Sounds Live is a live music festival on the radio.
History
In 2006 2MCE's programming & production coordinator Michelle O'Connor visited Radio Adelaide for a mentorship program funded through a special grant from the Community Broadcasting Foundation (CBF). 2MCE submitted a grant application for the CBF funded mentorship program in the first round it was offered in 2005. Station management identified great learning opportunities for 2MCE from the program and nominated Radio Adelaide as the mentoring station. In 2006 2MCE celebrated it's 30th year and with a strong history of making radio behind us, the station was now looking forward to new and interesting ways of engaging the community. Through the mentorship program we hoped to benefit from the many years of Radio Adelaide’s experience in community broadcasting to develop ideas for future 2MCE broadcasting projects.
The mentor week consisted of a series of meetings with key station staff to gain an insight into some of the processes of the station. Michelle recognised the value of the mentorship saying "visiting another community radio station for a week was a wonderful opportunity. Sometimes it’s useful to walk outside the front door of your station and see what else is happening out there. Meeting like minded people and sharing experiences was really positive."
A project Radio Adelaide was developing at the time was the Live Music Week where for a week each program on Radio Adelaide would feature some live music. Even talk based programs would be asked to feature live music. Jane Costessi the Radio Adelaide music coordinator in 2006 explained how the project was conceived, how it would be managed and how it would enhance to profile of the station. The project for Radio Adelaide was inspired by a similiar project at 3CR in Melbourne.
Michelle returned to 2MCE with a swag full of ideas and kept that Live Music Week idea clearly in mind.
In 2007 then studio 4 coordinator Bron Matherson complained that all she heard on other radio stations was old music, i.e. hits from years ago. Around the same time station manager Ross Larsen asked staff and volunteers for one word that best described 2MCE. For programming coordinator Michelle O'Connor one word that sprung to mind was 'diversity' and the recognition that the point of difference for 2MCE is that we can (and do) play new releases and a good amount of Australian music.
Michelle remembered the Live Music festival idea from Radio Adelaide and proposed a week of live music on the radio for 2MCE. The idea was approved by the programming committee and work started on Sounds Live. Live music venues in Bathurst are few and far between and musicians struggle to find a venue where they can perform original live music. Local pubs will book a band for Saturday nights, but their audiences mostly prefer a set of covers over originals. With this in mind ‘Sounds Live’ was devised by 2MCE to offer a live performance opportunity on the radio for local musicians.
2008
The inaugural Sounds Live project in 2008 featured live-to-air music performances from the 2MCE studio and the historic Ponton Theatre on the Bathurst campus of Charles Sturt University. Sounds Live 2008 featured more than 20 local musicians from Bathurst and Orange and presented a diverse range of musical styles including funk, jazz, country, acoustic, singer/songwriter, classical, pop, rock, easy listening and Indian Fusion.
Local sound engineer Tim Roebuck led a production team of enthusiastic 2MCE volunteers including Chris Bacon, Adam Thompson, Keith Manning and 2MCE staff Michelle O'Connor and Nick Cook in a series of live music workshops teaching the team how to set up a band for live performance. These workshops were financially supported by Bathurst Regional Council.
The production team lugged gear, rolled leads, set-up microphones, plugged in instruments, and gaffed for a full week. It was exhausting and exhilarating. We welcomed some great musicians to 2MCE and put to air great sounds. Feedback was overwhelming positive, so we thought "let's do it again next year".
Sounds LIve 2008 featured.
Dried Arrangement
Toni Farlow, singer/songwriter
In the Pocket , jazz and easy listening
Natchez, guitar and flute duo
Phil Cole, singer/songwriter
Aprils Honest Lie, acoustic trio
Alf Halpin, country music singer
Cliff & Betty Berry, country music duo
Peter Horan, singer
David MacKay,pianist
Tori Roth, acoustic
EQD, funk/jazz
JazzNotes Allstars
Keith Manning & Colin Leitch, tabla & guitar Indian fusion
Amber Cashell, singer / songwriter
The Charlie Lions, funk
Bathurst Public recorder ensemble
Macquarie Male Singers
Shoe Shiners, jazz from Kinross Wolaroi
Ann Roxborough, folk singer
CSU Voices, choir
2009
Sounds Live returned in 2009 for a full week of live music on the radio from August 1st-7th. We wanted to make Sounds Live spectacular…to create a project which would raise the profile of the station in the community and generate interest in our broadcasting service. Michelle O’Connor (Sounds Live producer) and Kylie Shead (from Local Stages) collaborated to develop ‘Sounds Live Cabaret’ – a cabaret style concert (the venue was Bathurst Memorial Entertainment Centre) featuring live music, a radio play, spoken word and humour. The theme of cabaret was 1940’s radio and the venue was decorated with old-style radios, vinyl records and old-fashioned stage lighting. ‘Sounds Live Cabaret’ opened the Sounds Live festival week and was broadcast live on 2MCE. The concert featured local musicians Aaron Hopper, Fat Wombat, Eight Dollar Orchestra, B-Dub, and EQD.
The Local Stages program is funded through the Bathurst Memorial Entertainment Centre and supports the development of performing arts practice in Bathurst. The program hosts regular cabaret nights which are wonderful opportunities for local performers and audiences to experience our ‘homegrown’ talent. The collaboration between 2MCE and Local Stages to host Sounds Live Cabaret was a great coming together of two organisations that support the creative development of members of our community.
To chill out after the big night of our opening gig (Sounds Live Cabaret), 2MCE hosted Sounds Live Acoustic for a Sunday afternoon of acoustic original music. 2MCE worked in collaboration with the School of Communication at Charles Sturt University to secure the historic Ponton Theatre (a 99 seat theatre) as the venue for the gig. The Sounds Live Acoustic concert featured six local musicians in acoustic format and was broadcast live on 2MCE. The line-up included Lancelot’s Pram, Amber Cashell, Anita Willey, Noni, Tony Robinson and Margie-May Hockey.
The Acoustic gig was simple in its presentation and focussed on the talent of the musicians without the flashiness of the Cabaret gig. It was an opportunity for the musos to perform for a Sunday session which wasn’t in a pub. It was a special afternoon which was well received by the audience at the gig, as well as our radio audience.
With funding from the CBF both concerts were recorded by audio engineer Tim Roebuck and a compilation cd of Sounds Live was distributed via AMRAP to community radio across Australia.
For the remainder of the Sounds Live festival we hosted live-to-air performances from local musicians from the 2MCE studios. Scheduled at different times during the week we featured, classical guitar, jazz, easy listening, rock, acoustic, and electronic music. There were at least three live-to-air performances scheduled each day of the week. 2MCE broadcasters were invited to promote the musicians scheduled for each day and we were able to generate great audience interest throughout the week. At the end of the week, everyone in town was talking about ‘Sounds Live’ on 2MCE.
Award Winner
Sounds Live 2009 was recognised by the Community Broadcasting Association of Australia (CBAA), winning a national award at the CBAA conference held in Brisbane during November 2009. 2MCE won the prestigious ‘Most Innovative Special Event or Outside Broadcast’ category of the national CBAA awards being recognised for innovation in broadcasting for the local community. Other finalists in this category included major metropolitan stations.
2010
Sounds Live is set to sizzle in 2010 with more live music events, workshops and a visit to the villages. It all happens live on 2MCE during August and September. Follow the Sounds Live blog for details.
2MCE is seeking expressions of interest from local musicians who'd like to perform during Sounds Live in 2010 (August 25th - October 1st). Please contact Michelle O'Connor on 6338 4312 or moconnor@csu.edu.au for more details.