article by: Stefan – SF Intercom

I have been following Local Record label Parks and Records for some time. Thus it is with great excitement that I bring you this interview from Local SF Band Silian Rail.

Does your band get together and plan? Explain!
As far as tours, timing of releases, collaborative projects, etc., yes, we certainly plan. While we get a ton of terrific support from the labels we work with, friends, etc. , there is still a lot of strategy that has to go in to the running of the band as an entity beyond just the music, and we do put a lot of time and effort in to it, and try to do it in a way that is smart, effective and always serves the music and our broader artistic vision. I should add to that those sorts of concerns always come up after the creative concerns, and are formulated in conjunction with our artistic aims.

Is there something your band does that makes your meetings successful?
We don’t have a particular strategy or way of planning, and sometimes we are more successful than others. I do think it’s important for bands to always make sure that whatever endeavors they are working on are first and foremost fun and creatively rewarding, and that they are situations and groups of people that allow the band to be at its best and/or learn something. Timing and momentum are also good things to keep in mind.

What advice do you have for band about creating a personification?
While I do think there is tremendous value to shaping your bands’ presentation in a way that is compatible with and compliments/serves the music you make, I would say that trying to manufacture an identity for its own sake is dangerous territory that can lead to insincerity which is both personally unrewarding and which people can usually see through. That being said, with the speed and ease with which media/information/images/sounds travel in the present age, it is worth being thoughtful about how you present the band and making an effort to be consistent and thoughtful in the choices you make. But, always with a music first approach. If you are making music that you believe in, it should be easy to figure out what compliments that appropriately.

What is the hardest thing about promoting?
I think the hardest thing about promoting is the pressure generated by a hyper-saturated media environment to designate and distinguish oneself with ineffective tools like genre tags, references to other bands, one liner descriptions/etc. The expectation that a 30 second sample or a singular genre label can provide anything truly meaningful or enticing to someone who cares about music can feel a little ridiculous at times. That being said, it is amazing that there are so many tools available for people to self promote and reach an incredible range of people. I think we have particularly enjoyed and benefited from appreciating the personal connectivity that modern media enables as a way to have dialogue with musical peers/fans/etc. So, coming from a band who is pretty bad at self-promoting, I would say appreciate the tools that you have and use them to speak to people in your own voice, and to connect with people on a personal level.

What tools do you recommend for people to self-promote?
Well, the obvious internet ones — good old fashioned email lists/internet groups, blogs, youtube, facebook, myspace, the various other sites that allow you to post your music and communicate to large groups of people. More than any particular website it’s just the fact that bands can create and distribute material very easily in this insane technology driven modern world, and it can immediately be available to anyone with access to a computer/the internet. Self promotion is tricky terrain for a number of different reasons, though, and it is important to think about the things that accompany these formats — i.e. annoying and offensive advertising.

How do you connect with bands, fans and industry professionals?
We do utilize websites like myspace and facebook, though we’ve found that playing lots of live shows is the best way to connect us to new listeners, as well as to other bands, who often become friends/fans/allies.

How do those new fans end up at your show?
When first starting as a band, it helped to just play as many shows as possible; despite how small or weird it seemed, some small seed was usually planted, i.e a friendship with another band, people who love your show and tell their friends about you who then come to your next show, etc etc.

How do you secure them as fans?
Obviously, the longer you are a band the less it makes sense to play every show that comes your way. Having a tight-knit community of bands/friends is also incredibly helpful, which happens as a result of being supportive and friendly to each other rather than aloof and competitive, and manifests as the sharing of press and booking resources, playing shows together, and lots of good times.

What is the hardest thing about touring? How have you overcome that?
We are touring currently, and will be throughout the year. We actually have a mostly incredibly positive experience touring– every time we go out we seem to make new connections with wonderful, talented, generous like minded people making interesting music and working hard to support the underground music community. I think the things that get to us are the more trivial inconveniences– long drives (remedies– running in the morning (for eric), throwing the frisbee around), missing loved ones and friends and pets (remedies- phone calls, mid tour stopovers at home).’

