I am looking for a place in the inner loop or southwest houston to have a concert. I'm not sure what my budget is at this point, but I'd like the venue to be able to seat at least 50-75 people comfortably. Also, the place must have a sound system in place. I am wondering where I should look, maybe I can contact community theaters?
It'll be a hodge-podge of different things. There will be 3 performers (me included), and I personally will be singing a classical and an operatic duets. I'll also be singing some pop songs as well. I don't know what the other people are going to sing.
Because you need a sound system and because it is classical in nature, you should consider a church. A lot of them have small halls or areas outside of the sanctuary.
You can contact the theatres. They may want too much though. Don't make the sound system a dealbreaker. Hire a sound guy seperate, and you can have a concert anywhere - the theatres may give you their sound guys contact info. I used my system at the Flores Houston Public Library Branch a few weeks back and we had a mini rap concert and a Brazillian Martial Arts show in a parking lot.
I did think about a church, but I thought I'd lose a lot of sound in a big hall. I should look around and see if I can find a smaller hall. That's a fantastic idea. Thanks Jeff!
Sorry man, I'm only looking for an Irish guy singing Chinese Rebel Tunes. I'll let you know if something is available for you.
I agree with Jeff due to the nature of the material. usually a much better acoustic environment and much more conducive to a listening instead of mingling audience. The sound system will typically be better (if you choose the right space) and will have been fine tuned for the environment over many events - although not always for the better. I would consider hiring the regular house soundguy to answer questions while searching out a good engineer for the session itself. If you find a good audio engineer you should take him with you to search out the space in my opinion. Either way to get the space you desire you will be looking at something capable of seating much more than 50 or 70 people so if you find a balance between acoustics, proper equipment and space you will find your match. I don't know what your budget is, but you could contact Carey Wise at 4th Creation Recording in Conroe to engineer the show if you really want quality. Would probably be the best investment you could make but would not be cheap (if he would be willing to do it at all). Depending on the date I could possibly do the job - although I would want to know more about what exactly I would be getting myself into. I just enjoy it although it isn't my primary source of income these days. With this, as in all things, it is about following the chain and finding how to minimize the weakest links. Acoustics. Equipment available. Quality people to handle that part of the event. After that everything else is up to you and you have peace of mind that the weakest link is the most in your control and everything else will be right. Most of those places should have an equipment list or be able to create one for you. I would be happy to look over any of those (or if you post it here I'm sure any number of people could) and let you know at least what level their equipment is based on the size of the space. As a sound guy, I will tell you this. The level of the stage volume is where it all begins if you know what you are doing as an audio engineer. Everything else is based off of what is happening on stage and what is happening in the space. If you can find a nice intimate space with proper acoustics, proper equipment for the space (which doesn't have to be much - it just has to be right) and the right people to do the sound you will be much, much happier than the alternative. Of course, if you want to drink and smoke while listening to classical - which I do - another venue will have to do. Around Houston it is weird but there aren't a lot of house pa's or sound guys so if looking for that kind of venue you will have to be a little more creative and do a little more work with quite a few more variables with which to deal. An alternative would be to host the event at a hall like a church and then have an afterward mingling at a local pub. Either way, make it low stress and fun man. It's easy to lose what it is all about by focusing on things that have no bearing on how well the performer does what he does. Put as much of these things in the hands of quality people so you can just focus on what you do.
Thanks for the offer man! I might have to get in touch with you once I can figure out the venue. I definitely want a smaller room, and in the best case scenario, the singers won't need to be mic'd up where the sound system would only be for certain accompaniment. It's too bad that I couldn't find a place to rent an acoustic shell. Our budget is really small, unless we can get our friends and family to chip in $10-20 each. Even then, I cannot foresee spending more than $1000. I definitely want to concentrate on the performing aspect of the show because I have a lot of work to do. However, I really want to make sure the production is good because I want to take advantage of this and show my friends and family what I can do. Anyway, you can count on me to get back in touch with you for advice or service once I have it planned out. Thanks for the help!
