The Joint at The Hard Rock Hotel
I won $1100.
I can't remember the rest.
It was a Martin F1 rig. It was not very thrilling.
It was the first Martin rig that I had used that didn't start with W8......
Not much else to tell there.
Horn loaded 12s don't sound like 15s. No matter what you do with the processors.
Monday, September 26, 2005
Wednesday, September 21, 2005
San Diego, California
San Diego State University Open Air Arena
Another radio station show. Another college campus. Another less than stellar PA system.
9:00am load in. No noise allowed till 4:00pm. A lot of sitting around.
I really liked the arena. 4 thousand capacity amphitheater. A fairly steep rise past FOH.
I don't even know where to start here so I won't.
Another radio station show. Another college campus. Another less than stellar PA system.
9:00am load in. No noise allowed till 4:00pm. A lot of sitting around.
I really liked the arena. 4 thousand capacity amphitheater. A fairly steep rise past FOH.
I don't even know where to start here so I won't.
Peoria, AZ
Peoria Sports Complex
I cant remember of this is a spring training facility for 2 baseball teams or if it is a minor league park. It does have something to do with baseball. There are 3 ball fields at this complex. The show was a radio station festival. The stage was set up in the deep outfield. I walked the warning track to get back stage. FOH was on or near the pitchers mound. 2 stages side by side with a common FOH area. The rig was 4 stacks of Martin W8L line array with 5 boxes per stack. Ground stacked, not flown. Instead of a common middle stack the PA company chose to put in 2 seperate systems. Our PM managed to allow the local production to bring in our FOH and monitor desks. Having your regular desk at a festival is a life saver. This past summer we did only 1 festival without using our FOH and monitor desks. No soundcheck, no problem. The only thing I have to worry about is the PA. There was so much to worry about in Peoria. I inquired as to why the rig was not flown and was told that there were some hotels behind the home plate area bleachers and that had complained about noise in the past. So instead of really solving the problem they simply provided a crippled sound system. There was nothing that could be done about it so I simply made the most if it. It was in the limiters the whole time. Not how I like to work. Considering how weak the mains were, some delays behind FOH would have been great for those that wanted to hear but not stand in front of the band. Hindsight is allays 20/20.
I cant remember of this is a spring training facility for 2 baseball teams or if it is a minor league park. It does have something to do with baseball. There are 3 ball fields at this complex. The show was a radio station festival. The stage was set up in the deep outfield. I walked the warning track to get back stage. FOH was on or near the pitchers mound. 2 stages side by side with a common FOH area. The rig was 4 stacks of Martin W8L line array with 5 boxes per stack. Ground stacked, not flown. Instead of a common middle stack the PA company chose to put in 2 seperate systems. Our PM managed to allow the local production to bring in our FOH and monitor desks. Having your regular desk at a festival is a life saver. This past summer we did only 1 festival without using our FOH and monitor desks. No soundcheck, no problem. The only thing I have to worry about is the PA. There was so much to worry about in Peoria. I inquired as to why the rig was not flown and was told that there were some hotels behind the home plate area bleachers and that had complained about noise in the past. So instead of really solving the problem they simply provided a crippled sound system. There was nothing that could be done about it so I simply made the most if it. It was in the limiters the whole time. Not how I like to work. Considering how weak the mains were, some delays behind FOH would have been great for those that wanted to hear but not stand in front of the band. Hindsight is allays 20/20.
San Jose, California
San Jose Civic Auditorium
I seem to remember this being on a college campus, but I could be wrong about that.
Quite a few of the venues on this leg have been on campus.
The PM told me that George from Sound On Stage was taking care of PA. Hearing that was good news as I have used SOS's VDosc on many occasions. I knew there would be enough boxes to make it do what I wanted to do. PM also told me that Nico was going to be the tech from SOS. A great guy. A real pleasure to work with and hang around with for a day. Tim took it from there and spent some time blowing noise and playing Gwen Stefani and Pink Floyd songs before letting me have at it. I honestly don't remember the show very well at this point. This point being 5 or so days later. I remember the room cleaning up nicely with bodies in it. When empty it was full of hard, parallel reflective surfaces. And hundreds of orange plastic seats. People took care of most of my issues with the room. But as usual I still had issues. I just cant remember them at the moment.
