[ATTACH=CONFIG]198778.vB5-legacyid=9416[/ATTACH]Vancouver BC, The Boston Pops was founded in 1885 and it has not skipped a beat in 129 years… unless, of course under the direction of the orchestra’s conductor. This notorious institution delights audiences with their mix of light and accessible classical to mainstream popular music. For more than thirty of those years FOH engineer Steve Colby has ensured a world class acoustical experience – not only for the estimated one million people who take in the live shows each year, but also for the musicians who perform a robust and demanding program and schedule.
Colby mixes the music broadcast feed of the Boston Pops’ annual and renowned July 4th performances (assisted by Kevin Delaney handling local PA FOH chores). These shows alone have drawn audiences of up to one million people. Colby is at the helm as FOH engineer for the year round program. During the 2011/2012 season 187,000 people took in the performances over the course of 86 concerts.
According to Colby: “The biggest challenge over the years has been to keep up with increasing audience expectations for the sound of an amplified orchestra. With the progress of digital delivery to everyone across the board, audiences expect a very high quality and natural sound to an orchestra regardless of the acoustics of the room, (arenas, outdoors, etc.) Fortunately the technology of sound reinforcement has continued to improve.”
It’s not only the Pops regular players who rely on Colby’s expertise. Pops events often include guest musicians who expect their work will marry well with the orchestra particularly in terms of sound quality. Working with guest’s engineers, Colby’s experience has ensured great satisfaction all around. He counts James Taylor, Bono, Jewel, Trisha Yearwood and Ricky Skaggs among his favorite guest performers.
It’s understandable that Colby would be approached to consult on other projects. “I am frequently privileged to consult with other orchestras, concert halls and venues with regards to improving the presentation of orchestral music when sound reinforcement is involved. Over the years these clients have included the Kansas City Symphony, Baltimore Symphony, Pittsburgh Symphony and Atlanta Symphony Orchestras.” Colby was also part of the mixing team for Barbra Streisand’s 2012 ‘Back to Brooklyn’ tour.
Colby doesn’t only rely on improvements in sound reinforcement technology to deliver the best sound. He was an early adopter of the PZ-DI which was developed by Radial as an orchestral instrument DI. “It is particularly difficult to get a convincing blend of sound between an acoustic orchestra and amplified soloists, but the PZ-DI is so clean and free of artifacts that the job becomes very straightforward. We dropped the PZ-DI in line to give a good listen on several of our tried and true arrangements and the result was terrific. The PZ-DI presented a dramatic sonic improvement to the pickup of acoustic guitar and bass.”
Colby’s choice also pleased Pops guitarist Jon Finn. “I’ve been playing guitar with Boston Pops since 1997. Most of the time, my job has been to bring a pop/rock/jazz sensibility to the orchestra. It’s been a challenge to learn the best ways to blend acoustic guitars (while using piezo pickups) with an orchestra. One night Steve Colby brought in the Radial PZ- DI and right away we noticed an enormous difference in transparency, delicacy and detail in the acoustic guitar tone. It’s been our ‘go to’ box ever since.”
Colby has in fact counted on Radial products for years. “We have a number of units.. passive and active..and love them all. We also provide sound reinforcement services for special ‘outside’ events at Symphony Hall and notice that the Radial equipment is most often the DI requested on riders of visiting artists.”
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