View From The Office:

[Michael P Clark]

Should sound pretty amazing here.

(null)

[Alan H. Chang]

Had the pleasure to work with the entire SF Scottish Fiddlers company today @ Holy Name U. with an extensive mic list.  By far the best sound they've ever experienced according to Alasdair, their beloved conductor.  Normally it's our own Mr. Perkins who is the resident SFSF guy, and luckily I got a chance to work with these very fine musicians!

 

Since I owe my friend Gary a gig, this was probably it.  Told him I was going to replace most mics on the input list with DPAs, Schoeps, and Sennheisers.  We thought about it for awhile, but resorted to our original family of AKGs since they would also cover the SFSF on Sunday's concert without me being there.  So consistency was important.  Considering that the grand piano was one of the highlights of the night, I told him that I'd mic it with those DPAs.  Once we did line check and sound check with the whole company, the entire venue blossomed and the look on Alasdair's face was priceless.

 

Once we rigged everything in place, we discovered that there were several wireless units that needed to be used throughout the entire 2+ hour concert.  Well, we were never notified nor were the house crews involved in assisting with the show.  Tried scanning fqy on the musician-provided wireless units, but hits were almost on every channel.  Time was tight, so I told my guy that I'll take care of it immediately.  Went back to my table and popped open IAS to figure this whole mess out.  Check, and more check with the WiFi and house comms, and finally worked.  Move on.

 

Suddenly I get a call from the A1, him knowing that I record lots of performances and halls, asked me if I had any kind of recorder with me, "Ehh, my laptop could record but it's going through the dinky mic jack.  No recorder nor any interface."  What happened was their manager asked us on a last-minute whim to see if we could record them, and little did we know a recorder was needed.  Oh well.

 

Lastly, our reverb unit kind of short circuited in the middle of the performance and man did we lose that lushness.  More oh wells.

 

Tomorrow, or today, if anyone is in the area (SF Bay), head up to Freight and Savage in Berkeley for their concert there!

 

My comfy view.

 

My not-so-comfy view.

 

Can you spot what kind of mics we used? BIG sound, tiny package.

 

a.

[martijn scholte]

http://vimeo.com/m/64907486

[martijn scholte]

vimeo.com/64907486

[Philip Perkins]

Re Alasdair, I'm hardly any sort of go-to guy for him, just got lucky answering the phone a few times.  That honor belonged to the now-retired Dan Gleich.   I will say that Alasdair's shows exist within a sort of cloud of chaos and last minute changes.  The known-knowns are that he'll change his mind about things that affect audio (esp recording) and that how ever many players they say are coming, there will be more (possibly MANY more).  And he loves his own wireless mic.

 

philp

[Sound Art Film]

Alan,

Going out on a limb, but I'm gonna say those mics are DPA 4061. I have a pair and they sound great.

So many questions,but I'll limit it to 1 for now,hehe...What reverb unit were you using that shorted out?

Looks like fun!

Hope all is well.

[Alan H. Chang]

Re Alasdair, I'm hardly any sort of go-to guy for him, just got lucky answering the phone a few times.  That honor belonged to the now-retired Dan Gleich.   I will say that Alasdair's shows exist within a sort of cloud of chaos and last minute changes.  The known-knowns are that he'll change his mind about things that affect audio (esp recording) and that how ever many players they say are coming, there will be more (possibly MANY more).  And he loves his own wireless mic.

 

philp

 

Several days ago when I received all the info package regarding their weekend tour, I think I didn't care all that much who I was working with.  When I showed up, the name Alasdair and all those string players reminded me of some or several posts made on JW especially Freight and Savage, then it hit me!  Asked my friend Gary if he was doing Freight and Savage and he said he can't touch that venue, of course it's Scott Fraser who does FOH there and normally you, phil, who does the multi recordings there.

 

Re the last audio changeups, yes.  We needed to add 6+ sources to our input list, particularly the harp since it was staged in three different positions.  With Alasdair's wireless mic, when you need to mix his channel it's turned off.  haha.

[Alan H. Chang]

Alan,

Going out on a limb, but I'm gonna say those mics are DPA 4061. I have a pair and they sound great.

So many questions,but I'll limit it to 1 for now,hehe...What reverb unit were you using that shorted out?

Looks like fun!

Hope all is well.

 

Yes on all accounts.  Our reverb unit was a TC Electronics M2000.  Lost that on the last number before intermission.  Suggested that we hook one mic up and put that in the back of the venue, route that back into the console as a reverb fix.  Gary didn't want to do it.

