Whew, what a night!
I had done all my homework, setup my scenes, and had the pleasure of D&B b2, q1 sub, and 2 q1 tops per side with headroom to spare. I'verad something, perhaps here, where someone said the q1 sound like shit compared to a particular danley rig. I've heard a few danley speakrs, and while they sound fantastic, the q1s in this room did not sound bad at all. The b2s were stood on end and hte whole thing was ground stacked. The tops were flat and angled as far forward as possible. This helped keep the sound off the far wall. I had played around withthe array software, but it seemed like I should have been able to pitch the lower top more and hten spread out the upper. Anyhow, it sounded ok. I preferred the sound over cobra 2s, which ive used at another venue. Flat arraying more or other vertical elements might have been a different experience.
The band with the backline ot share arrived late, so soundchecks started with a delay. Despite hte delay, I did not have enough time to ring anything out, which made for even longer sound checks. Timing didn't really matter, as the audience arrived hours after the opening of hte doors, and the festive mood they were made for better show times.
3 bands - One with 2 violins, keys, guitar, male vocal, sax, clarinet. I only had 57s available for hte the instruments, and it was difficult ot get enough violins into the mics. great musicians, some really nice moments. Unfortunately, i could not get reaper to record. The full 32 input card was accessible, but I was only getting the default 7/8 record out in the record arming, and even then, I was getting nothing but flatline in hte daw. Thankfully, the usb slot worked fine with whatever random 2gb stick I put in. Vocals had too much reverb in the recording, but the live sound was ok. I htink the multitrack recorinding issue laid within my asio driver, as I couldnt find the software for it, despite it being installed and reaper loading some kind of its driver. Another day.
The first band had its own opener, which was a very frustrating flute looper. Don't know if it was his cables or pedals, but he wasnt happy with his stereo stuff, got in the way during the main soundchecks, and I was quite glad when his ten minute performance was over.
Before the bands started, the power cut out to the lights, video, and dj. PA, stage, and foh were fine. Odd, as the dj should have been on the backline power, and the audio had its own 16a 3 phase. Apparently, some amateur had puked on a cable junction powering stuff outside the venue. I dont know if this was indoors or out, but the juice came back on soon enough.
The second and third bands shared the stage together. each had a guitarist, drummer, and keys/sound effects. One specialized in psychedlic rock, the other a modern krautrock outfit, known for playing in unconventional spaces, like in subway stations, awards show bathrooms, and wherever else they can fit for the fun of it, as well as performing with the originals old enough to be their fathers. This was really exciting. They took turns playing long songs and spent some time playing together. I've been dreaming of mixing hte transition of 2 live outfits for years, and the mixer really made that possible. Each had its own layer, and I routed dcas to control instrument groupings of each band, and then added compressed groups, all on aux subs. Never had I the opportunity to have so much fine control. Unfortunately, I somehow goofed with my stage patching, and one of hte bands was missing some drums for much of hte time. It took a while before I could focus enough on cycling through the inputs to recover the drum mix, but it worked well enough before that turning point.
The x32 took everything I threw at it and passed with flying colors. Ive never mixed on anything better than it or an ls932, but have heard enough shows with big boy consoles, and I thought the results were as good as the average. I still have a long way to go with my mixing abilities, but the combinations of hte night brought out plenty of potential. The buttons and knobs felt very confident. FOH lighting was quite dim, but I was quickly able to navigate hte board during the shows. A dimmed led under the view buttons would have made me faster, but I was getting used to where everythng was placed, so In future dark environments, operation would probably be faster. The scribble strip labeling process is a lil awkward for me. Xcontrol makes it easier, but I felt like I was typing the same strips over and over after losing text. That wouldnt have been necessary, but the riders were not correct, so I had to rearrange some channels and relabel some strips.
I don't want to sound like a fan boy, but I really like this mixer. The kind of stuff I was doing wouldn't be possible unless increasing the budget by multiples. Where my hands wanted to go, the right controls were there. Once I was able to relax, I was able to get the results I wanted. There was no "fighting the mixer." I If I ever make it up to bigger gigs, there are of course other consoles to use, but thanks to the potential of this one, It will probably be easier to get my head around the better mixers. Based on my experience so far, I would consider buying my own if work warrants it, and will spec it for all smaller gigs. for bigger gigs, I will look first to see who in town has midas pro0x consoles.
This gig absolutely nailed hte analog coffin shut for me. The 2 stage setups necessitated vastly different routing, and I would have probably hung myself with a mic cable before finishing the setting of the board if doing that with analog.
The night might have also opened some new doors, as the drummer of one ofthe bands manages other artist tours, and hte booker also manages other acts, and all were happy with the results. A long night which now commands some deserved rest.
I hope all of you had as much of an enjoyable start to the year, and wish all a successful one!
