Invest in a tech team

Guest writer





As an artist, ask yourself why you don't have a tech team for your performances. Ask yourself why you struggle with tech riders and innovative ways to deliver and perform to your fans.

With five years of live events industry experience both locally and internationally, I’ve worked on teams that brought you designs and executions of jazz festivals, various music shows and the famous #GazzaMilliConcert.

An industry tech consultant will not only bring innovative ideas to your craft but will cut down on your budget by eliminating unnecessary equipment not needed for your shows.

Let's talk lighting, sound and most importantly visuals, also known as AV. All essential for a show, yes; but if they aren't prepared right and married to your performance, it'll look as mediocre as they come.

Let me paint a picture. Imagine you're performing and your song has that awkward break in between where there's one to two seconds of nothing. Musically, it's amazing, and what you can do on stage as a performer is trigger the lights to black out, leaving your audience in awe.

In those two seconds, you move to a different spot on stage and by the time a spotlight comes on, your audience will be amazed and the sync between the music and lights will make you look good! Different lights can be programmed in such a way that they are in sync with every kick, base and hi-hat of your song. Every time a drummer hits that snare, a light behind him will be triggered to pulse with every tap.

Now, visually, if you have screens on the stage, consider visuals that complement each song and go along with your message, lyrics as well as tempo. Due to limited time on sound checks, visuals can be pre-prepped outside of the set and ingested during sound checks.

Even if you don't have screens, consider having cameras and a director with a musical ear to record your performances for a later post on your socials like we did for Gazza's GMP Live Sessions, which you can find on his YouTube page. Also consider livestreaming.

*Rubben Mabuku is an audio visual engineer from Windhoek. He has worked on projects such as Gazza’s Milli concert, numerous Namibia Annual Music Awards events, jazz fests and a Formula 1 race track concert in Abu Dhabi. Follow him on Instagram @your_av_connoisseur.