power your P.A., backline and lighting from this power supply. Each 13amp socket can provide up to 3000watts of power so it is important that you think ahead before you go plugging everything in. Some single unit stage lights can draw up to 2000watts if they are powered to the max. Trying to fire two units along with your P.A. and backline could result in everything going very dark and very quiet. You also need to bear in mind that the ring mains of some venues are also supplying coolers, fridges, pumps etc. With this in mind some better prepared venues provide a 32Amp ring main which can be tapped into using 16Amp ring main to 3pin plug adaptors. These kick out around 7000watts each which should be more than enough for even the brightest loudest pub band. Stage lighting can draw a lot of power and generate a lot of heat so one consideration is L.E.D. lighting that has low power consumption and generates little or no heat.

Lighting equipment options
As a solo singer and band member I look after all my own lighting. That includes all requirement considerations, setting up and controlling during performances. Therefore the K.I.S.S. principle (“Keep it simple stupid!”) is certainly the way to go if you are new to the world of bright pretty colors. If this is your first foray into lighting you are better off keeping it cheap and simple…

Conventional Par Cans

The SM58’s of the lighting world. Everyone from ‘Rush’ to pub-bands uses these standard work-horses. By far the most common form of stage lighting, PAR cans come in a number of different sizes making them versatile for all kinds of lighting applications. The lamp case includes a bracket that allows the lamp to be bolted to a T-Bar mounted on lighting stand or an individual lighting bracket that will allow you to fix the lamp to almost any supporting structure, light stand, or even speaker stand. Some PAR Cans are also supplied with a floor mounted bracket which does exactly what it says on the tin. Floor mounted PARs can also be mounted on stands.

There are many different sizes and applications of PAR Cans but the most common lamp sizes used in a small gig situation is the Par56s. The diameter of the lamp is measured in 8ths of an inch – therefore a PAR64 is 8 inches across. For bigger gigs and larger stages a band would be better off with Par64s. Par cans are usually supplied without bulbs and in the case of PAR 64s the user can determine the power (a PAR64 is capable of taking a 500watt or even a 1000watt bulb giving some great versatility for larger stage coverage) and beam-spread of bulb they need. For the pub circuit I wouldn’t recommend PAR 64s as they are simply too bright and draw too much power for your needs. You want to add ambience to the stage area – not cook the band! Therefore if you’re heading down the PAR Can route I suggest PAR 56s are the boys for the job.

8 x PAR56 Cans will draw 300Watts each leaving plenty of juice in a standard 32AMP ring main for the rest of the band’s gear and gives more than enough lighting for a pub / hotel type gig. Some PAR Cans are supplied with ‘barn doors’ which can be angled to allow the user greater control over the direction of the lamp spread. In addition some PAR Cans are supplied with or can be fitted with a transformer to allow the use of low voltage bulbs. It is always worth double checking before you make your purchase so you know exactly what type of bulb it has been rated for.

Most PAR Cans come with a gel-frame which allows the user to insert different colored heat resistant gels in-front of the bulb which effectively changes the color of the lamp. This versatility allows you to have a different color for every lamp however you can’t really go wrong with the three primary colors of Red, Green, and Blue (RGB). By mixing these four colors you can get literally millions of color combinations.


LED PAR Cans

These are not the cheapest option at the moment since they haven’t been around that long and I suspect we are still paying ‘development costs’ rather than material and production costs however LED PAR Can lighting has some great advantages over conventional PAR Cans…

I have a number of different lighting set ups that I use regularly as a solo entertainer and with a band. Initially I was using a cut down version of the band lighting for my solo gigs but this still meant carrying a large-ish flight case with lighting and stands into even the smallest of venues. This often means that the lighting is very close to me as a performer (owing to the tiny areas that some pubs expect you to perform in) so I then had to take an industrial fan just to keep me from melting down. In addition to all that, some venues electrical supplies couldn’t even cope with my lighting and switching on 8 x 300Watt lamps would not quite give me the lighted ambiance of the ‘stage’ area that I required. More like the darkness of Wookey Hole as the electrical system tripped! On discovering LED PAR Cans my prayers were answered.

Imagine a single unit that generates hardly any heat, is half the weight of a conventional PAR Can and is capable of RGB (Red, Green & Blue) color mixing, dimming control and even ‘sound-to-light’ all for around 85 quid? Well that’s more or less what todays LED PAR Cans are capable of.

How does it work?
Light emitting diodes (just like the one in the key-ring torch you were given for Christmas) have come a long way since the Sinclair digital watch. LED technology has improved greatly over the past few years allowing them to be used as a replacement for conventional bulbs.

