I haven't really posted a gig report in a while, so I thought I would share a couple of thoughts from this weekend.
Friday night, I had the return of a band that I really like working with. They understand that excellence on stage happens due to great practice in rehearsal. Both guitarists use tiny amps, one a Fender Champ, and the other a Blackstar copy of the Champ. But they are also not afraid to turn them up enough so they can hear them. Nothing I hate more than hearing about how modern guitarist is so aware of stage volume that he is afraid to use his amp and ends up wanting tons in the monitor. By the way, when line checking the guitarists, I had to ask for the fill level and then the lead level from the lead guitarist, and the fill level and an acoustic level from the rhythm guitarist. After setting the levels, and putting together a FOH mix, I didn't touch any of the three faders all night long. Every tone change (and there were a lot of them) was perfectly matched in output level to what the rest of the band was doing.
I will say it again. Excellence on the stage comes from what happens in the practice room.
The drummer was on hard wired in ears, and I made one or two tweaks to his monitor channel that I had roughed in. For the wedges across the front, I had a request to adjust the level of the acoustic guitar, but other than that, the band loved my rough mix.
I have said it before, I am not a fader rider. If a tech is spending all their time making minute changes to levels, or chasing feedback, or any of the other distractions at FOH, then they can't pay attention to things that really lift the mix out of mediocrity. Personally, I would rather be working on the effects so I can create a different space/ tonal palette for each song.
Saturday night, the vocalist had an interesting mic for a low phi effect, the copperphone. I really liked it and it was not hard to keep stable on stage with the band on in ears. I liked it enough that I ordered one for myself.
Now, what prompted me to do another gig report. I am going to name names on this one.
On Sunday, I had the first show of my winter Bluegrass series. I set this series up in conjunction with a park in Fairfax County that has a 200 person capacity room in an old dairy barn. In addition to doing sound for this event, I act as the Co-promoter and the chief booking agent. The financial picture of these shows doesn't really allow for what I would consider a reasonable budget for sound. So I have been doing them for free (after ensuring I was totally covered under the parks insurance and the budget did have enough put away to cover paying for another sound tech if an emergency prevent me from doing it). So I guess what I am doing is partially underwriting the expense of bringing in bands, that otherwise the venue couldn't afford. The uptick is that I am also the one that gets to choose who gets the booking.
I like little ball. I like intimate shows. Last night we had a smaller crowd of about 60 people. I did the show with 2 K10's for FOH, 2 K10's as sidefill monitors, and a 01V at FOH. I don't think the level at FOH ever broke 85 dBA slow. Yet the show was both intimate and powerful. This was a perfect case of reinforcement rather than amplification. The room itself has some challenges, so despite the small simple rig, there was plenty of opportunity for demonstrating my control over what was happening sound wise.
All too often I think we equate gaining skill with getting bigger and bigger shows. I have had the opportunity to mix in big clubs, arenas, and outdoor festivals; but there remains something I really like about the small room done well.
It was not long into the first set when the band, Lindsay Lou and the Flatbellys, had reminded me how much I love the small intimate show, and I can honestly say, I was in musical heaven. I usually think of myself as fitting the JV profile, despite doing 200+ shows a year, mostly because sound is not my primary paycheck. I think giving away 7 shows this winter will be well worth it if I am paid in the positive feeling I had while doing this show.
Friday night, I had the return of a band that I really like working with. They understand that excellence on stage happens due to great practice in rehearsal. Both guitarists use tiny amps, one a Fender Champ, and the other a Blackstar copy of the Champ. But they are also not afraid to turn them up enough so they can hear them. Nothing I hate more than hearing about how modern guitarist is so aware of stage volume that he is afraid to use his amp and ends up wanting tons in the monitor. By the way, when line checking the guitarists, I had to ask for the fill level and then the lead level from the lead guitarist, and the fill level and an acoustic level from the rhythm guitarist. After setting the levels, and putting together a FOH mix, I didn't touch any of the three faders all night long. Every tone change (and there were a lot of them) was perfectly matched in output level to what the rest of the band was doing.
I will say it again. Excellence on the stage comes from what happens in the practice room.
The drummer was on hard wired in ears, and I made one or two tweaks to his monitor channel that I had roughed in. For the wedges across the front, I had a request to adjust the level of the acoustic guitar, but other than that, the band loved my rough mix.
I have said it before, I am not a fader rider. If a tech is spending all their time making minute changes to levels, or chasing feedback, or any of the other distractions at FOH, then they can't pay attention to things that really lift the mix out of mediocrity. Personally, I would rather be working on the effects so I can create a different space/ tonal palette for each song.
Saturday night, the vocalist had an interesting mic for a low phi effect, the copperphone. I really liked it and it was not hard to keep stable on stage with the band on in ears. I liked it enough that I ordered one for myself.
Now, what prompted me to do another gig report. I am going to name names on this one.
On Sunday, I had the first show of my winter Bluegrass series. I set this series up in conjunction with a park in Fairfax County that has a 200 person capacity room in an old dairy barn. In addition to doing sound for this event, I act as the Co-promoter and the chief booking agent. The financial picture of these shows doesn't really allow for what I would consider a reasonable budget for sound. So I have been doing them for free (after ensuring I was totally covered under the parks insurance and the budget did have enough put away to cover paying for another sound tech if an emergency prevent me from doing it). So I guess what I am doing is partially underwriting the expense of bringing in bands, that otherwise the venue couldn't afford. The uptick is that I am also the one that gets to choose who gets the booking.
I like little ball. I like intimate shows. Last night we had a smaller crowd of about 60 people. I did the show with 2 K10's for FOH, 2 K10's as sidefill monitors, and a 01V at FOH. I don't think the level at FOH ever broke 85 dBA slow. Yet the show was both intimate and powerful. This was a perfect case of reinforcement rather than amplification. The room itself has some challenges, so despite the small simple rig, there was plenty of opportunity for demonstrating my control over what was happening sound wise.
All too often I think we equate gaining skill with getting bigger and bigger shows. I have had the opportunity to mix in big clubs, arenas, and outdoor festivals; but there remains something I really like about the small room done well.
It was not long into the first set when the band, Lindsay Lou and the Flatbellys, had reminded me how much I love the small intimate show, and I can honestly say, I was in musical heaven. I usually think of myself as fitting the JV profile, despite doing 200+ shows a year, mostly because sound is not my primary paycheck. I think giving away 7 shows this winter will be well worth it if I am paid in the positive feeling I had while doing this show.
