The Honey Belles is a ladies' choir based in Chesterfield, Derbyshire. Formed in 2014 singing a variety of music genres including musicals, 80s classics, and modern pop.
They usually have a yearly big concert normally in a village hall style which we have provided lighting for in the past.
This time they wanted to take over the theater of Chesterfield "The Pomegranate Theatre" which holds 540 people. This would be on a higher league than their normal events.
They asked us to help them with the production of their show which entailed us helping them with running orders; Backstage logistics; Sound; Lighting; Staging and venue contact.
The Honey Belles
As mentioned before they are a ladies' choir group that started their musical journey in 2014 when our musical director, Kate Challinor-Moss (aka Queen Bee), along with 12 ladies from Chesterfield and North Derbyshire gathered together for the first rehearsal in a small room in the beautiful village of Ashover. Now with 60+ members which now meet, laugh, sing, cry and support each other at our bigger rehearsal venue in the heart of Chesterfield.
With a three-part harmony choir – Altos, Mezzos, and Sopranos, however, we’ve dabbled with more harmony sections, thanks to our exciting appearance with Gareth Malone’s BBC ‘The Choir’ program in 2016. They sing a variety of music genres including musicals, 80s classics, and modern pop. We also have a very talented choir member who enables us to arrange music. This allows us to mash our favorite songs together to great effect.
Since forming they have had big annual concerts, appeared on the BBC, collaborated with Brass Bands and other choirs sang live on the radio, discovered some amazing solo talent within the choir, and recorded our music to CD.
Our families are our biggest fans with our children knowing our music better than we do. So when an opportunity arose to bring some of the children singing together, the ‘Mini Belles’ was born. Having all our Honey Belles on stage with up to 20 Mini Belles makes quite a sight and a great sound.
Organising the big concert
The Honey Belles had planned on a concert in there the local theater in Chesterfield "The Pomegranate Theatre" which is a Grade II Listed Victorian venue and is Britain’s first Civic Theatre.
Their goal was simply to put on an amazing show showcasing their choir as well as 3 other local choirs. This included logistics of getting them on and off stage; Layout; stage lighting and sound; and a load of other smaller bits.
They also sadly planned this for September 2020 which meant it landed in COVID pandemic which meant a lot of rescheduling and plan changes.
Luckily they realised early on that they needed an event organiser to help with all the technical questions while they concentrated on the music and choirs.
Why Did the Honney Bells Choose Us
Having decided they needed someone who had knowledge of how to put on an event like this they could have gone down a few routes to finding someone to fulfill this role. They had some options as well, the venue has their in house team who can help with the event. This was a very strong option but they were not as experienced with how to put a running order and planning, with not knowing what the choir wanted as there was no previous relationship.
There is also their sound engineer who provides them with studio recordings. He was not that experienced with live events and was happy to do it but not having a rounded knowledge of sound, lighting, stage, and venue.
They chose Supreme Sound & Vision on a basis of a few merits:
Having knowledge of the Venue having worked and done events in the space before.
Able to supplement kit with in-house stock to provide the right gear for the job not having to use the in-venue gear which was showing its age.
Knowledge of sound, and lighting requirements
Helping plan and help with any queries the Choir had.
Previously worked with the Choir providing lighting to their 2015 & 2016 concerts.
With these plus points, they decided to work with us in trying to provide their dream show.
How we put on the show
The day before the show I went to the theater just to have a chat with their in house Techs just run them what the plan was about the load in and rehearsal.
Starting at 10am we got into the venue and started setting up which was not too much just sorting out lighting and entrance. We decided on a backdrop of the Cyclorama (White backdrop) this was so we could change the color of it with lighting to give different moods.
Lighting wise it was a generic stage wash with species on the conductor, pianist, and on the 3 solo microphones. Providing 4 moving heads to put at the back of the set to give some movement and color. This was all programmed on their in house lighting desk of ETC ION in a cue stack. This was so 1 person could operate the sound and lighting.
Regarding the sound, the Pianist was DI state into the mixer and we had a mixture of boundary microphones and riffle mics to pick up the choir with 2 hanging from a fly bar to get the up-stage members. This was then all sent to the mixer of a Roland M200i this was good as with its Ipad control during rehearsals gave freedom to listen to it all around the venue, while still having physical faders for quick adjustment. We used the in house EV sound system with their subs and delays as it was already tuned for the room as well we were providing sound reinforcement, not a band sound, the venue helped with this as the sound carries really well in the theater.
We had full rehearsals for all the choirs. The main issue was getting the different choirs as there were not enough dressing rooms or backstage space so they were seated in the audience on the circle balcony. And changed during the Interval.
The Results
Providing a full production service for their event with backing tracks solos and lighting cues as well as the expectation of unscripted stuff the event went really well. With a sale of 87% of the seats which was a good sale.
Everyone in the audience and backstage had a good time at the event with some saying how well the event ran and professional it was.
Professional looking lighting and sound witch exercise the choir's performance as it encaptures the mood of the song.
Along with sound which was there to reinforce the choir so you could hear all the parts clearly without noticing they were amplified.
Working with the theater staff was nice as they were extremely helpful and understood what we were trying to achieve.
We look forward to working with The Honney Bells for there next performance.