Instead of one single massive colored LED the lamp is made up of hundreds of small red, green, and blue LEDs allowing you to change the color of each lamp without the use of colored gels. LEDs use a fraction of the power of a normal light bulb resulting in a greatly reduced heat output. This allows you to use many more units without putting a strain on the power supply of the venue you are working at. The reduced power draw also means that the lamps have a much longer working life. You might get 30 or so hours of use from a conventional PAR bulb before it blows (which can also trip an electrical supply) but literally hundreds of thousands of hours from LEDs and, unlike your Christmas tree lights, if one of the tiny bulbs fails the rest keep on working! The hardware that the LEDs are built within requires no transformers making them much lighter than conventional lighting units.

However there is one slight disadvantage; LEDs are still not as bright as conventional lighting. When working as a solo singer I use a single PAR 64 LED which is about as powerful as a single conventional PAR 56. BUT and it’s a big BUTT momma, the advantages far outweigh the restrictions of their conventional predecessors.

Controlling LED PAR Can lighting.
Most LED PAR Cans are supplied with a DMX connector and a series of dip switches that allow you to set the color, fade time and sound-to-light settings. For 90% of my solo gigs I just set a single unit sound-to-light or on a slow color fade cycle and let it do its thing. However it possible to link up many lamps using a DMX controller but we’ll talk more of this later.

The ability to get the same amount of color as using 3 separate PAR Cans means saving on space, lugging gear and heat. I find that a single floor mounted PAR64 LED is sufficient for my solo gigs where space is a premium.

Aubrey performing with a single floor mounted LED Par Can.

Floodlights & color mixers
An alternative to using an array of PAR Cans to light up the stage area is by using a compact floodlight or color mixer.
These are not much bigger than a single PAR64 but house 3 or four 300Watt or 500Watt bulbs. Each bulb sits behind a dichroic filter (heat resistant colored glass). By controlling which bulbs are lit you can mix almost any color required. These units are great for lighting small to really large stage areas as they are so bright – but very compact. A pair either side of the stage is ideal for a solo performer or even small to medium sized band.

Some of the older units like the NJD Quartet (£142.00) do not have DMX control which would mean the use of an additional dimmer pack along with a lighting desk. However the ‘more recent’ versions such as the NJD Spectre and Stairville HM40 DMX

have full DMX control allowing dimming from a simple DMX lighting controller. The HM40 DMX can also operate via built in sound-to-light or with an optional controller with built in patters.
For me these compact units have been a blessing from above. They are small, and easy to maintain and in the case of the HM40 they take standard halogen bulbs just like the ones in outdoor security lighting which are very cheap to replace at around £1.50 per bulb. In addition they are very quick to transport and rig. The floods can fit in to a small flight case and will sit happily on the floor or mounted on lighting stands taking just a few minutes to set up.

Scanners & Moving Heads
If you want to add a little movement to your lighting there are plenty of units out there that will do the trick…

Scanners
A scanner is a lighting unit with a mirror mounted on a servo motor. A halogen bulb or a cluster of LED bulbs are contained within the unit and reflected out across the room by the mirror allowing a light pattern to be quickly moved around the performance area. By sending DMX signals to the unit it is possible to change the color of the lamp, shape and size of the beam or even project patterns by moving the internal ‘gobo’ wheel inside the unit.
The Martin Roboscan 812 (now discontinued) was a workhorse for a number of years and second hand units can be picked up quite cheaply. If you are looking to purchase a new unit (such as the Martin Mania SCX 500)  a search on the internet will give you a host of goodies. There are also LED based scanners which may not be as bright as a conventional bulb but their low power consumption means the bulbs will last considerably longer unlike conventional scanner halogen bulbs which can be expensive to replace.
Most scanners will work as stand-alone units making them ideal to mount alongside PAR Cans or floods to add movement across the stage and out into the audience. They need to be mounted on lighting stands for the best effect.

Moving Heads 
As the name implies these units have a moving head that can spin horizontally and vertically.

The example you can see in the picture uses has 14 different gobos (patterns), 11 different colors and is capable of a strobe effect. I’m a big fan of moving head scanners because I think they look cool and will work either as a floor mounted unit, on top of a speaker stack, or fixed to a lighting stand or rig.
The units will work stand alone but you can link two or more units together with a DMX cable (Standard Microphone XLR will do the trick). Units linked together give a synchronized show which looks fantastic. Not just from a lighting perspective, but the movement of unit itself looks really cool. With this in mind it’s best to use the units in multiples of two to get the best effect. Most of these units come with a number of pre programmed light shows for use in stand-alone mode. They also work sound-to-light or can be connected to DMX lighting controller which can be worked by a roadie or sound engineer. However in most instances I set the units to sound-to-light and let them get on with their job!


