It is not often that in the same three-hour period you get to see the promise of the future and a living example of the greatness that got us here in the first place. That probably sounds confusing, so allow me to do what I do…
A friend in town has been trying to get me to come out to see a new totally software-driven and virtual mixing system for months. And I kept finding reasons not to go. She would tell me "you have to see this. This is the future of live sound." Of course this is the same person who keeps telling me I will gig more if I ditch my 10-piece band and go out with four pieces and backing tracks. She is undoubtedly right, but I ain't gonna do it, and I don't want to hear it. So maybe the fact that she is telling me stuff I don't want to hear played into it.
But a few days before I sat down to write this, I found a reason to go check it out. It was being used for a live recording of a band I had wanted to see but never got around to. Now, not to go all muso on you, but most of you know I still play out when I get the chance, and the last few years have been frustrating. I knew we were pretty good, but we just could not break through. My friend Larry Hall told me, "Go see Santa Fe and you'll understand. Because that is who you are competing with."
They played every Monday night at a 200-ish seat room at the Palms in Las Vegas for the past few years. I met their leader, Jerry Lopez, when they had a bunch of gear stolen, and we used the network of FOH readers in Vegas to try to recover some of it. Jerry came to my house and I lent him a sub snake and some mics just to get them through for a while. He invited me down and said he'd reserve a table, and I still didn't do it. I mean, a Monday night, how busy could it be?
I got there and looked in vain for the guy with this futuristic system and then ran into a couple other sound guys-one from a Cirque show, and Sonny Maupin, who has been a staple on the Vegas audio scene for probably 20 years was mixing. So I sat with them and just shot the poop for a while as we waited for the band to come out.
I won't get into it except to say that Santa Fe and the Fat City Horns is one of the very best bands I have heard ever. Ever. Try to imagine Tower of Power and Earth Wind and Fire both in their prime and combined along with a healthy dose of Latin groove. I was floored. This is my competition? I wrote an e-mail to my agent and Larry at 2:30 in the morning and said "If I ever bitch and moan about not getting a gig again, may God strike me dead where I stand." I finally got it. My band is pretty good, but we are not in the same galaxy as these guys, much less in the same league.
So after being floored by the show, I went backstage to finally see this great system. It was already after midnight on a Monday, and I wanted to put in a quick appearance and get out. But I couldn't. I watched what this system was capable of-stuff no system on the market can do at any cost. Not even the most advanced six-figure systems. All at a price point lower than even an entry-level digital board. I left with my head just spinning.
Over the next few days, I found myself looking at the whole thing very negatively. This band was better than I could ever hope to be, and the night I saw them was their last night after a three-year run at the Palms. They pack the place and all of the musicians play on big shows around town and with top acts and come together to do this for the sheer joy of it. Fifteen pieces, and I have no idea what they were making, but even at $300 a man on an "off" night, this band is a bargain. They bring their own backline and sound guy and the lights are run by a fan who does it for free, so costs are minimal, but someone at the Palms said they weren't making any money so their engagement was not extended into 2010. If they can't make money on a band this great that packs the joint on a night the room would normally be dark, then something is very wrong.
And the system? As mind-blowing as it was, it meant mixing with a mouse and a pretty steep learning curve. Few sound people are going to want to go there, and without a real control surface and a marketing plan that went beyond "look how freaking cool this is," the SoftwareAudioConsole would go nowhere.
But today a switch flipped in my head. In a world dominated by track acts and singers who need auto-tune in the shower, there are still real people playing real music and people willing to brave a very cold Vegas night (on a Monday from 10 to 12!) just for the chance to hear them do so. Maybe as the economy picks up, there will be room for a "B" team. (Okay, more like B- or C but you get the idea.) And the system? I talked to someone at a major console manufacturer and told them about it and was immediately asked for the inventor's contact info. (It's Bob Lentini, who has worked with Jim Gamble among others, so he is far from an unknown.)
Bottom line is that this kind of technology will find a home. And someone really smart will find a way to make it more user-friendly, and we'll all end up with a whole new generation of amazing tools. And if we are lucky, we'll get to use those tools with artists that are as great at what they do as Santa Fe is.
The future is looking pretty damn bright after all…
