Quick Index: [Loose Blues News] [Tech Tips] [MUSICIAN: HEAL THYSELF (part I)]
Loose Blues News
Ann Rabson has made many fans in Toronto through numerous appearances with
Saffire - the Uppity Blues Women. She returns to
the Silver Dollar on August 22 for a rare solo performance.
Our warmest best wishes to Kadin Kendall on his recovery, and to his mother, Sarah Jayne, grandmother Shirley Kendall, and grandfather Gary Kendall - a valued long-time member of the Toronto Blues Community, multiple Maple Blues award winner as Bassist for Downchild and of our Blues with a Feeling Award, Silver Dollar Talent booker, and Maple Blues Awards musical director.
For those who are not aware, Kadin is the five year old who was shot in the eye with a pellet gun on the Molson Indy week-end in Toronto. On behalf of the membership of the Toronto Blues Society, the Board of Directors has forwarded a financial donation to the family to assist in this difficult period and many other donations have been received. Contributions can be made to the trust fund for Kadin Kendall at any TD bank or Canada Trust, to Branch No. 0374, Account No. 6224279.
Wedding Bells: Joe Curtis informs us that Jeff Healey has married fiancé, singer Cristie Hall, in a private ceremony Friday, July 18, 2003, held at the Toronto landmark Casa Loma. There were over 150 friends, family and fellow musicians in attendance - a cozy, friendly gathering of Jeff's many close friends. Among them were Healey guitarist Pat Rush, as well as members of Jeff's jazz band, the Jazz Wizards.
Royalty at Blues on Bellair: Just after we went to press last month, Fathead reported that they "had a magical night at Toronto's Blues On Bellair when his royal highness of funkdom, Prince, sat in on guitar and vocals! The place was electric!"
Also last month, drummer Maureen Brown travelled to St. John's, Newfoundland, as she was invited to teach for two weeks at an all-female rock camp, Daisy Rock. While on the rock, she also performed at Fat Cat's.
New CD: Toronto guitar veteran Paul James celebrates the release of his first new CD in 15 years at Club 279 in the Hard Rock Cafe, 279 Yonge St., on August 7th. La Vie en Bleu explores 11 rock and blues tunes that fans have frequently asked for over the years at his gigs, as well as four brand new James-penned tunes. James releases his new album with three sets that include Gary Gray on piano, Brian Kipping on bass, Adrian Vecchiola on drums, and a horn section featuring Sarah McElcheran on trumpet and Jim Bish on saxophones. For more information or to order Paul's previous CDs, go to www.pauljamesband.com.
Blues Butcher Birthday: Last month, Robby "Blues Butcher" Bellmore celebrated his birthday at the Black Swan in Toronto by playing a gig with some of his friends. We're advised that it was once again his 40th.
Virgil Scott has kicked off a new Sunday afternoon gig at The Hollywood, 1185 Queensway, between Kipling and Islington, 4:00 - 8:30 pm.
Start It Up will be recording live at Chatts in Ajax on Saturday, August 16, 9:30 pm, no cover. All attendees of the live recording will receive a free CD once available. Chatts is located at 368 Bayly Street West in Ajax, Ontario (just east of Toronto from the highway 401 Westney Road exit). Start it Up is Lou DeAdder on guitar and vocals, Randy Begg on drums and vocals, and Brett Piekarz on bass and vocals. www.fksa.on.ca/startitup.html.
Second Anniversary for Readers in Dunnville: Blues rockers Catfish performed at the celebratory party last month, and admission included complimentary grilled sausages, burgers, hot dogs, and salads. All musicians who have played at Readers or their 2 Bluesfests were invited with complimentary admission. Mark Neveu thanks "all the incredible musicians, and the amazingly attentive audience members who have helped make us one of the finest listening rooms in Ontario".
Glamour Puss hits the road: Glamour Puss is mounting an extensive North American tour this fall in support of their upcoming NorthernBlues release, Wire & Wood. They've been entertaining audiences for over eight years in Canada and Europe with their driving beat, high-energy showmanship and original songs. Their unique blend of blues, blues-rock and Zydeco has garnered them three East Coast Music Awards. Earlier this year they opened for the legendary BB King and most recently, Tourism New Brunswick picked the group's fresh upbeat sound for their 2003 "Getaway" TV ad campaign.
The band spent this past winter and spring in the studio, laying down their fourth CD entitled Wire & Wood. Produced by Montreal's Michael Jerome Browne, the new album showcases Glamour Puss' thoughtful and intelligent songwriting, tight arrangements, and polished production on both electric and acoustic tunes.
