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Music and sound healing is not a new concept. Cultures throughout the world have used music to empower, energize, heal and soothe the body, mind and spirit since time immemorial. It is no accident that Apollo, the Greek god who is credited as being the father of medicine, is also the father of music and the inventor of the lyre.

Music and healing are part of each other, and current research is pointing to that more and more. Recent studies have shown that music can slow down and help balance brain waves, reduce tension and stress by affecting endorphin levels, reduce physical tension by changing the vibrational frequency of cells, and even evoke feelings of love and inner peace.

Of course, if music can slow down your body’s rhythms and effect soothing, peace and healing, it can also have the opposite effect. A well-chosen set of music can help energize you and prepare you to work hard and be creative. Studies have also shown that athletes working out and practicing to music use more energy, stretch themselves further and burn more calories than those who work without music.

There’s a great deal of information available now about music and healing. Sound healing, music therapy, and the power of sound to effect changes in the mind, body and spirit are becoming more and more accepted. It’s sometimes difficult to tell how much is true and how much is marketing hype.

I became interested in the healing power of music as a by-product of trying to produce the most beautiful music possible. Years back, Leonard Bernstein invited me to perform as concertmaster in the world premiere his production of Mass. While there, he invited me along to speak with management and producers in the recording industry.

I learned from them, to my surprise, that the violin, the instrument that I consider the most beautiful and evocative of any, was not considered by the recording industry to be a marketable sound – that people would not buy recordings that featured the violin.

That piece of news amazed me. To me, the violin is the most beautiful, evocative and versatile instrument ever created. In the hands of a skilled musician, the violin can gloat, laugh, exult or cry. It can express nearly any emotion that humans can feel in their hearts and souls. I challenged myself then to produce works of music that presented the violin as I know it – the evocative and expressive voice of the soul.

That was the beginning of my own music label and catalog, Li-Sem Enterprises. As it grew, I began to hear from those who work in the fields of healing, both the traditional hospitals and doctors’ offices, and those working in CAM (complementary and alternative medicine), telling me that they were using my music in their practices, to enhance meditation, focus awareness and evoke emotions.

Perhaps the most potent, powerful story that I heard was that of a teenage boy diagnosed with schizophrenia who did not speak at all, but who, while listening to my CD Fragrance of a Dream, looked up and said, “This music is so beautiful it breaks your heart.”

Those stories and touches from others led me to begin exploring the world of healing with sound and music, and what I find both amazes me and confirms my own belief that music is one of the most potent healing tools the world has ever possessed. I am still very much a student, a pilgrim on a quest to learn all that I can about the ways that different tones, vibrations and sounds can affect the body and attune with the emotions and the spiritual.

It is a wonderful journey, and one that I intend to share with as many people as I can. As a beginning of that sharing, here are some things that I have learned, and that I believe about how music helps to heal and regenerate the body.

1. Your body will heal itself if you give it the right tools. I believe that some music can help your body to heal by helping it to realign its balance. At the same time, it is far too early in the research for anyone to tell you which musical selections will heal a specific medical condition. I would be irresponsible if I recommended that music replace other more traditional forms of healing and therapy. Music is a complementary way to give your body the tools that it needs to help itself heal.

2. One of the most important and effective things that you can do for your body is to help it relax into a meditative state. There is a great deal of research to support that a state of meditative calm inspires your body and your mind to renew itself.

3. Sound is one of the best tools for inspiring the meditative state in which your body is receptive to healing and renewal – but it is important to choose your music carefully. Some music – classical music in particular – seems to go there instinctively, but most music was not designed to relax you.

We are barely beginning to understand the ways that music affects us and effects healing in us. The research is exciting and ongoing, and I spend a great deal of time working with different bodies of healers in various fields to aid this research in all the ways that I can.

I incorporate what I have learned into the production of the titles and arrangements chosen for every new Li-Sem Catalog release in the hopes that this wonderful gift that I was given, the gift of making music, can become a gift to others – one that helps heal and refresh and renew, and in the process becomes part of a positive change in the world.

