Just  a quick note to say we won’t be using this blog site anymore. I’ve decided to split my blogs into two, one for our Wedding clients and one for our Corporate Bookings. I feel this way I can directly taylor it specifically to you and the information you may be interested in!

So…. check out www.mibmusicweddingentertainment.wordpress.com for all things Weddings!

And www.mibmusiccorporateents.wordpress.com for information on the corporate entertaining world!

How to choose a flexible, space and cost efficient music act for your function

I thought I’d take the opportunity to write about the smaller music acts that are available for wedding receptions and private functions. I mean, sure, it’s easy to find that impressive ‘all singing, all dancing’ 12 piece function band, that can play pretty much anything you ask of them because they feature such a large line-up. They are charging you probably in excess of £3,000 and therefore will provide whatever you want, whenever you want, and you’re (almost) guaranteed the band will sound amazing. (If you’re looking for that sort of thing, by the way, check out our largest band for weddings and corporate events, ‘MIB’ – www.mibband.com) But, like so many couples out there, what happens if your budget is limited? What if your venue doesn’t allow or doesn’t have space for afore mentioned ‘12 piece dream band’?

Our band ‘Funkadelics’ (http://www.funkadelics.co.uk) have been designed with this specifically in mind. We get soooo many  clients calling us with problems like ‘My Wedding Venue will only let us have three musicians’ or ‘My Venue has a sound limiter, what size function band can handle this?’…. We’ve designed the band with exactly this in mind, and we pride ourselves on being one of the top quality live music acts of this kind in the UK.

Please do check out Funkadelics, however I know a lot of people like to shop around and search for ‘that perfect band’ for their wedding or other function….so below are a few handy tips for what to look out for when searching through what I call the ‘function band jungle’…how to pick out the cream of the crop!

If you’re restricted on price, space or budget, but you want some kind of live music, a smaller band is the best option. By ‘smaller band’ I mean anything from a solo performer to perhaps a 4 piece option.

Backing Track Bands

These sort of acts usually use backing tracks to supplement their sound. As you probably know, most bands are made up of a live drummer, bass player, guitarist, keyboard player and a singer (or the singer may be one of the instrumentalists). Smaller acts will often supplement their musicians with a backing track, so you may only have to pay for two or three ‘live’ players and the rest of the music will be on a backing track.

Pro Points

 - This is a great money saver! If you get the right band with good sounding backing tracks, this can sound amazing. If you think about it, the band can make as much effort with their backing tracks as they like, therefore can layer up tracks of backing vocals, percussion, extra keyboard parts, samples…the list could go on forever, and make their tracks sound fuller than that ’12 piece dream band’ we were talking about earlier.

 - If your venue has restricted space or you have limited time for the band to set up, this sort of band is perfect for you. Less band members quite simply means that it will require less time, space and hassle to set up the equipment.

 - Does your venue have a sound limiter? (A limiter controlling how loud the band can go – and will cut power as soon as they exceed it!) Backing track bands are a really good option for getting around these. A good quality band of this sort will have professional, compressed backing tracks, which these dreaded ‘sound limiters’ react a lot better to than uncompressed, fully live music. You can also get backing track bands with the drums on track, rather than live, which means the sound levels are a lot more controllable.

The Down Side

 - Watch out for bands that use midi-file backing tracks rather than real audio. This probably sounds ever so complicated – it’s not really. Midi-files are basically computer generated music – you’ll recognise it when you hear the band’s demo. If the instruments sound small and squeaky and the playing is rigid and feel-less, the band are probably using midi-files and won’t sound great live. When you speak to your band ask if they use midi, or real audio tracks. That will impress them! (You want to go for the real audio if possible)

- Some might say there’s a certain lack of energy when you see a band that’s playing to a backing track – the musicians will unfortunately not have the freedom to improvise, or throw in requests if they don’t have the appropriate backing track. However, this is a small price to pay given that the band will be a lot cheaper than a fully live band.

Other Smaller Acts To Bear in Mind

 A three or four piece fully live rock band – is great fun and cost efficient, however they are likely to be lacking a keyboard player, which is fine for rocky numbers but they won’t be able to pull off the cheesy ‘typical wedding’ tunes that fill the dance-floor (disco, 80s etc). This may not be so suitable for a ‘sound limiter’ venue, but great if its just restricted space/budget thats the problem.

