I had 3 shows over the weekend, all in small listening rooms with capacity about 100 people. Two of the rooms had installed systems, one room was a SOS setup. For this swing, I was traveling with my own mics and cables, my Sabine Navigator, and my measurement system. I was relying on the local providers for everything else.
Room 1 had a Presonus Studiolive and Mpro speakers hung horizontally from the ceiling. I have refrained from participating in the Studiolive debates because I really didn't think I had enough shows to really make a decision. After this weekends show, I can say it definitely doesn't suck. It provides all the control I needed to create my mix the way I wanted to, and it was not overly difficult or awkward to do so. I am not a fanboy, but it is definitely a usable piece of equipment in it's price range. I have no complaints about the sound of its varied features. My complaint after the first bunch of shows that I had was having to look at the screen to figure out which eq channel I was on. After more time, that is actually becoming far less important. As to the ongoing complaints about the lack of some features, well those features didn't make a difference to me for doing my show. Actually compared to the hodge podge of boards and outboard I usually find in these rooms, I would not complain if a few more places invested in a Studiolive.
Room 2 was the SOS show with yamaha clubs. When I initially advanced the show I found out that all they had was a yamaha powered head that did not have enough channels for me. They agreed to bring in a AH GL2400 and I planned on using my Navigator for system control. For this show, I ended up with no comps or effects. I usually bring my own carry rack with the basics, but for this trip I had been rearranging some things in racks and ended up leaving it all at home (memo to self: don't leave home without... put it all back together this afternoon so I don't forget before fridays show). They also ended up providing an older soundcraft board, but everything was working so all was good.
Room 3 was a room that hosts the most live music but also had the most system problems to overcome. We also had a later loadin which made me pressed for time in the first place. As we loaded in they had music playing through the system and I did not hear any immediate problems. I started zeroing out my channels on the board. They also had a rack of alesis 3630 each paired with a dbx 15 channel eq for inserts. Each of the dbx's had about 10 of the frequencies cut between 6 and 12 db. After two evenings of setting up my stage without a hint of feedback problems, in this third room I set up on the quarter round stage in the corner of the room (which fortunately does have curtains on the back walls), brought everything up to show levels on the board, and was fine... until the band stepped on stage and everything took off. I started cleaning up a couple of the mics but the same frequencies kept taking off. Time to visit the house graph which was conveniently placed about 8 feet off the ground at the top of the rack. Wait, on the 31 band house graph their on only 3 bands, all above 16 khz are above -6. The makeup gain was maxed at +12. Someone in this house really likes to cut and use makeup gain. Unfortunately, the way the house tech had everything eq'ed left no where else to go. Rather than trying to get back to zero (with the clock to doors ticking down rapidly and an opening band still to get on stage and checked) I took the quick way out and hacked the channel inserts. Since this was a mothers day show and a sunday, the head house tech was not present, but the house tech that was there was young but knowledgable, helpful, and obviously limited in many ways by the way the head tech wanted to do things. I did take photos of all of the graphs the way I found them for the next time a house guy wants to complain about the crazy things band engineers want to do.
Quote from House tech from show 1: "I am glad you were here to deal with that (referring to the number of instrument and vocalist changes), I learned a lot from watching you."
Quote from House tech 2:"Are you married to someone in the band?". I guess that explains his perspective. He didn't stay for the show, but the promoter said the band was one of the best sounding he had ever had in their.
I am not sure I really learned anything new that is excessively enlightening, but a couple of things still pop to mind about what I do:
The reason a band hires a band engineer is to create a consistant performance from venue to venue, regardless of what is provided. The first thing that really helps me is a consistant mic package, so I always travel with my own mics. The second thing is experience with a wide variety of equipment, and the ability to make that equipment work together. I might get away with blaming problems on the equipment once in a while, but if that excuse is coming up often, a change of endeavor might be in order. The rig is the rig is the rig, get on with the show. When it comes down to it, no one including the band, the promoter, the management, or the system provider wants to hear about non show stopping concerns, they want meto deal with it. That is why they pay me. That's where experience comes in to play. The other thing that is significant from the BE standpoint is the windshield time. If you want to play this game you must travel well, and you must get along with others while doing it.