When you are a new band, playing live is nerve wracking enough without having to worry about the front of house sound. Surely it’s enough to be concerned about whether your finely crafted and highly practised material will stand up to public scrutiny, or if you’ll make a tube of yourself by falling off the stage in front of the gathered mass of friends and family. Very important things both, but there are a number of simple things you can do to help yourselves and the sound engineer ensure you have the best possible sound coming through the PA. With that sorted you can worry less about the sound and more about whether you look like a tool in your new skinny jeans and winkle pickers.

First and most importantly arrive on time, en masse and fully equipped for your sound check. The sound check is as important as the live performance as this is the time the sound engineer will tune the PA system to get the best from your performance. He will tweak the system to suit your style of music, vocals and tone as well as familiarise himself with your set-up and any requirements you may have that are slightly out of the ordinary. It’s no good showing to your first gig five minutes before you are due to go on with an unexpected twelve piece choir and full brass section and expect the engineer to accommodate them and get them sounding their best. No doubt he will do his best, but the sound may not be as good as it could be and your performance may suffer as a result.

Arriving on time will allow you to have a relaxed and thorough sound check, to solve any little problems that might come up and for you to familiarise yourselves with the venue and stage layout.

Discuss your sound and how you want to come across to the audience with the sound engineer during your soundcheck. More than likely he will have never have heard you before and so will not know what sort of mix you require, so cannot be expected to magically guess what you want to sound like. You may not be able to get the exact sound your after due to limitations in the PA, poor acoustics in the venue or any number of reasons. But if you are on time, polite and constructive when addressing the engineer he will do his best to get you sounding as good as is possible with the equipment available to him and will more than likely look forward to working with you again.

Another tip is to consider your on-stage amplification purely as monitoring for yourselves and only turn them up loud enough for you to comfortably hear them. You may be used to winding your amps up to eleven in the practice studio, but doing that during a live performance can cause a number of problems. Firstly the sound engineer will have mic’ed the amps up and as such will be controlling they’re sound through the PA. The louder you have your amps on stage, the lower he has to have them through the PA and the less control he has over the overall sound mix, so you have a slightly messy and disjointed sound out front. Secondly, you will have on-stage monitoring so you can hear you vocals, as such the louder you have your amps, the louder the monitors have to be for you to hear yourselves. This increases the risk of feedback and can result in a slightly messy and disjointed sound on stage. So overall that’s a slightly messy and disjointed sound out front and on-stage and with everybody struggling to hear what’s going on everywhere. Not good. Trust the engineer to make the most of your sound out front and leave the volume dial on your amps alone. One way of improve your ability to monitor your amps is by sticking them on crates so they are closer to your ears and not pointing directly at your legs.

The tone of your amps can also prove to be problematic. Excessive treble will carry through the PA and result in a nasty jangly sound. This excessive top end is not always noticed by bands as by the time the sound has reached them from the amp it is ok, but bear in mind the position of the instrument mic. If you listen to your amp from the proximity of the mic, you’ll be surprised by how much more treble is evident. Adjust the settings on the amp from the position of the mic to get the best sound through the PA system.

Bad microphone technique is a common issue and can have a derogatory effect on the production of your vocals. Dynamic unidirectional vocal microphones of the type predominantly used for live vocals have a very specific area in which they pick up sound, usually within a couple of inches of the mic head. This design feature is to reduce the likelihood of other noises being picked up from around the stage helping to produce a cleaner sound and reduced chance of feedback. To get the optimum sound from the mic, try and keep within a couple of inches of the head, sing clearly and don’t move your head excessively when singing. This way, a fairly consistent signal will be picked up by the mic and your vocal won’t appear to be fading in and out. Also, try not to cup your hand over the mic head or hold the mic’ upside down as this will more than likely cause feedback.

Positioning yourself correctly on the stage can have a positive impact on your sound. More than likely you’ll have been trapped three feet apart from each other in a sweaty, rehearsal studio for weeks previously, so when faced with a nice, big stage, the temptation to get as far away from each other as possible is understandable. But try and stay compact on stage, particularly if you are only a small band, as this will not only help you hear each others amps better for monitoring purposes but will also prevent you looking and sounding disjointed and appear more of a cohesive unit.

