Equipment List

Electric Drum Kit(x1)



Acoustic Drums(x1)




Roland Keyboard(x1)




Juno Synthesisers (x1)



Upright Bass guitar (x1)



Electric Guitar (x1)



Acoustic Guitar (x1)



Microphones (x7)



Roland Synthesizers




XLR Cables (x7)



Jack Lead (x8)



Macbook Pro (x1)

Additional Equipment 

Keytar



1 x Double/'upright bass
1 x Nylon/classical acoustic guitar
1 x Keytar (which will be run wirelessly)

E.P PROJECT OFFICIAL

I have been involved with music  from the first words that I spoke as a child till now, I always had love for the atmosphere that I used to get from music. Being born in a country of multi-cultures gave me a athletic taste in music, from a young age I remember listening to english songs that I didn't understand the words of, but I understood straight away what the songs were saying and the emotion behind it. I had a very strong country music influence from a young age, and in some ways it still effects the style of music that I enjoy making even though my music is very electronic based.
I started singing from the age of 6, I used to mainly sing country music as a child, but then from the age of 9 I started singing gospel music in a children's choir. I've done quite a few performances in church and i gained a lot of my basic knowledge of music from there. This might be because of most of my friends were session players and artists within the gospel music industry. I also met producers whilst in church that inspired me to learn about the technical side of music.
I've been playing guitar for about two years now and playing the guitar gives me lots of new ideas to compose.

My style of music for this E.P is electro/soul, the reason why I want to stick to this genre is because I feel that it's the only genre that's going to allow me to explore the music that inspires me. I will be making a 6 track E.P about 20-30 minuets long. I would like to release it by May 25th 2014. I want to collaborate with some producers that I have been collaborating with. I also want to work with some musicians from level 3 performance first years. The people that I want to work with are producers: Elliot, Matt, Lemar. The reason why I want to work with these producers is because i feel that they have some similar aspects that i can work with that is similar to my music. They also are very unique with their own work and very good at what they do which would help me to improve my work and push myself to be better. It will also give me an early opportunity to work as a team and build my team working skills.
The session players I want to work with are: Bianca (Guitar), Andre (Bass), Lemar (Piano), Joe (Guitar). These musicians are the people i feel i can collaborate with for this project. Their style are different and that is why this project is going to be so good to work on. This will also be a opportunity for them to get to know each other as musicians. There are two guitar players witch i specifically chose for this project and i specifically chose these two because they can contrast. Bianca is very good at playing to the click whilst joe has a very good sense of melody, and putting them together in a track will be very interesting, so it is also an experiment of musical backgrounds. As for the pianist lemar he has a quite soulful flavour to his piano playing. He is very inspired by soul and r&b and as a person he seems to be open to ideas, yet still sure about what he wants which will work greatly for andre, because andre has the same taste in music and having a bass player and pianist working together will have a major effect on the groove of the song. One problem that I am facing right now is that i cannot find any drummer that suits the style that I want. So for the future my specific goal for the upcoming month is to have a drummer playing in my E.P with me.
Overall working with these musicians will give me an understanding of how each of them work as individuals. My recording skills, my ability of recognising mistakes in recordings and my networking skills should improve by the end of this project based on the amount of work i need to do with every single one of these individuals.

 For this E.P I don't want to work with singers because I want this E.P to feel more like a movie, based on the sounds, atmosphere then a normal composed song. The people that will be working with me at the studio will be Elliot (Sound engineer), Charlie (technician) and me as the composer.

Songs To Be Worked On (Collaboration)

Track 1:

Old Man:

• D.I Box: The reason why I need to use the D.I box is because you need to connect all the cables to the D.I box which converts all the real sounds into data information of the instrument to the software you want to record with, in this case the software I will use is logic. 

• Acoustic Guitar: The reason why I chose to use an acoustic guitar is to add a bit of texture to the sounds that I already have for the track.

• Electric Guitar
• C414 Condensor Microphone
• Amplifier
• X3 XLR Cable
• X2 Jack Lead.

Track 2: 

The Dream - C414 Microphone, Electric Guitar, Amplifier, SN58 Microphone.

Track 3: 

808 Generation - Grand Piano, Titan Microphone. 

I started my year of 2013 with an idea of making my own home studio.

To make and produce my own EP I had to gain about £2000 based on my research and my calculations, here is what i managed to buy.