Lighting Control
Most bands cannot afford the luxury of a lighting controller (or even a sound engineer) so it’s usual to control all your lighting on stage. Again you need to keep this as simple as possible – screwing up that Darkness solo just because you were trying to change the pattern on the lighting controller with your foot will not go down well with the rest of the band. You have a number of options:

Plug all the lights in and leave them on - Simple but effective.

Use an non DMX automated lighting chaser.
Depending on the type of lighting you are using will depend on the type of light controller you use. Older conventional PAR Cans can be plugged in and switched on at the beginning of a gig – simple but effective. However if you want to make the light flash then you will need an automated lighting chaser. These come as rack mounted or floor mounted units that allow you to plug in your stage lights and flash away with either a pre-set pattern or by synching with a sound input from the P.A. or in-built microphone. A simple sequencing sound-light- controller is the NJD  SC400e which will power up to 8 x 500 Watt Par64 lamps. It sends 240v power via a connector and 13amp cable to the lamps.

If you want to be able to adjust the brightness of conventional lamps then you will need a powered dimmer unit such as the NJD NJ202A. This unit has 4 x IEC connectors that will deliver a maximum inductive load of 1150W running at 5A per channel. This would allow you to power up to 8 PAR 64 lamps per channel.


Control your lighting using DMX.
If you are using DMX lighting all the units can be linked together and controlled via a DMX lighting controller which will give you dimming capabilities and individual control of each lighting unit – including PAR Cans, Floods and Scanners. Again you have the option of sound-to-light sequencing or if you are lucky enough to have a partner who can manipulate the controller during the gig – all the better (but not really necessary).

Using DMX to control conventional PAR cans requires the use of an additional dimmer pack for the lamps such as the Prolight DMX Digital Dimmer Pack with 8 IEC Outputs. This can be fitted to the T-Bar that the lamps are mounted on and will convert a DMX signal into a power signal to control the brightness of the lamp. However, if you are using LED Par Cans, they can be controlled via DMX without the need of additional dimmer packs making them an even tastier option.

The cost of DMX controllers has now reached an acceptable level for solo entertainers and small bands. A few years ago the desks were complicated and expensive and designed for people with a degree in lighting technology. These days things have become a lot simpler and a damn site cheaper BUT without the compromise on technology. I tend to use a small DMX color mixer such as the Acme ISolution IColour CA32 Mix Controller  for my stage floods which can work sound to light or scroll through different patterns at different speeds. However if I’m feeling adventurous I link all my DMX lighting together and control it all using a Stairville DMX Master. This particular controller can be found hiding under various names as it is a pretty generic unit that has been re-branded by a number of manufacturers. It allows control of PAR Cans, Scanners, Moving Heads and many other types DMX controlled lighting.
It is possible to control all your DMX lighting using software and a laptop with a DMX dongle – however this is a subject on its own that would fill this magazine so we’ll come back to that in another issue.
As a solo entertainer and with my band I use a combination of all of the above controllers. I set my moving head units to sound-to-light. The two units are linked and therefore their lighting patters are synchronized. The stage floods are then controlled via a small DMX lighting controller which I use to adjust the brightness of the lights at the beginning of the gig. I then let the controller work in either a slow color mix fade which slowly changes the color of the lighting on stage (great for the slower songs) or I  punch it into sound-to-light mode and let it flash away for the rockier numbers – Simple but effective.

Rigging Lighting Equipment 
How you rig your lighting will depend on the size of venue you are performing in. I generally set my moving head scanners either side of the stage on the floor underneath the speaker stands. This keeps them from being kicked by any un-suspecting audience member. PAR Cans and floods wherever possible should be mounted on lighting stands. Lighting stands come in various shapes and sizes ranging from a lifting height of 3m up to 6m – however 3m pair of stands should suffice.

Push up stands have a locking pin and tightening system and are not unlike speaker stands in their construction and will lift to around 3m. If you are looking for something more substantial to carry the weight of a few floods and a scanner or two then you will be better off with a Wind up stand. These have a built in winch and cog system that will allow you to get your lighting up to 3m or more by winding the winch this makes the effort of lifting the lighting easier and allows a single person to rig the lights.

If you are rigging more than one light per stand then you will probably need a T-Bar. This is fitted to the top of the stand using a bolt or spigot. They can be square or round and come pre-drilled to allow you hang your lighting using bolts or lighting hook clamps.