I seem to remember this being on a college campus, but I could be wrong about that.
Quite a few of the venues on this leg have been on campus.
The PM told me that George from Sound On Stage was taking care of PA. Hearing that was good news as I have used SOS's VDosc on many occasions. I knew there would be enough boxes to make it do what I wanted to do. PM also told me that Nico was going to be the tech from SOS. A great guy. A real pleasure to work with and hang around with for a day. Tim took it from there and spent some time blowing noise and playing Gwen Stefani and Pink Floyd songs before letting me have at it. I honestly don't remember the show very well at this point. This point being 5 or so days later. I remember the room cleaning up nicely with bodies in it. When empty it was full of hard, parallel reflective surfaces. And hundreds of orange plastic seats. People took care of most of my issues with the room. But as usual I still had issues. I just cant remember them at the moment.
Friday, September 16, 2005
Davis, California Freeborne Hall
Davis.
College rec room.
You know it. That general purpose room. Polished wood floors. A stage set into a wall. No points.
It was a strange looking room with baffles covering windows that were covered in heavy drapes.
1800 capacity. It was almost full.
6 JBL Vertec 4889 and 6 4880 subs per side. XXXX Audio.
They even went back to the shop and got another Lake Contour when Tim asked them to set up subs on an aux. I think subs should always be on an aux. That's all. Its almost like an effect that you want as much control over as possible. It was nice to have a box with a 15" in it. Vertec thump in a pleasant way. It made no difference that night. A bad room and a not so great show. Not even close.
Puked after eating Thai food for dinner. That was the other hi lite of my day in Davis.
College rec room.
You know it. That general purpose room. Polished wood floors. A stage set into a wall. No points.
It was a strange looking room with baffles covering windows that were covered in heavy drapes.
1800 capacity. It was almost full.
6 JBL Vertec 4889 and 6 4880 subs per side. XXXX Audio.
They even went back to the shop and got another Lake Contour when Tim asked them to set up subs on an aux. I think subs should always be on an aux. That's all. Its almost like an effect that you want as much control over as possible. It was nice to have a box with a 15" in it. Vertec thump in a pleasant way. It made no difference that night. A bad room and a not so great show. Not even close.
Puked after eating Thai food for dinner. That was the other hi lite of my day in Davis.
Wednesday, September 14, 2005
Salt Lake City, Utah
9/12/05
The venue is an 1800 capacity theater. 1 thousand on the floor and 800 in the balcony.
FOH is at the back of the room, under the balcony, against a wall, on a riser. The cards were stacked against us. The rig was 4 EAW 760 per side sitting on top of the bumper which since it isn't meant to be ground stacked was sitting on its cart. They lied and said that the 4 a side would cover the room but we knew better. Tim had them flatten the 760 rig and then bring in a pair of KF 850 per side for the balcony. 8 BH760 subs were at FOH with 1 more per side underneath the upstairs 850. Thrilling.
The theater itself was recently refurbished and had a great stage and dressing room facilities. Everything else was eating my arse.
The venue is an 1800 capacity theater. 1 thousand on the floor and 800 in the balcony.
FOH is at the back of the room, under the balcony, against a wall, on a riser. The cards were stacked against us. The rig was 4 EAW 760 per side sitting on top of the bumper which since it isn't meant to be ground stacked was sitting on its cart. They lied and said that the 4 a side would cover the room but we knew better. Tim had them flatten the 760 rig and then bring in a pair of KF 850 per side for the balcony. 8 BH760 subs were at FOH with 1 more per side underneath the upstairs 850. Thrilling.
The theater itself was recently refurbished and had a great stage and dressing room facilities. Everything else was eating my arse.
Sunday, September 11, 2005
Denver, Colorado The Fillmore Auditorium
The second or third time I have been here.
Nothing terribly exciting the first, second or third time.
A good crew that knows what they have to do without anyone standing over them.
The rig tonight was 8 McCauley MLA5 per side and 6 double 18" something or others for subs.
