Gig Report / 8 Live Acts 7 Hours: Difference between revisions

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=== The Room ===

The main space was about 50x50 and through the French doors it opened onto covered space the same size. We were set up on the wall facing the French doors. Amazingly you could hear the music at the far end of the space... beautifully.

The main space was about 50x50 and through the French doors it opened onto a covered space the same size. We were set up on the wall facing the French doors. Amazingly you could hear the music at the far end of the covered space... beautifully.

=== Turning the Stage ===

Line 43:

The first Sketch was the plan. The one below is how things actually turned out. The players were closer to the Systems than I would have liked but we really needed the floor space in the room so we got compressed a bit.

To create a little bit of a barrier I ran the cables for the lights (lights on sticks on either side of the stage - not shown) across the front of the stage area. These were heavy duty cables with a bright yellow outer casing. It made for a perfect 'border' for people to help them understand ~~where~~ the boundaries of the stage.

To create a little bit of a barrier I ran the cables for the lights (lights on sticks on either side of the stage - not shown) across the front of the stage area. These were heavy duty cables with a bright yellow outer casing. It made for a perfect border for people to help them understand the boundaries of the stage.

[[Image:1360-01-STThumb.gif|The Actual Layout - click to see full sized version]]

<!--

[http://toonz.ca/sketcher/showBandDesigner.aspx?SketchID=1360 -- click image to make changes to the live version --]

-->

http://137.82.205.202/dn/99/images/small/1g.gif is the Upright Piano. I didn't remove the panels. Didn't know how and there wasn't anyone around to help. Instead I just hung a couple of small condenser mics from the top, dangling down in the space between the back and the wall (about 3 inches) - they ended up just below the moving handles a few inches away from the sound board. For lots of reasons, moving the Piano was not an option.

~~http~~:~~//137~~.82.~~205~~.~~202/dn/99/images/small/10g~~.~~gif is the Mackie 1202 into which~~ I ~~ran the~~ small condenser mics ~~and a CD player for tunes during~~ the ~~breaks. We didn't end up using this because~~ the ~~breaks were also filled with music. Our hosts kept inviting people up on~~ the ~~stage to play us through~~ the ~~breaks. This made~~ the ~~transitions~~ a ~~lot more challenging because~~ the ~~stage was live and running almost non stop all night~~. ~~Tom~~, ~~if you are reading this, you've got to know how tough this~~ was.

[[File:1g.jpg]] is the Upright Piano. I didn't remove the panels. Didn't know how, and there wasn't anyone around to help. Instead, I just hung a couple of small condenser mics from the top, dangling down in the space between the back and the wall (about 3 inches) - they ended up just below the moving handles a few inches away from the sound board. For lots of reasons, moving the Piano was not an option.

=== The Large ~~Diaphram~~ Mic ~~http~~:~~//137.82.205.202/dn/99/images/small/~~6.~~gif http~~:~~//137.82.205.202/dn/99/images/small/~~2cs.~~gif~~ ===

[[File:10g.jpg]] is the Mackie 1202 into which I ran the small condenser mics and a CD player for tunes during the breaks. We didn't end up using this because the breaks were also filled with music. Our hosts kept inviting people up on the stage to play us through the breaks. This made the transitions a lot more challenging because the stage was live and running almost non stop all night.

=== The Large Diaphragm Mic [[File:6.jpg]][[File:2cs.jpg]] ===

With the wide shallow stage, one of the Drummers was having trouble hearing the other side of the stage. I duct taped an AKG C3000 to one of the mic stands at the far left and ran this into the L1 closest to the Drummer. It was an ugly solution but it worked for him.

One of his comments was - "Why do I need to hear the Drums through that thing on this side. I need to hear the Piano." I think part of the issue was that the Piano player was 'leading' the set, and he (Drummer) couldn't see the Piano player at all through the other players. He was okay once I got that other mic strung up. If I had it to do again, I would probably have run a line from the mixer. I just couldn't get to the mixer (on top of the Piano) because this was all going on during the set. I could crawl around and stick the ~~mic~~ on the stand.

