richard hingley.com for new music, downloads, forums and music videos
n e w s

international

contact info

site index

links

b l o g

Friday, March 31, 2006

Gig done


Hi

I have just arrived home after the gig and I am exhausted but pretty satisfied. All in all it went very well but obviously there's always room for improvement. I think there were around 100 people in total but I wasn't as nervous as I thought I might be. The running order I choose was as follows;

Questions and Answers
Sunrise
Hiding away
Turning Around
In another world
Long ago
The last time

The poeple who came that I knew were very complementary which was great although I have videoed it so I will watch it back tomorrow, only then will I get a feel for how I did. It all goes so quickly when you're playing, almost as if everything is in fast forward. I don't normally mention people on my blog but this is an exception as I had two friends help me out on the video front in Lawrence and Barry - thanks guys. No resting on this it's time to keep moving forward, thanks Tube Club for giving me the chance.

Right a well deserved sleep!

and back to me...

posted by Richard @ 1:47 AM

 

Wednesday, March 29, 2006

No changes now

Hi

I've just come back from the rehearsal rooms after a 3 hour session, well that's it now, no changes can be made before tomorrow night so I hope it works. My voice is still a little coarse I hope it lasts out the duration of the performance, if it doesn't I have perfected juggling on a unicycle :-)

Even though it's not a massive gig it's still a big hurdle for me to jump and it will also see how an audience reacts to hearing my material. I would like to tell you the running order but I want to leave some element of surprise for the people who read this blog that are coming tomorrow. Right time to get some sleep.

and back to me...

posted by Richard @ 11:52 PM

 

Monday, March 27, 2006

A live video

Hi

Well the voice seems a little bit better today and the practice is going well, having said that it's always a bit different when you get up in front of people. I have decided I am going to shoot a video of this gig for a few reasons, I think it will be good to have a record of it for archive purposes but also if it goes well I will use it as a promotional DVD to get further gigs. Anyway back to the practice.

and back to me...

posted by Richard @ 10:46 PM

 

Saturday, March 25, 2006

Hitting the high notes

Hi

Why is it when you think that things are starting to work out fine something just comes up and bites you, well that is what happened today, I have been practicing hard as you know but maybe too hard, today my voice seems to have dropped in pitch, no my voice hasn't just broken but I am struggling to reach higher notes that I have been reaching easily the last week or so, so much is that lack of top end reach that I am considering having to change the key of some of the live tracks to compensate, this is fine for the acoustic ones but the ones with backing I may have to re-record, hopefully with a little bit rest then I will be able to hit the high notes again.

and back to me...

posted by Richard @ 10:58 PM

 

Thursday, March 23, 2006

Set list

Hi

I've just come back from the rehearsal room and I have finally decided on the set list, I won't reveal it here as a few people who read the blog are coming to the gig, well it's good to leave something as a surprise. I knew really what songs I wanted to play but the running order was to be decided, anyway I now have it sorted so it's full steam ahead getting the flow of it. One week left so I really had better crack those lyrics.

and back to me...

posted by Richard @ 11:51 AM

 

Wednesday, March 22, 2006

Mic opened again

Hi

Another open mic slot tonight at the Havana club in Windsor, It went pretty well although some new material I was trying still needs to flow a little better when playing live, I need to rework a few sections. A reasonable reaction but that is what I expect at the moment as no one is familiar with any of the material.

Back to the rehearsal room tomorrow for a long session working hard getting ready for next week.

and back to me...

posted by Richard @ 11:31 PM

 

Monday, March 20, 2006

Promotion

Hi

I have been doing some promotional stuff today for the gig on the 30th, firstly I have finished the flyer for the gig and I will start giving that out over the next few days. Also I have written a gigNews email to send out to the mailing list, I hope a few people will turn up but then again it's more important to try and interest new people at the gig. Not long now I really should try and learn my lyrics.

and back to me...

posted by Richard @ 9:25 PM

 

Saturday, March 18, 2006

Rain in Dubai!

Hi

Can you believe it beautiful weather all week and just when I plan to shoot some footage for the traveling man video it's blowing a gale and pouring with rain, I just can't believe it. I've been to dubai a few times and I have never seen hardly a cloud never mind rain before, what is also interesting is the fact that the rain is full of dust, well sand really.