Honestly I was not so caught up in the details tonight. I was more caught up in trying to make it sound good. Or at least sound how I thought it should sound. Tim and I spent the afternoon pulling the hi end back from everywhere we could. It wound up working out in the end, but as usual given the choice I would have opted for something else besides McCauley. But we make do with what we have.
I am tired for a change. Back to the bus. Missing wheel and all. More on that later.
Nothing terribly exciting the first, second or third time.
A good crew that knows what they have to do without anyone standing over them.
The rig tonight was 8 McCauley MLA5 per side and 6 double 18" something or others for subs.
Honestly I was not so caught up in the details tonight. I was more caught up in trying to make it sound good. Or at least sound how I thought it should sound. Tim and I spent the afternoon pulling the hi end back from everywhere we could. It wound up working out in the end, but as usual given the choice I would have opted for something else besides McCauley. But we make do with what we have.
I am tired for a change. Back to the bus. Missing wheel and all. More on that later.
Saturday, September 10, 2005
Kansas City, Kansas Uptown Theater
Woke up at 8:30am this morning on the bus to the sound of an exploding rear tire and the smell of burning rubber. At least I managed to get 5 hours of sleep. Load in was scheduled for 11:00am. Lucky for us we were only 10 minutes away. Even luckier for us was the guy who stopped and offered us all a ride to the venue in his van. Normally I would not take a ride from a stranger on the side of the highway, but there were 9 of us, and this guy was just genuine and nice looking to help us out. I am glad that there are still people in the world like that. We wound up getting to the venue at around 10:00am. One hour ahead of schedule. Stacks and racks were being unloaded and set up by local crew. When we walked inside we realized that the 6 Nexo Geo T per side was not going to be enough to hit the balcony and the floor. Sometimes I don't understand the point of advancing when quite often we get to the venue only to not have what we need, or what we discussed. I will work on most any box as long as there are enough of them. Yes, I do have my preferences and given a choice I would have a truck full of JBL Vertec. But it was decided that we were not carrying full PA, so stacks and racks would have to be rented locally for each show. Most of the venues on this run do not have any in house PA. The economics of this decision are not something I am involved in. But I do know we are paying to bring in systems every day. How much cheaper this is versus carrying full PA I do not know exactly. We would need a second semi to haul everything. That combined with the ridiculous price of gas at the moment would not have come cheap I am sure. So here I am. With not enough of a box that I don't really enjoy working on. Making do with what I have.
Friday, September 09, 2005
Grand Prairie Texas
Today we are in the Nokia Theatre in Grand Prairie, Texas.
Gemini Sound has been hired to provide our racks and stacks. They brought in 24 EAW KF760 and 24 SB1000. All Crown Macro powered with that red face EAW porcessor. I am not really into the KF760. I am not really into boxes that don't contain a 15" driver. You can do all you want as far as cabinet tuning/porting and processor settings, but to me it comes down to surface area. A 15" driver has that much more surface than a 12" and moves that much more air. Maybe I am oversimplifying things here. Maybe I am not.
Coverage was somewhat spotty but it worked OK.
Not my first, second or even third choice as far as boxes go, but we make do with what we have. Tim did what he could with it like he always does. The venue should have been scaled down a bit to concentrate the audience into a smaller area. That would have helped as far as PA coverage. But advance tickets had been sold and the venue could not move all the ticket holders in the front row stage left/right to the second tier of the balcony. So the audience was spread out forcing us to cover more of the room than we should have. It could have been worse. It has been worse.
Gemini Sound has been hired to provide our racks and stacks. They brought in 24 EAW KF760 and 24 SB1000. All Crown Macro powered with that red face EAW porcessor. I am not really into the KF760. I am not really into boxes that don't contain a 15" driver. You can do all you want as far as cabinet tuning/porting and processor settings, but to me it comes down to surface area. A 15" driver has that much more surface than a 12" and moves that much more air. Maybe I am oversimplifying things here. Maybe I am not.
Coverage was somewhat spotty but it worked OK.
Not my first, second or even third choice as far as boxes go, but we make do with what we have. Tim did what he could with it like he always does. The venue should have been scaled down a bit to concentrate the audience into a smaller area. That would have helped as far as PA coverage. But advance tickets had been sold and the venue could not move all the ticket holders in the front row stage left/right to the second tier of the balcony. So the audience was spread out forcing us to cover more of the room than we should have. It could have been worse. It has been worse.
