Wednesday, October 28, 2009

Indoor Weather

Crucifixation brought their customary fog system to Underground for the show on Monday.

Now, when I say fog, I'm not talking about little wisps of smoke and haze here and there. I'm talking about "I'm on stage, and I can't find FOH" fog.

Here's a picture:


FOH is about 50 feet "into" the picture, just for reference.

Tuesday, October 27, 2009

Veritas

As always, I try to avoid singling out one band for attention - but that gets to be rather hard to live by at times. I believe that, at heart, all live sound techs are "fanboys" in one sense or another.

So...yeah. Veritas. Pretty freakin' sweet.

I was sent this band's way by their booking agent, and I must say, I was hooked after seeing this video:



There's nothing like a cool song, arranged well, with a great hook. (In my case, the killer vocals by Jamie are a song-length hook in and of themselves.) I love a well crafted pairing of guitars and synths, too.

In any case, Veritas seems like a band that "really gets it," and is consistently good at everything. (Further evidence below):



I love the vocal "tag team" action in Monsters.



"Cocktail Girl" has a nice hook, and I also like how (like everything I've heard out of Veritas so far), the music has some dynamic swings. Yay for some negative space!

Anyway - those of you with the opportunity should check out this band before they are HUGE, and doing shows that cost $100 (plus various limbs) to attend. Such an eventuality may not take long, as Veritas definitely understands the value of good production and good promotion. (Who couldn't love videos about the process of making an album? Check those out on Veritas's Youtube account. No, I'm not going to get those for you, too. "Look it up!" as your mama would say.)

Wednesday, October 21, 2009

"STET" by Anthony Phan

Just a quick review of a local record for you folks:

This album is an enormous contrast to what we tend to hear these days. In a world of hyper-processed, hyper-compressed, every-musical-space-filled-all-the-time-at-all-frequencies sonic mayhem, Anthony has crafted a fine, honest record with plenty of space for all the sonic elements.

This is a recording that is meant to be taken in as a piece of art, and not simply used to compete with all the background noise around the listener. Cool arrangements, solid production values, and some great bits of whimsy (The Hot Dog You Gave Me, anyone?) make this album a great one to pick up.

Look for it on Itunes,

Wednesday, October 14, 2009

Behind The Scenes



It's no secret that most of us want New Song Underground to move to a new space, so there is definitely some hopeful anticipation for New Song Presbyterian to finally get a building. As the process of fundraising and facility selection goes along, there are ongoing discussions about how Underground 3.0 might look.

I thought I'd show off some of the concepts that have been put forward.

The first set of images is the "realistic" concept. It fits in about the same amount of square footage as Underground has now, and has an 8-foot ceiling. It isn't "super wow," but it would still be new.








I took the trouble of doing some global radiosity renders for the above pictures, because I wanted to get a better sense of the light in a small space.

Now - the idealized version of Underground. :) This version takes up a lot more room, is much nicer, and has a much more desirable ceiling height. This plan is out of reach, because the money for an appropriate building just isn't there. Still, it's fun to dream.

Also, if you know any folks with a few million dollars to give us, we could still make this happen. :)










For the audio nerds amongst you, yes - those are double and triple stacked FOH PA systems. No, the stacks are not meant to all be reproducing the same material. The setup is meant to be used in a manner similar to Dave Rat's double-hung line arrays for the Red Hot Chili Peppers.

You can read some of Dave Rat's thoughts here: http://www.ratsound.com/cblog/archives/342-Quest.html I should note that Dave Rat has moved on to a single hung system, but the single hung system is able to meet the needs he has. There are still some things, though, that the double hung system can do that the single hung just can't. Anyway, read the article. :)

Dave Rat is probably an excellent example of what every live sound reinforcement technician should aspire to be: Curious, innovative, highly professional, and a cool person all around.