(One of my favorite funny/smart people is Dennis Miller, and I remember I used to watch his show no matter who was on just to hear “The Rant.” Well, Dennis is busy doing game shows and I haven’t heard a good rant in way too long. So, welcome to the FOH Rant Zone. Will this feature run all the time? Nope. But as often as we get really good rants, we’ll run ‘em as long as they won’t get us sued. To open this inaugural installment, we have one of my favorite hotheads. Take it away… — ed.)
I am sure after this issue comes out I will have some older sound guys lecture me about egos and just doing my job. A few other guys will bitch and complain about my “pity poor Larry” attitude. SO FREAKIN WHAT! After reading what I wrote after the gig, I am pretty sure my ego is… OK, it’s inflated like all singing, guitar-playing sound guys. Face it, those three occupations might be the most ego-driven gigs in our industry. But after this gig, I put my ego in check…
I am out with this “old school” R&B group who was recently invited to play — along with another similar chart-topping group — a show of their hits with a symphony orchestra, We had a two-night engagement — 50-minute shows each night with a world-class orchestra. Did I mention the gig was in Hawaii? Yep, four days and four nights all expenses paid and first-class plane ride, too. Oh yeah, the hotel DIDN’T suck either! But wait, my wife is a professional photographer and the band hired her to shoot the show and paid for her expenses as well. Okay, I am really done bragging about the trip now. Really.
When I arrive at the venue for the rehearsal/sound check, I notice at FOH a Yamaha PM4K and a Yamaha PM5D. When I advanced the show, it was with the PM5D, so I assumed the other act on the bill had requested an analog console. Well, NO! The PM5D was for the orchestra and the PM4K was for both acts. No big deal if there is enough room on the PM4K. But these are both large bands with four or five singers in each so, of course, the only way to have enough room was to short all of my inputs.
We are in an 8,000-seat arena. One kick mic, no ride mic, one bass line and all keyboards shorted to mono inputs — again, not a big issue. I have had a time or two where a DI died and the stereo becomes a spare. No spares here. But we have that big orchestra playing all of the parts that the keys are playing anyway, so I am not too worried about the key direct boxes failing.
The odd thing that never ceases to amaze me is the sound company owner who gets angry at the thought of an extra rental. The band decided they didn't want me to share consoles and sacrifice anything, so I made a request to the owner of the sound company to bring another PM5D and the band would pay for it. The gig was 24 hours away so there was no crunch time either… He FREAKS! As it turned out, it was because he didn't have one available and would need to cross-rent it. I was like, “Well dude, make some money on the cross rental…” Long story short, we are back to the overpopulated PM4K. But we did have a nice NEXO GEO rig.
The FOH for the orchestra, Mike Brown, is a freelance guy living the dream in Hawaii (yep, life is tough for Ol’ Mike). We had long talks about the two of us keeping the mix together and making sure all was happy in famous R&B land and orchestra land. He had put all of the sections of the orchestra on stereo inputs and routed them to both sub groups and a VCA so I could have some control. When the first show finished, we were feeling pretty good about it… so off to the bar!
The next night, things took a nasty turn. I walked in and was informed that my mix was too loud and the orchestra was not the dominant part of the show. Oh, and the vocals were too loud. Of course, my band is now complaining they couldn't "feel" the show and wanted it much louder. %$*@*%#!
Where do I go from here? I was a bit confused by these comments. Last night, all seemed happy. After holding and caressing my bruised ego, I asked, "if the band is a vocal-based band shouldn't the vocals be a bit louder than everything else? “NO,” I was told. Everyone here came to see the orchestra so that's what needed to be loudest. Well, if everyone is coming to see the orchestra, why did you hire this singing group? To sell tickets? Hmmm…
The resolution for the band? I had the monitor engineer crank the band in their wedges so they could "feel" the energy of the show. Now on to the other issues — loud singers and prioritizing the orchestra. At this point, I relied heavily on Brown’s ability to decipher what is too much band vocal and not enough orchestra. We found a happy medium where I think most people (maybe all) enjoyed the show.
This brings the questions: When a group is hired by an orchestra or promoter for the orchestra to perform their hits, whose show is it? Who is the artist? My thoughts when I went in (obviously very, very wrong) were to make the band sound like they did in the ‘70s when they recorded the songs with orchestral accompaniment — a nice full sound with the band being complemented by the orchestra. The sign outside did say
"Featuring The Famous Band."
So, who is featured? I like the straight-ahead "you’re an opener or you’re the headliner" Pretty cut and dry. You know your gig. If the symphony is the primary focal point, why don’t they just do the songs of famous groups and leave them out of it? Could it be because no one would come to see that show?
Okay. Ready? Set? ATTACK!
