This month’s column completes last month’s (FOH, March 2018, page 39) list of agenda items for this winter’s off-the-road production dialog. This part includes the… Read More »Touring Planning, Part 2: Maintaining a Production Dialog
Read More »
Although our touring schedule does not resume until later this spring, there are always off-the-road research tasks to be accomplished and proposed modifications to be discussed in preparation for the next run of shows. This year’s itinerary will include several gear transitions outside the U.S. Reproducing our extensive gear spec overseas will require detailed advance planning. That process begins with publishing a precise description of the sound system elements that will be provided by Clair Global for the spring and summer U.S. shows.
Read More »
About 10 years ago, I started exploring Earthworks’ complete microphone product line in greater detail. The live sound industry has long relied on the company’s excellent precision measurement mics, but I was only marginally acquainted with its widely acclaimed series of small diaphragm omnidirectional studio mics. And I was completely uninformed about Earthworks’ products designed the live sound market. At that time, there was an increasing word-of-mouth buzz within the live sound community regarding a new family of Earthworks products suited for live sound applications. I was especially interested in the new drum mics that received great user reviews. This marked the beginning of a relationship with Earthworks that has remained beneficial and strong for the past decade.
Read More »
Somehow, 2017 brought the loss of so many legendary and influential musicians. Among those taken from us were South African guitarist/vocalist/writer/producer, Ray Phiri, and Cameroon’s celebrated guitarist/writer/arranger, Vincent Nguini. It was my immense honor and distinct artistic pleasure to have worked literally hundreds of shows with these gentlemen while both were members of Paul Simon’s touring band. Ray joined the aggregation for the 1987-89 Graceland tours after co-arranging and co-producing much of the landmark, scene-changing Graceland album. Vincent joined the tour in 1990 after collaborating heavily on what may be Paul Simon’s most intricate and luxuriant musical endeavor, The Rhythm of the Saints.
Read More »
This past fall, I had the pleasure of participating in two one-off shows that each turned into the kind of magical experience that sustains us all in the fiercely competitive music business.
The first was a unique and exquisite performance by Fiona Apple at the beachfront Ohana Festival in Dana Point, CA. The second was a private event in a small hotel ballroom that included an outstanding set performed by Stevie Nicks and her virtuoso band.
Read More »
At the end of each touring year, I try to go over what was done right, what was done wrong and what we could do better while out on the road and performing night after night. This past year was particularly interesting because of the variety of geographic locations to which we traveled and the diversity of gear packages that we encountered along the way.
Read More »
The topic of headphones for live engineers discussed in this column last month has generated a more detailed thought process in which I began to chronicle the various tasks accomplished each day at FOH using a set of headphones. It seems somehow ironic that at each show, I perform my work on a huge arena or stadium line array sound system, but I still spend much of my time behind the console inside the private world of my headphones. I then expanded those thoughts by touching on other current tools used for particular tasks that often come up daily.
Read More »
This column rightfully devotes most of its allotted editorial space to discussions about the various configurations of speaker/amplifier systems, digital mixing console platforms, new and old microphones, recording interfaces and the vast family of audio software. But I have decided to devote this column to an unsung hero of the live mixing world. It’s time to give some well-deserved recognition to that trusted but often ignored pair of headphones that lives on a stealthy hook, faithfully hanging just below the right hand fader bay of my DiGiCo SD5 console. During the workday, these particular headphones take on the role of an audio multipurpose tool rather than remaining a portable private music listening environment.
Read More »
After an all-too-brief six-day break, it’s time to head back on the road. This tour leg starts out in a somewhat unorthodox fashion. We begin with a show at AT&T Park in San Francisco, home stadium of the San Francisco Giants baseball team. It will, of course, be a very well attended event that will require a very large audio system. Our next show is two days later in Frisco, TX — 1,724 miles away.
Read More »
Last month, I discussed first deconstructing and then re-imagining the input channel settings for one our touring acoustic guitars. That article focused on using the various tools available within the DiGiCo SD5 mixing system. I re-auditioned and modified the onboard settings for channel delay, tube emulation, parametric equalization and dynamic equalization and the Waves V-Comp compressor plug-in.
Read More »
When the principal artist for whom one mixes live performances happens to be an iconic acoustic guitar player, the quest for more natural-sounding reproduction of that instrument becomes never-ending. Last month, I proposed an off-the-road project that I hoped would improve the acoustic guitar sound. I did actually record myself playing my 41-year old Taylor jumbo guitar. This was the first actual recording project had done at home using Pro Tools 12 with my new Apogee Element 24 Thunderbolt interface. The Element 24 performed flawlessly, and the Element Control software is very simple to use. I had the session up and running in minutes.*
Read More »
So far, 2017 has been an interesting year. In just the first three months, my touring schedule has taken me to New Zealand, Australia, Singapore, Hong Kong, Brazil, Argentina and Chile. We’ve encountered a variety of P.A. systems and used three different console types at FOH. The Australian shows were mixed at FOH on a DiGiCo SD5; the shows in New Zealand, Singapore, Hong Kong and Brazil were mixed on DiGiCo SD7s; and the shows in Argentina and Chile mixed on Avid VENUE Profiles.
Read More »