Breaking the Pew

I enjoy gospel music, very much. But I can not understand why it has to be so loud.  I've never seen  gospel in a concert venue, but I find it hard to beleive that a professional act would be  as painful to listen to.  No one would go if the music is always this loud. So what's the difference? Why am I looked at like a mad woman for suggesting that they are playing too loud.  Why would any one come up to me saying they can't hear the toms when the choir is barely audible.  I once took pride in the fact that I changed the experience of the gospel ensemble in the BPC.  When at one point there were fights breaking out between players and staff, now there was a mutually enjoyable and aggreable evening.  Yet the more I work this concert the more disheartend I get.  There is no way to  make it sound good.  Yes, little miss optimism is throwing her hands up in defeat and admitting I can't make the gospel choir sound good.  The choir was either ear peircing, or inaudible.  The band sounded phasey do to loud stage volume and mic bleed.  I have never felt so tired and frustrated as I did last night.  I think I'm tired.  I need a vacation, somewhere quiet and secluded with sweet umbrella clad drinks garnished with tropical fruit.  Unfortunately there are no relaxing beaches in my future.
         Somewhere deep down I know there is a secret to making the choir sound better.  At the moment I compromise the sound quality of the choir for volume.  If I could get less of the band in the mics I wouldn't have to high pass it so much (I think lower frequencies would make it less piercing).  I tried reversing the polarity on the choir mics with no effect. I had more luck placing the mics so that they cancelled out the band.  Ultimately I'm fighting a loosing battle.  Bottom line is there is too much band to give the choir it's proper space.  Two keyboards, organ, guitar, is too much.  So I can search for a magic solution til I'm blue in the face but basically all my effort is just a headache inducing turd polishing. At the end of the night it's still shit.

I hate the spring semester

I'm spent.  Me the sweet, understanding, everybody's friend reached the end of my rope today.  I was ready to throw something I was so angry.  I almost cried I was so angry, but I would be damned before I let some  prima donna flute player get the best of me. I usually pride myself in my ability to reason with everyone.  My number one engineering rule is make the musician comfortable.  But there was no reasoning with this guy.  I've never been in a situation where the words I spoke were completely disregarded.  It was like talking to a wall.  A really frustrating wall that wanted to ruin my mix with his ridiculous monitor demands.   The flute in the monitor was louder than the band in the PA.  I had the flute out of the house and it was still loud.  I'm still a little angry.  I just don't understand why the assumption is that I'm an asshole.  News flash, if every engineer you work with is a dick, it's not them it's you.  The worst part is he ruined the sound check for the five groups that came after him.  I need a vacation. And while I'm asking for things I won't get, I'd also like to not have to work with this guy again.  

Elton John and Tim Rice's AIDA

You can typically tell how busy I am by the amount that I write. Last week my life was consumed by Showcase.  And frankly showcase wasn't worth reviewing.  And after a long weekend (not nearly long enough) I was thrown into Aida.  Doing theatre at the performance center is impossible. We have no orchestra pit, no wing space, no space at all.  And there is no time to put on a production properly.  Last year we pulled off the impossible with a production of Parade.  When the director (Sharon Brown) told me this year we were doing Aida, I managed not to laugh in her face, and told her "That's...ambitious". And yet here I am five months later after another successful production.  After two nights of scrambling, frustration, annoyance, and exhaustion, I come out on the other side very proud to have been at part of it. And happy with the job that I did.  I must say I have a new found respect for broadway sound guys. I had 12 wireless omni body mics, full rhythm section, orchestral percussion, strings, woodwinds, brass, and a harp that was added the day of the show (awesome).  I managed to squeeze the orchestra onto 12' deep risers going 30' across. Knowing there'd be no room I had almost the entire band with clip on mics.  I used the Berger method of clipping a lav mic on the percussionist instead of over heads, they both thought it was genius (Yeah Brad!).  While the clip ons help my space problem it did make getting a nice natural sounding mix difficult.  Ordinarily I would use only a few over head mics to pick up the orchestra, so they take care of the mix themselves. Since I was unfamiliar with the music this would have been ideal. But live sound is about compromise, and there is no way I could have gotten the orchestra over the rhythm section with section mics, so clip ons it was.  I wish I had one more day.  I think everyone wanted another day. It was hard to dedicate enough time to all of the  different elements that I was controlling, while reading along in the script. It was slightly controlled chaos, which I managed to wrangle in and make sound half way decent. My challenge for the next time is finding a way to mic the ensemble. This is where my admiration for theatrical sound lies.  I couldn't figure out how I could place unobtrusive microphones with enough level to hear them well while at the same time avoiding the enevitable feedback.  I've had some suggestions but unfortunately no time to try them out.  I hope they will have a longer run in the future.  As for the performance, it was a very Berklee production. It sounded amazing, it looked great but lacked substance. I felt that the singing was exellent, but the acting left much to be desired. It was as if they were simply going through the motions until the next song. There was zero chemistry between Radames and Aida, the only sincere moment was at the end with "Written in the Stars" which was beautifully heart breaking.  The show stealer for me was the young man who played Zoser.  I remember him from last year's "Parade" where he was also exellent. There is a level of commitment in his performance that overpowers the rest of the cast, in a good way. So while I was blown away by some parts I was dissappointed by others. And the rest of the time I wasn't paying attention. But, good or bad I look forward to doing it again next year. 

