Conference napalm::commusic_v1

1502.0. "A particularly rough mixdown" by CTHULU::YERAZUNIS (It works fine, provided you _want_ things to explode upon arriva) Fri Jul 01 1988 15:10

    I've finally calmed down enough to write about it...
    
    Last thursday, a friend who does pro audio called me up.  Seems
    they had a Big Concert to do, and his backup engineer wanted the
    weekend off, and could I fill in on such short notice...
    
    I (having a big mouth) said "gimme five minutes", checked my
    calendar, called him back, said "Sure".  He said "Great, we start
    at 5AM, in Gardener"
    	
    	"At Five in the %&^*% MORNING? "
    
    "It's all-day.  Expect to finish loadout by 11."
    
    	"Is that AM or PM?"
    	
    "PM.  I told you this is _all day_"
    
    	"Where is this Gardener place?  You mean the Garden?"
    	
    "No, GardenER.  It's somewhere in Massachusetts.  That's all I know."
    
    	"What's the venue like?"
                                                       
    "Do you want the good news or the bad news?"
    
    	"Good news."
    
    "5000+ people, outdoor, roof over stage.  6 acts. "
    
    	"And the bad news?"
    
    "It's Christian Rock."
    
    	<<<silence>>>
    
    "Hello?"
    
    	Now I was brought up Christian, and my choice of deity to offend
    when I solder my finger or stub my toe is the Christian one.  But
    Christian ROCK?  What about providing good quality audio?  What about 
    professional detachment?  What about earplugs?
                                                            
    	"Yeah, OK."
    
    "Bring whatever tools you want."  
      
    	I decided against the flamethrower- but I did wear my camoflage
    and dark sunglasses, hoping no one would recognize me.
    
    -----
                                                          
    We were scheduled to soundcheck by 9.  We didn't even have electricity
    to the site by 9.  We managed to get house audio by 11, all 4000 watts
    of it balanced and eq'd, running tapes. At noon, the first artists
    ("The Choir", moderate heavy metal) were supposed to start.  By 12:30,
    the artists had finished setting up on stage. We talked them out of
    soundcheck and went right into the first set. 
    
    I basically settled in behind the house board and my friend George took
    the stage monitor board.  He trusts me with the house amps because he
    knows how I hate unclean sound. 
                                                     
    Abstracting out the lyrics (which I can't understand thru Sonic
    II's or Shooters anyway), here's my rating:
    
    	The Choir was pretty good, 
    	Take 6 was EXCELLENT,
    	Charlie Peacock was GOOD,     
    	then two track artists, uhhhh, I don't remember anything about
    		these except one had her acoustic guitar blow off the stage,
    		quite a bit of wind there was. 
    	then there was two HOURS of preaching - see below...
    	and then the big act: AMY GRANT
    
    Amy Grant.  She's supposed to be heavy into hard-rock now, lotsa
    synths, right?  Definite top-40, right?  So all of these troubles
    we're having with miking acoustic guitar and piano and making 5000
    people hear it loud and clear, and riding the gain to keep from
    feeding back, all this should go away, right?
    
    	Well, she comes out, and says "We're goin' on a tour later this
    year, with the whole band and racks of electronic stuff, but since
    we all here are family (sure, sure) I thought it might be nice to
    just use this.        
    
    	AND SHE HOLDS OUT THIS SIX-STRING ACOUSTIC!
    
    Well, we mike it, and amazingly we can get up to 98 dB at the house
    board (150 feet away), no feedback, beautifully clear.  
                                                  
    ---------
    
    The show finished at 9:15 or so.  People start leaving the fields,
    we start packing gear.  Two hours later, at 11:30, we're not even
    starting to load the truck- and there are still cars backed up on
    the access road to the site.  
    
    Thunderstorms roll in.  We push stuff from the covered stage into
    the truck during lulls in the rain.  By 12:45 the truck is loaded
    and the door refuses to close.  Ten minutes of repack, and the
    door closes.
    
    We roll off the site at 1:04 AM, Sunday morning.  Time on site:
    20 hours, 4 minutes.
                          
    ----------
    
    Now the preaching part.  Let's just say it took a _large amount_ of
    professional detachment to stay at the board during two hours of
    born-again witnessing.  And never once did I let go to my desire to
    shreikback the mains following some particularly vehement assertion of
    religious Correctness. 
                             
    Now, I don't intend to offend someone's personal feelings, but there
    was one point that I found very moving:  the _way_ these preachers
    preached.
    
    	I had the good fortune to learn German from a real German...
    	a wonderful woman who left Germany in 1937.  She used to 
    	be a secretary there... worked for I.G. Farben.  Makers of the gas
    	used in the gas chambers.  She felt that WWII was not something
    	to hide in some dark closet, nor to cry unceasing tears over,
    	but rather to be learned from, painful as the lesson may be.
    
    	In one session, she showed us a film of one of Hitler's speeches.
    	She asked us to listen, and to watch, and to see just how 
    	Hitler manipulated the emotions and bypassed the intellect,
    	went below the level of critical thought and into the levels
    	of unthinking loyalty.
    	
    	And she asked us to be on our gaurd, should we ever see it again.
                         
         
    Well, I saw those same techniques for bypassing reason on stage,
    and I was _afraid_.  
    