- Silian Rail: Eric Kuhn and Robin Landy

ALSO CHECK OUT THEIR NEW ALBUM - OUT NOW!
Silian Rail “Parhelion” – listen “Parhelion” album preview mp3

Album includes 9 new songs from the Bay Area’s most respected instrumental duo.
Order Now – $8.00

Available on iTunes or amazon mp3

http://www.parksandrecords.com/

Bay Area band Axium has been promoting, plugging-in and playing all over the US. In an effort to help you with your efforts I stopped them to ask how they do it.

Does your band get together and plan? (Plan)

ISM: It’s always a challenge to meet and discuss ideas and ‘business’ planning, so technology (Email/Texting) can be helpful. Setting achievable goals that everyone can agree on is key, but I think it all comes down to being on the same page. Some things are bigger decisions than others, and require a more in-person pow-wow. Knowing the difference is a huge deal, and probably something that develops with experience … putting effort into figuring this out is probably the most important thing I can offer as advice to another indie band.

Kimo: Basically, all of us are constantly planning on our own and we all get together and bring what we have to the detail. So, yeah, it’s constant.

What advice do you have for bands about creating a personification? Is it important? (Personify)

ISM: With Axium, I tend to focus a lot of my attention on ‘branding‘ who we are and putting thought into how we are being perceived. I try to always ask myself what I would think or feel if I were in the listeners position – Would I enjoy this music? This show? If I were in High School and saw this band, do they do something special that would make me rush out and get tickets to see them, or plaster posters of them all over my room? Still, as Mezz will be quick to point out, getting too wrapped up in this can kill creativity – worse, if you exaggerate the truth too much you could end up looking like a joke.

Mezz: It is the most crucially important thing about being a band in the “music industry”! Just take a look at Kings of Leon, Green Day, or Muse and what they looked liked when they first started playing compared to what they look like now and correlate that to their “success” … This is tricky, especially in today’s musical climate … There are a million ways to skin a cat & fry a fish … My personal advice just based upon my own experience is this … Imitate to innovate … That is if your in a band in the first place there must have been something about music that compelled you to go through the bullshit of even starting a band that has any degree of promise or ambition, I mean rarely do you just place an ad & find “the right” blend of personalities & musical abilities that coalesce in a way that makes each individual performer greater & ultimately irreplaceable, best example I can think of is Led Zeppelin but there are countless others. Basically imitate your definition of greatness, the thing that really gets you fired up, imitate it until you get bored with it & have mastered it, what’s left is your persona … To be an artist is to be an alchemist.

Kimo: Stick with what’s real. I would suggest first finding out who you are, then how much you want to exaggerate that to the fans.

What is the hardest thing about promoting? (Promote)

ISM: We’ve tried everthing from traditional flyers to MySpace and Facebook ads, to buying air time on commercial radio like KITS Live 105.3FM, for instance. If you’re lucky enough to get your music in somewhere where it will be repeatedly played for listeners (video game, etc) you can generate fans. The thing is, no one Is going to go see a band they’ve never heard of. In the end, there’s no better way to self-promote than for people to hear and see your music.

Mezz: Promoting is an approach thing … the promoting isn’t hard it’s a labor of love … The difficult part is having a product (which in essence is yourself) that you believe in enough to ask another individual to pay attention to for any length of time. The greatest artists don’t promote themselves. Might sound paradoxical but it’s true. They aren’t seeking fame, fortune, status, these are all bi-products of figuring out “that thing” that makes you unique as an artist that people can’t get anywhere else. Once you’ve got this figured out everything comes to you effortlessly … So to answer the question directly the hardest thing would just be having faith in yourself, sometimes it feels like you just can’t f#@kin’ win or “catch a break”. In times like these you either give up or get better. My advice would be never allow this area of the “music business” to crossover into your creative supernatural zone. Just exhaust every ounce of your creative ability, present yourself in venues that are conducive to the “type” or “style” of music you play, then allow the fans to promote you … If your any good they will, & if you suck they won’t or they will but … You have to be willing to fail miserably in order to truly succeed as an artist or musician especially in today’s musical climate.

Kimo: I really don’t know, Chris (ISM) does most of the promoting. Although I do know spending time and effort wisely I think would have to be the hardest thing. Play, promote, play, promote, play, promote would be the only advice I could give.

