There are some songs that rightly or wrongly have stood the test of time and feature heavily today in most cover band’s kit bag of tunes. They may not see the lights of the stage at every gig but secretly we know ‘em. And you know we know ‘em. In fact it’s almost a dead cert that they’ll make an appearance at a handful of gigs each year, in some cases almost every gig. They are great for weddings and parties and generally aiding the vocal get together of a large audience. Are they the coolest songs in the world? Probably not. Are they the most technically challenging and engaging to play? Not really. But here is the !daft! take on 10 songs every rock/pop party cover band should know and expect to play, if not for their own, then at least for the audience’s enjoyment. Which after all is slightly more important.

10. Hey Jude – Beatles

An end of the night sing-a-long classic, no one wants the verse bit, they just want the end “naa-naa” bit, however many times round you feel like, some loud, some quiet, some with the audience singing on their own. This song also has a very easy lyric formula, click the flow chart for a close up view.

9. Livin’ On A Prayer – Bon Jovi

This song is amazing at brining non-rockers off their chairs and onto the dancefloor and it’s always hilarious watching both crowd and band vocalist trying to reach the high notes in the chorus. Bon Jovi have a few high quality tracks yet this one still remains the most recognisable.

8. Mustang Sally – Wilson Pickett/The Committments

If you don’t know how to play this song, you probably aren’t a musician. These days playing this song is a bit like popping your soul into an envelope, writing “The Devil” on the front and popping it into the afterlife postbox. Many people like this song and it’s a joy to see all the girls up on stage at a wedding singing “Ride Sally ride” at the top of their voices. For that reason alone it’s worth playing, if you’re in a cover band, at some point you will be asked for this song.

7. Alright Now – Free

My introduction to this song was c1989 when I was about 12 years old. Remember this TV advert?

Nowadays it’s a total classic that likely every band knows. I don’t think anyone put’s it in the set in advance of the gig but at almost every wedding a kind slightly more mature gentleman will usually ask for this song, and you know us, we don’t like to let you down.

6. Summer of ’69 – Bryan Adams

If you do this song you will never sing the chorus hook line alone, at least 99% of the room will sing “those were the best days of my life” with you and on that basis it’s a good tune to have in the set. It also has one of the best middle 8′s ever, lovely little key change to some rocky stabs perfect for getting fists in the air as the drums roll the track back into the chirpy last verse. Overplayed but a perfect rock/pop formula guaranteed to win, even today 28 years after it was released. Yes, 28 years.

5. I’m A Believer – The Monkees

This Neil Diamond track from 1966 is one of the fewer than thirty all-time singles to have sold 10 million (or more) copies worldwide. For a fictional TV show band, that’s quite something. When a song is this popular and this well known, and frankly so simple to play, you might as well know it. Perfect for weddings and parties where the clients whisper “oh, and a bit of cheese in the set would be great”, I’m A Believer is your track. 1,2,3 OI!

4. Sweet Home Alabama – Lynyrd Skynyrd

Ask the average middle of the road music fan to name another Lynrd Skynrd song and £1o says they can’t! Yet Sweet Home Alabama remains a theme tune for most live party music fans. The second the opening guitar riff begins people know exactly what the track is and what they need to do in the chorus, it’s another song where it would seem logical to bypass the verses just to get to the chrous as quickly as possible. Old school track, easy to play, good to know. Win.

3. Teenage Kicks – The Undertones

Famously the late John Peel’s favourite song of all time, another simple track to play, highly recognisable and great fodder for most weddings and parties. Undertones guitarist John O’Neill said in Q Magazine ”In 1978 we didn’t think Teenage Kicks was the best song” … “To be honest, I still don’t think the song’s that good – it’s the band’s performance on record that gives it the special quality.” It’s that special quality that make this a great song to know and an all time crowd pleaser.

2. Sex On Fire – Kings of Leon

This is the most recent addition to the “must know” list for cover bands, released in 2008 this song is now beginning to reach immortal status. It’s not the easiest song to nail, flicky guitar riffs, deceptively pacey and if the drummer missed the tiny gap of entry at the start of the song, you’re frankly, f*****. However, it’s a killer track that every band is likely to be asked for in most private and public gigs. The first person ever to mention this song to me was long time friend Rachel Siddall, I remember querying her and wondering whether the track would be worth it. It’s now been requested at almost every gig since 2008, so fair play to her! I tend to find that women like this song more than men, I can’t explain why, but it’s true. Watch the ladies on the dancefloor whenever this song is played. Following is by far my favourite version of the track EVER!