• Macbook Pro 13 Inch (With student discount) - £850 
• Memory RAM 16G - £108
• M-Audio Studio Phile AV 40 - £999
• RCA Phono Plugs - £1.25
• Stagg 3m High Quality XLR to XLR Plug Microphone Cable - £3.25
• Behringer Ps 400 Phantom Power Supply 
• Behringer C-1 Studio Condenser Microphone - (x2) - £49.77
• HDE XLR Female to USB 2.0 CABLE - £15.65
• M-Audio Key Station MIDI - £33.39
• Samsung Wide Screen HD 3D T.V - £350
• Display Port DP to HDMI Cable - £20
• TOTAL: 2,430.28

Even though i went £430.28 over the limit I feel that my target to make my own home studio was a success. If I didn't research what I needed to buy first, I'm sure that I would of spent a lot more money then I have. My next goal from which I started in summer involved me producing my own E.P, I set myself a target to complete six tracks by December 28th. At the time based on my optimism it was achievable but having starting the new year in college and having learnt new skills I realised to get six tracks sounding good by December 28th became unrealistic based on the work that I had to do for each track. But I'll still manage to complete three well mixed tracks for my E.P.

My next target is to improve my mixing skills and learn about new techniques in logic that can make my songs improve. I will set a target to buy the book 'Mixing Secrets For Small Studio' by the first of January 2014 and I will dedicate the month February 2014 to read the book.

Recording Schedule:

For 12 weeks i'm going to make sure that every week I book the studio to record vocals, acoustic guitar, electric guitar and to mix down.

Future Plan:

My future plan for my E.P is to make tracks that are going to attract new listeners to my soundcloud and my band camp. My main goal is to use this E.P  to my promote myself as a artist/producer. My electro/soul E.P will be available next summer as a free download.
It is going to be available for free download because due to my lack of exposure to the media uploading my track to soundcloud, band camp is a great way to start gaining recognition. This will also be a good portfolio for applying to university and getting jobs in the industry, the reason for this is if you get recognised in social sites it indicates that your work is good.

‘Beginners Guide to Synthesis’

Danilo Ferreira da Silva

3 December 2013

‘Beginners Guide to Synthesis’

the relationship between acoustic theory and the fundamentals of synthesis.

The Word Synthesis means combining different element and thats exactly what a synthesiser does combine different elements like pitch, texture, shapes of sound and you modify it create the sound you want. It sound simple but there are a few things you need to understand about sound for you to get the exact sound you need. and here are a few things were going to cover:

Pitch

One of the most used aspect of human expression Is pitch but what is pitch, and how does it work? well pitch is the rate of frequency that travels through the air while vibrating meaning, that if you want the sound to travel low you need the vibration thats coming from the source to travel slow making a low frequency sound which makes a low pitch sound and to get the sound to travel in high pitch you increase the rate of vibration and the will make a high pitch sound, pitch is vital in music and it was developed to work in synthesisers the same way as a piano.

Frequency

When thinking about frequency think of the tube and how the trans engine sounds,when you are at the station and the engine is on the train vibrates the everything around you and when the train moves you hear the pitch of the engine going higher and higher until the engine reach its beak and thats how frequency work you have your waveform + Amplitude + frequency which is how fast the waveform moves = sound.

Waveforms

To understand how synthesis works you need to understand how sound works. Sound though not seen works with physical energy, it is created by moving particles in the air which is described as sound pressure which is interpreted by the human ears and translated by the brain. If sound was to be seen by the naked eye, we would be able to see lots and lots of waveforms. Waveforms are basically how sounds behave.Sound is affected by many factors and lots of different textured surface this always and synthesisers capture a lot of that.

Waveforms: 

Sine - The type of sound you get from hearing a Sine wave is a really specific single frequency type sound which sounds very useful when creating a baseline or a lead it is also the purest of sound you can hear when heard at a low frequency the sound is very pleasant but when you hear the sound at a high frequency its unbearable you might argue that the sound you hear when you have tinnitus is a sine wave because of the luck of texture.

here is also a link which represents the sound of a sine wave  

Square -   the square has more layers of frequencies which makes the sound sound more  dirtier you might even confuse the sound of a square and a triangle waveform.

here is a link which represents a square wave

Triangle -  A triangle sound is great to use to make brass sounds it is also a easy way to get distortion due to the large amount of frequency level trying to fight each other.

Sawtooth - sawtooth just by the name makes explain a lot the sound the sawtooth produces is very arising and hard to hear a long period of time but you can get lots of different texture when mixing the sawtooth with different waveforms 

Sawtooth - 

The only realistic sounds we hear as humans from natural sound pressure is the Sine wave, the square,triangle and sawtooth waveforms are only due able within synthesisers, it might sound a bit complicated and a bit irrelevant but when it comes to creating sound it is vital.

Now that I explained the basics, i will explain in detail how you could manipulate, edit and create your own sound using different synthesis and what type of synthesis you could use to make your sound. 