How do you connect with bands, fans and industry professionals? (Plug-in)

ISM: Indie blogs and social networking sites, google searching and researching more successful bands (and their studios, links, etc) play a huge role professionals. When we set out to record our next release, “Graveyard Shift” (August 3, 2010), I noticed all the bands I saw at a Live 105 show were associated with PopSmear Records & Studios. Here we found a producer with a track record of indie records with high praise. Working with Scott was, aside from a genuine appreciation of his music, a strategic decision to get us in a studio with someone who did great things with Indie bands.

Mezz: Well, the popular thing nowadays is the internet … But the question was how do you connect. The only real connection that happens between human beings is face to face, in the moment, everything else is an imitation of this … That’s just my own personal “jaded musician” point of view … So the internet, iphone’s, cell phone’s, email, these are are useful but easily manipulated into things they weren’t intended to be used for. Technology has the power to cultivate global awareness, but at the same time there is the flip side of that coin … Case in point, if I were being asked these questions directly face to face I would obviously answer them a lot differently that I am answering them now with the luxury of getting to sit down and craft them in this email!

Kimo: Internet and just playing and talking and putting it out there. Showing enthusiasm for your band, pretty much people pick up on the way you feel about the band if you put yourself out there.

What is the hardest thing about touring? How have you overcome that? (Play)

ISM: As a relatively new band on a limited budget, touring can be difficult. We’ve all got families and financial obligations. Building up the cash to promote and do shows can be hard, but the one crystal clear thing every professional we’ve talked to seem to agree on is this: They all want a band who’s touring and “doing it themselves”. Most publicists we’ve talked to won’t even work with a band that isn’t touring. Labels and Scouts aren’t in the “band development” business. I don’t think betting on being ‘discovered’ is realistic anymore – I think any band that hopes to someday sell out stadiums or be a household name, has to demonstrate an ability to do a bit of that on their own before anyone is going to sink time, money and effort into them.

Kimo: I feel like touring and being on stage is where I’m comfortable. But, butterflies and jitters and stage fright as scary as that can be, goes away when your in the moment. So, my suggestion to anybody suffering from stage fear is to just keep going, it will disappear.

Mezz: It’s good to push yourself to the limit sometimes to find out where that limit is … Just like the previous question about promoting, touring isn’t hard it’s your approach to it that makes it either easy and enjoyable or grueling and difficult. Music is a life force, it’s a state of being, it’s an attitude, it’s the way you communicate not just on stage but with other human beings everyday … So to sum it up it’s the five P’s, Proper Preparation, Prevents, Poor, Performance. If your a musician or artist reading this don’t be in such a hurry to “figure out” anything, Everything will come to you in due time & when you least expect it to. One of the most profound teachings I ever received from another musician was from Nina Simone on the intro to “I Shall Be Released”. Your gonna have to go listen to the record if you want to know what it is!”

_______

For more on Axium and to check out their newest single “Graveyard Shift,” visit:

http://www.axiumproject.com

http://www.myspace.com/axiumonline

article by: Jeff Watkins
photo by: Alina Sherschneva

This is for all you San Franciscan bohemians with songs in your hearts and aspirations to make a buck off of them.

Everyone is sympathetic to the starving performing artist who gets screwed by the record company. But what about the songwriter? How does the tunesmith keep afloat?

So you’ve written a bunch of songs and you’re playing them regularly around town.  Perhaps a few of your friends are playing your songs at their own gigs. You’ve got a few songs recorded and you may even have had a few requests to have your song covered by another band. How do you, the budding songwriter, make sure you’re getting all of the money that you’re entitled to and how can you make some extra cash off the songs you’ve already written?

Well, there’s really three areas you can make money as a songwriter.

1. Recording
2. Live Performances
3. Video

1. Recording [aka the mechanical license]

Recording income includes income from CDs, LPs and Digital Downloads.

For Artist-Songwriters

If you’re just writing for yourself, you can pay yourself whatever you feel like. Just keep the Right of First Use in mind. Before the first time a song is recorded, you can refuse anyone the right to record it, and if they really want to record it, you can charge whatever you feel like. However, once your song gets released, anyone can record it without your permission as long as they pay you, so be careful before you do if you think you’re sitting on a good one. Who knows, maybe Thom Yorke will really dig that song you wrote about existential despair in Corporate America and pay you big bucks for it.

