Other news...
May. 25th, 2003 10:07 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
compilerbitchThis was actually a post to the music-bar list (a long-running chat list for musicians that I've been on for years now), but as it includes stuff I've not had a chance to post here, I might as well save some effort by re-posting it...
Latest news is that I've just finished a gruelling month. Lots of intense day-job stuff, on top of four separate Hinoeuma events (up to 4 bands per event) and sorting out PhD related stuff.
The Hinoeuma gigs were mostly pretty good. The all-weekend Whitehouse thing was a bit of a killer for me -- the gigs went really well, but I couldn't walk properly for a few days afterwards. Then came Intitut/Costes/Stanier Black/IRM at the Red Rose. My doG! What a gig! Costes were absolutely amazing, more acting/performance art than music per se. Extreme isn't enough of a word -- even describing the gig in print, or posting photographs would probably be illegal in the UK. Dancing naked (2 men, 1 woman), shoving things up themselves and each other, vomiting and pissing in each other's mouths, you name it, they did it. Twice, with radio mikes, running through the audience. Utterly astonishing.
Then came Kirlian Camera/Stalingrad/Naevus/Tho-so-aa a couple of weekends ago at Slimelight. Oh my god what a disaster. The soundcheck went perfectly, then on moving things around ready for Stalingrad after Tho-so-aa's soundcheck, someone put several DI boxes on top of a wedge monitor. BIG MISTAKE. When the gig started (Stalingrad), as soon as they hit play on their portable MD, an ear-splitting howl appeared that wasn't coming from any of the microphones. After quite a while, I realised that the signal was coming from one of the other support band's channels, but the howl was coming from the on-stage monitors not the PA itself. (Big learning experience - if you switch a Mackie 8 bus's aux sends to pre-fader, the mute button doesn't mute the aux send!). This was sorted simply by turning off the monitor feeds from those particular channels, but at that time we still hadn't figured out what was causing the problem. Just into Tho-so-aa's set, the same thing happened again, but this time from a different set of channels (again, someone had put some *different* DI boxes on top of the monitor). This was fixed quickly. Then, at last, when Naevus had the same problem, their sound guy (Andrew -- if you're reading this, thanks again!) and I managed to figure out what the problem was. The rest of the gig went fine.
I was a nervous wreck. By the time the gig finished, I'd been up for 22 hours -- we'd had a complicated setup, due to three (!) of the bands wanting to track live feeds to ADAT. Aarrgh. In years of sound engineering, this was the first time I'd ever had something like that happen during a live set. But I doubt I'll ever quite trust passive DI boxes again -- in future, I'm definitely going to make sure I gaffer tape them somewhere NOWHERE NEAR a wedge or PA cab. Very nasty.
On the following Monday, I went to see my doctor. After several of the gigs, I'd had difficulty walking, especially after the Whitehouse weekend. My GP thinks I probably have rheumatoid arthritis -- I went to the local hospital yesterday for blood tests, so I should get the results toward the end of next week. Not the greatest news I could have had, but it did make sense. I think I've had it most of my life -- the symptoms certainly fit some of my past experiences.
Something happened the same week though that did cheer me up considerably -- I managed to get funding for my PhD. I'd already had a formal place offer about a month before then, but was having considerable difficulty in sorting out funding. Finally, it actually arrived from a completely unexpected source. My current employer, BigHand, bless their cotton socks, and I have done a deal whereby they will fund my PhD. Yessssss! This will mean that I'll definitely be going to Cambridge in October. I am one very relieved Sarah right now... I still don't have a college place yet, so I don't yet know where I'll be living or what it will cost me, but so far so good.
Latest news is that I've just finished a gruelling month. Lots of intense day-job stuff, on top of four separate Hinoeuma events (up to 4 bands per event) and sorting out PhD related stuff.
The Hinoeuma gigs were mostly pretty good. The all-weekend Whitehouse thing was a bit of a killer for me -- the gigs went really well, but I couldn't walk properly for a few days afterwards. Then came Intitut/Costes/Stanier Black/IRM at the Red Rose. My doG! What a gig! Costes were absolutely amazing, more acting/performance art than music per se. Extreme isn't enough of a word -- even describing the gig in print, or posting photographs would probably be illegal in the UK. Dancing naked (2 men, 1 woman), shoving things up themselves and each other, vomiting and pissing in each other's mouths, you name it, they did it. Twice, with radio mikes, running through the audience. Utterly astonishing.
