asides

Best Microphone Technique

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With us tentatively restarting our live Singers’ Nights (albeit with a limited number of people attending) we have had to consider the potential health consequences of everybody sharing the same microphone.

With this in mind, we have sourced a supply of disposable microphone covers which each performer removes and places in the bin as soon as they finish their spot.

There also revived the debate about how far one should hold the microphone when singing.

Six to nine inches is often heralded as the “correct” distance when it comes to using a dynamic microphone such as the ubiquitous Shure SM58.

The best advice I ever heard was to imagine the mic was the ear of a close friend.  Only get really close when whispering something and move progressively further away as your voice gets louder.

Compare the difference between Midge Ure’s technique at the start of this clip (one minute in) compared to the crescendo 45 seconds later.

You can read more about microphone technique here

A Tea and Cakes Charity Boost

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A big thank you to all those who attended  our recent fund-raising night on March 8th, which was part of the nation-wide “Time for a Cuppa” campaign to raise funds for Dementia UK‘s Admiral Nurses project.

Thanks too, to Glyn Hudson and Barbara Jones who brought cakes for the event, the Co-op in Ruthin who kindly donated cakes and wine for the raffle, and the management of The Feathers who donated a bottle of bubbly for the raffle.

Finally, thanks to Jayne Birchall who organised the club’s Time for a Cuppa event.

The tea, cake and raffle money raised £116.35 toward Dementia UK’s campaign to raise money to help families face dementia through their specialist Admiral Nurses scheme.

FolkLife Quarterly January 2017

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Bang on cue, The first 2017 edition of FolkLife Quarterly has landed on the doormat.

At just £2.50 it is jam-packed with information about folk and acoustic clubs the length and breadth of this fine land. There is a section on Festivals and another on Workshops. It even has a a song lyrics section.

Get yourself on the mailing list. Go to folklife.org.uk

How to cope with a broken string mid-song

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srvStevie Ray Vaughan was born on this day (3rd Oct) in 1954.

He was sadly killed in a helicopter crash in thick fog on August 27th 1990.

Amongst his claims to fame was that he played guitar on David Bowie’s Let’s Dance album.

During his short but successful solo career, one of his high points was when he broke a string whilst performing “Look at Little Sister” for an Austin City Limits special in 1989.  At the 2:40 mark in the video (dismiss the advert), you can see his B string snap just a few seconds into his guitar solo. What happens next is amazing.

Vaughan beckons to his roadie and guitar tech Rene Martinez, who makes one of the smoothest guitar swaps you’ll ever see.

Picking the perfect time to make the swap, just as the guitar solo finished, Stevie Ray Vaughan carried on singing barely missing a note during the exchange.

Read more about this great rock legend here…