For the Professional Songwriter

If you consider yourself a professional songwriter or just have a few kick ass songs and want your music recorded by many artists, the process is the same for the first recording. You can charge whatever you feel like or can just record it yourself. For every recording anyone else makes after the first recording, it’s still pretty darn simple. The US Gov has decided to have a set fee for such recordings. At the moment it’s at 9.1 cents per recording or 1.75 cents per minute if a song is longer than 5 minute, but it tends to go up from time to time. If a band in Nashville records a country version of your indie pop tune and sells 100 copies of it, they owe you $9.10.

What do you need to do?

As for all things songwriting, make sure your song is copyrighted.

After that, just go over to HarryFox.com and make sure your songs are registered, and you’re all set. To do this, you have to either be represented by a publishing company or have your own. If you’re at the point where random bands are recording your material, though, it’s time to set one up if you haven’t already.

Check back later for a look at song performance income that will include information on how to make money as a songwriter off of live performances, radio and the Internet.

___

Lyrics in photo by: Era Escape

article by: Jeff Watkins

Sync Licenses, AKA Synchronization Licenses, are paid by film and TV studios to put your music alongside some form of moving picture.

These are not only the source of a number of big paychecks to some small indie bands, but also the launching pad toward fame and major-indie status. Without synch licenses, Natalie Portman would have never mentioned The Shins in Garden State, Imogen Heap would have never been blasted all over The OC, and Michael Cera would never have sung that Kimya Dawson song in Juno. Beer maker Miller went with San Francisco’s The Dodos as the music for their Miller Chill commercial.

What does it do?
The main goal for a synch license for an indie band should be exposure. Get on a hit TV show and you’ll get a bunch more people listening to your stuff, which means more buzz around your name,  some action with your album on iTunes and an extra thing to mention when trying to book some gigs for your band. For the lucky few, the studio may even have a good amount of money to throw at you.

How do you get one?
Synch license deals are about as illusive as a leprechaun. However, one of the cooler things about being a band in SF is being so close to LA without actually having to live there. Go down and play a few shows. Try to get hooked onto a bill with some larger acts. Maybe someone might actually see you, like you, and offer you a deal. You could even go as far as spend some quality time down there to network around and meet some of the music supervisors or synch music library owners. Don’t spend too long though. You wouldn’t want LA to kill your wide-eyed, San Franciscan optimism.

drawing by:  Stefan – SF Intercom
article by: Phil Maves – The Actors

Bands book live shows every month, yet complain on a regular basis that they don’t have access to high quality recording equipment or can’t afford studio time. Didn’t you just book a show with a sound guy and thousand dollar equipment? Why aren’t you recording these live shows?

Phil Maves is the lead singer of The Actors. He has a lot of experience with recording live shows. He was kind enough to share some his knowledge here with you today.

Q: What do bands need to know if they want to start recording their shows?
A: First of all, they need to ask themselves why they’re recording a show. Is it just for their own personal use, to critique performance and maybe have a recording to listen to on occasion? Is it a promotional tool to demonstrate the live show to bookers? Is it intended for a full commercial release? Once an artist has that answer, then there are a few different approaches, in terms of equipment. For the purposes of this conversation, I’m going to try to cover some of these topics as though a band or artist is operating with minimal cash to invest, and not working with either a major label budget or their parents’ trust fund…

Q: So what if a live recording is just going to be for personal use, so the band can improve their live show?
A: For personal use, it’s a good idea to not only have an audio recording, but video as well – that way, you can gauge both your musical performance and your stage presence, whatever style your music is. Usually a Flip camera (retails for under $150) or a decent camcorder does the trick – you have a basic video of the show AND you can strip out the audio track to provide a “live room” sound of the event. Sometimes the audio quality is even good enough for your Myspace player.

Q: If it’s a recording that’s meant for bookers or a give-away to the fans, does this get pretty expensive?
A: Honestly, most bands at the local stage shouldn’t have to spend much money to get a usable live recording that they can pass on to their audience as a “thank you,” or submit to bookers to show off their live muscle. This is a borderline area in terms of sound quality – again, you can just film your show with a decent camcorder and slap that on YouTube for bookers, and that’ll be enough for most clubs. But really, the next step up would be to record your show with inexpensive equipment. Roland’s Edirol series has pretty good sound and clarity for a single-mic recorder, and usually runs under $400. I know a few bands that use this gear, and they’ve sent the recordings out to their mailing list and fans as exclusive live tracks, i.e. they’re pretty releasable.

