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Cheap But Not Easy

Cheap But Not Easy

[The Regional Slants piece written by Larry Hall in the May 2006 issue of FOH generated more mail than anything we have run in a very long time. The story about losing the gig because of an uncooperative engineer who did not advance the gig well, coupled with some discussion about growing your company evidently hit a nerve. At the same time, the Anklebiter duo was getting ready to discuss the topic of cheap gigs. Because Larry came up the ladder from musician to anklebiter to strong regional soundco, we asked him to sit in on the discussion here as well. Enjoy. –b]

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Hometown Heroes?

It has been about two years now but as I sit here trying to compose my thoughts for this month's missive, I am reminded of a particularly busy Saturday night doing work for FOH back in L.A. before we all made the move to the desert.

First came a call from the production team with Dream Theater who were loading in at the Pantages and wanted me to come down. Next came the reminder that I needed to get down to the Forum between soundcheck and the Metallica show so I could drop off the trophy that Big Mick Hughes had earned as the winner of the Parnelli Award for FOH Mixer of the Year (Mick had been on tour when the awards were given out and not able to make it to the event). And then I got a call from Steve La Cerra, a friend from previous editorial pursuits and someone I had been trying to make space for in FOH (he's now our Bleeding Edge columnist). He was in town mixing Blue Oyster Cult (one of my personal fave rock bands) at a place called the Canyon Club. This was a circuit that would have taken me from my then-home in Altadena to Hollywood, on to Inglewood and way out west to Agoura Hills. That's about a 100 mile loop which, in L.A. on a Saturday night… Well, let's just say it was going to be tough. I ended up missing the Dream Theater thing while stuck in traffic, arriving at the Forum for Metallica just minutes before they went on so I ended up staying for the entire show so Mick and Paul Owen and I could chat a bit after the show, and then blasting out to Agoura Hills to catch the last three songs of the BOC set and talk with Steve for a few minutes. A nutty day.

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Discovering The "Live Music Capital of the World"

When you get off of an airplane at Austin-Bergstrom International Airport, the first thing you see is a plaque on the wall proclaiming Austin as the "Live Music Capital of the World". With more live music venues per capita than Nashville, Memphis, Los Angeles, Las Vegas or New York City, it's tough to argue the point.

Live Music From Concentrate

The city's live music scene is most concentrated downtown, just north of the Colorado River, with dozens of clubs situated side-by-side on Fourth, Sixth, and Red River Street. Other pockets of venues are scattered throughout the city, most notably on South Congress Avenue a couple miles South of downtown. Walk down Sixth street on a weekend night in July and you will very quickly see what all the fuss is about. Amongst a plethora of bars with names like Chuggin' Monkey, The Library, Iron Cactus, and Red Eyed Fly, the sounds of country, rock, metal and dueling pianos mix together, offering up a new artist to almost any musical taste.

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Regional Slants

Last month a relationship I have been building and nurturing for several years paid off in the kind of gig that companies like mine rarely get called for. A couple of days before the Academy of Country Music Awards were held at the MGM Grand, we did a "pre-concert" show in conjunction with the ACM and The Fremont St. Experience. With 25 or more A- and B-list acts doing one or two songs each and two primary headliners doing full sets, we had our hands full.

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The Bleeding Edge

How many times has the following happened to you? You're in a room watching a band (or perhaps a public speaker), and you notice that the sound of an instrument or voice is coming from the P.A., not from the physical location of the source. Sometimes it's subtle, but sometimes you think: "Why am I seeing this guy directly in front of me but hearing his voice to my left?" It's such an unnatural phenomenon that it distracts from delivery of the musical content or message.

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Call Me Ishmael

I was contracted to bring audio on board the "Freedom of The Seas" promotional voyage around the New York harbor and down the eastern coastline to somewhere off the coast of Virginia. We were to cruise with a boatload of travel agents and marketing people who were all there to take advantage of the free food, booze and entertainment offered by the Royal Caribbean company as the world's largest cruise ship was introduced to the world via a live, onboard broadcast of "The Today Show" with Katie Courac and Matt Lauer. It was a gala event that included a bottle of champagne broken across the hull of the ship as well as performances by Barry Manilow, Jon Secada and Lauren Harris.

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Gold Mixer

Over the course of a 20-year career, John C. Clark III has gone from stagehand work in clubs in his hometown of Albuquerque, N.M. to running FOH for R&B phenom Kanye West. Today he finds himself on the backend of West's "Touch the Sky" tour–a massive undertaking that started out as a coheadline thing with U2 where Clark was driving a huge Meyer-powered rig that included four M3D line array loudspeaker s, eight MILO cabinets, four MICA units, and nine 700- HP subwoofers per side–doing one-off fly dates with the system du jour and making his boss sound great on whatever gear he is given.

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Feel the LOVE

LOVE, the latest production from Cirque du Soleil is a collaborative effort between the Cirque and Apple Corps. The show features original Beatles tracks from master tapes at Abbey Road studios prepared specifi – cally by Musical Directors Sir George Martin and his son Giles Martin. "We wanted to make sure there are enough good, solid hit songs in the show, but we don't want it to be a catalog of 'best of's'," said Sir George Martin. "We also wanted to put in some interesting and not well-known Beatles music and use fragments of songs. The show will be a unique and magical experience."

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RTFM! (Or At Least The Back Of The Speaker)

I was back in Gibson City for a really small rock concert–only about 250–300 people in the crowd. I had a small rig complete with an old Yamaha 1604 mixer for FOH and monitor mix all in one, and let me tell you that dinosaur can do some damage. I had two Peavey Impulse 1015 speakers and subs, with an ART EQ-355 and Alesis 3630 compressors. Well, the man I purchased my Impulse speakers and subs from said that they were all 8 ohms "speakers and subs". The venue was a little bigger than what I was told on the advance so, with my QSC RMX 1450 and a 2450, we decided to bridge both to get more power.

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Getting Back To Roots

FOH engineer Rob "Cubby" Colby has been doing so much Latin work of late (Luis Miguel, Robi "Draco" Rosa, Juanes, and Shakira) that it is easy to forget that his R&B roots runs deep, including tours with both Prince and Janet Jackson. Likewise, DB Sound Image has provided plenty of thump over the years. The latest R. Kelly tour was a reunion after years of separation for Cubby and DB Sound Image's Harry Witz. Together, they put together a system and crew that wowed the R. Kelly production staff–a group known for their collective critical ear.

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Audio-Technica AT2041SP Studio Pack, EV Blue Mics, QSC PLX2 Audio Power Amplifiers

When we first heard about the Audio- Technica AT2041SP Studio Pack we asked them to send one out for review right away. Why, you might ask, would a magazine that covers LIVE audio want mics that are being marketed to home and project studio guys? Because this is one of the best values out there and we knew that regardless of the name it was marketed under, at a price point of $249 MSRP (and available online for a lot less than that; $149 estimated street price) we were going to see a bunch of these on a bunch of stages in the near future.

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Monitor Mixing Basics

Like it or not, monitor mixing tends to get a "water-boy" image compared to the FOH position. But a bad monitor mix situation can really create a bad performance as performers suffer through less than ideal conditions. And, interestingly enough, a bad FOH mix may not even be noticed by the performers as they enjoy a good vibe onstage thanks to a great monitor mix.

I want to share my mindset when monitor mixing, because one can achieve great pride doing this task and not worry much about the prima donna working out at the FOH console. After all, you are working for the band, and the job is to deliver maximum satisfaction to them within the limits of the equipment. However, I also look at monitor mixing as how I would want things done for me if I were performing on the stage. And if you are a current or former musician, monitor mixing should be a position you desire.

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