All That Goes Into Enhancing A Live Stage Performance

Vipin Pungalia, Director -
Professional Segment,
Sennheiser Electronics India.

Nowadays live events have become core of the youth. There is euphoria about the live events which happens almost everywhere across the globe. People have been appreciating live music through live concerts, award functions and DJ nights across cities and consecutively initializing new opportunities for event professionals. As a result, live events and performers are now being critically judged on the quality of the performance. This is why it becomes essential for a professional artist to identify the right tools to make that performance a memorable one.

As soon as we speak about a live performance, what strikes in the first go is the ‘Microphone’, and undoubtedly it is one of the most crucial decision makers of the fate of the performance. Today we cannot imagine a world class music concert without some power packed stunts involved and this is possible because of the cutting edge wireless microphone system. These days’ International artists such as Madonna, Beyonce, Enrique, Pink, etc. have been surprising the masses with their incredible acts on the stage all of which would have not been possible, without the proper wireless microphones systems which provide them with the freedom to do whatever they wish on stage.

Wireless microphone offers freedom to artists and sound engineers that allow them to move freely on the stage and capture and transmit sound at any situation and any event. For artists it ensures movement on stage rather than just statically standing in front of a platform which not only boosts their confidence on the act/gig that they are going to do but instead helps them to have a good hold on the device. Natural and expressive movement is encouraged, enhancing the overall impact of the act.

While the above highlighted handheld mics, let’s also understand a bit about the headset microphones. These come into play when the whole emotional power and dynamic of a performance has to be conveyed to the audience. To accomplish that, you need highly developed audio technology with lots of feeling one which works reliably under every condition.

There’s also a play of stage lights that goes into creating that magical performance. Entertainment and or Theatrical lighting are used to enhance the scene. The lighting pulls all the aspects of the stage together to create a scene that draws attention to the main character. The lighting allows the whole piece to be embraced and supported. It’s an art that magically subdues certain parts, or props and costumes to enhance the artist and showcase a proper relationship of the artists with their background and surroundings. Therefore, all objects that appear on the stage needs to be in balance and the light should focus in on the picture that needs to convey the sense and feeling to what the audience is viewing.

Another very important aspect is something that comes before actual event. In a live event, a sound engineer plays a very crucial role in determining a performance’s success. There are times when one witnesses bad quality of sound at the concerts. This could either be because of the inadequate acoustic products or unsynchronized management in an event. Evidently, sound engineer is the common factor in both the scenarios. Accordingly, sound engineer’s job role incorporates many duties, making him all the more important in an event.

Besides, a decent knowledge of live sound engineering and concert sound engineering, a live event requires more than just plugging in some amplifiers and turning a few volume buttons, it demands skills and expertise of sound quality and electronics. Thus, without the sound engineer, monitoring and setting audio equipment would transpire as a big task to complete.

There are different venues and locations set for live events, requiring a different event setting altogether. A venue such as small lounge to a medium size ballroom or an outdoor arena, poses a challenge to sound engineers. A live sound engineer is solely responsible for reorganizing between different paths with different jobs in the course of that event. The live sound engineer has the ownership to make adjustment to the stage details as per his best understanding. The venue manager also supplies him with the required manpower in order to help him stage the event.

Hence, before setting up for any event, a sound engineer does a recce of the venue. He coordinates the sound quality basis and delivers the music inputs in the purest form. Therefore, he is very crucial to the smooth and successful execution of the live events. Similarly with a different venue at every event, there are different colleagues and different demands by every host. A sound engineer makes sure they please the music group and also ensures the audience enjoys the music event for its great audio output and experience. Furthermore the protagonist safeguards music equipment’s consisting of amplifiers, audio lines, microphones, mixers, audio board and monitors, each of these having specific functions.

Though the above talks about the technicalities, there is also a lot of confidence and passion that goes into making a live performance even better. Confidence is the most important element anyone, on any stage, could have. Your audience knows what you are trying to put across and can easily understand if you are not completely into your performance. The passion with which you love your art is an energy that the audience looking at your performance can feel making the scenario surreal.

With the right instruments, attitude and scenario, one can make their live performance something that the audience can remember by for ages to come!