One of his comments was - "Why do I need to hear the Drums through that thing on this side. I need to hear the Piano." I think part of the issue was that the Piano player was 'leading' the set, and he (Drummer) couldn't see the Piano player at all through the other players. He was okay once I got that other mic strung up. If I had it to do again, I would probably have run a line from the mixer. I just couldn't get to the mixer (on top of the Piano) because this was all going on during the set. I could crawl around and stick the microphone on the stand.

=== Gypsy Violin (Centre Stage) ===

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Line 66:

== Audience Response ==

Almost everyone there is either a performer or lives with one.

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I am constantly pleasantly surprised how quickly people on stage figure all of this out - by themselves.

This is a special group of people and I probably invest more with them as individuals than I might in a different group.

At least half of the people there are performers. Many of them will have their first experience in front of the L1s at events like this. I see every L1 related conversation as part of the arc of the story. If I can help someone to understand it when s/he is in the audience, then s/he will probably have a better experience with it on the stage. And it only gets better from there.

== Highlights ==

=== How was the music? ===

Flat out astounding. These were all great players that you find working the better and best local rooms and events in my town. There were funny moments too - the kind that happen in a friendly house.

=== I just can't take you anywhere ===

One of the smooth jazzers invited his girlfriend (a wonderful singer) to come up on the stage for a few songs. When she sang you could sense a quiet in the audience.

She did something really odd though. Whenever her boyfriend was soloing would tip up her arm (at the end of which was the hand with the microphone). This would leave the microphone resting on her shoulder pointed straight back at the L1™ behind her. There would be a little squeal, her boyfriend would give her a look, she'd sit up and hold the microphone in her lap and all would be good again.

The third time this happened he reached over, gently but sternly took the microphone out of her hands, and planted it with firm conviction in the mic clip on the stand.

=== Intimacy ===

One of the groups learned just how intimate the experience was with the audience. They were playing a little loud (at least to my ears). I asked them if they thought they could bring the people back into the room (as many had moved to the 'outer' space). One "Aha" and a "big grin later" there was a quick huddle on stage. They brought it all down a notch or two, drew the people in, and got them dancing.

== Setup / Teardown ==

In case anyone is wondering, I set no speed records here (at least not L1™ speed records). It took me just under 90 minutes to setup (including going on the web to look up how to mic the Piano, and then making that happen). That was 6 L1s, 12 B1s, an assortment of preamps and processors (including my mighty monster McIntyre rack with the G-Force processor), XT Live, and on and on and still more. The Remote, a mic, two XLRs and a ¼ inch cable leading to every mic stand (the 2nd XLR cable was in case we needed to mic something). I'm certain I could have done it faster if I hadn't hurt myself earlier in the week.

Twelve hours later, teardown took just over an hour. I was moving slower but didn't have to pause to think.

For those not familiar with what it does and doesn't take to set an L1™ stage - That's one person (who cannot lift more than 40 pounds) 90 minutes to set a stage for six performers and their instruments. This was up to six performers in 8 different acts. Then later 60 minutes to tear it all down.

Now that I'm in the mindset of what it might have taken to do this in other ways - it just struck me -

Every act hit the stage running. That is - no soundcheck - just, "Is everything working? Great, then do the intro and count 'em in"

I finally have everything back here and my space is looking normal again. The phone rings and guess what... we're doing it again in eleven days. It's a party for all those who didn't get to play at the first one.

