Week 2 + Production Blog 2
This week we got sorted into our bands that we will be performing with for the live performance. Each band had a minimum of 3 members to make sure that we cover the main bases of a band (Vocal, drums, bass, and guitar). After we got the bands sorted out we decided what songs these bands will do so we sat in the classroom and picked 3 songs from each decade form the 1950s all the way to the 2010s, this was the theme because it garneted that whomever was listening to the performance would have a song that they would like due to the wide range of music that we played. Then we went through and shared them with the class and we had a discussion on whether the song was appropriate to be played at the college, if it would please the audience,(Our audience being all ages) if it is playable in terms of the techniques and skills that are needed to be able to play that song, how it would fit into the set list and if we are able to pull it off will it sound good. After we did this, we cut a lot of the songs and were left with the songs that the bands will be practicing for the coming weeks.
For the rest of this week, we were in the practice room practicing the songs that we were tasked with, since there were more band that practice room available to be used, we had to take turns in usage of the rooms. So, while there were other bands practicing the rest of us got on with the creation of the stage plan and getting started with the paperwork necessary for the show. The reason we need a stage plan is to make sure that we have enough space on stage to be able to fit everything that we need for the performance, this also make sure that the performers will know roughly where everything will be so there won't be that mush down time with people having to look for the different equipment, this also means the performers will know where everything is so they shouldn't fall over anything potentially injuring themselves. Here is a look at the first iteration of the stage plan;
After we got done with the stage plan, we moved onto the channel list. This document consists of all the channels that will be running from the stage to the mixing desk at the back of the venue. Shows all the pieces of equipment that will need to be miked up to the sound desk and what monitor they will need to be fed back to in the monitors. We need this document because not everything needs to be fed back into all pf the monitors, when this is done it may muddle up the sound and make it difficult for different people to hear what they are playing, so if we have this document we will be able to only put certain instruments in certain monitors allowing the performers to be able to hear that they are playing so they will be less likely to make mistakes. This document also allows for someone who does not know what the channels are to learn them and figure out what is where and what their volume is meant to be. Here is what the first iteration of the channel list looks like.
Once I got all of this done, I moved onto practicing for the gig. I started off by practicing "Let's get it on". I managed to play the intro by myself but when I tried with the band, I could not stay in time so I will have to try and practice this more so that I can get it good enough and in time. My progress with bar chords is coming along well. I am able to play the chords in the correct place after being shown. However, I do not understand why they make up the chords that they do, I will have to do my own research into this. After I practices "Let's get it on" I went on to practice more of "Paranoid". This song was harder than I remembered and took me a few attempts for me to be able to drum it how I am meant to. I have been told that I am dragging and too slow after a certain point. To improve on this, I will play the song for longer to help me build up the stamina needed to play the song.
Once I got these songs practiced, I moved onto some new songs that I have been asked to drum. These songs are "My Sharona" by the Kinks and "Stacy's Mom" by Fountains of Wayne. I started off with "Stacy's Mom", for the first few run throughs of the song I sang but we discovered that my voice does not fit the song, and we decided that it would be better for me to play drums for the song instead of singing. I agreed with this choice because I prefer drumming to singing. We had a few more run throughs of me drumming but we did not have a vocalist so we could not do some parts of the song because they relied on vocals to carry the song through.
Once we got that done I moved onto "My Sharona". This song was strange because it does not use a basic hi-hat beat, it instead uses the toms and snare to drive the song along. It will take me a little but to get used to this change, but I will get there. For the run throughs that we did it went really well we just need to tidy up some parts and keep practicing he song to make sure that we can get it down for the gig.
Once we got that done I moved onto "My Sharona". This song was strange because it doesn't use a basic hi-hat beat, it instead uses the toms and snare to drive the song along. It will take me a little but to get used to this change but I will get there. For the run throughs that we did it went really well we just need to tidy up some parts and keep practicing he song to make sure that we can get it down for the gig.
This week we held a meeting led by Jayden. We all introduced ourselves with our name and roles so that everyone knew who we where and what role we where doing for the gig. This meeting was mainly about the stage planning for the performance. So before the meeting we all went away and had a look at the venue of which we will be performing at and devised our own stage plans from that. During the meeting we all sat down with our stage plans and explained them and our thought process behind the plan. We did this and then wrote down which plan we liked the most. For the plan we needed to have all the equipment marked in spaces, potential power supply, where people would stand and more. We also needed a key so that people could understand what the different symbols where for.
Jayden did a good job at leading the meeting. He was clear and concise and everyone could understand him. I would just try and ask people for more on their opinion of what they thought about the different stage plans, this will b so if we wanted we could get a list of these tings and then use the plan that we all liked the best and add to it so that we can make the stage plan as good as possible so that we can get set up at the venue quicker and easier.
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