ADRS Envelope 

An ADRS Envelope is a Tool vital when creating your own sound and most sythersisers will have a built in ADRS Envelope built in. The way they work is simple you have Attack which is how fast the sound reach its people when the sound is played a short attack means you can have a smooth sound with out any bang to the sound.Decay mean how long or short you want the peak to meat fading of your sound.A sustain means how long the sound stays at the frequency when holding the keys down.release is how fast the sustain level reaches zero. 

another aspect I want to speak upon is is Filters and how you can use it to manipulate sound.the are 3 main type of filter Low pass, low pass filter all frequencies above and every extra noise above gets cut off straight a way. High pass, high pass works the same way as the Lowpass but it cuts of the low end instead. Band pass allow only the sound around the chose cut off point to get throw. 

LFO 

Low - Frequency Oscillator is a Digital signal that moves on really low frequencies it is used to create rhythmic grove as-well. Although they effect sound they do not change how it sounds they only manipulate an already made sound by pulsing. you can sync the sound to different groves 1/4, 2bars or choose a wave shape to trigger the sound at.

Unit 16 Roles Evaluation

Unit: 11

chrome hoofs

Role: Sell merchandise 

My task was to sell merchandise I used the time before the event to increase my network, I spoke with sound engineer musicians managers and fans that is involved in the industry, they gave me different prospectives on the roles that they were involved in and there opinion made me think 

about what aspect of the industry I can start working in.

I learned a lot from my self selling merchandise during the event, especially how you should react  in certain moments how to sell your product and what interest people , we sold a lot of merchandise  because we sold our product well and showed interest in what the people was talking about.

nothing major went wrong during the event and after but in my opinion if we had more merchandise we would of made more money.

My task was simple I had to sell merchandise, so the first thing I did was to plan the best way to show off the merchandise and also how we would position our selfs to attract people. I never worked with kieran(team mate) before so we learned a lot from each before the task was done right we got on well and that came across to the buyers. overall it was a success there always a place for improvement but it was a success we sold out vynyl  all the medium t-shirts we sold jumpers CDs.

History Of Electronic Music

2012 was a great year for live performance there was lots of old heroes coming back to do it, there was more money involved in it, the technology became more complex and image became a major influence. 2012 was a year that made me think of how image actually influences live performance in this article I will be going back in time and will be exploring the history and comparing how image effects live performance now and how it used to effects then.

Tupac Hologram

The tupac hologram marked a new step for technology, even though technology grew rapidly in the last 20 years. For those who never saw the performance of 2012 with Snoop Dogg, tupac and dr dre and for those who have seen it, it's still hard to believe how amazing the event was, this is because tupac came to join the party. Although Tupac never resurrected the producers of the event managed to make a $100,000 hologram version of Tupac. So people don't freak out the tupac hologram version is a recording from his 1996 performance at the house of blues. Tupac's performance live at the house of blues had standard LED lights and a projector that had house of blues written in white. At that time visuals was a major part of performance, so now I want to go deeper than that, earlier than that to explain how we see live performance developed with time.

Major Equipment In Live Performance

LED Lighting:

Electroluminescence which is what LED technology was built upon was discovered in 1907 by a british radio researcher and his assistant. Henry Joseph made an experiment with silicon carbide and a cats whisker. During the 1920's a radio researcher Oleg Vladimirovich was studying what electroluminescence is, and in 1927 he published a paper called Luminous Carborundum even though this didn't create the original LED light it became a major influence to the future of LED lighting. In 1962 Nick Holonyack a engineer for an electronic company invented the first visible light, it was red LED. A few years later LED light went on to be developed and now it is a major equipment for live performance. Now in the 21st century LED light has many shapes, many sizes and can be controlled through many devices and in some cases it reacts to sound.

Video Panel: 

A video panel is a LED display. Within a video panel there is groups of red, green and blue diodes and it operates together to form a full coloured pixel mostly in a square shape. Though this is used for a lot of different things it is now the most useful piece of equipment in live performance. Whether you use them for display of a video or have your bands name written in a large display.

Smoking Machine:

A smoking machine in live performance is very useful, the reason why the smoking machine is so useful is because the smoke that the machine provides helps to section the lights making the LED lights more visible for the audience to see. The smoke machine works by heating up propylene glycol and triethylene glycol mixed with 20% of water. This makes the smoke spread out quite similar to a cigarette or smoke on fire without causing any side effects or injuries.

Live Performance During The 60s

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vcYrmYeyFsM

During the 60's, performances was based more on how the band sounded, the focus also was more on the audience. The people going to see live performance during the 60's were more worried about having fun, dancing, more then actually seeing people perform live. As the years went on equipment and technology became more advanced, stage performances went from being at the centre to the front of the venue. Everything that was being created gave focus to the performer. 30 years later technology became a must in live performances.