The background to this story is in [http://shadowtoonz.spaces.live.com/blog/cns!5FBC981056CCCFC1!349.entry But I never wanted to be the Sound Guy]

{{Editorial

|Author=[[User:ST|ST]]

}}

----

[[Category:Festival Sound]]

[[Category:Gig Report]]

[[Category:House Concert]]

[[Category:Festival Sound]]

@@ Line 11: / Line 11: @@
 === The Room ===
-The main space was about 50x50 and through the French doors it opened onto covered space the same size. We were set up on the wall facing the French doors. Amazingly you could hear the music at the far end of the space... beautifully.
+The main space was about 50x50 and through the French doors it opened onto a covered space the same size. We were set up on the wall facing the French doors. Amazingly you could hear the music at the far end of the covered space... beautifully.
 === Turning the Stage ===
@@ Line 43: / Line 43: @@
 The first Sketch was the plan. The one below is how things actually turned out. The players were closer to the Systems than I would have liked but we really needed the floor space in the room so we got compressed a bit.
-To create a little bit of a barrier I ran the cables for the lights (lights on sticks on either side of the stage - not shown) across the front of the stage area. These were heavy duty cables with a bright yellow outer casing. It made for a perfect 'border' for people to help them understand where the boundaries of the stage.
+To create a little bit of a barrier I ran the cables for the lights (lights on sticks on either side of the stage - not shown) across the front of the stage area. These were heavy duty cables with a bright yellow outer casing. It made for a perfect border for people to help them understand  the boundaries of the stage.
 [[Image:1360-01-STThumb.gif|The Actual Layout - click to see full sized version]]
+<!--
 [http://toonz.ca/sketcher/showBandDesigner.aspx?SketchID=1360 -- click image to make changes to the live version --]
+-->
-http://137.82.205.202/dn/99/images/small/1g.gif is the Upright Piano. I didn't remove the panels. Didn't know how and there wasn't anyone around to help. Instead I just hung a couple of small condenser mics from the top, dangling down in the space between the back and the wall (about 3 inches) - they ended up just below the moving handles a few inches away from the sound board. For lots of reasons, moving the Piano was not an option.
-http://137.82.205.202/dn/99/images/small/10g.gif is the Mackie 1202 into which I ran the small condenser mics and a CD player for tunes during the breaks. We didn't end up using this because the breaks were also filled with music. Our hosts kept inviting people up on the stage to play us through the breaks. This made the transitions a lot more challenging because the stage was live and running almost non stop all night. Tom, if you are reading this, you've got to know how tough this was.
+[[File:1g.jpg]] is the Upright Piano. I didn't remove the panels. Didn't know how, and there wasn't anyone around to help. Instead, I just hung a couple of small condenser mics from the top, dangling down in the space between the back and the wall (about 3 inches) - they ended up just below the moving handles a few inches away from the sound board. For lots of reasons, moving the Piano was not an option.
-=== The Large Diaphram Mic  http://137.82.205.202/dn/99/images/small/6.gif http://137.82.205.202/dn/99/images/small/2cs.gif ===
+[[File:10g.jpg]] is the Mackie 1202 into which I ran the small condenser mics and a CD player for tunes during the breaks. We didn't end up using this because the breaks were also filled with music. Our hosts kept inviting people up on the stage to play us through the breaks. This made the transitions a lot more challenging because the stage was live and running almost non stop all night. <!-- Tom, if you are reading this, you've got to know how tough this was.-->
+=== The Large Diaphragm Mic  [[File:6.jpg]][[File:2cs.jpg]] ===
 With the wide shallow stage, one of the Drummers was having trouble hearing the other side of the stage. I duct taped an AKG C3000 to one of the mic stands at the far left and ran this into the L1 closest to the Drummer. It was an ugly solution but it worked for him.
-One of his comments was - "Why do I need to hear the Drums through that thing on this side. I need to hear the Piano." I think part of the issue was that the Piano player was 'leading' the set, and he (Drummer) couldn't see the Piano player at all through the other players. He was okay once I got that other mic strung up. If I had it to do again, I would probably have run a line from the mixer. I just couldn't get to the mixer (on top of the Piano) because this was all going on during the set. I could crawl around and stick the mic on the stand.
