Aj Fell

Best way to start organise everything is to keep a day to day diary of what you’re doing and when I found experimenting with different apps on Microsoft Office the best way and used a mixture of those. Hardest part of hiring a venue is making sure it’s the right venue for you gig, that your not being to ambitious but also not too cautious as well i find there’s a lot of waiting and hoping that it will be okay and following my gut that it will go smoothly. I’ve only used the source and the brickyard in Carlisle but found them both very good and useful in there own ways. If you have time and are planning in advance the source is amazing a lot of support from locals and workers through the whole process but they are very slow and unreliable when working under a deadline the brickyard however are amazing very fast and replying and definitely feels more professional however not so much that you feel your out of your league. To plan an event I’d start by deciding a theme/ genre you were looking at, then look at the sort of bands that fit what your looking for and start to look at venues making sure that the bands your looking at will fill/ part fill the venue but aren’t too big for the venue either. I’d then get in touch with the bands and venues and pitch you gig idea to them checking they can do the date you are after and the price your looking for but remember that things still can change from this nothing is set in stone. Once you have more info about the venue and if they can host and do what your after I’d create or sign a contract depending on how they work not all venues use them but is necessary to cover your back in case any thing goes wrong. After that’s signed I’d look to confirm your bands doesn’t have to be the ones you contacted first new bands and constantly appearing especially when you start looking so confirm your bands and also write a contract for them a lot of bands will think it’s not necessary especially if they are a lot smaller but it officially binds them to not back out of the gig last minute unless of emergencies also is a good place/time to discuss payment with the bands while starting out with gigs I’d suggest only agreeing percentages of profit which means they won’t get paid until you’ve broken even and paid the venue and other costs and will automatically filter out bands that are just there for the money and make them promote the gig more as the more people to come the higher chance they get paid more. At this point id start looking and contacting photographers and videographers if your wanting them and finding out if these people will want paid or not and if so a lot will have a set price so paying these will come before paying bands and what profit you have made (also signing a contract with these dont do what I did and go off there word that they will be there and end up with no videographer for the gig). After all this it’s just kind of a waiting game until the day making sure bands will be ready the gigs getting promoted and everyone is on track. Finally and most importantly making sure you have fun and enjoy the gig there nothing worse than hating and not enjoying it because it really shows at events like this!!!

Daniel Charlton

- What is the best way to organize  everything I need to do to put on a live  event? 

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 This depends on what you find as the  most effective way for you to work. Live  Event planning is mainly about making  sure you have a comprehensive  understanding of everything that you  need to do for your event. I usually find  making a list to start with and then  setting deadlines in relation to the event  date to ensure everything you need to  achieve is achieved by the event day. 

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- What is the hardest part about hiring a  venue? 

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 The hardest part for new event  promoters can be having the funds   available for deposits and/or hire fees.  Most venues will expect a deposit  payment at the point of booking but as  events rely on tickets being sold to make   money having this upfront can be  difficult particularly for new event  organisers. 

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- Which venues would you recommend? 

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 It is important that the venue is the right  venue for your event. You need to look  at location, reputation, facilities and  more to be confident in making the  choice to host your event at that venue. 

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- How would you personally go about  organising an event?  

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 We have a well-established workflow for  our events at The Sands Centre and  affiliated venues, how you organise an  event is largely based around how your  work best. Lists, timelines and deadlines  are key for organising any event in my  opinion but it's how you work best and  what is going to be the most effective    way to get everything done you need to   do for the event. 

Ross Sluman

 Regards technique I would say that  one of the hardest areas to master is  playing 'altissimo' notes. These notes  are beyond the official range of the  sax and can only be achieved using  cross-fingerings and by shaping the  inner spaces of your mouth to aid air  direction and resonance. It has taken  some years to perfect this but I  started by playing arpeggios into the  altissimo register so that I knew  exactly the pitch of the note that I  was trying to get. Fingering charts are  available in books and online, and I  just kept trying until I found ones that  worked for me with my particular set- up. Reeds, mouthpiece and  instrument will affect this. I have  found that synthetic reeds work really  well.

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 Audiences vary depending on the  gigs. When playing Jazz they will  appreciate a good sound and  technical ability, but I find that good  melodic material like jazz standards  mixed up with classic instrumentals  go down well. They also like to see  the band interact with each other, so  we try to play with our 'Heads Up' as  much as possible. With the pop/rock  side of things the audience will want  to be entertained and might want to  dance. I always structure the sets to  present a mixture of well known Sax  tunes that build in intensity. Again  some chat and band interaction  always goes down well. I mix up male  and female vocal tracks and use both  Tenor and Alto Sax's as their range    and personality suits different  numbers. I'd say that'Will You' and  'Baker Street' are still the most  requested numbers. If I'm out with  the Duo (Sax and Keys) the Ibiza  tunes are very popular, especially at  weddings.