You always need to make sure that the stands are on even ground and NEVER exceed the recommended loading limit for each stand.

It is not always possible to mount lighting on stands. A classic example is if you are performing in a marquee. The nature of the sloping room often means there is simply not enough height for stands and in these instances it’s best to mount lights either on the top of speaker stacks or directly on the floor. Not an ideal solution and you need to make sure they are away from party-goers feet, but it’s better than having no lighting at all.
Dressing the stage.
It is quite often the case that the area you will be performing in has the pub menu behind you or even a massive plasma screen. I combat the local décor by using a ‘star cloth’. This is not as you might think a piece of material covered in pictures of rock-stars but a black cloth containing an array of white LEDs. The cloth can be hung directly onto the wall with the aid of some strong gaffer-tape or hooks but most of the time I use a set of goal posts - basically two lighting stands with a cross bar that is set up behind the band.

You don’t have to use a star cloth simple black draping or a giant printed logo of the band will do just as well. It makes the stage area look more like a …erm stage!
Once your backdrop, P.A. and backline are rigged you can set the lighting up and play around with height and angle of lamps until you are happy that the audience can see you as well as hear you. Now you’ve made it all look pretty – the performance is up to you.

Choosing your P.A. Sound reinforcement - Tools-of-the-trade - Part 2

P.A. systems - Big or small or none at all?

Once upon a time there was a band. The band's equipment included all their amplifiers, instruments and drums along with a P.A. system that was made up of 2 huge sub woofers (bass speakers), 2 massive full range speakers, and a cabinet full of really heavy power amps. All of this took at least two people to carry each item. The P.A. alone used to take up to an hour to set up and another hour to sound-check. Then quite often the band would get carried away and turn it up too loud - blowing either the amps or the speakers or both. And nobody lived happily ever after - especially with a room full of people angry at the fact that their evening of entertainment cut short.

That was then and this is now. Thankfully P.A. technology has changed drastically over the last twenty years allowing incredibly compact powerful P.A. systems to be set up and operated simply by one person.

P.A. systems can be split into 3 categories.

1. The tradtional system. Comprising of two full range speakers powered by a separate power amp which is driven by a mixing desk or a powered mixing desk.

This system is ideally suited for a band or even duo who need a system that is capable of handling a full range of instruments including drums. It is not recommended for a solo artist as you would end up spending all night setting the rig up and the rest of the night in casualty with a bad back!

2. The powered speaker system. Two full range speakers with built in amplifiers driven by a separate mixing desk.  This system is ideal for singers or duos who are working in clubs, pubs and hotel function rooms. It's compact enough to fit in the corner of a pub, and yet powerful enough to fill a medium size club with a decent sound.

3. The compact portable P.A. A composite P.A. system designed especially for solo artists and DJs. Comprising of two speakers driven by a powered mixer amp. When not in use the entire system clips together to form a unit about the size of a suitcase. If the majority of your work comes from the pub circuit then this is the ideal solution for you. 99% of pubs will allocate only a tiny space for live music, and the more room you have to perform the better. You don't want your stage area cluttered up with a massive P.A. and the audience doesn't need to hear a 1000 watt P.A. system in a space the size of a living room!

Check out more information on the Fender passport by clicking the link below:

There are two important factors to think about when choosing a P.A. Firstly, what will be the average size of venue that you will perform at? Secondly, what ever size P.A. you choose, you must be able to fit it in your car and set it up by yourself. As with microphones, P.A. systems are a very personal choice. However the two main systems that are seen time and time again on the circuit are the powered Mackie 450 SRMs and the powered JBL 300's - so take your conclusion from that.

Check out more information, specs and pricing about the Mackie SRM 450 by clicking the link below:

Choosing your microphone - Sound reinforcement tools-of-the-trade - Part 1

Part 1 of a 5 part blog that will talk about:

1. Microphones
2. P.A. Systems
3. Lighting
4. Transport
5. Leaning how to use your sound reinforcement tools.

As a performer you need to make sure that you can turn up at any venue and have everything you need to make a show. That includes a microphone, P.A. (Public address system - the thing that makes you and the music louder) and lighting.

Part 1

Choosing your microphone.

There are literally hundreds of microphones on the market and they all claim to do different jobs better that their rivals, but choosing a microphone is a very individual choice. I could write a whole book on choosing microphones and I could go in to great technical details but at the end of the day it's what sounds good to you.