Live Performance During The 90s
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fb4qyuR7_cc

Live performances during the 90's were quite different due to a lot of people experimenting with new sounds, new image and new style of music. The 90's was also a great year for visuals, bands like guns and roses and performers like michael jackson were all very extreme in terms of finding new ways to showcase their image. Although these are not the people I will be talking about, if you do watch any performances during the 90's you would see how advanced technology became. A band that I really want to focus on is 9 inch nails and the reason I want to talk about them is because they always had a step ahead when it came to visuals. In 1994's wood stock event they amazed me with the amount of things they had going on stage, but what was unique about them was that there was songs that made audience focus on the singer and other songs that made you focus on the lyrics. But that is not unique, what was unique was that they made the visuals and the lights influence the audience on wether they wanted the audience to focus on the singer or the song.


How The Media Uses It
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PYwNOO9N5lM

Years went by and what once was knew became old, but one thing that didn't age was 9 inch nails style of visuals in their 90's. Their style of using visuals in their performances can still be seen today in almost every music reality show. For example: in this video Bruno Mars sings a song about love and if we were to stand there watching him perform that song without any of the visual effects we would not pay attention to the lyrics. But what is very interesting about this performance was that the video reacts to the drums, making it seem much more dramatic then what it is.

Next Step For Live Performance
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rbuQuvoc0YE

Were in the year 2013 and what is really exciting is, as time goes on technology gets more and more advanced, and as for the visual side of performance it gets more and more complicated but yet simple for our minds to react to music and visuals as one piece. This video with Flying Lotus shows how people in this era are writing songs to match visuals, and how performers are now trying to get the audience to see what's in their minds with video technology.

Personal Statement

Music has been part of my life for many years and ever since I can remember I always enjoyed the atmosphere that I got from listening to it. As I became a bit older it became clear to me that I wanted to pursue what I always enjoyed. I first became familiar with the engineering side of music at the age of 12, I was chosen to manage the sound in my church because back then I was the only person available that had enough responsibility to do the task. At first it was very complicated because I did not know what I was doing. But after I started to pay more attention to how music sounded and how I could make it sound good instead of getting worked up about what buttons to use. In my own way I tried my best to learn how to play instruments like: electric guitar, bass, acoustic guitar, once I started to learn about these instruments I started to realise how they actually worked within a song and I started to really get addicted to music that had a great quality sound to it.

At the age of 18 I realised that I needed to be bold and realistic about my decision to do music and the reality of the music industry, so I applied to do a level 2 course at Westkings College where I am currently study. When I was initially interviewed I was very honest about my situation and I also explained what I wanted to get from the industry and I told my teachers that I wanted to be in a course that could have a wide range of aspects that I could learn from, especially the business side of it and she told me the course was perfect for me and that was 3 years ago, I have progressed onto level 3 and this is my last year and I can honestly say that it was the right move for me I am 20  and I have a realistic view of how the music industry works and what I would have to do to get a career within it. At Westking College they also offered me help from people who actually worked within the industry themselves, they offered me work experience in which I had to sell merchandise for one of the tutors band, they offered me facilities and a good knowledge of how the equipment works. One of our technician who also happens to be a sound engineer explained to us in a very unique way how sound actually works. He gave us a basic but clear way of understanding sound and now I want to gain a stronger understanding of how to mix and master the ways in which you manipulate sound and also learn many more things that I have not learnt yet.    

I am devoted about what I do, I demonstrated this by working in environments that had a similar atmosphere to the future career I want to fulfill. My first experience was in church as a cameraman, as well as being a cameraman I was also the one that dealt with the sound in live situations, this made me aware of how sound works and it also gave me an understanding of different skills that I needed to learn in order to be good. Having had experience as a cameraman I had the chance to film live performances, I have managed to see how bands interact in live situations, how sound engineer mix, and how effective the positioning of all the equipment is.

Even though I was not interested in media I have gained a lot of personal friends within the media industry, this is because I have had a chance to work as a cleaner in a video production company called hatrick, there I gained connection to people that eventually offered me work experience there and I felt honoured because they only expected post graduates to do work experience. My week there was very interesting they talked to me about how the media industry works about how the technical side is actually done, how they work as freelancers and they also gave me a few tips for me to be a successful in the future. 

In Westking College I have had many opportunities to work with artists throughout the college, this happened because I made myself available for help to make their portfolio the best it could be that meant that I had to work with other producers to get the best quality songs we could out of the recording. 

Before I got into production I was a performer and I had a chance to understand what a performer needs, what a performer wants, how to speak to them, and also how to get the best out of them. In my spare time i like to compose my own songs to keep my creativity alive. I have had a lot of different jobs that gave me different skills, I started out in cleaning which gave me the skills to be organised then I went to work as a part time technician installing Internet for a company that worked for virgin media and I also worked in a cafe which gave me communication skills.

