Dec 10
12
Preparation and Great Sound
I was sitting at our small front of house mixing position at the Kemper Center Simmons Auditorium for the Snowflake Jazz concert. The auditorium was built in the the late 1800′s. We were told that the acoustics and power were quite a challenge. They are!
We did our usual scouting trip and noted the challenges. Wood was on all surfaces so it was a lively room. One positive is that we wouldn’t need much power. We found a variety of power sources, some of which were old two prong outlets. Those are simple to steer away from. But we did find adequate and properly grounded power.
Due to a forecasted snowstorm we set up our sound system the night before. Did I mention the 14 steps we had to climb to get our gear in? But we got everything set up that night, did a line check, room main speaker EQ and solved a few hum and buzz issues.
On concert day we arrived early and found a few more noisy channels. Seems like our 100 foot sub snake we were using to simplify the setup (we really just needed an extra 10 feet) was picking up some electrical noise. Nothing serious but still worth eliminating. So a few 20 foot direct to the main snake cables solved that. Then we found a bad connection if the connector “moved” at the mixer itself. So we moved that channel. Something to check out this winter! A bit more system equalization (interesting settings in the mid frequencies due to the room – many cuts), ring out a few monitors and we were ready for the band.
We still had time for a fairly relaxed fast food meal which doesn’t happen often on event nights. Ask Brian about the moon!
The John Crawford Band arrived plenty early and are great to work with. Everything (except sax who came a bit later) was sound checked and dialed in well before the doors officially opened.
The event sounds great. The John Crawford Band puts on a great classical and pop jazz show with quite a few Christmas songs sprinkled in.
The main message today – preparation and time are needed to have great sounding event in challenging acoustical and electrical venues. Of course this holds true for any venue the first time you are there. If we do this event again next year we’ll still be plenty early but already have some settings saved and have the power situation figured out pretty well. By the way, we put in about 5-1/2 hours into load in, setup, troubleshooting, system tuning and soundcheck. By the reaction of the audience and the band, it was well worth the effort!