Lastly, there are certain items that you should always remember as although the engineer may be able to help supply you with them, do not expect him to. There may be a time when he cannot and that may leave you in a pickle.

• Drum mat – a vital addition to your drummer’s gear. Without it the kit will make its way slowly across the stage and into the audience. Lack of a mat usually results in the extensive use of the sound guy’s vital and surprisingly expensive gaffer tape to secure the kick drum.

• Electrical adaptors – ensure you have sufficient extension reels and adaptors to support all you gear. The engineer may only have enough to cover the PA equipment so, again if you really have to plug in all fourteen of you effects pedals make sure you have sufficient power supplies to do so.

• Audio cables and adaptors – make sure you have enough guitar leads (including spares in case of breakdown), as again the engineer may not carry spares. Also if you are plugging in keyboards, click tracks or decks have the correct leads or adaptors to plug them into the PA – usually either ¼ inch jacks or XLR.

• To be nice to the engineer – He will have been there four hours before you mucking around with cables and lugging heavy equipment around to make you sound half decent and will be there two hours after you’ve disappeared down the pub to muck around with cables and lug heavy equipment around, so be nice.

Professional PA hire companies such as Audiorent.co.uk have highly experienced, professional and approachable engineers who will be more than happy to discuss any aspect of your set-up or performance. It is the engineer’s job to get the best from your music and ensure that the audience can focus on your performance rather than any anomalies in the sound, so if you follow the simple tips given above the chances of that are greatly increased.

If you need any information about the hire of PA equipment for your bands live performances or any aspect of PA, lighting, backline or AV hire in Nottingham and throughout the UK, contact Audiorent.co.uk on contact@audiorent.co.uk or call us on 07951164194.

A few years ago 5.1 surround sound DVD video players looked likely to become standard kit in every living room in the technology friendly world.

So now a few years on, what has happened to the original promise of surround sound music? Well the answer to that is ‘lots, but not nearly enough.’

For those that don’t know already, 5.1 surround sound is basically five speakers and a sub-woofer placed around your room allowing you to listen to music or a movie soundtrack literally surrounded by speakers. The film industry pioneered it for theatres and it then became available as a DVD player add-on for home entertainment systems.

Now at least 100,000,000 people world-wide own systems, which can and should be used for all manner of surround sound music DVDs.

I hear you say, ‘but surround sound music on DVD hasn’t really caught on. All that wire in my living room’.

Even though the consumer can buy a DVD player and surround speaker system cheaply enough, surround sound music hasn’t really caught fire yet. Why?

There are reasons why we should all remain confident that surround sound music will become more popular, but at the moment it’s still an infant child.

The amount of different DVD and surround sound formats is confusing and can be offputting.

The consumer desperately wants an end to the confusing compatibility war between different surround sound formats.

Many music artists would start producing DVDs if it wasn’t so complex, just as there are many consumers that would purchase a surround sound DVD system for the same reason. They should be able to buy a DVD player and play any product claiming to play DVDs.

Consumer surround sound formats currently include sound on video DVDs encoded as Dolby 5.1 surround sound or DTS; the competing DVD-Audio (DVD-A) and Super Audio CD (SACD) formats and MP3 Surround.

There are 5.1, 6.1, 7.1 systems, four speaker systems, even one speaker systems and ’simulated surround sound systems.’ Phew! See what I mean?

They all have their uses, but the I feel the music business would be wise to embrace one format. Every time the consumer buys a surround sound music product they have to research whether it will be compatible to their particular system.

The good news here is that slowly, but surely things are improving. As long as there is no ‘new’ new format to rock the boat, the problem of incompatibility could become a thing of the past.

There are many great web sites to visit which do explain (in as much detail as you could possibly imagine) all the different formats and help you decide what to buy.

How about all that wire in my living room though?