The gig I was trying to play over here also didn't pan out which was a shame but it gave me more experience in trying to book them. Back to London later tonight and then back to serious practice leading up to the gig on the 30th.

and back to me...

posted by Richard @ 8:15 PM

 

Friday, March 17, 2006

Finally finished the new layout

Hi

Well I think I have finally completed the change over to the menu bar and navigation system for the site, I am very pleased with the way it looks and more importantly the way it gives flexibility to get around. I am so glad that I took time at the beginning of creating this site to work with templates as this would have been a momentous task to change.

and back to me...

posted by Richard @ 9:01 PM

 

Wednesday, March 15, 2006

Navigate away

Hi

Well as I discussed in the previous entry I have been working on the new navigation for the site, in fact everything except the blogging template is now live on the site, the blog template will take a little longer as I have to add that via a 3rd party blog aggregator. I think, well I hope it makes it a lot easier to navigate around why don't you let me know I have posted a new thread on the forum for your comments.

There are still a few broken links to be fixed which I will fully test over the next couple of days

and back to me...

posted by Richard @ 8:23 PM

 

Sunday, March 12, 2006

Improving the navigation

Hi

In a break over here in Dubai and without a guitar to hand I have decided to look at improving the general website navigation. There is a lot of interesting content that is not initially available for users to click to. This has also been commented on by a few visitors to the site so improvements are on the way. I have started to work on looking at how and why people move through the site, I have a visitors utility program that can map the track of visitors and see where people are loosing interest or getting a little bit confused at where to go next. It is really interesting to see how people move through the site, I can even see this in real time as they navigate about, great stuff. It will probably take me a few days before I upload it so we'll see then if it makes any improvement to the stats.

and back to me...

posted by Richard @ 10:44 PM

 

Dubai

Hi

I'm in Dubai for the week doing some work and hopefully if it comes off playing a gig towards the end of the week. As you would expect when I'm traveling there is always an opportunity to get some footage for the traveling man video. Actually Dubai was the first location I shot some footage for but this was with my old video camera and all the rest of the footage was shot in HD so I will re-shoot the dubai shots again. Dubai was also the first episode of "adventures of a traveling man" a podcast series telling the exploits of my video adventures. You can listen to this in the podcast section of the site.

and back to me...

posted by Richard @ 5:19 PM

 

Thursday, March 09, 2006

Rehearsal studio and ears

Hi

I've just come back from the rehearsal studio and very useful it was too, firstly to belt out some tracks and push your voice to the limit to see what range you have is essential in knowing what you can do live. Secondly being able to try out a few different equipment setups was great as now I can work on two different sets.

I have had some custom ear moulds taken so I can have some in ear monitors made, you know the type that are all the rage at the moment, these in ear monitors make it so much easier to hear when you play live as the mix in your ears is not ruled by what you can hear behind the P.A. This is generally a different sound from what the audience hears which can make it distracting when you play. Anyway these new monitors have been shipped and should arrive tomorrow. I'm really looking forward to trying them.

and back to me...

posted by Richard @ 11:47 PM

 

Wednesday, March 08, 2006

Open Mic


Hi

I have just returned from playing an open mic slot in Windsor, I really enjoyed it and the feedback I received was very positive. I think I did as well as I could but there is always room for improvement as I forgot a few lines and duplicated a verse, but all in all it was a really enjpyable evening and good to start the ball rolling. The live work doesn't stop there as I'm into the rehearsal studios tonight to keep the momentum going. It will be good to try a few new things with equipment settings and different song arrangements.

and back to me...

posted by Richard @ 11:55 PM

 

Monday, March 06, 2006

Practice, create and research

Hi

Well it's still practice, practice and a little bit more practice but I have had a little bit of time to start creating a gig flyer as I'd mentioned in the previous blog. I have also been doing a little bit of detective work into all the online music websites and to see if I can get registered on them to keep spreading the word out about my music and the website. I created a list of all the sites and need to find sometime to register and upload the songs, actually I might get some help on that one. But it has been a worthwhile exercise.

and back to me...

posted by Richard @ 10:29 PM

 

Friday, March 03, 2006

Still Practicing

Hi

Well this practice thing is getting addictive, if only I could remember the lyrics :-). I am still trying different sets and options plus trying to sort out gear to take out live, cables, mics etc.

Something I need to get on with is creating a flyer poster for the venues I will be playing, one that can be easily filled in with the date and times of the gig. I think that can be tomorrow's task.

and back to me...

posted by Richard @ 10:48 PM

 

Wednesday, March 01, 2006

Rearranging

Hi

I am really enjoying practicing and getting ready to launch the songs on the live world, actually some of the songs have slightly different arrangements that seem to work better for playing live. I may decide to change the studio songs to fit these arrangements but I will wait until I have played them a few times live and got some audience feedback.

My first outings will be some quiet open mic spots over the next week so I will let you know how I get on.

and back to me...

posted by Richard @ 8:57 PM

 

 
home | news | music | biography | community | members area | contact info | store
Copyright © 2005 - 2006 richardhingley.com . All rights reserved.