1. Sweet Child O’ Mine – Guns N’ Roses

And lo, 27 years after it’s release and whether you’re a rock fan or not Sweet Child is STILL the most played song on the party cover band circuit. Whilst I have no official statistics to prove this I am constantly amazed at how generically appealing this song is. Weddings, parties, pubs, nightclubs – all vastly different moods and environments, age groups and themes, yet Sweet Child will be requested by someone at any of these events. Fortunately for me it remains one of my personal all time favourites too, I will grow old singing this song. The guitar riff is iconic and enough to send audiences wild, the sound of 1980′s California just oozes from the track and the vocal, whilst challenging, is clean, melodic and dynamic. A true classic that every party cover band should know. And play well enough to do it justice!

Do you agree with our list? What songs would you consider a “must have” from a live band at a wedding or party?

Graeme Nash

Ever heard the term “sound limiter”? Our wedding and party clients often ask us what one is and that’s only IF they have been told that their venue has one, or been knowledgeable enough to ask. Checking whether your wedding venue has a sound limiter is something you should do early in the planning process, you will be investing months organising your perfect day and spending thousands of pounds making sure every tiny detail is taken care of… but have you ensured that these electro-jobsworths aren’t sat there ready to cause unexpected havoc at your big day?

What is a sound limiter and how do they work?

A sound limiter is an electrical device that measures the amount of volume, or noise, in a room. If that volume reaches a certain level the sound limiter is designed to temporarily cut the electric supply to the stage, thus terminating the source of the noise.  The visual indicator on the limiter works most commonly on a “traffic light” system, green = no problem, amber = sound levels approaching the threshold, red= threshold breached. If the light stays red for more than a few seconds, then the limiter will take action and cut the power.

Tips

Why do venues have sound limiters?

Limiters are usually in place for common sense reasons:

• Environmental - Where venues are near residential properties, they have a duty to keep any noise (usually measured at a residential property’s boundary) to a reasonable level. In rare cases the venue may also have been instructed by the local authority to have one.
• Health and Safety - There isn’t yet any legal requirement to protect customers or party guests, who are there voluntarily, from loud noises, but there is a requirement for employers to protect employees and contractors.
• Other reasons - The venue want to keep noise down for other resident guests or simply just want to have greater control over the bands that play there. One case we had was where the venue owner lived in a neighbouring house and wanted to not be disturbed by weddings taking place in his barn. This is fair enough, but then perhaps live rock bands aren’t the best thing to have at this particular venue.

What level are they usually set to?

In most cases that we have found sound limiters are set to between 80-90 decibels (db). This is an average based purely on our experience and you may find yours is set higher or in some cases, believe it or not, lower. Most live amplified rock & pop gigs register at between 100 and 115db. Acoustic drums kits alone can easily register 105 – 110db.

80-90db might not sound like much less than 100dB, but in fact the decibel scale isn’t a straight line. For example 110db actually sounds almost twice as loud as 100db, NOT a “tenth” louder.

How loud is 80-90db?

It’s really not very loud at all, and in our opinion too quiet an environment to host a live rock band. There are two useful bits of information we can show you here:

The Alive Network sound comparison chart

This graphic is produced by one of the UK’s largest and most successful entertainment agencies, the Alive Network. It shows what kind of sound levels certain activities produce. We fully credit the Alive Network for this chart.

Our own video test

We held a professional sound measurement device next to a tap of running water. The tap was fully open and was falling into a stainless steel sink, we held the measurement device around 6 inches from the sink. The device showed that a typical kitchen sink tap will register around 76db. Thanks to Ash from CoolBeans for this video.

So what’s the problem with sound limiters and live bands?

Unfortunately there are a few issues that sound limiters can cause, here is a summary:

1. They are set too low – In our experience they are generally set lower than what is reasonable for a live band to work with. We fully understand and respect the logic behind a venue operating a sound limiter, but the reality is anything below 95db is too low for a party band and we would have to expect issues to arise.
2. System Installation - There is never a guarantee that the limiter has been correctly installed, or that it is being operated by someone qualified in sound engineering. The system must be correctly installed, maintained and operated for anyone to have total confidence that everything is being measured fairly and correctly.
3. Inconvenience – Not only are sound limiters inconveniencing for everyone they often need manual resetting by a person after tripping. If said person is not in the immediate vicinity then this can mean the power is off for an indeterminate amount of time. If the limiter keeps tripping then you can see how this can begin to turn into quite a ridiculous exercise.
4. They think it’s us!  - The audience will always assume the band have messed up! To go from a live band playing a party track to total silence in a fraction of a second often in results in 150 confused faces staring at us in the assumption that our equipment has failed or we’ve done something wrong.
5. Mood and Atmosphere – In our opinion sound limiters tend to adversely affect the mood that you and we will be trying to create at your wedding by essentially “dulling” the atmosphere.
6. Damage to band equipment – Sound limiters can, and do, damage expensive band equipment. PA’s, amplifiers and mixing desks require an uninterrupted supply of power and to be switched on and off in the correct manner. The fuses and valves in our equipment can be damaged when suddenly powered off and on again, speakers can pop and blow too as a result of signal spikes when the limiter kicks in.
7. “We have bands here all the time and there’s never a problem” – This is something we hear venues say all the time, not just to us but to you too, but we urge you to take this statement with a pinch of salt. We would not suggest for one second that venues would state a deliberate untruth, but you have to bear in mind that no venue is going to want to willingly deter you from booking their building and services, certainly by stating their noise policy doesn’t allow anything louder than a dishwasher at your wedding party. In addition bands vary, a small jazz trio is not going to produce the same amount of volume as a 5 piece party rock band. Lastly, no sound limiter sits there and doesn’t do anything, otherwise why have one? They have to at some point come into effect during live performances, saying “there’s never a problem” isn’t enough in our view to confirm that we won’t have a problem.
8. It can affect the band’s performance – We certainly find it very difficult performing the same volume as let’s say, a vacuum cleaner (80db). We are a rock band and you may well have booked us because you saw us performing in a way that you wanted to have at your wedding. Due to the “traffic light” system limiters work on it tends to mean is that the band spend all night watching the traffic lights (if they can be seen) in an effort to keep the red light from coming on, rather than focusing on their performance and the dance floor.
9. They can affect your ability to enjoy your own wedding party, and we’re not cool with that! - We have heard many horror stories of sound limiters affecting the band’s ability to perform resulting in the constant stop-starting of music, circuit resets, audience confusion etc. We know of one wedding (verification possible!) where the band tripped the system during the bride and groom’s first dance just 25 seconds into the performance. The first dance track was the beautiful Chasing Cars which as you may know is hardly a loud or powerful song, certainly in the first few minutes. We are not divas and we do not care to be selfish or play at ridiculous volumes, but we do expect to be able to deliver what you have paid for and asked us to do. Sound limiters can, in some cases, make this virtually impossible.

How we can help if your venue has a sound limiter.

Negotiate its use

Prior to quoting and booking we are happy to talk to your venue about their sound limitation policies to ensure our mutual compatibility, we have done so before and been successful in finding a compromise where required. For example at some weddings it may be the case that the wedding party have booked out the vast majority (if not all) of the venue’s accommodation meaning, that in theory, there are no other non-wedding guests to affect with noise. Therefore a limiter would seem unnecessary. As long as you let us know that there is a limiter we will do all we can beforehand to ensure it doesn’t cause you or us any problems on the day.

Dampen the band down

We will also employ various tactics to minimise our peak volume impact where limiters are in operation. We have many ways of reducing sound impact without having to drastically affect the overall quality of sound.

Use our experience and common sense!

!daft!, and practically all other bands, do not have any desire to play at uncomfortably high volumes, we want our clients and audiences to enjoy every aspect of our performance, it is in our interest to play at an acceptable volume level for the room and the event overall. We are experienced performers and have the ability to set acceptable sound levels which encourage the right atmosphere without shattering the ears of others. In our experience, band members can dictate sensible sound levels simply by using their common sense, an ability which does not, unfortunately, always apply to sound limiters.

If you have any questions about sound limiters, or if we can help in any other way, please feel free to contact us.

If you have any experiences with sound limiters or want to add anything to this information, please leave a comment below!

Graeme Nash
graeme@daftonline.co.uk

Thanks to Matt and Kate for this great feedback!

We first heard about Daft from a gig at the Old Ticket Hall in Windsor. We spoke to Graeme, the band manager, about playing at our Wedding, held at Pinewood Studios on Saturday 8th October. Right from the start Graeme was helpful and his pre-wedding dialogue leading up to our big day was tip top, he was always on the end of the phone to allay any of our concerns. He was very keen that we got involved with track selections and then we didn’t hear from him again until we stepped into our venue to see Dafts truly amazing and very professional set up. Graeme’s priority was always to give us a special evening at our reception.

There’s nothing left to say other than the fact that they truly ROCKED!!!! and we wish the reception could have gone on all night.

We’ll come and see you soon Graeme / Daft and I’ll buy you that pint!

Matt & Kate

Read more Testimonials and/or submit yours here.

We enjoyed playing a wonderful wedding last night at Pinewood Studios for the lovely Matt and Kate. Wonderful room and performance area, heres a quick clip from soundcheck.