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 Tips for developing tone. I have an  exercise that I call 'The Tone Circle' it  works on air and dynamics at the  same time. You start using any note  but I recommend Octave E, then    imagine that you are setting out  around the clock face from 6 with a  full chest of air.. so take in alot! Then  whisper the note in. Gradually  increase the amount of air and  volume without losing pitch until you  are at 12 o'clock playing forte. Then,  gradually decrease your air across the  reed and reduce your dynamic to  pianissimo at 6 o'clock. Evaluate the  sound you made, were you in  control? Did you like the sound that  you were making at all dynamics? You  can try recording yourself. If not  happy with your sound, make  adjustments to your air, your  embouchure, and possibly your  equipment. Ask other people what  they think too.

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 Tonguing on the saxophone is a tool  to help with expression, energy and  variation in our playing. For a basic  tonguing I would use the syllable 'Ter'  used as a valve when providing  constant air across the reed. Some  people prefer 'der' For staccato  tonguing I use 'tut', this helps the  tongue go back on to the reed to stop  it vibrating. For Swing I encourage a  legato approach using 'ta-taya' for  phrases starting on the beat and  'taya-taya' for phrases starting off the  beat.

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 I use synthetic Venn reeds made by  D'addario. I have tried other brands  but I favour these because you can  work on them by scraping and  sanding them until the strength is  right for you. They generally come  harder than you would expect for the  numbering system. I work on the 2.5  reeds which seem to be more like a  3.0 to me. I only use the Venn reeds  for my rock/pop playing because they  don't lose strength or quality under  extreme conditions such as hot stage  lighting and altissimo playing. Regular  reeds sometimes lose integrity  throughout 2 hours of extreme  conditions. I would not use Venn  reeds in a Jazz gig or when recording  because they lack the full range of  tonal quality caused by multiple wave  forms that create the tone that is  unique to you and your instrument...  Your voice on the sax. To me, I only  seem to be able to get 'my sound'  using cane reeds. The downside to  this is that all reeds are individual  because they are organic. I keep my  cane reeds in a hydrated container so  that they are always ready to play and  I have colour coded reed holders so    that I know which are my best reeds.

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 When recording myself from my  music room at home I use a  condenser mic into a wave editor,  usually Audacity. I play the track that I  am working over into my headphones  and at the same time record this in to  the stereo input. After recording I  split the stereo track and save the sax  on its own. This way I have two  versions, one with the sax over the  track I am working on and I supply  this to the customer with any effects I  want in the sax such as reverb as a  guide to how I envisage the end  result. I also supply just my sax  without any effects for them to EQ  and add effects that they want before  dropping it in at their end to the final  mix. I send the raw sax track as a 16  bit Wav file and this seems to be good  enough quality for them without the  file size being too large.

Andre Brown

- What is the hardest technique and how  have you perfected it 

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 The hardest Sax techniques that I’ve  perfected relate to the extremities of the  horn. I can play beautiful low sub tone  notes at the bottom end of the Sax and  love hitting harmonics on the very high  end of the sax. Although I’m not really a  fan of the word perfect beacause there’s  always room for improvement and  perfect implies that there’s only one  result that is satisfactory. People will  have different tones even on the same  instrument. Having said that, I’m really  happy with my Tenor Sax tone. I think  working on your tone is essential as it’s  your musical identity. I love my tone on  Tenor. I am also content with my Alto  Sax tone but I prefer the Tenor Sax tone.

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- What do audiences want to hear more  

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 This is a bit vague. I play jazz, gospel,  house, RnB, Soul, Pop, Motown, Disco,  Afrobeats etc… Do you mean what’s the  most popular genre of music people  want to hear? I play a lot of wedding and  big events.  Melodic House, Pop & 70’s  Disco are all very popular genres, but  the younger generation LOVE afrobeats.  Happy to re answer this question if you  more details. I think in general  audiences want to hear your story as an  artist not just the music. They want to    understand the motivation behind the.  music.

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- Do you have any tips for developing a  smooth and consistent tone 

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 Yes. This is advice I received from the  incredible Courtney Pine when I was 15,  and he received this from Sonny Rollins!  Practice long tones, really quietly. This  helps build control. Practice harmonics.    So fingering a low C for example and  then hitting all the harmonics of that  note without using the octave key, just  by thinking higher which will change the  shape of the chamber in your throat  and affect the note. It’s like humming a  higher note. It’s amazing.

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- How do you handle different  articulations, like staccato or legato on  the saxophone 

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 I use articulation as a means of  expression. I find that playing connects  me with myself and my feelings in a very  deep way. I can express myself with  sound in ways I can’t express with  words. Articulation is part of the way I  express myself. Especially when playing  Gospel and Jazz.