Thursday, September 08, 2005
Guadalajara
Yesterday was canceled but will probably be rescheduled for some time in the next 2 weeks.
I am honestly glad that they canceled the second night in Mexico City. That place scared the shit out of me.
Guadalajara was a lot like Mexico City. The same rig. The same complaints about the rig. Actually even more because tonight the subs/low boxes were not able to be placed directly underneath the DVdosc hangs because of truss tower legs being in the way. Oh yeah, no one told me that the gig was going to be in a tent/non permanent structure.
I am honestly glad that they canceled the second night in Mexico City. That place scared the shit out of me.
Guadalajara was a lot like Mexico City. The same rig. The same complaints about the rig. Actually even more because tonight the subs/low boxes were not able to be placed directly underneath the DVdosc hangs because of truss tower legs being in the way. Oh yeah, no one told me that the gig was going to be in a tent/non permanent structure.
Monday, September 05, 2005
End of the night in Mexico City day 1
End of the first night.
The second night of 2 at this venue has been canceled due to the floor deflecting an uncomfortable amount. I kid you not. The floor in this place was moving more than any floor I have stood on. I had 3 guys holding the desk down as it bounced all over the ez tilt which was bouncing all over the floor. Tim was holding down his laptop which was sitting on top of the D2 and 737 in a rack. I turned around and saw Lucas who was on a 2 foot high riser and saw a tech holding onto his Hog 3 for dear life. I could not accurately move faders or knobs at times. Lucas had the same problem.
The TM, PM and some venue officials made multiplied trips out to FOH and felt it first hand. Later the PM said to me "I have known you for 15 years and never saw the look of fear on your face like I did tonight." This was only the second show in this venue. A concrete, cinder block box with a corrugated steel roof. A multi purpose room that was not designed for live music. No room treatment of any kind with the exception of light weight curtain covering a third of 1 wall. 100 - 200hz was just all over the place. It calmed down somewhat with 6 thousand bodies. The PA did an adequate job. 4 DV subs flown next to the 12 DVdosc hangs would have made my day. But it didn't work out that way. We wound up with12 flown DVdosc a side and 3 Meyer DS2P stacked on top of 8 CD218. Somehow Tim got it to sound ok. Which doesn't totally surprise me because I have seen him take piles of crap(literally)and get it together. That is part of the fun, joy, challenge, call it whatever you want, of renting racks and stacks each night. I feel like I should charge bands more for situations where they are not carrying full production. I know I am going to have long, difficult days trying to make sense of what many sound companies provide. But I look at it as a learning experience. Getting to use some boxes that I might not have considered. Next week is a Nexo Geo T rig. On the few occasion I have used the box I had some complaints about it. Like the lack of a 15" driver. That and the fact that it looks like missing parts of the death star. Tim brought up the idea of using Geo T with CD12 subs to augment the low end. Maybe we will get to try it.
Craziness.
The second night of 2 at this venue has been canceled due to the floor deflecting an uncomfortable amount. I kid you not. The floor in this place was moving more than any floor I have stood on. I had 3 guys holding the desk down as it bounced all over the ez tilt which was bouncing all over the floor. Tim was holding down his laptop which was sitting on top of the D2 and 737 in a rack. I turned around and saw Lucas who was on a 2 foot high riser and saw a tech holding onto his Hog 3 for dear life. I could not accurately move faders or knobs at times. Lucas had the same problem.
The TM, PM and some venue officials made multiplied trips out to FOH and felt it first hand. Later the PM said to me "I have known you for 15 years and never saw the look of fear on your face like I did tonight." This was only the second show in this venue. A concrete, cinder block box with a corrugated steel roof. A multi purpose room that was not designed for live music. No room treatment of any kind with the exception of light weight curtain covering a third of 1 wall. 100 - 200hz was just all over the place. It calmed down somewhat with 6 thousand bodies. The PA did an adequate job. 4 DV subs flown next to the 12 DVdosc hangs would have made my day. But it didn't work out that way. We wound up with12 flown DVdosc a side and 3 Meyer DS2P stacked on top of 8 CD218. Somehow Tim got it to sound ok. Which doesn't totally surprise me because I have seen him take piles of crap(literally)and get it together. That is part of the fun, joy, challenge, call it whatever you want, of renting racks and stacks each night. I feel like I should charge bands more for situations where they are not carrying full production. I know I am going to have long, difficult days trying to make sense of what many sound companies provide. But I look at it as a learning experience. Getting to use some boxes that I might not have considered. Next week is a Nexo Geo T rig. On the few occasion I have used the box I had some complaints about it. Like the lack of a 15" driver. That and the fact that it looks like missing parts of the death star. Tim brought up the idea of using Geo T with CD12 subs to augment the low end. Maybe we will get to try it.
