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Got a new song coming out?  Heading out on tour?  Want to promote a new single, EP or album?  Or really proud of a new track you’ve just penned?  We could feature you in our Spotlight series.  For Manchester musicians, we have our Local Spotlight, focusing on Manchester music or if you’re from further afield you could be in our Global Spotlight.

What do you need to do?

Submitting to our Local and Global Spotlight series is easy.  Here’s what you have to do:

  1. Record a video of yourself or your band performing your track (there are some tips below)
  2. Download and complete this form – LM Spotlight Form (right click, save as)
  3. Send the form, your video file and two promotional images to spotlight@live-manchester.co.uk (if the file is too big, feel free to send us a dropbox link)

What should your video be?

Your video should be you (as a soloist, duo or band) performing your original song, written by you, showcasing you.  Just say a quick “Hello, I’m … from … and this is my song …”, then launch into your track.

If you supply us with information such as band members’ names, upcoming releases, crowdfunding campaigns, random facts about you/your music, we can overlay these with your video.  Don’t forgot to send us your website and social media addresses too – we’ll add these on as well.

Recording your video:

You can make the recording of your video as easy or as complicated as you like.  Here are a few tips to help you make a success of it:

  1. You can record the video on your phone (as long as it’s a decent quality camera phone).  You can record on a DSLR Camera.  Or you can go to the extreme of getting professional equipment – do bear in mind the cost you will incur though.  Personally, we feel that a phone or DSLR camera is perfectly fine for video quality.
  2. If you can, record it through an external microphone/dock studio/interface as the quality is often so much better than a built in microphone.  Think about the number of microphones needed; where they should be placed; balancing the sound – if you try to record a full hard rock band through a mobile phone microphone, the quality probably won’t be that great!  You may want to consider whether it may be more worthwhile performing a stripped back version of a track, rather than going all out if your equipment won’t handle it.
  3. Record in as high definition as possible.
  4. Do a few trial runs.  Make sure that the lighting is right, the sound is coming through, the framing is correct.
  5. Make sure there is no background noise.   If you’re recording from your bedroom, check the neighbour isn’t mowing their lawn (it really does get picked up sometimes).
  6. When you’re ready to record the actual video – do a few takes.  Watch them back and pick the one which works best for you and showcases you.
  7. Don’t worry about editing the start or end out if you’re not used to using video editing software – we’ll do that for you.
  8. Most of all, make sure you’re happy with it before you send it off to us.

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