 

For our fiddle sections, with 2 mics we had to spot mic 4 players to get the attack/transients across while two other mics were used for sections.  Suggested that we mic two of their strongest fiddlers with the DPAs and section mic with the rest.  Oh well.

 

Fun gig though.

[Philip Perkins]

Several days ago when I received all the info package regarding their weekend tour, I think I didn't care all that much who I was working with.  When I showed up, the name Alasdair and all those string players reminded me of some or several posts made on JW especially Freight and Savage, then it hit me!  Asked my friend Gary if he was doing Freight and Savage and he said he can't touch that venue, of course it's Scott Fraser who does FOH there and normally you, phil, who does the multi recordings there.

 

Re the last audio changeups, yes.  We needed to add 6+ sources to our input list, particularly the harp since it was staged in three different positions.  With Alasdair's wireless mic, when you need to mix his channel it's turned off.  haha.

No, Scott Fraser, or at least the Scott Fraser who is my old friend, former bandmate, the sound designer for the Kronos Quartet and who operates a recording studio in LA is not the FOH mixer at the F+S--they have a stable of excellent local folks who really know the kind of music they do there very well.  Scott would only be mixing there if KQ were playing.  I have done recording at F+S a number of times, but if they DO have a go-to recording guy of their own it isn't me (too bad).  

 

philp

[Sound Art Film]

Yes on all accounts.  Our reverb unit was a TC Electronics M2000.  Lost that on the last number before intermission.  Suggested that we hook one mic up and put that in the back of the venue, route that back into the console as a reverb fix.  Gary didn't want to do it.

 

For our fiddle sections, with 2 mics we had to spot mic 4 players to get the attack/transients across while two other mics were used for sections.  Suggested that we mic two of their strongest fiddlers with the DPAs and section mic with the rest.  Oh well.

 

Fun gig though.

It really is interesting how the dpa 4060 range was intended for music applications, but also works just as good with location audio! I have been interested to try out the 4070 range to see how they compare to the 4060's. I agree with you, those DPA's probably would of sounded great on those fiddlers!

I haven't used the TC M2000 before, But I have the M5000 and LOVE it. With all four engines ( 2 Ada, 2 DSP) the unit is pretty capable.

[Alan H. Chang]

No, Scott Fraser, or at least the Scott Fraser who is my old friend, former bandmate, the sound designer for the Kronos Quartet and who operates a recording studio in LA is not the FOH mixer at the F+S--they have a stable of excellent local folks who really know the kind of music they do there very well.  Scott would only be mixing there if KQ were playing.  I have done recording at F+S a number of times, but if they DO have a go-to recording guy of their own it isn't me (too bad).  

 

philp

 

For some reason, I always thought Scott Fraser had a close relation to the SFSF especially at the F+S venue.  I mean, most of the posts here or even glimpse of remembering were Scott Fraser and F+S.  Really good stuff.

 

When the whole thing clicked, I thought "Hmm, wonder if Philip is recording them at F+S tomorrow?"  Very exciting moment during that time.

[Alan H. Chang]

It really is interesting how the dpa 4060 range was intended for music applications, but also works just as good with location audio! I have been interested to try out the 4070 range to see how they compare to the 4060's. I agree with you, those DPA's probably would of sounded great on those fiddlers!

I haven't used the TC M2000 before, But I have the M5000 and LOVE it. With all four engines ( 2 Ada, 2 DSP) the unit is pretty capable.

 

I bet!  Mic'ing every fiddlers, and I believe there were 80+? including section mics would be a 1-2 knockout.  Re the 4061 on the 9' Yamaha grand, no EQ were needed just placement and we were good to go.  Money mics I tell ya.

 

M5000 you own what?!  Very capable indeed.  I usually see them on the rider's and designer's spec sheets on musicals.

[Philip Perkins]

I bet!  Mic'ing every fiddlers, and I believe there were 80+? including section mics would be a 1-2 knockout.  Re the 4061 on the 9' Yamaha grand, no EQ were needed just placement and we were good to go.  Money mics I tell ya.

 

M5000 you own what?!  Very capable indeed.  I usually see them on the rider's and designer's spec sheets on musicals.

The sound of 80 fiddlers miced with bridge mics (lavs).....you're kidding, right?   Ok for a soloist if nothing else will work, less ok but passable with a quartet, again if nothing else will work, on a great many string instruments at once....horribly unnatural.....the thought makes me cringe....not how the massed fiddles are meant to be heard at all!