If you’re interested in something like this, check out our act ’21st Century Riot’ – www.21stcenturyriot.com – they dedicate their playlist to the guitar based bands from the 70s to modern day, including Kings of Leon, Killers, Arctic Monkeys and The Who, Beatles etc.

Acoustic solo/duo/trio – can add a lovely touch to your wedding breakfast or reception drinks, but bear in mind this may be a little lacking in dynamic for the evening reception, especially if you want your guests up and dancing.

We’ve got the perfect act for you if you’re interested in something like this – check out Live Loungers –  www.liveloungers.com for a truly original take on the ‘background music’ option. The band perform their own original arrangements of well known tunes, all in a beautiful and soulful chilled out manner!

So there we have it! I’d definitely recommend some great backing track bands out there (and other small cost/space efficient bands); just remember to follow these tips when looking for the perfect one! Happy event planning! Sera xx

Just a quick note to announce our next public showcase on Tues 20th April, at The Abbey Bar (www.abbey-bar.co.uk) in London, near Tower Hill/Tower Gate tube.

We’re very excited and can’t wait to see all our clients, agents and friends and family for a big party!

Things will be kicking off at around 7.30p.m and going on til 11ish. Entrance is free!

See you there!

Sera & The MIB Music Team

Acts Performing

People constantly ask us at MIB Music that age old question, ‘How do I find something truly different for my event?’ Whether you’re getting married, putting on a corporate product launch or seasonal do, or perhaps holding a birthday party or other celebration, deep down in your heart your ‘inner Hyacinth Bucket’ comes out (come on, we all know there’s a piece of her inside us all!) You want this to be the best party anyone has ever been to… You want this to be something your guests will comment on for years to come… You want this to truly be a spectacular occasion…Most importantly; you want this to be different to all the other events you and your guests have been to…

So why not consider singing waiters?

How it works

There are various ‘Singing Waiter’ companies out there, all of which work generally in a similar way. We’ll hide three vocalists undercover at your event. Traditionally this will be as waiters and waitresses, although some companies (Undercover Superstars especially!) will now offer a multitude of characters such as chefs, bar staff, firemen, policemen, event managers….even undercover guests!

The characters will work undercover at the event from when the guests arrive, lulling the crowd into the false security of believing that they are indeed staff for the event (but subtly drawing attention so they get noticed – perhaps an overly clumsy waitress, a chatty chef or a maybe a ridiculously pushy ‘networker’ at your corporate event).

At the given moment, one of the characters will draw attention to themselves – perhaps the chef approaches the mic to ask how the food has gone down, or maybe a waiter decides he wants to sing ‘Happy Birthday’ to the birthday girl…and so then launches into a jaw dropping performance, shocking your guests at their stunning voice. One by one, each character comes out of the woodwork, each performance climaxing the next, and your guests getting more and more stunned each time!

Why Undercover Superstars?

Undercover Superstars are one of the UK’s leading singing waiter companies because:

- We are the first, and currently (as far as we know) the only company to offer this service with modern singers (all the others are opera). We find the modern option is incredibly popular and appeals to a huge range of people, young and old! Our singers perform tunes from artistes like Robbie Williams, Christina Aguilera, Aretha Franklyn, Queen, Frank Sinatra…and many more

- We taylor make each scenario to suit your event, which means working closely with you as the client to come up with a scenario that will keep your guests fooled, and absolutely shocked and speechless at the end of the night!

- Our vocalists are all incredible performers and have a huge wealth of experience, not only from performing at functions but also topping the charts with their own original material. If you fancy seeing a gorgeous ex boy-band member getting your managing director up to dance with him, or twirling your Gran round the dance-floor, Undercover Superstars is the place to come!

- Our vocalists have a huge amount of energy and vibrancy – they love to perform. Our Undercover Superstars have been known in the past to dance on tables, run round the room, perform back-flips across the dance-floor…one of them even ripped his trousers in excitement! We are proud to say that out of the all the singing waiter acts we’ve seen, we are the most high Impact, exciting to watch and memorable! (If we do say so ourselves!)

- We include a PA system and sound engineer in our basic price, which means you always get a smooth show! (A lot of other companies will not provide this unless you pay £600+ extra on top of their normal fee, and if you don’t, they expect you to find someone to deal with the sound engineering. This is something to watch out for when booking this type of act – the sound engineering is an imperative part of the show and we think its crucial to have someone who is experienced with working with the act).