My current course has a lot of privileges in terms of giving me skills and making my practical work better but I am looking for a course that can take me to the next level on my insight. I also chose this course because in some ways it is related to my current course. Even though the academic work is vital in the career that I want I am also looking to expand my network and going university is going to give me a wider connection and closer connection to the music industry then my current course. I believe that I have within me what it takes to take myself to the next level and choosing audio engineering and production to study at this university will surely get the best out of me.I did some research and I came to a conclusion that audio engineering and producing is my chosen course at this university and if I was to be accepted I would work to make a start in my chosen career and I will use the skills I have gained in the university to do so. I would look forward to making new friends in the university so I could create a wider network for myself in the future, this would help my career choice because to get a job in the music industry you need to know the right people.

Smart Target

What to do

These are the targets that I need to complete by March 20.

• compose songs for the EP Project for myself.
• produce for other singers.
• work on a plan for EP.
• I need to record with artist/player in The college studio to help them create a portfolio.

(I need to hand in the files to show my work with artist and my produced track as evidence.)

Events Management 2

Stadium Gig (Hillsong Conference)

I have chosen to talk about hillsong conference.
hillsong conference is mainly christian they are also very athletic on views which means that they don't have a specific look and they don't have a extreme doctrines making the church and the venues appeal to every one, which is a controversial aspect of the church.

The Hillsong conference is also known for it's professional structure, as a member you are allowed to do volunteer work and that involves singing, dancing, media, filming, lighting and sound, software design, almost all the areas in media industry and performance industry is covered by volunteers, but what makes it work for them is that they also have a specific entry requirement for each area wether its getting a degree in filming or having a trial to see if you can sing well enough.

Target Audience - Any age group

Because the hillsong conference has not got a age limit it is also very easy for them to reach out to young and old. At the conference they have a special facility for children to stay while the parents watch the main event, so you would usually see big family's joining in.

Venue - o2 Arena

The o2 arena is a venue which hosts major events in the capital of england, it is known to be the pinnacle point for performers.

Location: - East London

The location is in The O2, Greenwich peninsula, South-East London.

Duration - 3 days

This conference goes on for three days and each day there is a different set list and there is different performers. The reason why it goes on for three days is so they can get more performers to get a chance to perform and to give people a chance to watch the conference on a different day. Also because they have loads of different things to talk about and sing about. Also for different bands to perform because they cannot fit in the whole event in one day.

Capacity - 20,000

Recurrence - Every year

In 2007 hillsong conference Sydney begun in London at the excel exhibition centre, it was known at the time as hillsong conference Europe. Now the event became a yearly event that is hosted every year in london.

Spatial requirement -

Equipment:
- Instruments
- Stage Equipment
- Smoke machines
- Lights
- Screen + Projectors
- Sound Equipment

Need for service companies -

Lighting and special effects:

They had special effects that went along with the music, lots of different lighting effects. Also a spotlight on the main performer/act.
Accessibility - very easy to get there because it is a well known stadium and when you come out of the station the stadium is infront of you.

Type of music - contemporary rock/ gospel

Staffing:
- lighting engineers
- sound engineers
- Stage Manger and assistants
- Performers
- Musicians
- Guides - people to guide the audience around the venue
- Media - People filming the event to make it a DVD to sell it as a DVD
- Nursery - to look after the parents kids while the parents watch the show
- Aid - for any injuries.
- Bar tender
- Food Restaurants - to sell people food.

Open Mic:

Location - The Bull Theatre, High Barnet High Road

Age Limit - The age limit is suitable for 10 year olds to any age because there was a lot of lighting effects and loud music so that could effect small children or really old people who could not handle it. 

Tickets -  Tickets were only available at the door for £6, that was the fixed price. £6 is a good price because it is affordable and is fair for the event being held. Once you pay £6 pounds your ticket is a stamp on your hand and a paper wrist band where you can walk in and out of the venue.

Dressing Room - There was a dressing room available for performers only but because the manager of the event did not want a lack of audience, the manager made a rule for everyone including the performers have to stay in the audience so there would be a full audience. So a performer has to remember the person performing before them so they can go to the dressing room to prepare and then go on stage. 

The dressing room has mirrors for people to get ready and make sure they look alright, there was toilets, water spread out in trays incase people got thirsty, a big white board where the set list was written down and it was easy to notice. There was sofas, comfy chairs and a lot of space to prepare. 

Duration - 3 hours

Open mic night is an open event for any singer or dancer that wants to perform, so depending on the number of acts and their length of their performance is how long the event will be. Usually open mic night would last for 3 hours. 

The event was held on a Saturday from 19:30pm - 23:00pm, this was good timing because the theatre was full and it was the first week back from school so it was a good time for everyone to catch up and bring all the students and parents together and enjoy a good show. 

Capacity - The capacity of the theatre is 150, This capacity is good enough for this kind of event because it is enough to fit all the students in the school, the parents of the students, old students, and few other people from the public. 