 

philp

[Alan H. Chang]

The sound of 80 fiddlers miced with bridge mics (lavs).....you're kidding, right?   Ok for a soloist if nothing else will work, less ok but passable with a quartet, again if nothing else will work, on a great many string instruments at once....horribly unnatural.....the thought makes me cringe....not how the massed fiddles are meant to be heard at all!

 

philp

 

More like being sarcastic with all those 80 fiddlers.  A few mic'ed on the 1st and 2nd decks for attack/transient would have been enough.

[Mark Andrews]

Background for our interviews today!

[Richard Thomas]

The sound of 80 fiddlers miced with bridge mics (lavs).....you're kidding, right?   Ok for a soloist if nothing else will work, less ok but passable with a quartet, again if nothing else will work, on a great many string instruments at once....horribly unnatural.....the thought makes me cringe....not how the massed fiddles are meant to be heard at all!

 

philp

 

I saw a big outdoor concert last year where they did that, wasn't as bad as I expected, although they'd added some fill from more distant mics, it still sounded a little weird

[TJW]

Did the laundry yesterday:

 

 

[Toy Robot]

Worked as a sound utility at the 2013 Costume Institute Gala at the MET in NYC a couple days ago. We had a rehearsal day for the live broadcast one day prior to the event, and I took some pictures of them literally rolling out the red carpet.

 

We had an entire day to setup and test everything, and then on the night of the event about 6-10 bag mixers showed up and blew out our primary wireless handheld mic for A Cam position immediately. We had to resort to backup #2 of 3 and kept backup #3 (hardwired RE-50) on standby. Preparation makes all the difference.

 

Overall it was a very fun night, and another of about 3-6 broadcast gigs I do each year. Hope to keep them coming.

 

Stairs leading to the main entrance of the MET.

 

Carpeting begins.

 

Almost done...

 

My station during rehearsal day (Oliver Jevremov on Camera 1).

 

Live. Psy, one of many folks we interviewed for the evening.

[studiomprd]

" bag mixers showed up and blew out our primary wireless handheld mic for A Cam position immediately. "

random thoughts:

"camp out" on your freq's; before the others even arrive, your event authorized TX's are turned on and kept on..

Freq coordination (mostly for spacing) as part of the credential process...

no wireless or only coordinated and approved wireless as term of credential    (NFL/Oscar/Emmy/GG /etc policy

why not start with Plan 3 (wired) anyway...!

I've also seen booms used on red carpets (wired)  hey, even mic's on stands..

and...who 'da hell is PSY ??   Pi's Korean brother ? ?

Edited May 8, 2013 by studiomprd

[VASI]

PSY : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psy

[Alan H. Chang]

Preview night of the musical, Godspell.  Originally started with cables strewn all over the venue for mics in orchestra pit, monitors for pit, and foldback monitors for cast.  The wireless channel count kept ticking night after night.  What we ended up with was an enormous amount of time committed solely to mic'ing our cast and keeping track of all the fqy working in tandem.

 

At the pit, 4061 feeding into SD302, feeding into Blk470 IFBT4, feeding into R1a patched into our AudioRack unit.  R1a monitor foldback getting from the Blk470 IFBT4 on back tables.  3x wireless handhelds for our pit singers, two of which are our co-directors, in one of the last numbers, On the Willows.  At FOH, 3x Lectro Venues getting most of the casts, 4061s, B3s, and COS11s.  UT400s for the pit singers.  6x Senn G3 for casts.  Console is A&H GLD with RFVenue's Diversity Fin.  System's are mainly NEXOs.

 

Here's our IFBT4s.  On L, Blk470 feeding the orchestra pit monitors.  On R, Blk21 feeding IFB cues to our lead.

 

Here's our IFB mic, we call it the "Ball of Fire."  During ACT I, our lead's wife takes place feeding lines to him, don't want to know what goes on here.  During ACT II, we have one of our guest lead, who's also part of the show, prompting lines to his IEM by a gesturing cue from our lead.

 

This is where magic happens.

 

... and of course, to our young padiwons!

 

Anybody in the SF Bay Area who's interested, give me a buzz, it's on me.  We have people coming from LAX and JFK to watch this.  It's the first ever that we put on a big show here at the church.

Fri, May 10th, Opening @ 7:30p SOLD OUT

Sat May 11th, @ 2p, @ 7:30p.

[John Coffey]

My office lately has been a suitcase from hotels in China, Japan, Korea and Taiwan

[Sound Art Film]

My S.F. Office yesterday :-)

[Philip Perkins]

Sweet.  I like that location.

 

philp

[Eric Lamontagne]

Yesterday's fun. Sure needed a little music hit. Great day for it on the westcoast.