There are two basic types of microphone for live use:

Dynamic - Uses the pressure waves of your voice to drive the coil in the microphone. One of the most popular hard-wired dynamic microphones for the live performances is the Sure SM58 dynamic microphone. It's been used as an industry standard work-horse for over 50 years and is an almost indestructible microphone which can take quite a beating and still work perfectly. I always carry a spare SM58 in case my main wireless microphone decides not to play.

Check out more information, specs and pricing about the Shure SM58 by clicking the link below:

Condenser - Uses the same principle as a dynamic microphone but electronically enhances signal and the frequency range to give a cleaner crisper signal. Using a condenser microphone will require a mixing desk with a phantom power facility to power the microphone - I'll talk more about this later. I used a wireless Senheisser condenser microphone for seven years and recently switched to the relatively new Shure Beta 87C (as used by Michael Buble). My reason for choosing a condenser microphone was that I quite often perform at venues where I don't need to be belting my voice out and a microphone with greater sensitivity allows me to sing quite quietly and still get a good level of voice through my P.A.

Check out more information, specs and pricing about the Shure Beta 87A by clicking the link below:

Choosing a microphone is only something you can do. People will recommend all sorts of makes, types and models, but what you need to do is go into a music shop and ask to try out as many different microphones as possible and listen to what suits your voice. Remember this is an important purchase. Find the right microphone and it will last you a lifetime.

If you're not used to using a microphone then you need to start practising now with your P.A. You need to be able to use the microphone as a tool to make your voice heard.

Remember: Garbage in - Garbage out. If you're not a good singer, using a microphone will make sure that the whole room knows it. You're microphone is your friend, it's there to get your voice running through the P.A. and sounding sweet. If you hold it too close, shout or sing too loud, or hold it too far away from your mouth - then it will sound awful. So get used to working with it. Don't be afraid of it, it's there to help you. One final point, you may have seen singers who 'pull' the microphone away from their mouths when they hit the high notes. This is a 'Houstin-ism' (named after Whitney Houstin). Don't do it. It looks bloody stupid. Correct microphone technique doesn't require you to be waving the microphone all over the shop. Keep it simple stupid!

Next time: Pa's big or small?

Most singers are sinners!

Look after your voice and your voice will look after you! 

This blog is about earning a living as a singer. Therefore it makes sense that your most precious tool is your voice. So before we go any further talking about how you can make money out of your voice I need to make sure that you know how to look after your most important asset. I'm not saying that this blog is the most one you will ever read, and if you really don't want to read all about how your voice works and how to look after it then feel free to skip it. However do so at your own peril. There are many singers out there who don't look after their voice and as a result their voices don't work properly any more and as a result they are unable to pay bills by simply opening their mouths and singing. So the choice is yours read the this blog or plough headlong into oblivion.

Most singers are sinners. Many singers commit the crime of self abuse every time they open their mouth. Not because of the tone that comes out but because of the damage they do to their vocal chords due to; lack of training, not looking after their voice, and worst of all, not bothering to warm up.

I’ve been working as a part time singer for 30 years but it was only after I turned into a full-time professional 7 years ago that the penny dropped; I needed to look after my most important asset – my voice, because without it I couldn’t pay the mortgage. A series of colds and chest infections led to me cancelling gigs thus losing money and it was only after I visited an Ear Nose and Throat specialist and paid for some singing lessons that I realised the damage I could have done to my voice. I was lucky because I hadn’t caused any serious damage and I was amazed to hear the difference in my voice with just a few singing lessons. I don’t expect you all to rush for the yellow pages and sign up with a teacher – however, by following some simple pointers you will end up with voice that will last for a long and prosperous singing career.

Look, I'll be frank, there is some boring stuff coming up now about how your voice works, but you need to understand what's going on down there to make you realise how much it needs looking after - so bare with me!

How it works

The voice-box (‘larynx’) is a collection of muscles, cartilages and ligaments that function as a single unit and is located at the top of your windpipe (‘trachea’).

Vocal tones are created by vocal chord vibration and resonance. When you exhale air from your lungs, the sudden release of air pushes your chords together and outward thousands of times per second creating a tone. That tone is then amplified and modified as it travels through the cavities above the vocal chords before leaving your throat, nasal passages, and mouth.

Everybody has a unique vocal quality thanks to the interconnected cavities in your mouth and nasal areas. These spaces augment sound waves of certain frequencies and at the same time dampen others the whole process is called resonance.

The vocal chord is a muscle it needs to be warmed up - just like athletes who warm up their bodies before vigorous exercise. Going hell for leather on a cold vocal chord (and let’s face it we’ve all done it) can cause a build up of scar tissue that leads to vocal nodules or polyps. Once these have formed only resting the voice for a long period of time or surgery is the only way to remove them.