Success - The venue was full from the start of the night to the end of the night, after the event everyone went to the bar downstairs. This event was so successful because it was a saturday and most people are free on a saturday night and the timing was good because it finished at a good time where people can get home because transport finishes at around 00:00pm - 00:30pm. If the event was on a week day it would not work out as good as a saturday because in the week people have work and are usually busy so it is not comfortable and also not a lot of people would show up. 

Recurrence - Every month or every 2 months

Open mic night is held every month because open mic night is a charity event so they save money for charity and because open mic night is held in a theatre school the event helps the school earn something they desperately need. Every open mic night has a different event based on a holiday like: christmas, valentines day, easter etc so this allows more people attracted to come and watch the event. 

Spatial requirement -

Equipment:
- Instruments: At open mic night people usually perform as soloist's, duets or bands so they would need instruments like: acoustic guitars and keyboards. The performers would need to provide these instruments mostly because they need to perform with an instrument they are used to and have practiced with. 

- Sound Equipment: The sound equipment used was: microphones, amplifiers, wires to connect from an instrument to an amplifier, sound desk, speakers.

- Lighting Equipment: lights, lighting desk, spotlight. 

- Most equipment was already at the venue but instruments, discs and jack leads was needed to be provided from the performers. 

- The stage was middled sized not massive and not small it was a perfect size for dancers to move around and enough space to fill in a full band without looking squashed. The stage was filled out and there was a lot of space for instruments and up to 30 - 50 performers. 

Need for service companies -

Lighting and special effects - There was no special effects but there was lighting effects that went along with the specific song and mood given in the song and performance. 

Accessibility - Very easy to get there, on high road, 5 minuet walk from high barnet station, the venue is on the same side of the tube station and you just walk straight up. 

Type of music - All types

Staffing:
- Sound Engineer: There was a sound engineer who started soundchecks from 14:30pm - 18:00pm a good few hours for all the performers to have a chance to have a sound check. The sound engineer also used the sound desk to control the sound, set up the speakers and sound equipment on stage. There were a few people helping the sound engineer so there were about 3 people as sound engineers. The sound was good quality but there was a few problems with the microphones where it would stop working completely and also there would be a loud noise which would hurt everyones ears and would distract the performer. 

- Lighting Engineer: There were 3 people working the lights, there was a lighting box which was built to be in the ceiling so they can look down on the stage and see every detail. There was also sound equipment in the lighting box so the lighting engineers could help with the sound but had more focus on the lighting. They had a big spotlight, a lighting desk and a computer which connects to the lighting desk and they control the lights through the desk and through the computer. 

- Receptionist: There was a receptionist that managed the tickets and the money and let people in to the theatre.

- Bar tender: There was a bar tender downstairs who was giving out soft drinks and snacks to any age and sold alcohol beverages to over 18's.

- Presenters: The presenters had to be chosen a week in advance and the presenters had to be 2 people that had a good connection with each other and could work together and could make people laugh and entertain people. Also hold a good mood before a performance and after a performance.

- Performers: Performers had to call the manager of the event to let the manager know they are performing they had to call a few weeks in advance so the manager could keep track of a set list of performers so by the time of the event there would not be to many people performing and there would be a good variety of people performing. 

Organisation - The event had good organisation, there was posters all over the area of barnet and was put up a few weeks before the event which gave enough time to get peoples attention. The set list was done smoothly and the event went smoothly without any suspense's and mistakes.

Target Audience: There was no target audience, this event was targeted to anyone who wants to watch a show, This open mic night is not meant to be hugely known it is just meant to get the theatre full, save up money for charity, and give people good entertainment and a good night out. Good enough for people to come back to the next one. 
The venue fits in well with this event because the theatre has seats and people can sit, relax and watch the show relaxed. This open mic night is more like a show so that is why the theatre is good for the event because people want to sit and lay back to watch a show. 

Venue: To pick a good venue for a specific event you need to watch out for the capacity, spacial requirement's and size. Example if you wanted a to book a venue for a gig for an upcoming artist you would not book a small venue for 50 people as a capacity because you want a lot of people to come and get to know the artist so you would book a venue for 300 - 500 capacity so a lot of people can join the event and get to know the music of the artist and also there would be promoters, managers, people from the music industry so there would be a lot of them coming. There would be a lot of social media people coming to document the gig. But for an open mic night like this would you need a capacity of 100 - 150 where that is a good amount of people where you can get everyone you know together and it is more like a show so you would need a smaller venue then a venue for a important gig for an upcoming artist. There has to be seats, in a gig it would mostly likely be a standing gig so because open mic night is more of a show you would get people sitting to relax because it is a long show. So thats why for this open mic night event the theatre is a good venue because there is 150 seats and everyone can watch and relax. 




Gig @ small venue (300 Cap.)

