Before hiring Live Music for a company party
Four Crucial Ingredients party Planners Must Know
Involving live music into any business event isn’t as easy as it seems. Besides deciding on the band, there are four facets you must consider in order to have a hope of having a successful event. They are, in the order of importance:
1) Venue
2) Agents
3) Technical session Up
4) band Character
In a moment I willtell you the details of the crucial issues that could aggravate and potentially ruin an alternatively beautifully accomplished occasion. It will just take several minutes, but as you read this page, more and more, you will start to feel better and better about hiring live music for your next business or social event. Most necessary ly is . . .
Club Selection
As an event planner, your ability to keep numerous things in mind when hiring artists. Selection of the best Club is the first ingredient you will need. This ability alone might distinguish you as a professionals in an industry filled with amateurs.
When choosing the Club, be certain the room size is in proportion with the number of guests who will be attending.
I got into this business as a singing piano player. When I am performing I need to connect with the audiences. Assuming that the room size is proportionate to the crowd size, I could do my job successfully. Assuming that the room is too extensive and there are not enough warm bodies in attendance, the audiences will feel too intimidated to approach the band. When you keep the performer close enough to your guests will feel comfortable enough to interact with the musicians and vice versa.
Have you noticed yet that keeping the Venuesmall so the band may be close to your guests will increase your opportunitys of having a successful event? Depending on the act, you might leave a little dance floor in front of the band. But all in all, keep the crowd near the performer and allow the performer to be an integral part of your event.
I’ve a number of times worked with get together planners who are clueless when it comes to what size stage is required for a band.
If you fail to plan ahead, then you are planning ahead to fail.
Here are the stage specs for numerous sized bands:
3 Piece – 8 feet by 16 feet
5 Piece – 16 feet by 24 feet
12 Piece – 16 feet by 32 feet
With the is newly acquired information, experienced event planners will always like to go with a room with a stage rather than just placing the band on the same level as attendees. Proper preparing for stage specifications avoids major headaches the day of the show. additionally, having the band on a stage allows them to be seen by everybody even by the people in back.
When selecting the Club, you will also need to keep in mind the acoustics of the room. High ceilings and flat walls with lots of windows and no curtains to muffle the sound are not optimal environments for bands. Work with an experienced sound person to mix the band and equalize the room and eliminate feedback.
Agents
There are only a handful of surprisingly few good professional artists anymore. If you don’t know a good booking agent, you’ll be hard pressed to find them. A good agent will be the one to advocate you thru the minefield of mediocre, amateurs with amps that have no volume control knobs.
As an event planner you need to figure out your event theme and then contact a talent booking agency to see If the re are bands that fit.
The most popular artists play a expansive variety of styles. A good group of artists knows songs from the ’60s, ’70s, ’80s and ’90s. Frank Sinatra has never gone out of style. So make sure the performer plays what all of us call “Jazz Standards”. Depending on your get together and your geographical location, it is either “Country Music is King!” or “Classic Rock Rules!”. Know your demographics before hiring a band.
As with any vendor, you get what you pay for. Let’s talk about budget. I wonder, even as you continue to read this report, if you realize the amount of time a band puts in before receiving a paycheck to practicing their instruments, learning and memorizing repertoire and coordinating lights and choreography. Most artists require anywhere from $1,200 to $45,000 per gig. Experienced booking agents will be able to place the right band for the party. With any event, experience wins every time. Ask for references and testimonials.
Technical session Up
Once your musicians are booked, you now need to cover logistics. Tech performance up includes the movement and placement of equipment and sound checks. Bands regularly bring their own equipment.
Amplifiers, instruments, a PA system for vocals, lighting towers all the way down to carpet for the drums need to be performance up and placed and checked and moved and double checked again. Allow enough time for all of these details to be adequately addressed well before show time. Because it is not IF something goes wrong, it’s WHEN something goes wrong. And it always does with a band. Give them enough time to fix it.
Sound check must take place no later than 3 hours before the gig start time. Load in should occur 1 or 2 hours before that. The sound check should take no more than an hour, and following that, let the performer go back to their rooms, freshen up, take a nap, grab a meal. They should return NO LATER than 30 minutes before their performance.
Band Character
Musicians have traditionally had a reputation for being evil practitioners of any number of truly colorful vices. It has been my experience, however, that we are no divergent than any other industry be it stock brokers, medical individual nel or city workers.
Use these simple rules and you’ll notice you might keep any group of performers in line.
• Performer members ought to not eat any food in buffet lines or inside the ballroom area. They ought to have a separate area or a “Greenroom” where they might eat, drink, warm up their vocal cords, stretch out and generally prepare for the gig.
• During a performance, bands ought to not consume alcohol or smoke. Assuming that they cannot wait several hours to partake of their favorite libation, fire them on the spot. You will avoid headaches and embarrassment down the road. Also, you’ll get the reputation you will not tolerate any such behavior. Trust me. Word will get out you’re a professional party planner.
Lastly, recall :
Treating artists with dignity and respect translates into a happy performer which brings you happy clients and guests who find pleasure in the entire party no matter what the opportunity.
You are now armed with the four serious ly critical ingredients for success that you did not have before. If you’ve learned this information through the school of hard knocks, you can feel assured that you’re a true professional.
Now picture the night of the event. After dinner (if it is served), lights should be dimmed, the performer is introduced, they hit the first chords and the excitement ripples through the room. people move towards the dance floor and the smiles appear on everyone in the room. Why? Because you did your job and offer d an exquisite ingredient that every business get together needs: Live Music.