Engineer's Perspective: My Multi-Band Nightmare 4/1/09

 Sometimes it seems my year doesn't really start until the spring semester.  That's when things get a bit hectic around here.  But this year seems to be more tiring than others. It's not that there are more concerts, but they seem to be cramming more into each event.  I 'm speaking of multi-band concerts: where they attempt, (no actually they succeed) to fit between five and fifteen bands into one ninety-minute show.  Now maybe to the audience this doesn't seem like a big deal.  Most concerts have multiple bands, battle of the band concerts happen all the time, why is it so difficult for Berklee to do them?

            The issue is time constraint. I'm sure all the people who work sound or who are stage hands for these type of concerts despise them as much as I do, either that or they don't care.  Since I'm an engineer who cares, who has an invested interest in the success of any show I work, these concerts are frustrating, tiring, and always disappointing.   For those who don't know, a BPC show is a seven-hour shift.  A two-hour set-up, a 90 minute sound-check, the house is open for forty-five minutes, 90 minute show (supposedly), and an hour to tear down.  This is plenty of time for most events, but when the sound check involves ten bands, that gives us only nine minutes per band to change over and check. What that means is that I hear each band for five minutes, if I’m lucky.  This is not enough time to get the monitors straight, let alone get a mix going. And that's just ten bands.  Do the math and figure out what would happen if there were more. Though it may be hard to believe, a properly balanced mix isn't instantaneous, there is more going on behind the console than just bringing up faders, and it takes time.  Some of you perhaps will still say, 'That's not so bad, five minutes is enough time and you can always mix on the fly'. Which is true, and if the bands are similar in style and instrumentation it's not a problem, in fact it makes for a more exciting evening. But this is rarely the case and even so, it means that no one should expect perfection, which people often do.

            This leads me to the second part of my nightmare scenario: pressure.  Most of these multi-band concerts are what we call high profile events.  The night when the house is packed, and the boss's boss is there; where I am under the microscope, and inevitably something goes wrong. As you can imagine, my feeling as the show grows closer is one of either frustrated resignation, or just plain ol’ anxiety.  It's awful facing a show with such low expectations.  Even if everything goes well, at the end you feel as if a bus hit you.  There's no satisfaction from having done a good job, there's just this elation at having made it through the concert partially intact.

            I know I've been ranting a bit in this article; I understand that dealing with these situations is my job.  And ultimately at the end of the day, as bad as I may feel about it, the show always goes on without too much blood loss.  But it could be better.  When dealing with such a large production, preparedness is essential, and more time is necessary.  And I don't mean sound checking for five hours instead of two. Tired ears only worsen my ability to mix. If you have a show with multiple bands ask for a tech rehearsal the day before.  This leaves plenty of time for each band to check, to work on transitions, get everyone happy and then come back the next day fresh.  As a leader for these concerts, look ahead, decide how much time each group should have to sound check. Take into consideration how much time it will take to change from one band to the next.  Try to get the bands to share equipment, but don't assume that they all will.  Take changeovers into account when deciding on the show order.  The more information the engineer has before he starts, the easier the sound check goes. Last, and most importantly, bring a lot of patience: we understand that leading these shows can be stressful so we are patient with you. That courtesy should be reciprocated.  It would certainly be appreciated.