Location - Barfly (Camden)

Duration - 3 hours

Capacity - 200

Recurrence - One off

Spatial requirement -

Equipment:
- Dj set
- Instruments
- Computers
- Lighting
- Sound
- Mixer

Need for service companies - Security guards

Lighting and special effects - Lights

Accessibility - Not very easy

Type of music - Hip hop, R&B, Folk, Dance

Staffing:
- Security guards
- Bar tender
- Lighting
- Sound
- Performers


Gig @ large venue (300 – 5000 + Cap.)

Location - KoKo (Morington Crescent/Camden)

Duration - 4 hours

Capacity - 1410

Recurrence - One off

Spatial requirement -

Entire Venue Capacity: 1410
Theatre Style (Auditorium): 300
Banquet Style (Auditorium): 210
Reception: 1000

Equipment:
- Lights
- Sound
- Instruments
- Massive Mixer
- Lighting Mixer

Need for service companies -

Lighting and special effects - Yes

Accessibility - Easy to get there, next to station

Type of music - Pop, R&B, Soul

Staffing:
- Equipment Keeper
- Sound Engineer
- Lighting Engineer
- Bar Tender
- Secuirty Guards

Events Management

My chosen event is the Hillsong conference.

History:

The Hillsong conference is a major church event which focuses mainly on music and teaching. The first Hillsong conference was held in 1986 in Baulkham Hills (Australia) at the hills centre venue where hillsong church first was based on, at that time hillsong used to do their conference more similar to normal church services than an actual music event, from 1995 - 2000 hillsong church started to gain a lot of national service goers so by the year of 1999 and 2000 they held two identical conference across 2 weeks, and during that time hillsong also started to sell their own albums of written christian songs, when it came to the year 2001 they were set up from a major event in which they used the Sydney Olympic park. From that time up until to 2007 hillsong conference used to be based upon Australia as a yearly event, but in 2007 hillsong conference Sydney begun in London at the excel exhibition centre, it was known at the time hillsong conference Europe, since then it became an annual conference held in London attracting people from all over the world. It's been a few years now since the first hillsong conference and in 2011 they celebrated the 25th anniversary held in Sydney entertainment centre in the city of Sydney for 1 year only. It was also held in Perth Adelaide Melbourne Brisbane in may. In July 2012 it was announced that they would also be doing hillsong conference in the USA and it would be hosted by 2 cities new york city on the 4th and 5th of October and LosAngeles on the 18th and 19th of October.

• hillsong conference is mainly christian they are also very athletic on views which means that they don't have a specific look and they don't have a extreme doctrines making the church and the venues appeal to every one, which is a controversial aspect of the church.
• The Hillsong conference is also known for it's professional structure, as a member you are allowed to do volunteer work and that involves singing, dancing, media, filming, lighting and sound, software design, almost all the areas in media industry and performance industry is covered by volunteers, but what makes it work for them is that they also have a specific entry requirement for each area wether its getting a degree in filming or having a trial to see if you can sing well enough.

The Branding Name.

Hillsong was a church band and they released their first album and it was so successful they decided to re-name the church hillsong due to the credibility of the church band because hillsong church used to have a different name, their name was Hill Christian Live Centre. There has been cases where people knew the hillsong music but did not know it was a church, with time hillsong music became so big that it gained credibility with lots of major promoters that got them to perform in loads of big events all around the world, hillsong also is one of the few christian bands that done a sellout world tour, so that gives an idea of how big and successful the hillsong music is. The reason this is such a big deal in the music industry is because the promoters doesn't ever have to pay for the o2 arena and only having a total of 500 people showing up on the day, so when a band has a good reputation in terms of audience showing up that means that the promoter has a lot more to worry about which for the promoters case it means that the more worries they have the more money they will probably get.

Advertising

To make sure that a venue is successful you need to get people knowing about it, the more people know the larger the turn up. In the olden days word of mouth and radio was the biggest factor in advertising music. Now a days there is a lot more variety, people would now use things like: webpages, blogs, social media, music streaming sites, video sites and apps which is a key factor in this new decade. What hillsong does very well is to get themselves involved as much as they can on as much social sites as well as having their own professional web site, which gives links to every site they are connected to, they also have a app which is very useful to use incase you want to buy a ticket for a show. They also made everything that is complicated simple for people to use meaning when you go to their website it is very easy to understand, very easy to use, and very easy to share. They also made the website available in different languages, so everyone around the world can look at their website in their language. They also encourage all of their members to stay connected and they also encourage members that are connected to get others that are connected, so when it comes to a major big event it's very easy to advertise through the internet, they also make sure to put posters up all over the city, buses and in some channels they sometimes even advertise it.

Because the hillsong conference has not got a age limit it is also very easy for them to reach out to young and old. At the conference they have a special facility for children to stay while the parents watch the main event, so you would usually see big family's joining in.

