The videos for the main session have been posted here.
If you only watch one, watch the Harvey Carey Session. Probably the best talk given to a tech audience that I've ever heard.
Monday, March 7, 2011
Sunday, March 6, 2011
On the other side of the console.
A lot of the conversation and sessions at Gurus of Tech were about the relationship between musicians and audio engineers. The opening video was a great take on the apple vs pc commercials. It worth the 5 min or so to watch. Very funny.
Even before Gurus I had been thinking some about seeing things from the other side of the desk because in the last month i've ended up playing keys twice for services. I grew up playing music and that's what got me into sound engineering in the first place. Before I came on staff at Willow I played almost every weekend at my old church. It was a small church where i was the sound guy and musician all at the same time.
I consider mixing to be the same thing as playing on stage. There's just as much creative input going on as if i was playing keys. To me there is nothing truer then the term Technical Artist. That's what we are. For me this means that i get the same fulfillment out of mixing as I do playing.
That said every once in a while (every couple of years) i get the urge to play again. I actually had a couple of the midweeks off in Jan. so i asked if a keyboard player was needed and it turned out they needed one so i got to play for our midweek service. Even broke out a melodica for a song.
Weekend Story
So here's the story on how i ended up playing on the weekend. It started out as a normal weekend for me. I was mixing monitors for the wknd and we had just wrapped up our initial rehearsal on saturday afternoon. We usually get a 5 or 10 min. break before we do a full run thru of the service. During this time Bill had come into the room and was talking over with the band about how he wanted to end the service. I was in the green room eating pretzels.
All of a sudden i get called on com and i'm being asked to come out to the piano. My immediate response is, "Who broke it?" Once out there it's explained to me that Bill wants to end the service Billy Graham style with Just as I Am and that they need it played stronger. I'm still in tech mode and i'm thinking, "so how am i supposed to fix that?" Eventually I realize that they're suggesting that i play the piano and the rest is history. I ended up being the underscore guy and playing underneath Bill for the close of the services as well as playing walkout which after the sunday 11:15am service was about 1hr 15min.
Takeaways
So what did getting behind the other side of the console show me? Well it showed how important it is for us as engineers to try and experience what it's like on stage. I can't overstate how important it is for you, especially if you're mixing monitors to get on the stage and experience it for yourself. Now joining the band on stage for a service might not be an option but there are other things you can do. Even if you don't play the instruments get out there and try to experience what it's like. Sit down at the drum kit and play with the drummers mix in your ears. Play the piano or keys. Hold and play an acoustic guitar while listening to the players mix.
Another thing i've tried in the past is to get my own vocal mic and after soundcheck is done and the band is rehearsing, i set up my own mix and tried singing along. Make sure you tell FOH what you're doing so that they don't put you in the house. (or maybe it might be better in your case not to tell FOH in case they would turn it on purposefully.) I learned a ton about vocals in iems by doing that. Several things became apparent once i started to try and sing along.
Also go out on stage and sing with only 1 ear in. We all hate that as monitor engineers but chances are half the vocalists do this. It might just help you to be able to speak in terms the vocalist understands when you are trying to convince them to wear both ears.
I had another discovery while underscoring during the service. I found that the piano was actually too loud in my mix and as a result i was playing with such a light touch that i wasn't getting the best out the piano like I could. After the first service i turned it down in my mix and following that i was able to play in the sweet spot of the piano dynamically while underscoring.
Bottom line is the more you can put yourself in the ears of the musician on stage the more you'll be able to provide the "best monitors ever!"
Even before Gurus I had been thinking some about seeing things from the other side of the desk because in the last month i've ended up playing keys twice for services. I grew up playing music and that's what got me into sound engineering in the first place. Before I came on staff at Willow I played almost every weekend at my old church. It was a small church where i was the sound guy and musician all at the same time.I consider mixing to be the same thing as playing on stage. There's just as much creative input going on as if i was playing keys. To me there is nothing truer then the term Technical Artist. That's what we are. For me this means that i get the same fulfillment out of mixing as I do playing.
That said every once in a while (every couple of years) i get the urge to play again. I actually had a couple of the midweeks off in Jan. so i asked if a keyboard player was needed and it turned out they needed one so i got to play for our midweek service. Even broke out a melodica for a song.
Weekend Story
So here's the story on how i ended up playing on the weekend. It started out as a normal weekend for me. I was mixing monitors for the wknd and we had just wrapped up our initial rehearsal on saturday afternoon. We usually get a 5 or 10 min. break before we do a full run thru of the service. During this time Bill had come into the room and was talking over with the band about how he wanted to end the service. I was in the green room eating pretzels.
All of a sudden i get called on com and i'm being asked to come out to the piano. My immediate response is, "Who broke it?" Once out there it's explained to me that Bill wants to end the service Billy Graham style with Just as I Am and that they need it played stronger. I'm still in tech mode and i'm thinking, "so how am i supposed to fix that?" Eventually I realize that they're suggesting that i play the piano and the rest is history. I ended up being the underscore guy and playing underneath Bill for the close of the services as well as playing walkout which after the sunday 11:15am service was about 1hr 15min.
Takeaways
So what did getting behind the other side of the console show me? Well it showed how important it is for us as engineers to try and experience what it's like on stage. I can't overstate how important it is for you, especially if you're mixing monitors to get on the stage and experience it for yourself. Now joining the band on stage for a service might not be an option but there are other things you can do. Even if you don't play the instruments get out there and try to experience what it's like. Sit down at the drum kit and play with the drummers mix in your ears. Play the piano or keys. Hold and play an acoustic guitar while listening to the players mix.
Another thing i've tried in the past is to get my own vocal mic and after soundcheck is done and the band is rehearsing, i set up my own mix and tried singing along. Make sure you tell FOH what you're doing so that they don't put you in the house. (or maybe it might be better in your case not to tell FOH in case they would turn it on purposefully.) I learned a ton about vocals in iems by doing that. Several things became apparent once i started to try and sing along.
Also go out on stage and sing with only 1 ear in. We all hate that as monitor engineers but chances are half the vocalists do this. It might just help you to be able to speak in terms the vocalist understands when you are trying to convince them to wear both ears.
I had another discovery while underscoring during the service. I found that the piano was actually too loud in my mix and as a result i was playing with such a light touch that i wasn't getting the best out the piano like I could. After the first service i turned it down in my mix and following that i was able to play in the sweet spot of the piano dynamically while underscoring.
Bottom line is the more you can put yourself in the ears of the musician on stage the more you'll be able to provide the "best monitors ever!"
Saturday, March 5, 2011
Made the homepage of the website.
The other weekend I found myself on the other side of the console. Now it's on Willow's website home page. Maybe eventually i'll share the full story.
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