There are wireless speaker systems available, but the cheaper ones are for mainly rear-channel wireless amplification. This doesn’t quite get rid of all the wires and limits people who have odd shaped rooms. But they are better than nothing.

It would be great for a ‘let’s make it fun revolution’ to occur with surround sound, like the iPod. Small wireless speakers one could place anywhere. The recommended configuration would still be in a circle, but you’d have a license to have fun by placing them in different locations.

Certain types of music would not really benefit from this unconventional approach, but other types mixed specially for surround sound might not suffer that much and it would release the consumer from the pressure to set their systems up in a way that would please an audio engineer or DVD manufacturer.

Not enough of an improvement on CDs and overall lack of interesting music DVD products.

The amount of compression used for music on DVD video is far greater than CDs. So stereo music on CD is generally of a higher quality than stereo music on DVD. However, add the extra speakers and a properly mixed 5.1 surround sound piece of music and all of a sudden the playback bit ratio seems much less important.

‘What is’ you ask, ‘a properly mixed 5.1 piece of music?’

Recreating real space is what seems to interest some surround sound pioneers. The chance to paint a more precise musical picture by placing you the listener deeper inside a musical ensemble or concert venue.

This approach has got its merits, but it’s reliant on people having their speakers in precise locations, and that they will sit dead centre amongst them. Pluses can turn to minuses at this point. If you don’t have a perfectly set up system it might just sound weird, especially if you are used to the stereo CD mix from the same artist.

Apart from all the technical considerations, I consider a great 5.1mix a strong alternative to the stereo mix. Let’s say the artist already has their stereo mix. Why not make the surround mix something that really explores that extra space and is different from the stereo mix.

Give the consumer a choice of two distinctly different sounding mixes. This might inspire more people to make the effort to set up those surround speakers which are still sitting unused in the attic.

Currently it is almost mandatory to include some type of visual content on a DVD.

In a way, it’s a shame that ‘audio only’ DVDs haven’t caught on…yet.

Depending on the level of production the artist is looking to reach, it can be both very expensive and time consuming producing enough visual material to accompany all the music for a competitive DVD release.

Most musicians have a hard enough time producing their music let alone having to produce hour’s worth of videos as well. So you could say that the need for visual content (as exciting as it can be) is holding back the growth surround sound music.

Live concerts are the most successful type of music DVDs, mainly because they are relatively cheap to produce.

For ‘audio only’ DVDs to catch on, consumer expectation will have to be ‘re-trained’ to expect what they might consider as less. I feel that the days of distributing film or music products on any type of disk is going to disappear fast.

What does the future looks like for surround sound?

The real turning point will come when the Internet becomes surround sound friendly. A new MP3 surround streaming module has just been announced that allows manufacturers to build web radios featuring true 5.1 surround sound.

Many people surf the Internet sitting at their desk, listening to music for hours at a time. Soon they will be able to surf and listen in surround sound. Small near-field computer monitors would work perfectly.(especially wireless ones).

It’s inevitable that 5.1 radio and TV broadcasts will soon become the norm. Even without the music business, embracing surround sound as anything more than a small niche, the amount of people with a 5.1 system is steadily increasing.

At this point, surround sound music becomes a viable ‘audio only’ product. If the surround sound community can simplify the production process even more allowing the average project studio to easily create surround sound content, we should all benefit.

I predict there will be a tipping point where all of a sudden the ‘need’ for surround sound music will exceed the amount of available products.

Live surround sound music can be amazing. I went to Berlin and mixed a gig by the experimental Electronic band ‘Warren Suicide’. Instruments and vocals flying around the room in surround sound mayhem. It was great, and opened my eyes to what I hope is ‘the future’ for certain styles of music.

Dance music is an area I really hope starts to explore surround sound. The drum/synth based repetition is perfect fodder to trigger a quantum leap in 5.1 music production. All the technology is now available to present surround sound mixes in smaller clubs or ’surround rooms’ in larger clubs.

I have to quickly point out that the 1 in 5.1 stands for sub-woofer (a dedicated speaker designed to carry just low frequencies). This on its own is a major step forward for dance music fans.