    My greatest worry is that the humanity's veneer of reason is so
    thin, and so easily pierced.
    
                        

RE: .0

    Not all Christians are flaming horses' hind-ends.  Some are real. The
    people who do the "Hitler"-esque song and dance are doing just that: a
    song and dance.  People who claim to be "Christians" should act like
    the guy from Whom they get their name - Jesus.  I don't ever recall Him
    trying to bypass the intellect. 

    No flames here, Bill ... and I don't mean to wax ethical in a
    conference that is not based on ethics or religion ... but there are
    bozos in every crowd.  Don't base opinions of Jesus on the improper
    actions of someone who *claims* to be His follower.

    So (back to the topic) are you saying that Amy's whole show was
    acoustic?  Not even a little bit of synth gear?  Anything musically
    remarkable about any of the bands? 

-b

    I noticed exactly two synths in the entire 9+ hours of the show:
    		                          
    	A Y-word DX-7 (the crabgrass of synthesizers)
    	An Oberheim Xpander (yeay!!)
    	
    		both controlled from a wx-7 (group was The Choir)
                                                        
    There was an acoustic piano on stage (which was never miked quite
    right, unfortunately.  We had a Beyer piano pickup but the production
    manager did not like them, she wanted B&K microphones under the
    cover.  Harummph!)
                      
    -----
    
    Amy Grant _did_ make a point of saying that her upcoming tour will
    be "the whole band, racks and racks of synthesizers, electric guitars,
    and such, but since we're all family here..."  And her pickup'ed
    acoustic guitar did have a very nice sound with the secondary mike.
    
    -------
    
    I don't mind Christianity; as a code of behavior it is well-founded in
    sociobiology (that is to say, it's theoretically on at least marginally
    firm ground). The part about coming in under peoples' intellectual
    radar is what pushed my panic button. 

RE: 1502.2

>    I don't mind Christianity; as a code of behavior it is well-founded in
>    sociobiology (that is to say, it's theoretically on at least marginally
>    firm ground). The part about coming in under peoples' intellectual
>    radar is what pushed my panic button. 

	Commusic! Commusic? Commusic! Commusic? Commusic! Commusic?
	?
	Bob

    Next unseen works very well, thank you.

    Well, thanks for talking about it, Bill. 
    
    Can't put a fence around things all the time.. for Bill the concert
    was not JUST the A)Musical content B)Technical problems, but obviously
    it triggered some strong C)FEELINGS along the way.. and he was honest
    enough to talk about C) along with A) and B).
    
    karl

    Karl:  You're welcome.  No problem.
    
    So, how do the rest of you techies deal with a similar situation;
    where you are working (in a semi-artistic rather than
    computer-oriented job) and you find a strong emotional feeling toward
    (or against) the content (rather than the form)?
    
    -------
    
    BTW, it is _much_ easier to mix four synthesists than four acoustic
    musicians.  No feedback, no EQ, and no unplugging the mikes while
    they're potted up (I don't believe it but Take 6 did!!!).
                                                           
    	-Bill
    

    Well, this will get sidetracked a bit, but ...
    
    While my wife was going to school (working on her B.S. in Music
    Performance) she was the Concert Mistress for the University of Missouri
    Philharmonic (for about four years).  During this time, I went to
    a lot of concerts and recitals (two of which I paid bucks for - you know,
    programs and her pianist's time).  At the time, I was working on
    my engineering degrees and working on the side.  Anyway, I heard
    a lot of classical stuff.  I became a fan of Debussy and particularly
    enjoyed the show tunes.  But, I also listened to a lot of other
    classical stuff (Wagner - ecch!) as well as experimental stuff and
    music written more to show off the dexterity of the player than
    the creativity of the composer.  I suppose it was good for me, but
    I didn't like it.  (I kept wanting to turn up the bass, etc.)
    
    Once, I made the mistake of mentioning to a trumpet player that
    was a friend of my wife's and who had just finished playing a
    recital, 
    
    	'Gee, that was pretty good.  Of course, there were those two
    	 little goofs in the middle, but it was better than I could
   	 do ...' [I'm a former trombone player...]
    
    Well, my wife glared at me and later made very clear to me that
    pointing out the faults in a live performance to the player (especially
    to a close friend of hers) could result in, among other inconveniences,
    revocation of husbandly privileges, and I did repent.
    
    Now, I know better.  A knowing whince only audible enough for my
    spouse to hear is sufficient when squeekers are detected by my
    now-discerning ears.  Afterwards, if it's good, I tell them 'It was 
    great!'.  If it was bad, I tell them something like, 'I don't think
    I've ever heard anything quite like it!'.  And, I never cough or make 
    other disgusting noises right before the piece starts, clap until the 
    piece is over, or give a standing ovation unless it's truly deserved.
    (Of course, I realize that this behavior would be totally inappropriate,
    nay, rude - perhaps even deemed offensive, in a less formal setting
    such as a rock ... um ... 'concert'.)

    Anyway, I am now enlightened and can therefore justify gittin' down
    with my synths or listening to tapes in my car at glove-box-rattling
    volume, for I have exposed myself to the classics ...
    
    Steve ;-)

RE: .5

Point taken.  I guess it would be like getting assign to a project in DEC 
that is for a defense contracter when you have objections to that kind of 
thing. (not my case, just an example).  Its a side of a technical issue.

Bob