- We also include an ‘ultimate playlist’ option for free included in our service – this means you can choose a playlist of your favourite songs and we will provide a professional pre-mixed playlist to play before the show and up to an hour afterwards, should you not have a band or DJ to follow the act. 

What Previous Clients Have Thought…

‘Just to say we had a fantastic time on Saturday night. The guys were superb and got the crowd dancing til the early hours. Thanks for everything!’

‘A big thank you to you and the rest of MIB Music, and of course ‘Undercover Superstars’ for making my party such a big success. Everyone has been talking about how great you all were. No one guessed Rachel was an imposter and the guys on her table were dumbstruck when she got up to sing! The waiter was a big hit in more ways than one…I have a queue of women here all wanting his telephone number…poor guy! Thanks again….’

‘I am still speechless about your performance the other night…cannot believe just how good you guys were…and that my husband arranged this all without me knowing! I was shellshocked….You were fab, our family and friends had never seen anything like it (neither had I)…I’d recommend you to anyone…’

Well, first off, Happy New Year! We hope you had a fabulous festive season…we’ve certainly been busy in the MIB Music world. We had a fantastic year last year, and can’t wait to get on with this one!

So just a little update in the latest news….

Showcase Announced

We’re excited to announce another MIB Music showcase on Wednesday 3rd February at Bar Med, Guildford, starting around 8p.m. Three of our acts will be performing short 45minute sets. The evening will be opened by our latest new act, The Live Loungers, followed by Funkadelics, with the evening headlined by MIB as their stunning 9 piece line-up. Its free entrance, so no excuses not to come down and have a boogie with us! We’d love to see you there!

New Years Celebrations

The MIB Music crowd brought in the new year in true style! Our bands entertained guests at Madinat Jumeirah, (Dubai), the Ritz Carlton (Dubai), and The Sheraton (Abu Dhabi), and a wealth of hotels and events here in the UK. We had some fabulous feedback this year, which we’ll paste at the bottom!

New Act Launch – introducing The Live Loungers!

We’ve taken great pleasure in officially launching our new act, the ‘Live Loungers’ this January 2010. Live Loungers is a trio featuring Female Vocals, Keyboards (with male vocals) and percussion (also with male vocals) – not only performing the usual jazz and easy listening standards, but also rewriting their own arrangements of well known pop and rock tunes and performing them in their own style. The act has already proved very popular for Bars, Clubs, Restaurants, Hotels, and of course Weddings and Corporate Events. Check out the new demo tracks on the website www.liveloungers.com (recorded at studios@samueljbooth.com in Brighton)

New Videos and Websites

We had the fabulous www.letsdomedia.co.uk put together new promo videos for a number of our acts last year (see MIB and Undercover Superstars in our previous blog), the latest of which were for 21st Century Riot and Funkadelics – check them out below!

Latest Feedback - you can see more feedback from our clients on our facebook wall…..

NYE was great and all went down well. I heard the band’s sound check (which was great in itself!) but left before the show actually started for our guests. I’ve seen some of the guest feedback already and all is good and I believe the dance area was full the whole night! Many of our NYE guests have been for the last 3yrs now so there’s always pressure to get even better. I’m pleased to say that 30x out of 50x rooms re-booked for 2010 on departure so we must have done something right once again!  From us, I have to say that ‘Dan the sound man’ was great in the few days before and on the day. The sound levels were perfect for the bar. The band were very professional and relaxed and very easy to work with which suited our general ethos perfectly. Watergate Bay Hotel, Newquay

A very belated note to thank you for your superb performance at our wedding. Many of our guests remarked on the quality of the evening’s entertainment and for us it was the perfect end to a magical weekend. Look forward to hearing you again in the future. Nick & Taj, Wedding

Just wanted to say thank you so much for playing at our xmas party on the 16th – you guys were amazing and everyone said how good you were and what a fab party it was. Unfortunately that means I have now been charged with organising the summer party and so I will give you guys a call when we have a venue and date!  Jo Masson, Medical & Doctors Institute

Further to our telephone conversation earlier this morning I am writing to say how fantastic The Funkadelics were on Friday night at Brands Hatch Thistle Hotel. They were absolutely awesome. The performance was amazing. Nearly all of the 250 guests were up and dancing within 30 seconds of the start of the first song. The group were fantastic to work with and I really look forward to promoting them with you throughout 2010 and onwards. Chris Emery, AK Entertainments UK