A vocal fold nodule reduces or obstructs the ability of the vocal folds to create the rapid changes in air pressure which generate human speech. Symptoms include hoarseness of speech, painful speech production, and intermittent vocal breaks and reduced vocal range. A number of high profile singers have been down this road including Rod Stuart, Robert Plant and Freddy Mercury. Whitney Houston developed polyps on her Bodyguard tour 1993-1994. She was unable to rest her voice due to the touring schedule and although she still sings her voice has taken on a deeper hoarser tone than before.

Dave Lee Roth, Stevie Wonder, Pavarotti, Kelly Jones and Madonna all have one thing in common, along with nearly all other high profile singers they warm their voices up before performing. There seems to be some stigma attached to warm ups in the music industry, people feel foolish running through scales; not quite rock ‘n’ roll. The fact is by not warming up your voice you will lose it or damage it for ever. A minimum 10-15 minutes working your way through scales will improve your voice and empower you with greater singing stamina. It’s no use thinking that your voice will warm up half way though the set, without warming up the damage has already been done the moment you start singing.

Warming Up

To prevent damaging your voice you need to find a quiet spot (or even warm up in the car on the way to the gig) and run through a warm up exercise like the one shown below:

1. Watch your breathing. When you sing, you need pull the air into the pit of your stomach. Place your hand on your tummy just below your solar plexus and breathe in. You need to feel your tummy pushing out against your had as you breath in. This is point where you need to sing from it’s called your diaphragm.

2. Run though simple scales – gently at first. You don’t need an instrument to get your key (although it helps), just make sure that you feel comfortable with the scales you sing.

3. Start with a simple 8 note scale within one octave. Try to ensure that each note is as loud and as clear as the last. Use a simple ‘mum mum mum’ to start with.

4. Now jump up one note and start the scale again – forwards and backwards.

5. Keep going jumping up one note at a time but don’t strain your voice trying to hit the high notes. Once you get to a comfortable pitch do the whole thing backwards.

6. Now repeat the exercise with the following:

a. ‘guh guh guh’

b. ‘gee gee gee’

c. ‘koo koo koo’

d. ‘ohh ohh ohh’

e. ‘ahh ahh ahh’

f. ‘la la la’

g. ‘me me me’

When hitting the higher notes you might find your voice kicks into falsetto – this is known as ‘head voice’ and the sound feels like it is travelling out of the back of your head. Lower tones are called ‘Chest voice’ and feel like they are travelling directly out of your mouth and a blend of the two is known as ‘Middle voice’.

None of these exercises should be forced in any way - the idea is to give the vocal chords a gentle work out using various tones and speech segments that the voice will use when singing for real. It’s not rocket science and it will make all the difference to your stamina and performance and most of all warms up will save your voice for the long term.

Singing teacher or no singing teacher – that is the question!

I cannot stress how much of a benefit it is to even the most seasoned of singers to pay for a session with a singing coach. I managed to increase my vocal range by almost half an octave after just two sessions with a professional tutor. Check out your local yellow pages or search the internet to find a teacher near you. When you speak to them explain what styles of music you perform and ask them if they think they can help you improve your voice. Some teachers work in specific areas such as Musicals or Opera – however even an Opera teacher can bring a whole new world of sound to a heavy rock singer Justin Hawkins is a classic example. A good singing coach will record each session with you onto mini disk or CD so you can take the lesson away with you and use the exercises over and over again.

Living the rock ‘n’ roll lifestyle…

Warm-ups are not the only thing that will help your singing. Looking after your body will ensure your vocal chords get the attention they need.

Late nights, too much booze, spicy food, smoking, caffeine drinks and hotel air conditioning are all synonymous with the rock ‘n’ roll lifestyle - and they are all killers for the vocal chords. Doh!

Try to get a good 8 hours sleep every night. If like me you have kids who wake you up at the crack of dawn everyday, try to find some time in the day before a gig to get a good rest or catnap. It’s amazing how quickly your voice will lose its energy when you are tired.

There are certain drinks you should avoid before a heavy gig. Anything alcoholic will dry you out. If your voice isn’t on form don’t be tempted to drink rum & black or any other so called miracle spirit to coat your vocal chords. It will only work for around 5 minutes and the alcohol will cause inflammation. The same goes for citrus drinks or even slices of lemon or lime. Citrus acid actually strips the vocal chords of their natural lubricating mucous whilst both orange juice and milk can cause a build up of unwanted mucous which will hinder a performance. Too much unwanted mucous will cause you to constantly clear your throat which is a short-cut to the land of vocal chord desiccation.