Previous releases include East Coast Music Award winning Electric and Alive, featuring the band's incredible live presence and energy, recorded September 2000 at the Fredericton Harvest Jazz and Blues Festival; the March 1999 released ECMA winning Blues du Jour, and their 1997 debut and ECMA winning CD, The Glamour Puss Blues Band.
Glamour Puss kicks off their North American tour in the Maritimes in early September with CD launch concerts in Moncton, Halifax, Saint John, NB, Fredericton, St John's NF and Charlottetown. October will see the band in Ontario, Quebec and the USA. They will be in Western Canada in early November and then back in Quebec for the rest of the month. For more information, visit Glamour Puss' web site at www.glamourpuss.ca.
North Bay Ribfest Photos On-Line: threshold.thot.net/bearclaw.htm, then follow the link to the Galleries index.
Musicians Take Note: Music Media Network has launched a national contest for unsigned, independent artists across Canada. The winning entry will receive 8 weeks of free professional radio promotion to 50 college and university radio stations across the country by Music Media Network, a company with 14 years of radio promotion service. The winner will be chosen by Music Media Network based on production, song structure, and "lyrical genius". We don't care what kind of music you play, as long as it's homegrown and fabulous! Send bio, a CD manufactured no earlier than 2002, and all contact information to Music Media Network, 650 Dupont St., Toronto, Ontario M6G4B1 Attention: Airwaves. Candidates must be residents of Canada, only 1 entry per artist, CDs must not have been previously submitted to Canadian college and university radio, artist(s) must be not be signed to a label, and materials sent to Music Media Network will not be returned. The winner must be prepared to begin promotional mailouts in late September. All entries must be postmarked no later than Sept. 1, 2003, The winner will be contacted September 12, 2003, and announced on MusicMediaNetwork.com and a press release sent to all media. www.musicmedianetwork.com, radio@musicmedianetwork.com, Toll Free: 1-888-746-7234.
- Julie Hill
Tech Tips
This month I'm going to talk about working with a P.A. system, the setup, adjustments, and some of the tricks that soundmen use to coax results out of a less than optimum system or room. Usually unless there is a soundman mixing out front, vocals are all that go through the sound system. So let's start with the vocal microphone: Most mics used for live sound are uni-directional sometimes called cardioid. This means that they pick up sound from the one direction that matters, directly in front of the mic. There are other mics that pick up sound with other patterns, omni (any direction), figure eight (front & back, but not the sides), as well as some other variations. The preferred uni-directional mic is less prone to feeding back because it only picks up sound from one direction. The very common Shure SM-58, and SM-57 and all of their clones are of the uni-directional variety. Hence their popularity. There is another characteristic that SM-58's have, and that is the proximity effect. Simply put, the closer your mouth is to the mic, the more bass or bottom end you get.
The front of house or main speakers, are usually two-way speakers. They have a tweeter (for high frequencies) and a woofer (for the low frequencies). Some larger systems can be three-way, four-way and even five-way, utilizing specific speakers for certain groups of frequencies. These larger systems usually have electronic cross-overs and many more power amplifiers. But most of the systems we all rent or use in a club are of the two-way variety. These main speakers should go in front of the band, on each side of the stage and slightly above the heads of the audience. Many times the stage layout in clubs is less than optimum. A typical scenario is when there is a wall a short distance in front of one side of the stage, while the other side of the stage has a much more open space in front of it. The side with the short throw has the potential to cause feedback. However the other side needs to be turned up to throw it's sound a longer distance. Since each speaker is not usually on it's own volume control, there is a problem. Re-positioning of the main speaker on the short throw side will be necessary. It will have to be angled to point towards the center of the room a little more, so that the sound doesn't directly hit the wall nearby and become a feedback problem. If a room is long and the stage is at the end, playing down the length of the room, then elevating the mains a bit higher than the audience will help project the sound down the room. Speaker stands are invaluable, especially in this situation. I would elevate the speaker on the long throw side a little more to project to the back. A little thought about speaker placement can really make a difference in the sound.
Graphic equalizers are commonplace on P.A. systems. Depending on the system that you have, you could have one for the mains or monitors, or none at all. The equalizer is divided into frequency ranges or bands. A number with the suffix "Hz" indicates the center frequency. This stands for "hertz", the unit of measurement of frequency. There will also be a marking on the side of the slider indicating the "db" of cut or boost from the center position. The term "db" stands for "decibel", the unit of measurement of sound pressure level. Up increases the volume of a particular frequency, and down decreases the volume. The center position will be flat (no cut or boost). Subtle boosts or cuts of 1 to 3 db can really help polish the sound; larger changes of 4 to 12 db are used for correcting deficiencies in the system or room. The more bands of equalization there are, the more precise you can be in adjusting the sound.