Hi from Amnesty…….. please say a big big thank you to the supertrouper Abba girls……… together with our amazing dance floor they stole the show. It was the best party Amnesty have ever thrown and to have our mixed bag of staff dancing their heads off all the way through bought a tear to my eye.
So to each of the girls a great big x I hope and think they enjoyed it too!  ( I was the one plying you with red wine! ) Working to protect human rights worldwide Neil Fish, Amnesty International

The band were great and we have lots of lovely feedback from our guests about them. Also – we messed them about horribly over timings and they couldn’t have been sweeter about it. I gave them free reign to order dinner and drinks for themselves and they ordered really respectfully – not landing me with a huge bill. All in all – they were excellent!  Sue – Paul Avins Enterprises

Just to say a big thank you to you and 21st Century Riot for helping to make such a successful evening last night.  The guys were great on stage, and so polite and charming off stage.  Absolute pleasure to work with.  Please convey a really big thank you to them as I didn’t see them to say goodbye last night.  Hope to work with you again soon. Alistair Curry Events Solutions

Hi Sera, Just wanted to say a big thank you for The Undercover Superstars last night. Everyone had a great time and it made our night just that extra  bit special. Please could you pass on my thanks. Georgie Haynes, Waitrose

21st Century Riot ROCKED! Absolutely top notch. Sounded great. Looked great. Was a huge contributor to the succesful party and need to make sure they stick together as they are playing at my 50th again Thanks for organizing, and please make sure the band gets the above feedback!! Lena Davies

I thought it high time we did a little update on how everythings been going – wowee have we had a great year so far! Things are a’changing in the MIB Music world…we’ve just redone all our logos, branding and websites (which we’re all very excited about), we’ve put together new showreels for three of our bands, and of course we’re really looking forward to the upcoming Christmas period (our favourite time of year!).

Latest News

MIB play Munich – The MIB crew were very excited to play for the Beverage Innovation Awards in Munich on 15th September, to the worlds leading and biggest companies in the soft drinks industries….Coca Cola, Pepsi, and M&S just to name a few…

The 9 piece band were flown out to Munich, with their two lovely dancers in tow, and performed throughout the evening in various formats. Check out some of the pictures in our gallery lower down….

MIB play Romania for Andrei & Laura’s Wedding

The MIB 9 piece band were whisked off to Constanta, Romania to play for the beautiful dock-side wedding of Andrei and Laura. What an amazing day! See pics in the gallery….

Check out our new video showreels!

– the latest Undercover Superstars footage – coverage of three very different performances, featuring client interviews and much more!

– the new MIB showreel – featuring footage of our live Bar Med showcase in July, plus interviews with band members and the audience!

Look out for the new Funkadelics and 21st Century Riot videos to come soon!

Latest Feedback

Hi Sera, A big thank you to you & the rest of MIB and of course Undercover Superstars for making my party such a big success. Everyone has been talking about how great you all were. No one guessed Rachel was an imposter and the guys on her table were dumbstruck when she got up to sing. The waiter was a big hit in more ways than one. I have a queue of women here all wanting his telephone number – poor guy! Best wishes, Sandy

Dear Rory….HUGE thanks for the Funkadelic’s fantastic input into my party on Saturday. The band were absolutely brilliant. You were totally professional, considerate and fun. Everyone said how good you were. Big thanks to Rosanne and Abbey too. I am sorry if you or any of your equipment got wet – it was a bit bonkers wasnt it? I will most certainly recommend you to my friends. Thanks again, Sarah.

Funkadelics were absolutely fantastic. It would have been difficult to find a better band and nicer guys.. EVERYONE enjoyed their music just so much. Hopefully whenever or indeed if we have another party we will come back to you and the band. Thank you for your attention. The whole evening went really well starting with me having an awesome time flying by standing on top of an aeroplane.. Wow what fun it was ! Thanks again, With very best wishes Greville

I couldn’t believe how fantastic 21st Century Riot were at my birthday party last night – therefore I managed to fight the hangover and write to you to say a huge THANK YOU! What a great night, and what a brilliant band…I’d reccomend them to anyone!