Then came Kirlian Camera/Stalingrad/Naevus/Tho-so-aa a couple of weekends ago at Slimelight. Oh my god what a disaster. The soundcheck went perfectly, then on moving things around ready for Stalingrad after Tho-so-aa's soundcheck, someone put several DI boxes on top of a wedge monitor. BIG MISTAKE. When the gig started (Stalingrad), as soon as they hit play on their portable MD, an ear-splitting howl appeared that wasn't coming from any of the microphones. After quite a while, I realised that the signal was coming from one of the other support band's channels, but the howl was coming from the on-stage monitors not the PA itself. (Big learning experience - if you switch a Mackie 8 bus's aux sends to pre-fader, the mute button doesn't mute the aux send!). This was sorted simply by turning off the monitor feeds from those particular channels, but at that time we still hadn't figured out what was causing the problem. Just into Tho-so-aa's set, the same thing happened again, but this time from a different set of channels (again, someone had put some *different* DI boxes on top of the monitor). This was fixed quickly. Then, at last, when Naevus had the same problem, their sound guy (Andrew -- if you're reading this, thanks again!) and I managed to figure out what the problem was. The rest of the gig went fine.
I was a nervous wreck. By the time the gig finished, I'd been up for 22 hours -- we'd had a complicated setup, due to three (!) of the bands wanting to track live feeds to ADAT. Aarrgh. In years of sound engineering, this was the first time I'd ever had something like that happen during a live set. But I doubt I'll ever quite trust passive DI boxes again -- in future, I'm definitely going to make sure I gaffer tape them somewhere NOWHERE NEAR a wedge or PA cab. Very nasty.
On the following Monday, I went to see my doctor. After several of the gigs, I'd had difficulty walking, especially after the Whitehouse weekend. My GP thinks I probably have rheumatoid arthritis -- I went to the local hospital yesterday for blood tests, so I should get the results toward the end of next week. Not the greatest news I could have had, but it did make sense. I think I've had it most of my life -- the symptoms certainly fit some of my past experiences.
Something happened the same week though that did cheer me up considerably -- I managed to get funding for my PhD. I'd already had a formal place offer about a month before then, but was having considerable difficulty in sorting out funding. Finally, it actually arrived from a completely unexpected source. My current employer, BigHand, bless their cotton socks, and I have done a deal whereby they will fund my PhD. Yessssss! This will mean that I'll definitely be going to Cambridge in October. I am one very relieved Sarah right now... I still don't have a college place yet, so I don't yet know where I'll be living or what it will cost me, but so far so good.
(no subject)
Date: 2003-05-26 12:48 am (UTC)Heard on the radio this morning the girl from Jemini trying to blame the sound set for the Eurovision song contest fiasco.
The cynic in me suspects that they were desperately looking for someone to blame, but if it's true that the setup was wrong so that they couldn't hear themselves, well, these things can go wrong even at that sort of level, and with a project that must be much much more basic than your stuff ;-)
Re:
Date: 2003-05-26 01:02 am (UTC)The other problem is vocalists being too quiet. There's a limit to how much gain can be applied to any microphone signal that is fed back into on-stage monitors, because if you exceed this you get howl. To an extent, this also applies to the main PA speakers. A very quiet singer is a nightmare for an engineer, because it can be literally impossible to get them loud enough eithe out-front or on-stage. I had that problem with Kirlian Camera a lot, but Naevus were totally fine (same microphone, same monitors, same settings).
I didn't see Eurovision, but I'm familiar with the problems of having to mix lots of bands one after the other, with short changeovers and shared equipment. It is very difficult -- you have to be on your toes at all times, and you can't let your concentration slip for a second. The engineers doing Eurovision will no doubt have much better equipment than me, and lots more of it, but the fundamental problem is the same. And actually having to listen to those bands can't have been nice, either! ;-)
Aaargh.
I think I might try to invent something that kills feedback digitally. It would make life *so* much easier...