+One of his comments was - "Why do I need to hear the Drums through that thing on this side. I need to hear the Piano." I think part of the issue was that the Piano player was 'leading' the set, and he (Drummer) couldn't see the Piano player at all through the other players. He was okay once I got that other mic strung up. If I had it to do again, I would probably have run a line from the mixer. I just couldn't get to the mixer (on top of the Piano) because this was all going on during the set. I could crawl around and stick the microphone on the stand.
 === Gypsy Violin (Centre Stage) ===
@@ Line 63: / Line 66: @@
 == Audience Response ==
+<section begin=AudienceResponse/>
+<includeonly>----</includeonly>
 Almost everyone there is either a performer or lives with one.
@@ Line 112: / Line 117: @@
 I am constantly pleasantly surprised how quickly people on stage figure all of this out - by themselves.
+This is a special group of people and I probably invest more with them as individuals than I might in a different group.
+At least half of the people there are performers. Many of them will have their first experience in front of the L1s at events like this. I see every L1 related conversation as part of the arc of the story. If I can help someone to understand it when s/he is in the audience, then s/he will probably have a better experience with it on the stage. And it only gets better from there.
+<includeonly>----</includeonly>
+<section end=AudienceResponse />
+== Highlights ==
+=== How was the music? ===
+Flat out astounding. These were all great players that you find working the better and best local rooms and events in my town. There were funny moments too - the kind that happen in a friendly house.
+=== I just can't take you anywhere ===
+One of the smooth jazzers invited his girlfriend (a wonderful singer) to come up on the stage for a few songs. When she sang you could sense a quiet in the audience.
+She did something really odd though. Whenever her boyfriend was soloing would tip up her arm (at the end of which was the hand with the microphone). This would leave the microphone resting on her shoulder pointed straight back at the L1™ behind her. There would be a little squeal, her boyfriend would give her a look, she'd sit up and hold the microphone in her lap and all would be good again.
+The third time this happened he reached over, gently but sternly took the microphone out of her hands, and planted it with firm conviction in the mic clip on the stand.
+=== Intimacy ===
+One of the groups learned just how intimate the experience was with the audience. They were playing a little loud (at least to my ears). I asked them if they thought they could bring the people back into the room (as many had moved to the 'outer' space). One "Aha" and a "big grin later" there was a quick huddle on stage. They brought it all down a notch or two, drew the people in, and got them dancing.
+== Setup / Teardown ==
+In case anyone is wondering, I set no speed records here (at least not L1™ speed records). It took me just under 90 minutes to setup (including going on the web to look up how to mic the Piano, and then making that happen). That was 6 L1s, 12 B1s, an assortment of preamps and processors (including my mighty monster McIntyre rack with the G-Force processor), XT Live, and on and on and still more. The Remote, a mic, two XLRs and a ¼ inch cable leading to every mic stand (the 2nd XLR cable was in case we needed to mic something). I'm certain I could have done it faster if I hadn't hurt myself earlier in the week.
+Twelve hours later, teardown took just over an hour. I was moving slower but didn't have to pause to think.
+For those not familiar with what it does and doesn't take to set an L1™ stage - That's one person (who cannot lift more than 40 pounds) 90 minutes to set a stage for six performers and their instruments. This was up to six performers in 8 different acts. Then later 60 minutes to tear it all down.
+Now that I'm in the mindset of what it might have taken to do this in other ways - it just struck me -
+Every act hit the stage running. That is - no soundcheck - just, "Is everything working? Great, then do the intro and count 'em in"
+I finally have everything back here and my space is looking normal again. The phone rings and guess what... we're doing it again in eleven days. It's a party for all those who didn't get to play at the first one.
 The background to this story is in [http://shadowtoonz.spaces.live.com/blog/cns!5FBC981056CCCFC1!349.entry But I never wanted to be the Sound Guy]
+{{Editorial
+|Author=[[User:ST|ST]]
+}}
 ----
 <references />
+[[Category:Festival Sound]]
+[[Category:Gig Report]]
+[[Category:House Concert]]
+[[Category:Festival Sound]]