Music Before the Money

“Auto-Tuned music is like fake boobs: once you realize they are fake, it kind of diminishes the joy of seeing them.”

—Randall Roberts, music editor at LA Weekly

There is a singing aid that has been in use for some time call the vocal harmonizer.  the first time I heard someone use it I though there was a a duo on stage but it was just one guy. The way it works is that he has another vocal signal running parallel to the main one. This second signal is then set for thirds or whatever interval that the harmony would sound good. With a foot switch the harmonies can just come in on the chorus.

It the music studios these are used for lazy singers.In years gone by we would do a vocal track over and over again until we thought that parts of it weren’t sharp or flat. Another way would be to do it line-by-line (awfully tedious!), punching in and out.

“You hear this device all the time on the radio.  Whenever you hear ultra tight vocal harmonies that sound ‘too perfect’ you are listening to a harmonizer at work. “

Rather than spend a half a day getting a vocal track right a vocal harmonizer can pull a voice right on the note. This way valuable recording time is not spent on redos. Or is it?

“We’ve gotten to the point where the producer is the artist, and the performer is just a tool in the broader spectrum of the record.”

- Chicago Tribune music critic Greg Kot

In the late 1970’s studio time in Vancouver was around $150 an hour. My first record took me a year to pay off and I spent about $450 (3 hours) just getting one vocal track right. Why? Because my voice is still a work in progress as I  never learned how to sing properly. Would a harmonizer have helped? Yes. Would I have used something like that at the time. Probably.

However, I can listen back to a few tracks that I still think were great. And this is because it took a lot of work and creativity. With a harmonizer the machine would have me sound good and that would be like getting someone to sing the track for me.

However, harmonizers are here to stay. But it’s the producer who decides who needs it or will lavish it on vocals as a fail-safe mechanism.

When I started out performing I used to have stage fright so bad that I once hid behind a curtain at the school auditorium. We had a trio and I would always choose the most dimly-lit part of the stage. Thankfully, this did not last long but the first song of the evening is still the most important to me.

1. Who Is the Crowd?

What I look for before I step up on stage is the type of people in attendance.

Are they:

• Sports teams?
• Couples?
• Business people?
• Teachers?
• Young?
• Old?
• A mixture?

When I started out I used to pray for people my own age who weren’t country fans. Why? Because at that time it wasn’t “cool” to know country and so I never learned any.  Dumb, huh?

Now, I am lucky enough (and old enough!) to have a large repertoire that includes many good starters. In a lounge setting or a warm-up for an after-dinner crowd I choose Mack the Knife because it’s a classic and, based on results, I do a good job of it. I also get to show off a decent piano solo and its important to get off on the right footing with yourself, too. The crowd picks up when a performer is in to what he or she is playing.

If I have a sports, or rowdier clientele, I may choose Hotel California at the first song because everyone likes the tune and I can introduce myself in the middle of the tune during the bridge.  For a dance crowd I may do a songs like Flip, Flop and Fly or Keep Your Hands to Yourself by the Georgia Satellites.

2. No Dead Air at First

The next trick I use is to follow up the first song quickly to avoid lags which may cause the audience to focus attention elsewhere. It also doesn’t give any would-be hecklers an opening to build an audience of their own! (although, these days, that isn’t even an issue)

My first sets are always an hour. To me, timing my sets was always low-brow. Part of my success has always been: give ‘em more. Of course my timelines have to coordinate with the person who is hiring me so none of this is written in stone.

3. Dress the Part

The way you dress is also of great importance. Being anti-establishment in a corporate gig is a sure-fire way to lose you audience and future engagements. You can be anyone you want to be on stage – but not if someone else is picking up the tab.

Remember my take on an old adage: First impressions will decide how the night will go.

Five years ago Dartmouth, Nova Scotia native Hal Bruce was coming back from the Beatle extravaganza, Abbey Road on the River,  in Louisville, Kentucky wishing that he could bring his new friends and acquaintances back home with him. Hal had so much fun at the American festivals, plus the big one in Liverpool, England, that he began to formulate a Beatles festival for Halifax, Nova Scotia.