Spicy food can irritate the vocal chords so save the curry until after the gig. It’s also best to avoid eating for a few hours before a gig. Singing on a full stomach is uncomfortable and will hinder your breathing. Dave Lee Roth used to avoid eating for around nine hours before a gig but this is not recommended as it affected his blood sugar levels to such and extent that he would collapse off-stage and have to be revived with a drip – I don’t recommend this!!!

It goes without saying that smoking affects your voice. The action of warm smoke passing over your vocal chords dries them out and affects the tonal quality of your voice. Singing in this condition will cause long term damage. Since the smoking ban came into effect, I have noticed my singing stamina has increased significantly. Before the ban my voice would sometimes struggle at the end of a 2 hour performance if I was in a smoky atmosphere whereas now my vocal chords do not suffer the desiccating effect of passive smoking. I have been a smoker in the past and the difference to my voice after giving up for just a few weeks was amazing. Stamina increased, tonal quality cleared and I found I had more money at the end of the night for a pint and a curry.

It is recommended that we all drink around 8 glasses of water every day. I tend to drink around 10 pints of water starting when I wake in the morning. It sounds like a lot but keeping your vocal chords is one of the most important factors of singing and speaking. It’s no good pouring two pints of water down your throat 5 minutes before the gig – the vocal chords won’t have time to hydrate before you start singing – spread the intake throughout the day. Tea, coffee, orange juice, larger etc. do not count.

Your environment can seriously affect your voice. Dry air caused by air conditioning is a big culprit. If you are driving to a gig try to avoid using the air-con. Sometimes you cannot avoid the dreaded A/C for example if you’re are flying to a gig or staying in a hotel. In those instances it is really important that you regularly sip water to compensate for desiccating effect of dry air.

Keeping it loud and proud.

Look after your voice by watching what you drink, watching what you eat, getting some decent sleep and most importantly - warming up. Be kind to your vocal chords. If you have a cold or sore throat it is best to avoid singing altogether. If you really must sing, then gently work through some vocal exercises and try to avoid pushing your voice too hard. Look after your voice and it will look after you.

The vocal exercise above is just a small example. If do not want to visit a singing teacher then there are plenty of books and CD’s on vocal techniques. I recommend ‘Singing for the Stars’ by Seth Riggs (ISBN-10: 0-88284-528-4) and ‘Set your voice free’ by Roger Love (ISBN 0316441791) both books include CD’s containing warm up exercises.

Voices of an angels and demons.

Charlotte Church explained to me how she warms up before gigs…

‘Obviously I had a lot of professional training in my younger days and I still visit a vocal coach from time to time. It’s my most important asset and the last thing I want to do is damage my voice.’

‘I have been taught various warm-up techniques and usually spend around 20-30 minutes giving my voice a gentle workout before performances. The technique involves working through scales either along with a. I also spend around 5-10 minutes panting like a dog – it sounds weird I know but it loosens up the larynx and warms up the vocal chords. It’s a bit like passing white noise over your vocal chords so your full vocal range is exercised. You have to be careful not to do it for too long and you have to be well hydrated to do it otherwise you can dry the chords out. Then there are the obvious things like getting enough sleep, avoiding alcohol, smoking and spicy food before a gig – but that’s just plain common sense!’

It’s not just opera singers who warm up vocally before gigs. Welsh rockers The Stereophonics also have a routine. I visited the band when they performed at the Cardiff International Arena for a series of three sell out dates and was surprised to find them back stage in a fully equipped rehearsal room. Bass player and backing singer Richard Jones explained…

‘We started doing this a few years ago. Kelly obviously has to look after his voice and the nature of his vocal range means he can’t cane it too much! He had a few vocal problems a few years back and was advised to get some singing lessons, but instead we decided to have a full band warm up about and hour before each gig. It means me and Kelly can work through the songs we’re going to perform that evening. It’s not like sitting working through scales – the way we do it means that we’re only using the range of vocals that we will use in the gig.’

I asked if there were any specific routines that the band went through to ensure their vocals were kept in tip-top condition on tour…

‘Kelly always has a glass of sherry before a gig it’s more part of his religion now than an actual medicinal treatment – he’s done it since he was a teenager. Oh and he’s always got a box of Vocalzones in his pocket but I think that’s just because he’s become addicted to them. Obviously we have some late nights on tour – it’s inevitable in our business but we’ve learned to realise that late nights are OK providing you still get at least eight hours sleep before a gig. That means if we don’t get to bed till 5AM we don’t raise our heads till way after lunchtime. Sleep is really important for the stamina of your voice and obviously your stage presence the more sleep you have the better it gets. We also found that the time you have to be really careful with your voice is when we’re not actually touring. It’s easy to get out of routine of warming up and jumping in a rehearsal studio to write songs can be dangerous if you don’t warm up. In-fact the longer you go without performing, the more important it becomes to warm up properly.’