DJ producers in particular can take control of the ‘low end’ of their tracks and shake the furniture more than ever before. Because one doesn’t have to squeeze all that low end into the same speakers as everything else it allows for a more overall dynamic mix.

Music mixed in 5.1 surround sound gives us the opportunity to produce and listen to music in a completely new way.

Both as a composer and as a engineer, I personally feel liberated, set free from the confines of stereo. In this case more really is better. The extra speakers/channels give you more ‘room’ to put your music.

My hope is for ‘audio only’ surround sound music to take off. Music is, after all, the world of the invisible – it seems a shame to connect it at the hip to pictures. Your mind processes visual images first, then sound. So pictures can distract people who might listen more carefully without them.

There is room for both music videos and surround sound music without the videos.

‘What kind of gear do you need to start mixing in surround sound?’:

a) A reasonably fast computer

b) Music software package that supports 5.1 mixing (Logic Audio, Pro-Tools etc.)

c) Minimum 8 channel audio interface (Motu, Digidesign )

d) Five matched self powered speakers, and a sub-woofer

Mixing In Surround Sound:

When I first started mixing something in surround sound, I went out and purchased three sets of Sony Mega Bass self powered computer speakers. After connecting them directly to my audio interface outputs, I then assigned the surround sound out-puts in Logic Audio. I opened a song I was working on and spread the instruments out around the channels and hit play… Wow! The five mini speakers sounded great. Mixing in a tiny bit of subs from my Genelec sub-woofer, it sounded even better.

I know… I can hear engineers crying out.. ‘But what about…?’ Well, it’s unconventional but as a starting point this system does work. Now I own a full set of Genelecs, but I still use this approach.

The normal way to mix in surround sound is to have a matched system where the sub-woofer is driven from the speakers. A roll-off decides that everything below a certain frequency is sent on to the sub-woofer. I favour rooting the signal directly to the sub-woofer from a send on either my main out-put fadder’s or occasionally individual instrument fadder’s. This way I can choose which instruments to place in the sub-woofer and which not to.

I say to music mixers; ‘Approach the surround mix with a fresh concept, understanding that it can reflect a different side of the song/composition.’

I don’t recommend the approach of mixing both the stereo and surround mixes at the same time. It seems that one or the other will be compromised. You’re still ‘thinking in stereo’.

The effects needed and levels will be different in a surround mix. I find I use less processing overall especially compression, again it comes down to having more space to place the instruments.

So start fresh without any of your stereo effects haunting you. It’s one of those things that will save you time in the end, plus you will probably mix more creatively.

After a little guess work and experimentation I managed to figure out the right level to print my mixes. Again the sub-woofer channel was tricky, but after burning a few trial DVDs trying different levels I got the hang of it.

I played some mixes I had done in my studio at Real World and Metropolis Studios and they sounded right. It shows you can produce your own surround sound music at a reasonable cost, even in a project studio.

There are hours worth of surround sound production tutorials available from all the major music software companies. Just visit your software makers web site to get started.

Of course the absolutely best way to mix music in surround sound is to go to a top recording studio. If you’re just starting out with surround sound, mix a track with the guidance of a highly trained professional engineer, who has experience with surround sound mixing.

There are great audio engineers who would (for a smallish fee) come to your project studio and ‘consult’ with you on the technical elements of your mix.

If you are producing a DVD for commercial release, it’s still best to get your project professionally mastered. Any decent music mastering facility can (to a point) rebalance your surround mix, so if you are a little heavy or light on the subs they can deal with it then.

Tips on ways to create your own visual content:

The quality you want to achieve is normally connected to the expectations of your audience.

With enough time and energy you can make videos using a consumer DV camera and Final Cut Pro (or PC equivalent). DV cameras are generally just not quite good enough for any ’serious filming’, but if used creatively for certain situations it’s possible to pull it off. HD camera’s are much higher quality but still do cost a lot more to buy.