Q: OK, what if you want to record your live shows and put them out for sale? That’s got to be expensive…
A: Well, it depends on who you’re working with. If you want something more professional, (i.e. a multi-channel recording with instrument separation), find out if a club you’re scheduled to play has a regular sound person that also records the shows. For example, Kimo’s sometimes has worked with Eric from Renegade Sound who records the shows while he does the live mix, and he then emails the bands the live sound board recording. Nice guy, too. Usually at these venues, the sound person takes his or her usual per-show cut, so they’re already paid and it costs the bands nothing to get the recording. In some cases, I’ve heard of sound guys asking for a minimal recording fee on top of their usual live sound fee, but we’ve yet to run into this in the Bay Area.

Another approach is to get yourself set up with a live radio session and use those recordings. Two great examples are Pirate Cat Radio and KZSU 90.1 FM (Stanford) — both host live radio shows with bands, and they’ll give you the recording to do with as you please following the broadcast. Do a Google search or ask a few bands you know in town if they’ve done these sessions, and you’ll find the info you need to make your radio performance happen.

Q: What about mixing? I know bands are always concerned about getting the right balance of instruments and vocals in their recordings – is this a challenge with live recording?
A: Yeah, the only caution I’d give with some of the “free” live recording sessions above is that although they’re professionally recorded, there usually isn’t time or means to control the final mix you get. If your band’s instrumentation is pretty minimal or typical (either the vocals-guitar-bass-drums combo, or vocals with programming, keyboards and other direct input gear), then you shouldn’t have to worry too much about an imbalanced mix.

If you really want to go all out, you could ask a live sound engineer or record producer with live sound experience to record your show remote, but frankly that is often as expensive as booking studio time. Your best bet is to seek out recording engineers in the city who host events with the sole purpose of recording bands live, and showing off their wares. One that I can think of off the top of my head is Tardon Feathered from Mr. Toad’s. He recently started booking bands to record live audio & video sessions in his studio. Bands can record as a closed session, or invite an audience and suddenly you’ve got an instant live show party atmosphere. He already snagged Loquat for a session a few months back, and the results can be seen here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=szgFdOxrWuw

photo by:  Stefan – SF Intercom
article by: Jeff Watkins

Here’s three examples that illustrate the importance of some extra attention to your live show at any stage in a band’s development.

It is clear from watching American Idol every year that mass audiences respond well to showmanship. Big name acts like the Flaming Lips and Daft Punk demonstrate year after year how big personalities and big visuals can make great music truly exciting in a live setting. However, it’s important to remember that you don’t have to fill an arena to take advantage of the benefits that a little showmanship offers. All I mean by showmanship is some extra attention to the planning of a live performance, whether that means lights shows, setlist variations, or practicing for hours at home to work on your on-stage persona. Sometimes it can seem silly to spend a lot of time planning a stage show for 20 people, but the extra effort is worth it. Here’s three examples with three bands at differing stages in their development to illustrate how useful a bit of flair can be to help a small band up their live show.

The Still-Trying-To-Make-A-Name-For-Themselves Band

While running sound at a small club, I saw a good amount of young musicians trying to establish an audience. One that caught my attention offers a good example for bands trying to gain an audience.

At this stage in the band’s life, the guys hadn’t quite gotten to where they needed to be as far as the actual performance of the music. They were out of tune, sloppy and unfocussed. The songs were written well enough, but it was messier than you’d want it. However, they made up for the lack of musicality with some fun stage antics.

They spoke to me before hand and had me shut off all of the lights in the building as they went on. They came on stage wearing glow in the dark gear and threw out glowsticks to the audience, which the audience continued to dance with for the rest of the night. While their music was somewhat forgetful, it wasn’t bad and the extra stage antics provided the crowd with an entertaining and (more importantly) memorable night.

This should be kept in mind for bands that are still working on perfecting their performance, but still would like to grow an audience while they do so. Give an audience a fun night to remember and they’ll be much more forgiving when it comes to your guitar solo and may even turn into a loyal fan-base.

