Thread: ADVICE - Do a sound check as soon as you arrive at the venue.

I've seen this nightmare scenario twice this week... I was victim to it last Saturday. I'd been waiting 2 hours to get on stage and just before I go on, I'm told my CD won't work.

Last night, I was competing in the Whoopee Club's Tournament of Tease (which I won btw - yay!), the first act were all ready on stage and their CD wouldn't play.

They, unlike me, had copies of their CD but it still wouldn't work. I felt mortified for them. So if you haven't already learnt this harsh lesson, here goes:

1.Have multiple copies of your music.
2.If you have it on an MP3 player, take the player plus a cable to connect to a stereo (they only cost 11 quid)
3.BUT MOST IMPORTANTLY: Before you spend all that time and effort getting ready and psyching yourself up, go to the DJ as soon as you arrive at the venue and check your music works. I can tell you from experience, it's really disappointing getting on stage and not being able to do your act!

Miss La Vida

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Yep - this is something that separates the professionals from the amateurs!

And make sure your CDs are clearly labelled with the routine name, your performer name, which track it is (preferably the CD should only have one track on it), and also WHEN it is to be played - ie. if there's a cue point from you, or if it is to be played as soon as you're announced by the compere.

Also - if you have any prop requirements tell the stage manager/organiser as SOON as you arrive.

It's annoying being told about props 2mins before a performer is about to go on (such as they need a table) - and this happens more than it should.

x

I've had a performer work Silk tocking Striptease Show only for her CD's not to work - luckily for everyopne involved our Sound Tech is on the ball and got another CD player that played the discs. The issue our performer encountered was that she was using CDRW's instead of CDR's for her music - CDRW's have a high chance of not working on music systems unlike CDR's.

CDR's can be brought for as little as 99p from the 99p Shop or £1 from Poundland and you get between 7 to 10 of them. The only thing I suggest you do is invest in some empty CD cases. Discs without cases get covered in finger prints very quickly.

The lady that Gehenna referred to was, infact, me!

However, I would like to point out that I turned up at the time specified, with two clearly labelled CDs which were duely passed to the DJ to do soundchecks - which was one of the reasons all the performers were asked to arrive early.

It only became apparant that my CDs didn't work on my cue to take my position on the stage - which left me feeling most surprised as the very same CDs had been used for two previous shows at two different venues!

Anyway, all was not lost - my CDs eventually worked and I went on, did my acts, and somehow didn't get flustered in the slightest. I think at the point of being told my CDs didn't work, I decided to shrug it off as an experience - and one that I didn't feel totally responsible for, given that I had turned up on time for the sound check - hence I didn't get all worked up and therefore lose my poise, which was commented on by some of the backstage crew!

And another, slightly more technical tip! If you are copying your music over from a CD, make sure that it's at a bit rate of AT LEAST 192kb/sec using the WAV format.

Whilst it won't make too much difference for smaller events, the difference in sound quality for larger scale events is huge. Avoid turning things into MP3 is at all possible as you're going to lose more quality.

Originally Posted by Ministry Of Burlesque

And another, slightly more technical tip! If you are copying your music over from a CD, make sure that it's at a bit rate of AT LEAST 192kb/sec using the WAV format.

erm..... ok....

Originally Posted by Ministry Of Burlesque

And another, slightly more technical tip! If you are copying your music over from a CD, make sure that it's at a bit rate of AT LEAST 192kb/sec using the WAV format.

Whilst it won't make too much difference for smaller events, the difference in sound quality for larger scale events is huge. Avoid turning things into MP3 is at all possible as you're going to lose more quality.

That is massively useful to know - thank you!

I've just mixed snippets of music from two different tracks, using WAV and found that one version lost all the sound quality on my trusty CD player - which I managed to upgrade, but didn't konw about the sound quality thingy depending on the size of events.

I'm learning so much techie stuff - it's scary!!!!

Originally Posted by Ministry Of Burlesque

Whilst it won't make too much difference for smaller events, the difference in sound quality for larger scale events is huge. Avoid turning things into MP3 is at all possible as you're going to lose more quality.

oh dear, i fell victim to this at a lost vagueness event when my edited music sounded awesome on our very loud street performance amp but awful when it went through the massive sound system in a giant victorian building...

oops...i was cringing on stage...

I tend to buy the paper cd cases (round hole on front so you can see CD) then clearly mark my cd with name and telephone number (even though i always go to collect my cd at the end, sometimes the techy leaves before you can get there)

The paper case, I put the following
Name
Order of Act: (please put seperate acts on seperate cds and if i've ever seen promoters go pale it's when they are handed compliation cd original and told...umm think it's track 6...) if it's first or second
Cue : Does it rely on props being ready or is it a visual cue such as sitting on a chair?
Act Duration: Does the song end with the act or do you need a fade out, if so when?

Carrying a MP3 player is a great idea, plus if you are performing in a theatre sometimes it's worth calling ahead and seeing if a MiniDisc would be any good. Often their systems can be cued more efficiently by using MDs

And please please please, as again happened to me if a promoter says 'oh i'm sure it'll be fine, i'll check it in a bit' say NO! Insist it is checked, it takes two minutes and its for their benefit as well as yours.

I saw one poor girl's music not work onstage down south and the promoter took to the mic and blamed her in front of the audience for not being organised. It was a disgusting way to treat someone.

xx

Ahh the joy of using amateur DJ's! Or worse - a sound tech to do a DJ's job... that's just plain unprofessional to leave performers in that situation, and I would run and hide if I were responsible for such a blooper.

As a comparison, when I do a wedding First Dance, I always have the song cued on my laptop AND a CD with the song ready to play as well, just in case one falls over.

Originally Posted by Ministry Of Burlesque

And another, slightly more technical tip! If you are copying your music over from a CD, make sure that it's at a bit rate of AT LEAST 192kb/sec using the WAV format.

Whilst it won't make too much difference for smaller events, the difference in sound quality for larger scale events is huge. Avoid turning things into MP3 is at all possible as you're going to lose more quality.

Convert at the highest possible bitrate - 320 will do for most stuff. Once you have done that, burn it (or the .WAV file!) onto a CD as a music (not data) disc - which will convert it to .cda, which is what all CD players will recognise.

Not all CD players will play MP3's; most professional CD decks and DJ laptop systems will, but Mr Amateur DJ with his Homemix / CD Walkman / Home Hi-Fi CD player probably will not. If you take along a CDRW with a WAV file then you're just asking for trouble - likewise trying to play from the headphone socket of an MP3 player will also not sound as good as CD.

MP3 compresses some of the sound - on the frequencies that you can't hear. While it might make a difference with modern music which has lots of sub bass, with older (40's / 50's) songs there is no audible difference. But if you take along a .WAV file and can't play it, the MP3 is definitely going to sound better than silence!

I challenge anyone to stand in front of my disco and tell whether I'm playing out from my laptop or my CD decks...

Ah ha! Thank you for solving the problem of my CD - it's a CD-RW! I was wondering....

And good advice about writing cues on the CD and talking to back stage about cues and props when you get to the venue.