Live concerts and gigs can work well though. If you are doing a gig, ask around all the people you know and see how many DV cameras you could borrow. If you have four cameras set up around the club, one camera to roam around and some decent lighting on stage, you’re in business. Make sure the people operating the fixed cameras don’t mess around during the filming. No zooming and out or trying to track the movements on stage. Perfectly still videos are much better to edit. Then in your film editing software, you can cut between different angles and add zooms, even simulate camera movement.

There’s no guarantee, but if the actual performance is strong enough, some of the production values will be overlooked.

Done well enough, you can produce a DVD using still images, like a slide show – again a good film editing program allows you to animate still photos way beyond what one might think is possible.

There are some fantastic animation programs like Bryce 3D, and Cinema 4D that are worth looking into. Start producing convincing 3D text an logos.

Warren Suicide are a great ad-sample of a band who are embracing the audio – visual age. Their DVD was produced by them, and although they worked really hard on it, the finished DVD was not expensive to make, but is just as imaginative and entertaining as any big budget music DVD I’ve seen.

How do I get my mix on to a DVD?:

There are, as you can imagine, quite a few ways available.

The huge majority of DVD players in circulation use the DVD video format. So I recommend choosing Dolby 5.1 or DTS encoding, don’t worry too much about all the others. DTS sounds just as good to me, but I found more options were available with Dolby 5.1.

All you really need is Final Cut Pro and DVD studio Pro or the PC equivalents. DVD Studio Pro comes with a audio compression program called Apac. Apac allows you to compress your six channel mix into a single 5.1 file, ready to place on a DVD.

These programs are not cheap, but they are worth every penny if you’re considering commercially releasing your DVD. Between them you can edit and effect your video footage/audio content, add text, export the outcome in a format which is ready to be authored and finally burned on to a DVD. WOW! All in you back room – not bad.

Many cities in Florida are renowned for their outstanding musical offerings, spanning a wide array of genres and styles. So it’s no wonder that a holiday in Florida often yields exceptional musical experiences for many holidaymakers. Choose Florida as your next US holiday destination, and you could partake in one of the state’s most celebrated attributes.

Of course, most of Florida’s musically inclined cities host music performances on a consistent basis, enabling travellers and locals alike to enjoy music no matter what part of the year, week, or even day. However, many cities are particularly known for seasonal music festivals – Miami being one of the most prominent. Home to the Winter Music Conference, Miami sees countless electronic music enthusiasts flock to the city each year to partake in the outburst of musical excitement. The Conference showcases the talents of over 200 music artists, guaranteeing a truly memorable experience for anyone who loves dance and electronic music.

Orlando is another hub for musical talent in Florida, showcasing the annual Florida Music Festival and Conference. Focusing on the indie music industry, the Florida Music Festival and Conference hosts hundreds of performances, not to mention 25,000 fans each year. Many people are particularly drawn to this musical event in Orlando, as it places many new, budding artists in the limelight.

However, blues fans will want to head straight to St Petersburg – home of the Tampa Bay Blues Fest. Held in a park overlooking Tampa Bay, this festival is renowned for showcasing world-class talent within the blues genre. What’s more, three days of blues music is accompanied by Cuban and Cajun food vendors, making the experience all the more remarkable.

Rock enthusiasts needn’t feel left out, because the Wanee Music Festival in Live Oak will certainly give them something to talk about. Located on the 600-acre Spirit of Suwannee Music Park and Campground, the festival welcomes a long list of roots musicians who perform amid the region’s stunning natural scenery. It is one of Florida’s best-known music festivals, and one that continues to attract increasing numbers of rock fans each year.

Finally, anyone who loves Jazz will also love the Hollywood Jazz Festival. Held in Fort Lauderdale each November, the festival hosts some of the nation’s top jazz musicians. However, anyone considering attending this event should book their flights and Fort Lauderdale hotels early, as it is considered a peak travel period for the city.

So, if you’re a music enthusiast, why not make Florida your next US holiday destination? With so many fantastic music festivals throughout the year, you’ll only have remarkable experiences and memories to gain.

Watch the music video ‘Nada nada…’ from ‘Sound check’ in this edition of ‘Dew Drops’. Music band Avial has sung this song. www.istream.in