If there is an equalizer on the main system, and the vocals are brittle sounding, then I would pull down the midrange frequencies a bit. A little notching out of the 1000 hertz (1kHz) to 3000 hertz (3kHz) will warm up the vocals. Look for the closest corresponding frequency on your equalizer. Depending on how many bands of equalization there are, you may or may not have a lot of control. A scientific and methodical approach really helps this process.
The same attention to the placement of the monitors will help with solving feedback problems. Ideally you want the monitor facing you from the ground, pointing towards your face and the back of the mic. In a perfect world that would be enough. But reflections of the sound coming from the monitor or even the main system out front, all conspire to create feedback. Moving the monitor 6 to 12 inches to either side can sometimes tame the feedback. If there is a graphic equalizer on the monitor system, you can ring out the frequencies that are prone to feeding back. The concept is to increase the volume of the monitors until feedback occurs, find the frequency that is feeding back and reduce the gain enough at that frequency to stop the feedback. Then attempt to turn up the volume some more until you have feedback and again use the equalizer to get rid of the frequency feeding back. Usually feedback happens in the higher frequencies at about 2 kHz and upwards. You probably won't be able to get through this cycle more than twice before you reach the point of diminishing returns. Since most generic P.A. systems have very wide bands on their equalizers, you will quickly notice that the sound quality begins to suffer. Remember to utilize positioning of the monitor with the use of the equalizer to help solve the monitor feedback problems. Some other points to mention: In a lot of cases it helps to have the main speakers on and working at the volume they will be operating at. The reason is that the main system can add to or subtract from your monitor adjustments. In order to hear the monitors, you can remove some of the low end so they are less muddy and cut through the sound on stage, but the main system will help fill back in some of the low end. Remember low frequencies are non-directional and will travel everywhere. Your first objective is to get the monitors heard; making them sound pleasing is the second objective. Sometimes you can't get past the first objective. It is ultimately best to do a final evaluation of the monitors with the whole band playing. Did I also mention that it really helps to have the band play to the size of the stage, as opposed to the size of the room? Guitar players and drummers are the biggest offenders of this.
Mic technique should actually have been one of the first things that I mentioned. Singers should sing right on the mic. Since most mics are SM-58's or their clones, the proximity effect helps fatten up your voice. Also, by being right on the mic you block sound from getting back into the mic and feeding back. You also block stage sound from getting into the mic.
The tone controls on each mixer channel for the individual mics can be adjusted to taste, but since most mixers usually only have bass and treble, there is not a lot of specific things you can adjust for. If there is a mid range control you can smooth out a particular harsh sounding mic or voice by cutting the mids a bit. If there is a rumble filter or low cut switch at 60 or 80 Hz, use it because it helps get rid of vibrations that travel into the mic through the mic stand.
The use of effects on vocals is a matter of taste, but remember that you cannot re-create studio recordings in a live situation unless you have a lot of specialized gear and a great soundman out front. A little reverb or short delay on the vocals fattens it up, but too much makes it muddy and unintelligible.
It really does take a lot of thought and practice to get comfortable with using a P.A. system confidently. Like anything, experience gained a little at a time, will begin to give you the ability you need.
Experimentation, is the key. Take note of what works and what doesn't. Every situation is unique.
I've received comments and suggestions from some readers, and they are all greatly appreciated. If you have suggestions or questions you can e-mail me at Nsteelslider@aol.com. Let me know what's of interest for future columns. I can't guarantee a personal reply to all e-mails, but maybe simple questions could be addressed within the format of this column.
- Norman Robinson
Norman Robinson works as a Technical Engineer at Manta Digital Sound & Picture, as well he is the band leader and guitarist for The VooDoo Kings, and Howlin' Mercy.
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MUSICIAN: HEAL THYSELF (part I)
Repetitive Strain Injuries (RSI) in the Athlete Musician
Musicians are finely tuned athletes, perhaps even more so than the Olympic ones. Think of the hours a day you have practised and how much you use your arms and hands to play. If your profession is important to you then you must be serious about your body. Most musicians that develop painful RSI do so because their bodies were not conditioned enough in the first place to put in the hours of strenuous muscular activity.
