How A Live Event Production Company Operates

By Sarah Reed


Producing events and concerts is often a big job. For, there are a number of areas which need to be covered before a show can go live. While this used to be the job of a single individual, a live event production company can now take care of all, or part of these necessities.

In most cases, these companies work with large scale productions such as large concerts, theatrical shows, live bands, opera and modern dance. For, there are a lot of different areas which must be set up and taken down at each event. These include, staging, special effects, transport, lighting, packaging, sound, communications and at times, make-up and costuming.

Live events have long held a history of sound amplification and when it comes to concerts, a shorter history of visual presentations. Visual presentations include the many light shows which accompany concerts and laser light shows. While this technology and technique began in the film industry, it is now part of most live performances whether on a large or smaller scale.

Sound reinforcement has also been around for quite some time. While sound amplification is the distribution of sound, amplification provides the high and low volumes associated with a professional audio system. A great example of one of the first sound amplification systems is that of a bull horn which first debuted at the Chicago World Fair in 1933.

Bill Graham assisted the historic Fillmore in San Francisco, California when a sound system was needed which could be changed out quickly. During that time, Bill Graham also founded FM productions, one of the first producers of concerts of live performances in the area. The production company became very popular with musicians involved in the Bay Area music scene, including the Grateful Dead.

By 1976, the production company and musicians in San Francisco were embroiled in a debate over different types of sound equipment. For, some thought the horn loaded enclosures were best while others thought arrays or distributed arrays worked better. In any case, most bands went on to create individual sound systems whether provided by band management or a local productions company.

The production companies in existence today have a lot more going for them than those in the beginning days of live productions. For, there are now basic standard policies and procedures which most of these companies agree are the best in the business. While this is the case, there are also a number independent production outfits whom follow the original stylings of Bill Graham productions.

Bill Graham was a concert promoter from the 1960s until 1991 at which time a helicopter crash took the promoter's life. As a child, the promoter escaped the Nazi invasion in Germany when being sent to France. After which, the young boy became a foster child living in Bronx, New York.

Bill attended high school and college in New York and obtained a degree in business. Then, in the early 1960s, Graham relocated to the Bay Area of California and started a career promoting and producing live events. The first group to hire Bill Graham was a group of politically inspired comics, The San Francisco Mime Troupe in the early 1960s, a group that is still active and performing on a regular basis.




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