The Big-Name-Around-Town Band

I ran lights a few times for a band that had been around for a few years, toured occasionally, and had put their first step into the national arena by getting a song on a few TV shows. However, they spent most of their time locally and played a number of shows around town. They didn’t have a problem with getting people to hear their music. Plenty around town had heard it. Their problem was retention. How do you keep getting the same people to show up to your shows every time you play, especially when you’ve got a limited amount of songs to work with?

Their solution was to make sure every show was different and memorable. Sure, they changed the set list up a bit and threw in cover songs. What really separated each performance was a set structure around every concert. For one concert, it was labeled as a coming-home performance after a long tour. The talk of the night was partying, drinking and enjoying being with friends. They hung out late with the crowd and invited people out with them afterwards. At another concert, they went as far as having an actual theme. They billed the concert as Killing Summer, a final one-night blowout before fall began. They had blown up beach balls and inflatable palm trees, opened their set with a ukulele version of one of their songs and had some hula girls in the back at one point.

You don’t need to go as far as having theme concerts, but it might be a good practice when playing a number of shows around SF to try to figure out what makes that one concert unique before playing each show. What will people come away with at the end of the night about that one show that they’ll actually remember and what will bring them back to the next one.

The Just-Starting-Out Artist

When you’re just starting out and writing your first few songs, ensuring a good audience reaction isn’t incredibly important. The most important thing is to just get out there and play in front of people. However, a good stage presence can make you a bit more successful and boost your confidence, making you more likely to continue to succeed.

Recently, I went with a friend of mine who was playing his second show ever. He hadn’t found band members yet, but wanted to try out some songs. He was nervous, the vocals were a bit shaky at parts and he flubbed some guitar riffs. However, the guy’s charismatic. He’s the type that loves public speaking and loves showing off his huge personality. He built in some planned comedic interludes between each song, displaying in full force that God-given gift of gab, and people actually seemed much more interested in him than the other acts that night. He may have not been the most technically proficient performer and he hadn’t put his songs through the testing period that more mature bands can, but his charisma, energy and comedic timing separated him from the pack and got him some interest. And at that point, that’s really all you can hope for.

The statement “showmanship is important” really isn’t all that earth-shaking. However, I hope these three examples illustrated how some extra attention to your live show really can help a band at any point in its development. At the early stages, it can gain interest that might give the band members some confidence. If the band members aren’t quite up to par when performing live, it gives the audience a little extra and can help separate them from the pack of all the other struggling indie rockers. For those musicians blessed with sheer talent and a base audience who think their music’s amazing, a bit of extra attention can give your audience a reason to keep spending their Friday nights paying a cover to see you play. At the very least though, it could be as simple as always remembering to play to your audience, and making adjustments to your set accordingly.

If anyone has any good examples of how showmanship has helped your own live performances or if anyone has any ideas as to how to actually make other’s live performances more entertaining to an audience, I’d love to hear them in the comments.

photo by:  Stefan – SF Intercom
article by: Jeff Watkins

When you’re pressed for time to run sound check, the last thing you want is to spend forever discussing abstract ideas with your lighting tech.

Being able to communicate well to your lighting technician using the proper terms signals a few things to him/her. First, you mean business and are very interested in making the lights a prominent part of your show. As a lighting guy, this gets me excited and more likely to go out of my way to make that long, built up crescendo look spectacular. Second, you’re pretty darn familiar with lights and if the lights aren’t up to par, you’re going to be able to tell. As a lighting guy, this would tell me that any chance of getting another gig really does depend on doing my job right.

To help with this, I’ve put together some more lighting terminology in Part 2 of How to Talk to a Lighting Technician:

Wash

A solid color covering the entire stage, produced by having all of the PAR Cans emitting one color. Can be used for an effect, such as covering the stage in a blue wash while some shoegazers jam out, or as the base for a larger look, such as a blue wash with movers set to a strobe effect while a band ends their set by smashing a guitar or two.

Light Cue

This is a predetermined lighting movement or change. A lighting tech can program a number of preset lighting cues before the concert starts. All it takes is the stroke of a button and all of the lights set up in the lighting cue move and change at once. If you have the prep time and the venue has the technology to allow it, these are great to add some professionalism to your show. Used in conversations such as “Can you guys leave me alone for about 30 minutes? I’m setting up my cues.”

