Analog FOH, Outboard opinions/preferences

Re: Analog FOH, Outboard opinions/preferences

Jeff Babcock said:
Not to mention how it makes you feel like a proud sound guy to stand in front of one of those. Standing in front of some digital boards like the LS9 certainly don't have the commanding presence and gee-whiz factor.
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The only reason to need a physically large FOH setup is to hide a "smaller package." /nudge, wink
 
Re: Analog FOH, Outboard opinions/preferences

Jeff Babcock said:
I know I would pay extra for a company to throw extra effort towards making a product LOOK awesome.
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Why don't you just take a couple of old boards and assemble an impressive array of channel strips in a suitable chassis with some space to fit your digital mixer in there between the array of strips :razz:
 
Re: Analog FOH, Outboard opinions/preferences

Evan F. Hunter said:
Brandon, What "level" would you say these riders are? Venue size etc?
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Pretty much any non-tour country act out of Nashville....Bellamy Brothers, Little Texas, Confederate Railroad, and a bunch of up-and-comers who are otherwise opening for the A list artists. Typically bands that play 500-3K capacity venues indoors or outdoors. That's not an absolute truth, but just what I've encountered over the past 5 years or so.
 
Re: Analog FOH, Outboard opinions/preferences

Jeff Babcock said:
That sounds about right.

The ones that ACTUALLY NEED digital are usually carrying.

I've seen some BE's have quite drastic scene changes defined for each song in the show, such that it would not be feasible to do quickly and reliably on an analog rig. Incidentally, some of these BE's came from theater background, which makes sense....

As much as I am a happy digital user and fan, for the types of gigs I usually do (one offs), I would usually rather have the Heritage and tons of great outboard were it not so inconvenient to patch and transport. Not to mention how it makes you feel like a proud sound guy to stand in front of one of those. Standing in front of some digital boards like the LS9 certainly don't have the commanding presence and gee-whiz factor.

That's one of my frustrations with some of the new audio tech - impressive performance, but missing some of the "bling bling", which in my opinion can take away some of the wow factor of sound engineering from the perspective of a casual onlooker. I know I would pay extra for a company to throw extra effort towards making a product LOOK awesome. How we are perceived and respected is important for success IMHO, and something that looks like generic office equipment doesn't help.
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I agree Jeff and it might become an issue for some providers at the local level. Say you are being hired by a layperson for said amount of money to do a festival or what have you. Last year you showed up with a 500lb console and 2 big racks of outboard at FOH, this year you have a little digital console in a suitcase or no console at all and are using an iPad connected to the monitor console. The layperson who hired you might say "why should we have to pay so much, you don't have to do nearly as much work?"

Some of you may laugh this off, but I've had similar experiences where someone I was working for didn't want to pay for me to have stage hands in the future because they "weren't doing much during the actual show."
 
Re: Analog FOH, Outboard opinions/preferences

Brandon Blakeney said:
Some of you may laugh this off, but I've had similar experiences where someone I was working for didn't want to pay for me to have stage hands in the future because they "weren't doing much during the actual show."
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The concept of paying for sweat, not results, is pathetic but common. I'm in the "stagehand business" and our local PAC has clients that feel like they shouldn't pay for stagehands because "they don't do anything while the band plays."

Good luck.
 
Re: Analog FOH, Outboard opinions/preferences

Tim McCulloch said:
The concept of paying for sweat, not results, is pathetic but common. I'm in the "stagehand business" and our local PAC has clients that feel like they shouldn't pay for stagehands because "they don't do anything while the band plays."

Good luck.
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Just let them try to do one without them, and let them see the difference.
 
Re: Analog FOH, Outboard opinions/preferences

Brandon Blakeney said:
I was under the impression that the consensus was that quality analog consoles like Midas and Soundcraft actually sounded better than the digitals?
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Maybe a tiny little bit better if even that. A top quality analog board definately does not sound worse. Digital finally sounds good from the SC48 and iLive forward on all the medium and large format consoles. It is the man behind the machine now that determines how good it is going to sound.
 
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