Lighting Do's and Don'ts 

In the on-premise industry, whether you’re producing live staged musical performances or relying on a DJ to keep the patron’s audio and visual senses satisfied, sound and lighting prove critical in assuring that customers not only return, but spread goood word of mouth.
    Though there is no formula one can implement to insure that the audio/visual final product is optimal, there are particular do’s and don’ts that may prove to make a lasting impression. Nightclub & Bar takes a quick look at two Detroit venues as case studies.

The Magic Bag
Located in Ferndale, Michigan, in the heart of downtown Detroit, The Magic Bag was opened in 1996 by Jeremy Haberman as a music venue booking strictly Blues acts. Initially, Haberman sought to fill the absence of the blues genre in the community. Since then the spectrum of music has broadened, and this one-time movie theatre is now host to everything from Punk to Gospel.
    Not only has the variety of music diversified, but the sound and lighting also has evolved. In the beginning, The Magic Bag had two basic JBL speaker cabinets suspended from the ceiling with no subs. Now, the venue offers a full concert surround sound system with crown amplification and a lighting system that provides 16 PAR 64 600 W Ray lights and a Lightronics 16 channel 2-scene board.
    With so many types of music coming through a room such as The Magic Bag, it’s tough to change the lighting and sound of the music hall to fit each act and the crowds they draw. Yet, Magic Bag Sound Man Terry Cox has some tips.
    “Bolster your systems so you don’t have to enhance for one particular act,” Cox says. “You want to have the capacity to accommodate any one that is coming through without pushing the limits of your equipment.”
    Another tip is to keep lighting basic. Offer a simple lighting set-up that allows for acts to bring in effects which are suited to their own shows.
    Don’t mix too loud, Cox says. “Consider the occupancy of the room; this allows for a clean sound that doesn’t overdrive the system.”
    Finally, “don’t allow for any surprises and be consistent.”

The Bosco
    On the heels of The Magic Bag’s success, brothers Jeremy and Daniel Haberman set out to offer downtown Detroit a design-conscious lounge with an intimate atmosphere teamed with global, hip-hop, funk and soul beats.
    “To some extent we have crossover between the two clubs,” Jeremy Haberman says. “The Magic Bag has a pretty serious Rock ‘n’ Roll crowd while The Bosco is geared more to the hipster crowd.”
    Upon entering The Bosco, an Italian term meaning forest, one will notice plush Scandinavian couch-lined walls set against a wooded backdrop, all of which flows into a heated courtyard surrounded by honey locust trees. The lounge is very accommodating, allowing for casual-hip comfort.
    On the weekends, a professional spinner steers away from the Euro-influenced tracks and instead keeps true to the Detroit music legacy by concentrating on soul, hip-hop, and funk rhythms.   
    Early in the week, however, the lounge provides fresh and interactive programs, giving those patrons a chance to be in control of the music.
    One of these programs is called “No Wax Wednesdays.”
    “Customers come in with their own MP3 player and control the music for the night, or at least a segment of a night,” Daniel Haberman says. “No Wax Wednesdays” are an open mic night for amateur DJs that allow for the sharing of music while keeping it eclectic.
    While letting the club-goers control the house system for a night is a fresh idea, it’s important that you have a staff host that mixes the overall sound and adjusts the levels. This ensures that the equipment is safe when DJ traffic is at an all time high.
The lighting at The Bosco is simple.
    “Every set of lights is on a dimmer and we keep them down in a lot of cases,” Dan Haberman says. “A lot of nature projections and loops are utilized on walls around the lounge or behind the DJ.”                    NCB