How does a groundbreaking artist with more money than God spend his leisure time? How about a short run of shows in unexpected venues just for the fun of it?
There are a few people in the production community who I like enough to take their calls no matter what else is going on. So, even though we were deep into Production Hell on an issue of FOH and PLSN, I picked up when my phone said that Dave Tennent was on the line. Dave is the TD at The Cannery in North Las Vegas, an unexpectedly cool venue given the location — An “A” level room in a “C” part of town. (We wrote up the venue in the June 2006 issue of FOH. You can find it online if you missed it.)
“You’re never gonna believe who we got,” he said when I answered the phone. “Thomas Dolby.” I was instantly interested. Aliens Ate My Buick is probably one of my Top 20 fave records of all time, and when I heard that Dolby was touring with a horn section, that sealed the deal. “I’ll be there,” I promised.
“We really don’t know what to expect,” said Dave. “His rider just asks for five inputs.”
On the appointed evening, when I got to the venue — late as usual — and was introduced to FOH engineer Clif Brigden, I asked about that, and he said “Well, tonight we are actually up to eight because one of the horn players sings. When I heard you were coming out to talk to me about mixing the show I thought, ‘Well, that won’t take very long because I really don’t know anything.’ ”
Clif is, of course, being modest, but being a live engineer is not his background. “I have known Thomas for more than 20 years. I was in his band and we are studio mates. This all came about because he wanted to play at SXSW, and they booked a few dates between California and Texas to fill in. He asked me to do this and I told him I didn’t really want to. I hate mixing live. In the studio, if I hit a mute button by mistake, it is not the end of the world. Live, well, it’s a much bigger deal. But he asked and I agreed, and I have actually had a great time. We have played some interesting venues — including a company cafeteria and now a Las Vegas casino — and we’ll finish up in a punk club in the Bay Area back in California.”
Like many acts hitting the Club at The Cannery for the first time, Clif was very surprised at the size and quality of the house JBL VerTec/Midas/Soundcraft system. “This is easily the biggest and nicest system we have played through on this entire run of shows,” he said. “And the house crew is fantastic.”
Where it is normally expected that an act like Dolby steeped in sequenced electronica would play to presequenced or recorded tracks, he actually created the backing tracks on the fly, using and then played live parts and sang on top of it. Dolby is totally unassuming for a probable billionaire. Minutes before the show, he entered through the front door and strolled through the full room without anyone really noticing him. He went backstage and donned the trademark glasses and a gray trench coat and “became” Thomas Dolby.
Of course, someone as smart as he is isn’t going to use just any old mic and monitor system. He wears what appear to be old-style headphones that actually have a pair of Sensaphonics ProPhonic 2X-S earpieces inside and a head-worn mic. The rig also includes a head-mounted video camera that was being mixed — live — with other footage and effects by a U.K.-based DJ named Johnny Dekam.
All of the synth parts come to Clif as a premixed stereo pair, as do Dolby’s vocals, with all effects already added from the rack onstage. Hence, the eight inputs.
Clif may not like doing live mixing, but he made those eight inputs sing, and the show was great. It also drew some major Vegas live audio names, including Cirque sound designer Jonathan Dean. Of course, a big part of it is the fact that both Clif and Dolby do music for the sheer joy of it and not because they need the money. During the show, Dolby explained that he became disillusioned with the music business in the early ’90s and moved to Silicon Valley and started a tech company. That tech company, Beatnik, developed technology used in about 2/3 of the cell phones sold in the world. And while he was doing that, his band mate Clif got together with some friends and developed downloadable ringtones which they sold to Cingular and others. They are not on the road because they need to pay the rent. When I said to Clif, “So, you guys do this for fun.” He replied, “Oh yeah, this is summer vacation.”
GEAR
FOH
1 Midas Heritage 2000 (43 mono + 5 stereo)
1 BSS FCS-960
1 Lake Contour
1 Yamaha SPX-2000
1 Yamaha SPX-990
2 TC Electronic M-One XL
1 TC Electronic D-Two
1 2 ch. Drawmer 1960
1 8 ch. Drawmer DL241
1 4 ch. Klark Teknik DN 504
1 8 ch. Klark Teknik DN 514B
12 JBL Vertec 4888
12 JBL Vertec 4881
4 Crown MA-3600vz (Highs & Mids)
4 Crown MA-5002vz (Lows)
6 Crown IT-4000 (Subs)
MON
1 Soundcraft MH3-40
5 BSS FCS-960 (12 mixes)
5 DBX Driverack P.A.
1 TC Electronic M-OneXL
1 4 ch. Klark Teknik DN 504
1 8 ch. Behringer MultiGate Pro
4 JBL TTM-129
12 JBL TTM-149
2 JBL SRX4733 (sidefills)
1 JBL MPRO 415 / 418 Sub (drum fill)
4 JBL EON-15G2
8 Crown MA-36×12
2 Crown MA-3600vz
4 Crown IT-4000
