Equipment Archives - BNK Productions

May 23, 2013October 22, 2013

Behind The Board – Coming Together Nicely

Last Thursday’s installment of the NEXT Charity Concert Series instilled us with a sense of pride. It’s a nice gift to work the same venue once a month or so, but when it is a brewery with the variables we meet each show and we turned it into a concert hall? Well, it just fills you up with pride to see it all come together. Now we don’t take all the credit. We don’t take much of it. Just our part in making it sound like Madison Square Garden! Chris Bro of NEXT deserves much of the credit for all his work for the love of music! And of course Captain Lawrence Brewery deserves much notice as incredible hosts of these shows.

Working with The Attic Ends last week we got to sit back and enjoy the
fruits of our fine tuning labors. But! Not without earning it this time! Setting up seemed like what ever could go wrong did go wrong. From electrical issues (sound engineer “B” got electricuted even) that were attempting to blow up our equipment to grounding issues. But once sound check was done and the lights went out, Charlie Scopoletti took the stage and warmed up the crowd to ultimately one of the finest tuned breweries this world will see. Charlie, who also opened up last month’s NEXT show for Glint, is an amazing performer. We enjoyed working with Charlie and he really puts on an excellent show.

Samantha Rex of The Attic Ends Overlooking the Brewery (Photo Credit DSB Photo)

Last year at Paulie’s in Pleasantville, NY we got to work with The Attic Ends for the first time. It was a wonderful show, but this time would be different. This time would be the big sound of Captain Lawrence Brewery! It was amazing to see how far The Attic Ends have come as a band in the last year. With their new album, Fortress, being released we were treated to some amazing new songs. The show had more flow to it (or even more flow) and more energy. The new tracks came across great.

(Photo Credit DSB Photo)

As a production company though, we really sat back thrilled by the overall sound we now get from this venue. Next up we get to work with American Pinup this Friday. This is our first time working with American Pinup but watching their videos gives one the impression of Imelda May with more power.

This show is at the brewery again. Although not a part of the NEXT series, it is going to be a great show. So come out and see how a brewery can be the greatest Rock Venue this Friday at Captain Lawrence!

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See you there!

January 22, 2013October 15, 2018

Behind The Board – Starting Where We Started

This year is starting in a great way for us. Our first concert this year will be Black Taxi. The third time in a year that we’ll have worked with them. The show will be for NEXT Music (allthingsnext.com) Charity Concert Series which is how we started the music season last year! In style with My Pet Dragon at Paulie’s in Pleasantville, NY. This year will be at the Captain Lawrence Brewery, our most fun venue! We’re expecting this show to sell out just like the last time we worked with Black Taxi at Captain Lawrence Brewery. We’re also expecting this to be just as fun as last time! So if you are going to the show this Thursday get your tickets at Captain Lawrence’s website (linked above).

Winter is usually slower for us. Not that the music stops, but there are a lot less weddings, festivals, and corporate events once you get past Christmas and New Years. Some birthday parties get planned. The biggest holiday of winter is Valentine’s day and that usually doesn’t draw crowds to large parties. Weddings do happen but really not a lot. This is where we get to work more on recording music and also catch up on new music we haven’t seen.

This is also the time where we begin scheduling our DJs and bands for the coming seasons weddings and festivals, so please give us a call (203) 200 – 0265 and get on the schedule soon.

Last year was a busy year for us. We had some milestone events happen in 2012 as well as some amazing fun! We did a small gallery of pics to give you a view of last years moments. Most pics were taken by Doug at Focus In Digital. Some were taken by camera phones as well. You should be able to tell the difference! Keep any eye out on our blog for pics and recordings from this Thursday’s Black Taxi gig and also links to recordings from last years great events coming up soon.

So, as we get ready to start our concert schedule for 2013 we’d like to tell you we’re looking forward to seeing you at one of these events. And you can contact us for help in putting on your own event! Remember, even a simple speaking engagement requires a professional touch if you want someone to pay attention to you. Be Effective-Be Heard in 2013!

January 2, 2013October 15, 2018

Goodbye 2012, 2013 – A New Year of Music And Production

Happy New Year to you all. Welcome to 2013. We’re very excited for this new year and have been preparing for a bigger year. We also want to thank all our staff, friends, and partners for an amazing 2012! Special thanks go to Focus In Digital for all the great photography work. And a special photography mention goes to Aaron Kershaw of Studio On Main in New Rochelle for supplying some amazing artistry!

Our Wedding crew ended the year with some exceptional receptions. Hurricane Sandy threw a curve ball at one reception. We got that ironed out and the music was pumping afterwards. It’s always fun to see one of our DJs getting people involved and moving with in a reception party. The performance production side has been continuing to upgrade the systems we use for live music. November/December saw a series of new upgrades to our concert system and monitor system. If you’ve been to the NEXT Music Charity Concert Series in November/December you would have noticed a bit of change in the subwoofer system. The Stationary Set and Deadbeat Darling really enjoyed the improved monitors systems. We have always gotten great feedback from the bands about our monitor systems but it is important to us to continue to improve and expand the systems we use to make the band’s performance easier. The better the stage sounds to them, the better they’ll perform for you! This year we worked with some amazing bands including The Attic Ends, The Modern Electric, My Pet Dragon, Black Taxi, Fifth Nation and others.