Sera Golding and MIB took our international awards gala dinner to a new level. From the opening Buddha Bar set during the welcome reception to live walk-up music through to a sensational dance act followed by a ‘must-dance’ set by the full band, everyone’s experience was enhanced by our choice of band. Our event attracted 500 guests from 51 countries with representatives of all the top non-alcoholic drinks companies including Coke and Pepsi. We have had dozens of comments about the quality of the whole event and particularly the band.
Deciding to add ‘live’ walk up music for the awards presentation itself was a first for us, and the decision proved totally right. The ‘stabs’ ranged from intense to amusing – our Managing Editor walked up to the Mission Impossible theme! – and caused one of our guests to remark that it was ‘just like the Oscars’… On the sheer entertainment side of  things, check out this band. They are awesome.
On the business and event organising side, I have to say that MIB offer tremendous value for money, backed by the highest levels of professionalism and heaps of clear and concise communication. It was great to run an event where such a key element was not on the worry list. The guys were so up for it and so on top of their game that several people asked if we it was ‘our usual band’, thinking that we must have worked together before !
All I can say is that we can’t wait to work with this band again….

We thought it high time we jumped on the blogging wagon and kept you all up to date regularly with whats going on in the MIB Music world! A chance to perhaps fill you in on what our acts have been getting up to, dates of upcoming performances and of course new videos and recordings as they become available!

In case you’re new to us and wondering just what we’re all about, we are very proud to run some of the top and most popular and busy musical acts in the UK. Check out our website www.mibmusicltd.com for more details and to link to the acts we currently run, or of course give us a call in the office 01483 232523 for a chat any time with any questions or booking enquiries

Latest News

MIB and Funkadelics showcase – click  here to link to the facebook event - Funkadelics and MIB are performing a very rare public showcase gig at Bar Med, Guildford on Tues 28th July, starting around 8p.m! Please come down and see us – we’d love to see you there!! Its free to get in!

New Undercover Superstars video footage – see above for footage of the superstars entertaining the guests of ‘Tremorfa’  in Cardiff – a great night was had by all!! Watch this space for more footage to come!

Undercover Superstars hit Albury Free Festival on Sunday 19th July! We sneakily snuck in our very own Tommy Jules as a ’security guard’, Rachael Mosleh as ‘event manager’ and last but definitely not least Rob Castell (see left) as an undercover somewhat ‘unruly’ audience member! The show went down an absolute storm and we only wish we could come back next year! (Obviously it would slightly spoil the element of surprise next time though!)

21st Century Riot also took to the stage at Albury and had an audience of 800+ screaming along to hits like ‘I Predict a Riot’, ‘Mr Brightside’ and ‘Sex on Fire’. In fact, the band have also just recorded new demo tracks with the legendary producer Jake Gosling…check ‘em out here….

We’re looking forward to the rest of the year and its looking like its going to be a busy one! However we do have available dates, so if you’re interested in booking, please get in touch!

Recent Feedback

Funkadelics were absolutely fantastic. It would have been difficult to find a better band and nicer guys EVERYONE enjoyed their music just so much. Hopefully whenever or indeed if we have another party we will come back to you and the band. The whole evening went really well starting with me having an awesome time flying by standing on top of an aeroplane! Wow what fun it was! Thanks again! With very best wishes, Greville

HI MIB! Just wanted to say thanks again for 13th June – you were great and would definitely recommend you for the future!Kind Regards, Jo Elliot – Toyota

Hi Sera & MIB

We had THE most fantastic day and evening, we absolutely love you guys and wish we could do it all again next weekend (JUST not the planning part!!!)

Thanks so much for all your hard work, Milly Miller XXXX

 

 Coming Soon….

We’ll be posting soon more video footage from Undercover Superstars, MIB, Funkadelics AND 21st Century Riot! Also photos and audience feedback from the showcase event on 28th! Subscribe to our blog for more updates!

Much love to you and hopefully we’ll cross paths soon!

Sera Golding

MIB Music Ltd

P.S We really are embrasing the world of modern technology recently and have just signed up to Twitter – follow us – www.twitter.com/MIBMusicltd

Get in touch

Telephone – 01483 232523

Email – enquiries@mibmusicltd.com

Website – www.mibmusicltd.com 

Twitter – www.twitter.com/MIBMusicltd

Facebook – http://www.facebook.com/home.php#/pages/MIB-Music-Ltd/66854311318