It would be great to get your thoughts and comments on this post - please let me know what you think!

So you want to gig for a living...?

OK so you've decided that you have a good voice and you fancy getting out there and earning money on the circuit as a singer - but before you do, ask yourself one question;

"Is it for me?"

Well if you read this blog and the answer is still "Yes" then you are on the right track...

OK, lets look at the cold hard facts.

Being a gigging singer is hard work both mentally and physically. Let's look at the life of an average gig which, for the sake of argument is located about an hours drive from your home:

4.00 pm
Sort out which clothes you will be wearing on stage tonight. Get them ironed and hung in a suit holder by the front door - don't forget to take them! Seriously, if you are working at a wedding or corporate function the last thing you want to do is find that you don't have anything decent to wear on stage! I've done it - once. Once is enough to make sure you never make the same mistake twice. It was pure luck that my roadie had dressed smartly that evening and I was able to borrow his suit and shoes.

4.30 pm
If you haven't been to the venue before, double-check where you are going. Plan your route!

5.00 pm
Load up the car / van with P.A. and lighting equipment. Now chill out for a bit before you set off. You've got a long night ahead of you.

6.00 pm
Start your journey, but before you leave the house, do a quick mental check list to make sure you haven't forgotten anything.

7 pm
Arrive at the venue and meet with the landlord / entertainments secretary / manager / bride & groom etc. Try to get an idea of what type of music goes down well at the venue - although this is something that you should really find out in advance.

7.10 pm
Get the gear into the venue (bearing in mind it could be a difficult get with loads of stairs or no close parking etc.)

7.30 pm
Rig your P.A. & Lighting and if possible have a small sound-check. You should be very familiar with your gear so there shouldn't be a need to make a noise for more than 5 minutes.

8.00 pm
Retire to your dressing room to change (more often than not you will have to use the disabled toilets) and relax.

9.00 pm
First set. 45 minutes during which time you will quickly find out what the audience likes or more importantly doesn't like!

9.45 pm
Break. During this time you should try and talk to members of the audience to get reaction and a feel for what they like.

10.15
Second set - Give 'em hell!

11.05 pm
After one or two encores your done. If you need to go and change back into your civvies.

11.15 pm
Break the gear down. Keep an eye on things because there is always one drunken idiot who thinks it's OK to grab your microphone and use it to serenade his friends at the end of the night.

11.30 pm
Carry the gear back out of the venue and into your car / van. Make sure you lock it each time you leave to get the next load, even if it's only for a few minutes.

11.45 pm
Pick up your hard earned money.

11.50 pm
Drive home.

12.50 am
Arrive home and transfer all the gear from the car / van back into the house.

1.15 am
Chill out for a while before going to bed. Any kind of live performance increases adrenaline levels and it's almost impossible to go straight to bed - even after a long drive.

02.00 am - ish
Finally nod off to slumber land.

Imagine doing that 2 nights a week.

Now imagine doing that four or five or even six nights a week with the occasional double gig on a Sunday afternoon and Sunday night at different venues!!

Do you still want to make your living as a gigging singer?

Of course you do - that's why you're reading this blog.

The purpose of the above exercise was to let you know what you are letting yourself in for. Above is just an outline of a typical gig. Don't forget that you will have to arrange the gigs, liaise with venues, deal with agents and private bookers and deal with paperwork such as accounts and contracts. You will also have to find time to rehearse songs, source backing tracks and maintain equipment. My point is that it's not just about the performance. To be a successful and full-time singer you need to be a jack of all trades and a master at them all as well!

There is a very good reason that there are a lot of quite frankly awful acts working in the UK today. Quite simply - Karaoke. Don't get me wrong, Karaoke has it's place and it's a great form of entertainment. However many Karaoke singers have been told by their friends that they should take singing up professionally and with that they go off half-cocked and end up with a show that is embarrassing and insulting to any professional performer. It takes a massive amount of effort to put a good show together and if you can't be bothered to make the effort you won't have a good show.

A good polished performance will get you more work. Period. The more people talk about what a great performer you are, the more work you will get. A happy customer will tell a few of his or her friends about you. An unhappy punter will tell everyone and his his wife how rubbish you were. Performance and professionalism are the keys to success.

So if you are still willing to make a living out of this industry - read on!