The promotions side did some great things through 2012, especially the Matt O’Ree Band double-header in Stamford, CT. A night of acoustic blues on Wednesday, then a full throttle performance on Thursday in front of thousands of people attending Stamford, CT’s Alive at Five Concert Series opening for classic rock’s Foreigner. This was an exceptional part of the year! We especially enjoyed watching the younger crowd really getting into the band. We will have more shows coming into the area around spring 2013 with fun being a priority. Info will be posted here soon.

Eric Safka of The Matt O'Ree Band signs an autograph for a new young fan. — Eric Safka of The Matt O’Ree Band signs an autograph for a new young fan.

The last 6 months of 2012 saw a major change to the NEXT Charity Concert Series which we have enjoyed working with for so long now. A move that added to the fun of the show and the challenge of the production! The venue changed to the Captain Lawrence Brewery in Elmsford, NY. Performances are held inside the brewery in a large space, with exceptional craft beers and food. The sound is big! The dancing is big! If you haven’t made it out yet to one of these shows make it part of your 2013 plans. Chris Bro of allthingsnext.com and the NEXT Music Radio Show/Podcast deserves a lot of praise for also constantly trying to improve his concert series and getting new music to the people of Westchester and Fairfield Counties. After all, this is an award-winning concert series and for obvious reasons! He has raised thousands of dollars for various charities. He has brought great live music to people throughout the area. He has improved people’s lives simply by the joy and love of music. We look forward to continuing to work with Chris and the NEXT Music crew through an exciting 2013.

So now we move into 2013. We have a series of goals to meet. The main goal is to improve the sound of life around you! We will make your weddings and parties more fun, your speeches and seminars more effective, and your concerts more energetic and moving! There is already a series of great performances scheduled starting with New York City’s greatest band Black Taxi on January 24th at Captain Lawrence Brewery. Our current small format (100-250 people) and medium format (250-500) systems will continue to be upgraded while we do have plans in place to build a newer larger format system that will match the sound clarity and dynamics we look for. Keep an eye on our blogs for more news about 2013!

Remember, music needs to be experienced. Live music is the only way to experience it. Make a resolution this year to get out and see more live music and new bands.

Be Effective this year! Hire us and be heard!

August 25, 2012August 25, 2012

Behind The Board – The First Challenge Met

As we discussed in the previous post, the NEXT Charity Concert Series had moved this past Thursday, August 23rd. Now some environments can be particularly harsh to music. A warehouse certainly fits the title of “Hostile Environment” for putting on a concert. When it’s Black Taxi with all their dynamics, well, now we’re really being challenged. We met with the people of Captain Lawrence early in the month to get a view of the place and what we were facing. Concrete floors, metal roof panels, cardboard, beer bottles, beer kegs, huge beer brewing equipment. Really, a very reflective venue. Night of show we came in thinking we were prepared for it, but there were some changes. Bottles. A lot more of them. Right next to the staging area. Ever blow into a bottle to make it whistle? If you’ve done this you have an idea of how they resonate sound. How would it react to 8,400 watts and 102 db of Black Taxi? We were about to find out.

Ok. Enough of the build up. It really wasn’t that tough. It was tough, but we caught it. The place was very peaky, so equalization adjustments in the mid to mid-high range were very touchy. The place, as expected had a lot of natural reverb. One adjustment we will be making at the next NEXT show is to bring in another se of our top end speakers. This will give us a better field of sound to overcome some of the reflections. Anyone in attendance for the next show shouldn’t notice much difference. It’s more for us than the concert goers.

Now, about the show. Holy crap! A sold out show! This crowd was treated to two sets by the Black Taxi crew. The energy level was like building fire. By the middle of the first set it felt like it could explode. The highlight of the evening was to see Ezra climb up a ladder at the side of the stage that lead to a storage area, and then finding a step ladder there, he climbed to the rafter to play his tambourine against the steel frame of the roofing. And no we did not have a mic there. I say this every time when discussing Black Taxi, If you haven’t heard them then you need too. Get on ITunes or Amazon and pick up their albums. Catch a show. Get on their website at blacktaxi.com and find out when they’re playing in your area. Then get over to allthingsnext.com because you really need to learn more about new music, and Chris Bro of NEXT is the professor of new music. Listen to the podcast.

September brings another great show in the long running NEXT Charity Concert Series with another amazing band. My Pet Dragon. Stamford people may be familiar with them from their performance at the Alive At Five opening for Hot Chel Rae. We will discuss this show more in an upcoming post.

Pics of the Black Taxi show will be posted shortly.

For more about the Black Taxi show go to NEXT’s review here.

*Black Taxi is managed by Mezzoforte Productions.