Steph's Recs 4/10-4/16

I know I haven't been particularly consistent with my recommendations, but now that I've gotten back in the habit of writing regularly I promise (for what it's worth) to keep these up.  I'm sorry I didn't have time for last week's since it has been an awesome week for concerts. Well mainly is was an awesome week because of one concert, The Gary Burton all-star extravaganza. (I'm pretty sure that's not the official title. But whatever you call it, it was awesome. Unfortunately I had to miss it but I got to hear them rehearsing all week, which is the next best thing. If you didn't go to see it you missed out.

Ok so without further ado...

STEPH'S RECS
          These final weeks before the semester ends are filled to the brim with concerts.  There's something for everyone. This week my recs are all about jazz, especially since we're seeing a lot of the Jazz Comp. portfolio concerts.  For those who hear enough jazz around berklee, I threw in an extra at the end.  Also, I outsourced my recs this weeks, so I want to give a shout out to Alejo for making some recommendations. Enjoy! :) 

 
4/12
Branko Popovic 7pm 1W 1140- I found this online and it basically made my decision for me.

4/13
Berklee Contemporary Symphony Orchestra 8:00 pm First Church of Boston- I was never very impressed with the classical music ensembles at the school, particularly the orchestras. Yet under the leadership of Franisco Noya the BCSO has blossomed into a superb ensemble. One I am willing to go off campus to see. With special guest Patrice Rushen (composer), Ada Pasternak violinist, and a premiere performance of a piece by this semester's compositional "It girl" Sonya Belousova.  With a diverse program and excellent musicians this is bound to be a concert any classical music lover will enjoy.

Hyunjoong Ekah Kim 7pm 1A 1140-http://www.myspace.com/hyunjoongakakim
Marton Juasz 4pm 1A 1140-http://www.myspace.com/martonjuhaszmusic
4/14  
              Rika Ikeda 4pm 1W 1140- This recommendation comes courtesy of Alejo. I unfortunately haven't had the pleasure of hearing Rika play. But there's noone who's tastes I trust more than Alejo's And as soon as I mentioned her name he said that this is deffinitely going to be a good one. http://www.rikaikeda.com/Site/Home.html
4/16
              Guatakeando with Lorena Perez 4pm 1W 1140- Lorena is an awesome percussionist who I've seen perform many times here at the BPC. I'm super excited to see what she does for her recital.  I'm hoping for a lot of fun South American rythyms that'll have me movin' in my seat. 

And for something completely different (or a little different)...
Felix Martin 4/16 4pm 1A

That's all for this week. Stay tuned for next weeks recs and reviews.

I am not impotent! a.k.a YES I CAN

I've been giving some thought to my approach to sound mixing.  I have always believed that my job is to capture a performance, make it audible, and make the musicians comfortable.  The equipment I use is merely a mechanism for making what's happening on stage heard.  No frills, no bells and whistles, no magic make me sound good button.  Lately I've been wondering if that is just a lazy way out.  Wouldn't the mark of a great sound engineer be that regardless of the circumstances it always sounds good?  To be fair I do my part to make the band sound good, but it usually involves me talking to the musicians on stage to adjust the problem there.  Yesterday however I was approached with a different problem and I'm not sure I handled it as best as I could.  And the question I was left with is am I here to modify sound, or amplify it? I believe the answer is both.

     Yesterday was the Piano Student Concert here at the BPC.  Considering the craziness of last week this concert was a breeze.  Solo piano, piano trio... piece of cake right? Well, firstly I hate the little puny kick drum the jazz drummers use.  It is impossible to make it sound good. (Yesterday the floor tom was tuned lower than the kick drum honestly!) But I did my best to make it sound halfway normal, which basically involved me taking the mic out of the mix. (This rant was totally unintended but surprisingly ties in nicely with the theme) I had two options right there.  I could either place the mic then recreate the natural sound of the kick. Or I could try to manipulate the drum sound to something more appropriate for the non-jazz songs.  I didn't even try the second option.  I brought up the mic said, "Yeah that's how it sounds" and tried to find a decent balance with the rest of the band.  Technically I did my job, I wasn't happy with the way it sounded but in my mind I thought that there was little else I could do.  Up next was a solo piano piece. Same deal, I wasn't going to put much piano in the mix since it didn't need to over power a band. But as the pianist was playing the first notes, the head of the piano department turns to me and says, "It's too bright".  At the moment which she said this, the piano mics weren't on. I told her she was hearing the piano acoustically at which point she asked, "Oh my God it's the piano! Is there anything you can do about it? My typical answer (the one I say in my head, never aloud) is a big fat NO followed by a derisive laugh. I instead started messing with the EQ knowing I wouldn't make any difference.  She was eventually happy but it made me think.  Perhaps I shouldn't be so dismissive if someone asks me to alter an instruments sound.  I'm not a miracle worker, but I'm not impotent either.  Complacency is the death of excellence and ultimately whatever the situation is, if it sounds bad, it's my fault. Sound guys are always full of excuses (mainly because we're always under attack) but perhaps in making excuses, we forget all of the resources we have to make a bad situation great.