More windshield time is scheduled this coming weekend, then it is off to MA for SMAART training. While the rooms may stay fairly small, let us hope the knowledge base and experience keeps growing. If I ever stop learning and adding experience I am either ready for a soil blanket or taking up golf.
Room 1 had a Presonus Studiolive and Mpro speakers hung horizontally from the ceiling. I have refrained from participating in the Studiolive debates because I really didn't think I had enough shows to really make a decision. After this weekends show, I can say it definitely doesn't suck. It provides all the control I needed to create my mix the way I wanted to, and it was not overly difficult or awkward to do so. I am not a fanboy, but it is definitely a usable piece of equipment in it's price range. I have no complaints about the sound of its varied features. My complaint after the first bunch of shows that I had was having to look at the screen to figure out which eq channel I was on. After more time, that is actually becoming far less important. As to the ongoing complaints about the lack of some features, well those features didn't make a difference to me for doing my show. Actually compared to the hodge podge of boards and outboard I usually find in these rooms, I would not complain if a few more places invested in a Studiolive.
Room 2 was the SOS show with yamaha clubs. When I initially advanced the show I found out that all they had was a yamaha powered head that did not have enough channels for me. They agreed to bring in a AH GL2400 and I planned on using my Navigator for system control. For this show, I ended up with no comps or effects. I usually bring my own carry rack with the basics, but for this trip I had been rearranging some things in racks and ended up leaving it all at home (memo to self: don't leave home without... put it all back together this afternoon so I don't forget before fridays show). They also ended up providing an older soundcraft board, but everything was working so all was good.
Room 3 was a room that hosts the most live music but also had the most system problems to overcome. We also had a later loadin which made me pressed for time in the first place. As we loaded in they had music playing through the system and I did not hear any immediate problems. I started zeroing out my channels on the board. They also had a rack of alesis 3630 each paired with a dbx 15 channel eq for inserts. Each of the dbx's had about 10 of the frequencies cut between 6 and 12 db. After two evenings of setting up my stage without a hint of feedback problems, in this third room I set up on the quarter round stage in the corner of the room (which fortunately does have curtains on the back walls), brought everything up to show levels on the board, and was fine... until the band stepped on stage and everything took off. I started cleaning up a couple of the mics but the same frequencies kept taking off. Time to visit the house graph which was conveniently placed about 8 feet off the ground at the top of the rack. Wait, on the 31 band house graph their on only 3 bands, all above 16 khz are above -6. The makeup gain was maxed at +12. Someone in this house really likes to cut and use makeup gain. Unfortunately, the way the house tech had everything eq'ed left no where else to go. Rather than trying to get back to zero (with the clock to doors ticking down rapidly and an opening band still to get on stage and checked) I took the quick way out and hacked the channel inserts. Since this was a mothers day show and a sunday, the head house tech was not present, but the house tech that was there was young but knowledgable, helpful, and obviously limited in many ways by the way the head tech wanted to do things. I did take photos of all of the graphs the way I found them for the next time a house guy wants to complain about the crazy things band engineers want to do.
Quote from House tech from show 1: "I am glad you were here to deal with that (referring to the number of instrument and vocalist changes), I learned a lot from watching you."
Quote from House tech 2:"Are you married to someone in the band?". I guess that explains his perspective. He didn't stay for the show, but the promoter said the band was one of the best sounding he had ever had in their.
I am not sure I really learned anything new that is excessively enlightening, but a couple of things still pop to mind about what I do:
The reason a band hires a band engineer is to create a consistant performance from venue to venue, regardless of what is provided. The first thing that really helps me is a consistant mic package, so I always travel with my own mics. The second thing is experience with a wide variety of equipment, and the ability to make that equipment work together. I might get away with blaming problems on the equipment once in a while, but if that excuse is coming up often, a change of endeavor might be in order. The rig is the rig is the rig, get on with the show. When it comes down to it, no one including the band, the promoter, the management, or the system provider wants to hear about non show stopping concerns, they want meto deal with it. That is why they pay me. That's where experience comes in to play. The other thing that is significant from the BE standpoint is the windshield time. If you want to play this game you must travel well, and you must get along with others while doing it.
More windshield time is scheduled this coming weekend, then it is off to MA for SMAART training. While the rooms may stay fairly small, let us hope the knowledge base and experience keeps growing. If I ever stop learning and adding experience I am either ready for a soil blanket or taking up golf.