I had done all my homework, setup my scenes, and had the pleasure of D&B b2, q1 sub, and 2 q1 tops per side with headroom to spare. I'verad something, perhaps here, where someone said the q1 sound like shit compared to a particular danley rig. I've heard a few danley speakrs, and while they sound fantastic, the q1s in this room did not sound bad at all. The b2s were stood on end and hte whole thing was ground stacked. The tops were flat and angled as far forward as possible. This helped keep the sound off the far wall. I had played around withthe array software, but it seemed like I should have been able to pitch the lower top more and hten spread out the upper. Anyhow, it sounded ok. I preferred the sound over cobra 2s, which ive used at another venue. Flat arraying more or other vertical elements might have been a different experience.
The band with the backline ot share arrived late, so soundchecks started with a delay. Despite hte delay, I did not have enough time to ring anything out, which made for even longer sound checks. Timing didn't really matter, as the audience arrived hours after the opening of hte doors, and the festive mood they were made for better show times.
3 bands - One with 2 violins, keys, guitar, male vocal, sax, clarinet. I only had 57s available for hte the instruments, and it was difficult ot get enough violins into the mics. great musicians, some really nice moments. Unfortunately, i could not get reaper to record. The full 32 input card was accessible, but I was only getting the default 7/8 record out in the record arming, and even then, I was getting nothing but flatline in hte daw. Thankfully, the usb slot worked fine with whatever random 2gb stick I put in. Vocals had too much reverb in the recording, but the live sound was ok. I htink the multitrack recorinding issue laid within my asio driver, as I couldnt find the software for it, despite it being installed and reaper loading some kind of its driver. Another day.
The first band had its own opener, which was a very frustrating flute looper. Don't know if it was his cables or pedals, but he wasnt happy with his stereo stuff, got in the way during the main soundchecks, and I was quite glad when his ten minute performance was over.
Before the bands started, the power cut out to the lights, video, and dj. PA, stage, and foh were fine. Odd, as the dj should have been on the backline power, and the audio had its own 16a 3 phase. Apparently, some amateur had puked on a cable junction powering stuff outside the venue. I dont know if this was indoors or out, but the juice came back on soon enough.
The second and third bands shared the stage together. each had a guitarist, drummer, and keys/sound effects. One specialized in psychedlic rock, the other a modern krautrock outfit, known for playing in unconventional spaces, like in subway stations, awards show bathrooms, and wherever else they can fit for the fun of it, as well as performing with the originals old enough to be their fathers. This was really exciting. They took turns playing long songs and spent some time playing together. I've been dreaming of mixing hte transition of 2 live outfits for years, and the mixer really made that possible. Each had its own layer, and I routed dcas to control instrument groupings of each band, and then added compressed groups, all on aux subs. Never had I the opportunity to have so much fine control. Unfortunately, I somehow goofed with my stage patching, and one of hte bands was missing some drums for much of hte time. It took a while before I could focus enough on cycling through the inputs to recover the drum mix, but it worked well enough before that turning point.
The x32 took everything I threw at it and passed with flying colors. Ive never mixed on anything better than it or an ls932, but have heard enough shows with big boy consoles, and I thought the results were as good as the average. I still have a long way to go with my mixing abilities, but the combinations of hte night brought out plenty of potential. The buttons and knobs felt very confident. FOH lighting was quite dim, but I was quickly able to navigate hte board during the shows. A dimmed led under the view buttons would have made me faster, but I was getting used to where everythng was placed, so In future dark environments, operation would probably be faster. The scribble strip labeling process is a lil awkward for me. Xcontrol makes it easier, but I felt like I was typing the same strips over and over after losing text. That wouldnt have been necessary, but the riders were not correct, so I had to rearrange some channels and relabel some strips.
I don't want to sound like a fan boy, but I really like this mixer. The kind of stuff I was doing wouldn't be possible unless increasing the budget by multiples. Where my hands wanted to go, the right controls were there. Once I was able to relax, I was able to get the results I wanted. There was no "fighting the mixer." I If I ever make it up to bigger gigs, there are of course other consoles to use, but thanks to the potential of this one, It will probably be easier to get my head around the better mixers. Based on my experience so far, I would consider buying my own if work warrants it, and will spec it for all smaller gigs. for bigger gigs, I will look first to see who in town has midas pro0x consoles.
This gig absolutely nailed hte analog coffin shut for me. The 2 stage setups necessitated vastly different routing, and I would have probably hung myself with a mic cable before finishing the setting of the board if doing that with analog.
The night might have also opened some new doors, as the drummer of one ofthe bands manages other artist tours, and hte booker also manages other acts, and all were happy with the results. A long night which now commands some deserved rest.
I hope all of you had as much of an enjoyable start to the year, and wish all a successful one!