I'm sure you know someone that has developed RSI, a bass player with elbow tendinitis, a drummer with an ankle problem or a trumpeter with carpal tunnel syndrome. Many a career has been stopped or stalled because of these debilitating injuries. What problems are prevalent with musicians? Why are musicians prone to these injuries? What can be done to treat them? What can be done to prevent them? In this and three future articles you will learn why your hands and arms are especially at risk for injury, and what you can do to help prevent problems from developing in the first place.
The best way to understand why you hurt is to understand why your body malfunctions in the first place. You might think that it's due to a specific thing that you are doing but it's really a combination of things. In my practice I find that, except in extreme cases, a normally healthy body will not develop repetitive strain injuries. There's usually something else going at the same time. Your body has an internal mechanism designed to keep you healthy and to get you back to health when injury or disease occurs. Unfortunately, because of normal use and abuse, we upset the normal function of the body through various means, some quite noticeable, some not.
Your nervous system is the electrical source that keeps everything in your body running smoothly. All systems are controlled by your nervous system. Nothing happens in your body without some control from your brain. Nervous electricity is the LIFE FORCE of your body. Without life to the tissues they become weak and diseased.
Spinal problems can affect your entire body. Misalignment in your spine will not only cause direct pain but can also cause irritation to your nerves resulting in arm or leg pain, sensation disturbances, weakness or a feeling that you are "just not on tonight."
Stress to your body comes in one of four forms, Mental (or Emotional), Thermal, Physical and Chemical. An overabundance of one or more of these stresses will cause your body to react in an adverse manner, causing a dysfunction.
Mental Stressors: "Why won't that club pay us what we're worth?" "That song is still missing something." "I'm pissed-off at my manager." "My marriage is on the rocks because I'm always on the road." "That bass player will never work out." It's all the negative stuff on our minds that causes Mental Stress.
Physical Stressors: While direct trauma can be an obvious problem, most problems accumulate over time. Many jobs, including being a musician, require a person to do the same action over and over again with the hands or arms often in an other-than-normal position. Repetitive guitar or bass practice, the up and down motion of the fingers on a prolonged trumpet solo, or running up and down the keyboard all cause abnormal body stresses.
Chemical Stressors: This includes anything that goes into your body. Drugs (prescription or otherwise), alcohol, toxins, environmental chemicals, fast foods, and a smoky hot nightclub can cause trouble. They all have a negative affect on your body and, like physical stressors, the more frequently they are consumed, the greater the effect on your body.
Thermal Stressors: Temperature is usually only a factor at extreme levels. Solar heat or a cramped nightclub can cause heat stroke or dehydration that leads to muscle spasms and involuntary movements. Cold, like in an outdoor New Years concert, will slow the reflexes and tighten the muscles making you more prone to injury.
Constant bombardment of these stressors over a period of time will cause your body to breakdown, leading to pain syndromes and sometimes a general breakdown of the human body.
What does this have to do with being a musician? Let me see if I can describe who you are. You're generally in good health. You eat well when you can but find that when you are gigging you eat a lot of fast food (chemical). You were up late last night (physical), either playing in a smoky room (chemical) or writing at the desk or computer (physical, probably chemical too if you smoke or drink), but because of other life commitments you also had to get up early this morning (physical). You feel guilty (emotional) because you had to play last week and didn't get to your child's event or spouses family gathering. You never call your mother and one of your parents has been sick lately (emotional). Because of the upcoming recording session, you have been sitting (physical) at the piano composing (mental) and have had to drink coffee (chemical) just to keep awake. The session has been going on for a while so your back or neck are stiff and sore, nothing an ibuprofen won't handle (chemical). And I haven't even touched those that over practise, smoke excessively, drink to excess, use drugs or generally don't take care of themselves. How did I do?
Your current health is an accumulation of everything that we do. The more these stressors are allowed to influence us, the more they will begin to break down our bodies, leading to a greater chance of developing injury. Was it really that little extra practice? Not really. Experiencing pain right now? Consider what has been going on in your life over the last few months, years, decades.
Next Time: Tendinitis and bursitis.
- Larry McCarthy
(Larry McCarthy has been a chiropractor since 1976 and is located in Etobicoke. He's a long time volunteer with the TBS and currently serves on the TBS board. While he's not a musician, his two sons are. Dan is a professional Jazz vibraphonist in Toronto while Steve is a bass player in a local rock band. Questions or ideas for future articles can be directed to Larry by e-mail at lmccarthy@cmcc.ca or by calling his office at 416-747- 6678.)
Toronto Blues Society Copyright _ 2003