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.

Falling In Love Again

You know that recent post where I talked about not being super happy with my Hearos "Musician" earplugs?

Well, one of my usual plugs became misshapen, and it became rather tough to get a good seal with it. I decided to switch back to my Hearos, and...wow! They were easy to insert, and sounded good.

Absence makes the heart grow fonder, I suppose.

I still wish the Hearos had higher attenuation, though.

Ear Plugs

Last week, on a whim, I decided to go back to using my "expensive" ear plugs. They're supposed to preserve the natural frequency balance of the sound entering your ears, even while getting the level down to something "safe."

I used them for a loud show (metal), and was very quickly reminded of why I retired them. They certainly cut quite a bit of broadband level when inserted, but they seem to let through a disproportionately high level of the highest frequencies. Beyond annoying, it's disconcerting, and it's particularly noticeable with metal bands that use lots of cymbal wash (because cymbals have harmonic components that go VERY high). Also, the high-midrange resonance caused by the plugs was downright painful at times, but I won't go into that...

Anyway, the most expensive earplugs that I own are also the ones that I like the least.

I had some Etymotic/ Hearos plugs that I used (and liked a fair bit), but they were tough to clean, and I never felt sure of the balance I was getting. Their supposed "higher accuracy" just made me feel like I wasn't really being protected from the loudest parts of the night.

For quite a while now, I've been back to using earplugs that you can buy at Smith's Marketplace for about $3.00 - and I like them a lot. Even though they really kill off the high frequencies, I somehow feel like I know what's happening when I have them in. (Of course, I might be totally wrong, but I don't get many complaints about my mixes being wildly inappropriate, so...)

Sometimes, the cheap component is the right choice. Notice that I said "sometimes."

I Haven't Forgotten About This Blog!

...and, to prove it, here are some pictures from the recent Gorgeous Hussies show.

I wanted to document this show, because it was out of the ordinary. Instead of a standard "rock band" setup, I got to interface a stage and monitor rig (in ear monitors, or IEM's) with Underground's FOH setup. This was pretty sweet, as the band carried everything they needed to make their end of the show happen (like mics, a monitor console, and a passive signal-splitter), and just sent me a bunch of lines to drive FOH with.

Band-mixed IEM's are a great thing, because everybody can have pretty much anything they want in their monitors, delivered directly to their head, and without any realistic possibility of feedback.

There were one or two hums/ buzzes, but nothing that couldn't be cured with a DI box.

Gig Report - Dec 13th

Self Promoted:

Crashing at Dawn

aTiLast

I never would have thought before that a show with only two bands cold be a rough night, but there's a first time for everything.  My problems started with alternatively losing one side of Crashing's keyboard, getting that back, and then promptly losing the other.  This little exercise chewed up a big chunk of aTiLast's check time, and my issues were further compounded by me not having the good sense to pick a stage layout and snake patch that would give me flexibility.  We did eventually find physical and electrical space for everything, but that didn't solve all the problems.  I had some weird balance issues amongst the instruments, and I managed to start everything out with a muddy, over-bassy tone.  Yikes!  Big credit goes to aTiLast for being troopers, and pulling off their set with all the challenges (including some weird shorting issues on the main vocal mic - gremlins, I tell ya).  Thankfully, (mercifully, perhaps?) Crashing's set did not suffer from any major problems, although I got some gnarly feedback for myself in a couple places, maybe because I was running on adrenaine all night...

Wow - this post is big enough for two paragraphs!

I think aTiLast's set highlighted another issue, which is hard to have to acknowledge - but it's necessary.  There are just times where our FOH PA and monitor rig aren't enough.  We could definitely do with more inputs to the mixing console, and more SPL available from FOH - but those weren't the issue for aTiLast.  For them, I think the major issue was the linearity of the monitor rig.  There are some spendy wedges out there that can get incredibly loud without feedback, but those aren't the ones we have.  Consequently, I couldn't apply the gain required to put Taryn in the "right place" monitor wise.  I was at full throttle on the sends, but I didn't dare add any global gain, because taking somebody's head off with a screech of feedback is a really bad idea.

Actually, I need a bigger stage AND a monitor engineer...

I guess there is one good thing about having a night where I really struggle - I write bigger posts!

Gear, Part II

Okay!

I went through with swapping out the monitor rig. It's a lot more consistent now, and we have a proper drum fill. (Or, at least, something that resembles a proper drum fill.) Also, everything (at the "rig" level) is now at least being run in a biamped configuration - except the drum fill, which is triamped.

I'm updating the slide show, and I'll post the pictures here as well.

Regards!

Gear

So...if you're looking at the slideshow that's current as of this posting, I need to say one thing for "100% transparency." I'm thinking of re-doing the monitor rig to make it both more compact and more consistent.

Notice that I said "I'm thinking of."

If I do decide to change the monitor rig, the downstage monitors will "only" have 10" LF drivers, but I will also be putting in a drum fill upstage.

Now I just have to decide whether or not I'm actually going to go through with it. Hmmmm...