Finance

With hillsong and their big events they have a huge amount of finance to be able to keep the business of the church successful, the finance will involve finance for: promoters to promote the church and the conference, advertisers to advertise the conference professionally and successfully, billboards, the venue of the conference, the staging equipment, full extended band, orchestra, dancers, singers, speakers, instruments, sound engineers, lighting engineers and travel.
things they need money for:

- hiring promoters
- hiring sound engineer's
- hiring lighting engineer's
- hiring advertisers
- paying for billboards
- paying bands
- paying for speakers
- paying for travel
- paying venue
- paying for staging equipment
- paying for instruments
- paying for orchestra
- paying for performers



The ticket price is £110 for 3 nights. The o2 arena has a capacity of 20,000 people, they are predicted to get 22,00000. They sell merchandise so they will earn much more.

target audience

venue

Location 

Duration

Capacity

Recurrence

staff

sound

Type of music

Staffing

performance

Spatial requirement

Equipment

Location 

Duration

Capacity

Recurrence

Spatial requirement

Equipment

Need for service companies

Lighting and special effects

Accessibility 

Type of music

Staffing

Music performance technique

What is your instrument ?

I've started singing from a early age and ever since then music has been a hobby to me. i didn't have any specific type of rehersals or lessons and exercises. even though i never took singing too seriously it has always been there, and at the age of 17 i started to focus on singing more, so i went and started to sing in a quire and that is when i started to gain disipline, the type of exercises that we used to do was all rounded, i would focus on my breathing, my vocal range and also my fitness level, from then i started to make personal strategies: 

• Monday - Breathing (60 Minuets)
• Tuesday - Vocal Range (60 Minuets)
• Wednesday - Rehearse Songs (150 Minuets)
• Thursday - Harmonies (150 Minuets)
• Friday - Fitness (4 Hours)
• Saturday - Recovery (All Day)
• Sunday - Performance  

*My Routine For 3 Years*

My current practice routine is singing whilst im in the shower for about 1 hour. I practice my scales, i also work on my vocal range for about 10 minuets and then i mainly jam. What i want to improve for now is my breathing, my vocal range and my fitness, so what my plan is to get my old routine back because my current routine is not as effective as my old routine. This is how i want my new plan to be:

• Monday - Breathing (60 Minuets)
• Tuesday - Vocal Range (15 Minuets Warmup, 60 Minuets Of Scales)
• Wednesday - Rehearse Songs (150 Minuets + 180 Minuets Of Song Writing)
• Thursday - Breathing (15 Minuets Warmup, 60 Minuets Of Breathing)
• Friday - Vocal Range (60 Minuets)
• Saturday - Rehearsing Songs (150 Minuets)
• Sunday - Rest   

The reason why I chose to do these exercises everyday for a long period of time is because they are effective and successful to strengthen my vocals and rehearsing these exercises daily will improve my breathing, my vocal range, my song writing skills at a faster level.

This type of schedule will set me up for a upcoming performance and it will also set me up for the future. I always felt that my breathing let me down in some performance and having a routine in which I can practice my breathing more then once a week will definitely get the result I want, the reason am so sure about this is because I followed this type of routine before and I noticed a big difference.

Plotting Your Personal Statement

Plotting Your Personal Statement

Use this grid to plan the points you want to make for each section.  This will make it easier to write up and ensure that you don’t’ miss anything vital out!

WHY have you chosen this course? I have chose this course to: I want to be able to understand the foundation of producing techniques(from mixing,sampling and mastering) By being accepted I will be working to make a start in my chosen career in music and I will use my skills learned at the university to do so. As well as learning I will be looking forward to making new friends and making a wider network for my self in the future. Because the industry is getting more and more competitive I will be gaining an advantage in the industry in gaining better skills and having a wider network.

WHAT have you done to demonstrate your passionate interest in the course subject? Worked by volunteering in the media industry as a cameraman for a Brazilian charity. Produced tracks for students in wkc Performed as a recording artist Worked in different jobs the made me gain different skills and the jobs were, cleaning connecting Internet for virgin media. I also learn the history of different type music to give me more knowledge of how each genre works.

How does your BTEC COURSE relate to your chosen university course? the teachers in the college teach us much more than music they teach us to be independent, they teach us how to deal with the facts of the music industry, like being self employed paying taxes the types of royalties, working part-time.  as well as all the business they teach similar subjects too.

What have you learned from your INTERESTS & ACTIVITIES that is relevant to your chosen course and university life? People skills - by having my interest mainly linked to music I have gained lots of new friends  and friends that can point me in the right direction in terms get my work known or having a better understanding of my skills Team work - I have worked by my self a lot through my life and when I come Wkc I gained a lot of confidence in the students and my self to work with them and now I am currently working on a EP with one of the students My Independent work

CONCLUSION – What personal experience or ambition can you link to your chosen course to give the statement a sense of completion? as a stu