Craziness.
FOH guy in Mexico City
24 Dvdosc
16 SB218
6 Meyer something or others because they couldnt get me any DV subs.
2 Meyer MSL4 for front fill
Typical day.
First day of tour.
We are renting everything for the 3 shows in mexico.
They did actually get us 2 PMDRH for FOH and monitors.
They didnt get me a distressor, 901 or DV subs.
Tonight i am using an Avalon 737 on Paul's vocal.
I fell in love with the API 512c mic pre into a 550b eq then into a distressor and finally a 901. a lot of kit there but it sounded great.
In a few days we will be on our regular Firehouse provided desks and i will have all the outboard i want. Truth be told I can do the show with no outboard at all, but a Distressor and a D2 make it nicer. The on board delay just isnt that functional to me. I did 1 tour wihout a D2 and had a really hard time with it. Today they wanted to give me a 2290 but I said I would rather have the D2. It is easier for me to get around a D2 than a 2290. Makes me think of a conversation I had with a very well respected and accomplished FOH guy. He told me he was once asked by a rep from a hi end reverb company why he didnt carry any of his companies studio qulaity verbs. FOH acknowledged that the hi end reverb company made the best sounding units, but they were to difficult to navigate, and that made them unfriendly to FOH guy. I know the units he was referring to. That story stuck with me. A lot of what this guy has shared with me has stuck. I am using all the on board verbs, doublers, and distortions from the PM5D.
I am sitting at FOH now waiting.
Waiting for the sold out venue to fillup with patrons.
They are apparently having a difficuly time getting all 6 thousand fans in to the place.
The usual cast of characters is out with us.
Tim is with me at FOH, Anti is monitoring, Lucas is making me blind with Andy's help. Ally and Bobby are still still lookjing after the gear. Our PM just bought his house.
16 SB218
6 Meyer something or others because they couldnt get me any DV subs.
2 Meyer MSL4 for front fill
Typical day.
First day of tour.
We are renting everything for the 3 shows in mexico.
They did actually get us 2 PMDRH for FOH and monitors.
They didnt get me a distressor, 901 or DV subs.
Tonight i am using an Avalon 737 on Paul's vocal.
I fell in love with the API 512c mic pre into a 550b eq then into a distressor and finally a 901. a lot of kit there but it sounded great.
In a few days we will be on our regular Firehouse provided desks and i will have all the outboard i want. Truth be told I can do the show with no outboard at all, but a Distressor and a D2 make it nicer. The on board delay just isnt that functional to me. I did 1 tour wihout a D2 and had a really hard time with it. Today they wanted to give me a 2290 but I said I would rather have the D2. It is easier for me to get around a D2 than a 2290. Makes me think of a conversation I had with a very well respected and accomplished FOH guy. He told me he was once asked by a rep from a hi end reverb company why he didnt carry any of his companies studio qulaity verbs. FOH acknowledged that the hi end reverb company made the best sounding units, but they were to difficult to navigate, and that made them unfriendly to FOH guy. I know the units he was referring to. That story stuck with me. A lot of what this guy has shared with me has stuck. I am using all the on board verbs, doublers, and distortions from the PM5D.
I am sitting at FOH now waiting.
Waiting for the sold out venue to fillup with patrons.
They are apparently having a difficuly time getting all 6 thousand fans in to the place.
The usual cast of characters is out with us.
Tim is with me at FOH, Anti is monitoring, Lucas is making me blind with Andy's help. Ally and Bobby are still still lookjing after the gear. Our PM just bought his house.
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