When the first Maritime Beatle Event was underway in June 2006 no one expected that it would be this well-received. The line up featured Hal and his good friend, Scott Ferguson as Ticket 2 Ride and the Repeatles of Sweden. In addition Chicago native Jay Goeppner put on a great show starting out with John Lennon’s Working Class Hero. However, the crowning glory was having Julia Lennon, John’s sister, telling stories of her brother and the band in the early days.

This year Hal brings in local color with John Chaisson and The Lonely Hearts Club Jazz Band , FreeFall and Ian Sherwood. In addition the Repeatles from Sweden are back and so is The Summer of Love Band, a collaboration of great musicians payi9ng tribute to the late 1960’s music.

Tickets are still available at: Maritime Beatle Event.

“I’m a drug addict and an alcoholic, and I’ve been fighting those demons every day. I have this self-destruct button and I don’t know where it comes from. I’ve talked to many, many therapists. It’s a battle.”

- Jack Russell, singer, Great White

Fires in nightclubs are mini holocausts because once the cry is heard nice people became stampeding beasts. The worst was during World War II when a fire at the Cocoanut Grove club in Boston killed 492.

On May 28, 1977, a performance by John Davidson’s band was cut short at the Beverley Hills Club in Southgate, Kentucky killing 165 people.  The majority of the deaths would be blamed on poorly marked exits, flammable carpeting, and seat cushions that emitted toxic fumes when burned

Jack Russell, the singer for Great White, knows this all too well. On February 23, 2003 the pyrotechnics in his act set off the 4th deadliest nightclub fire in American history killing 100 people, four of whom died at local hospitals, and injuring 132. Although it was a combination of things that made the nightclub into a deadly inferno the  band did set off the pyrotechnical display that caught the flammable ceiling material on fire.

Russell and the remnants of Great White have been struggling to move ahead for 6 years. Many of those who died in the inferno were close friends and crew members, including Great White guitarist Ty Longley. The singer has been criticized  for continuing to make music and not donating enough money to survivors.

With the piles of correspondence flinging all sorts of accusations at Great White it’s amazing that they still can go one. Their manager, Daniel Michael Biechele, pleaded guilty to 100 counts of involuntary manslaughter even though he had nothing physically to do with the fire. He knew the pyrotechnics were a part f the show but gave the stage manager credit for having the sense to figure out what is appropriate and what is not. It’s like knowing people can smoke in a lounge and getting blamed because they struck a match to close to a flammable pillow.

The blame went as far as JBL speaker company who had flammable foam inside the cabinets. They settled for $813,000.

Last night at the Dartmouth Sportsplex hundreds of excited people enjoyed an All-City Music Program that packed the house. And hundreds of performers popuplated its many orchestras and choirs.

This event is only put on once a decade,. This is why so much attention was paid to the program,  from the large concert-style venue to having Symphony Nova Scotia conductor, Scott MacMillan, direct the last song – Farewell to Nova Scotia,  a song he arranged.

The combined choirs numbered in the hundreds and filled the place up with amazing vocal arrangements. In addition the orchestras were polished. In fact to show that no one in the audience was left out a collection of Star Wars pieces thrilled even the youngest children. Another conductor then put the orchestra through its paces with the Indiana Jones fanfare. J

A fun frolic by the Hip Hop Angels form the Northside Community Centre. changed the mode to one of great fun and laughter. Dressed in pink and yellow these little gals did not need instruction from their leader as they leaped and moved to a great hop hop beat.

The Shannon Park African Percussion Ensemble provided a show-stopping moment. Toria Adioo, their flamboyant and very-skilled leader,  was jpoined on African drums by a group of girls who follwed her evey move with some great ones of their own. Meanwhile  their companions danced and frolicked in African tribal moves.

The finale, MacMillan’s arrangement of Farewell to Nova Scotia, came through clearly and with great thunder – even though hockey arenas aren’t meant for great sound.

The All-City Jazz Band provided the entertainment while the people were taking their seats and,came back serenade them while they left.

And almost 70 of these kids are at this writing, traveling on buses to New York City to show their talents