LED (Light-Emitting Diode)

They don’t emit as much light as pars, lekos, or movers, but they can add a cool ambiance and some extra effects. You can get interesting backlight effects, wash looks and the ability to smoothly cycle from one color to another reaching any hue in between. Radiohead famously used all LED lights to illuminate their set during a tour a few years ago, getting some pretty cool visuals in the process.

Gobo

These cause beams of light to switch from a solid circular beam to a design or pattern. Some look like stars or flowers, others abstract designs. Some lights can have gobos put in manually, while many moving lights have a set of gobos programmed in so you can easily sort through them and switch from any one gobo to another instantly with a click of a button or flick of a fader.

Prism Effect

This is a common effect used on movers. Moving lights can have a prism effect added on to it so that where there was once one beam, there are now multiple (and somewhat fuzzy) beams. It can create more detailed and complex looks, especially when applied to movers with gobos being used. The prism effect can typically be set to rotate as well, to add some circular movement to the lights.

Focusing Lights

Pre-show set up of the lights. Techs can focus them on specific areas to hit band members, change the shape and size of lights, or even move some lights around to create specific looks. Be nice to the lighting tech and he might actually do some of that for you.

With all of these basic terms, you can hopefully feel confident in being able to talk to a lighting tech about your band’s lighting needs without the lighting tech’s eyes glazing over. Remember, no need to know the ins and outs of the lighting board or how the lighting grid is patched together. Just throw out a few of these terms while giving some creative lighting ideas and hopefully that will get your lighting tech excited enough to work a little harder for you.

* Lighting for concert of The Frail at The Mezzanine.

Notes and Article by:  Stefan – SF Intercom

THE REBIRTH OF VIDEO

Moderator:
Celia Hirschman; KCRW
Panel Includes:
Jack Conte; Pomplamoose
Glenn Otis Brown; YouTube
Michael Tilson Thomas; SF Symphony
Ben Folds; Musician

Monday May 17th 2010 SF Music Tech held a convention at the Hotel Kabuki if you weren’t able to make it… Don’t worry!!! I took notes. If you were there… maybe you missed this lecture… Don’t worry!!! You can re-live it now.

Important statements according to Stefan:

Celia mentioned that MTV had removed the words “music television” from their logo.
(ARTICLE on CHARTattack:  02/09/10 by Kate Harper)

Michael makes a point that when you’re playing a show: “The instrument you’re playing is the room.”

Glenn credits YouTube for helping us collaborate across space and time.
(Mentions Greyson Michael Chance as an example of this.)

Notes and Article by:  Stefan – SF Intercom

THE REBIRTH OF VIDEO 2

Moderator:
Celia Hirschman; KCRW
Panel Includes:
Jack Conte; Pomplamoose
Glenn Otis Brown; YouTube
Michael Tilson Thomas; SF Symphony
Ben Folds; Musician

Monday May 17th 2010 SF Music Tech held a convention at the Hotel Kabuki if you weren’t able to make it… Don’t worry!!! I took notes. If you were there… maybe you missed this lecture… Don’t worry!!! You can re-live it now.

Important statements according to Stefan continued from previous post:

Ben feels that the internet gives him more freedom and removes the filters.
(I.E. radio, producers and such…)
“There are less rules, more freedom.”

PS. Look up Merton! It’s funny! (YouTube)

Jack uses YouTube to  promote his projects.
(He used the money he made from YouTube to buy his first house.)
According to him if you don’t see it in the video then it’s not there.

Notes and Article by:  Stefan – SF Intercom

WEBSITES AND ROCKSTARS

Panel Includes:
Gary Chou; Cisco Media Solutions Group
Ryan Garner; Warner Music Group

Monday May 17th 2010 SF Music Tech held a convention at the Hotel Kabuki if you weren’t able to make it… Don’t worry!!! I took notes. If you were there… maybe you missed this lecture… Don’t worry!!! You can re-live it now.

Important statements according to Stefan:

This is a website platform to help you manage multiple sites.
It’s not something bands are going to be interested in… but large labels will be!

Look it up here: http://www.cisco.com/web/solutions/cmsg/index.html

The official description:
Cisco Eos is a hosted software platform that enables Media & Entertainment companies to more economically deliver and effectively monetize social entertainment experiences around branded content.