What started as a way to get around gambling laws has grown into a huge business. Back in 1994, the floating Argosy Casino first set sail on the Mississippi River about 15 minutes from downtown St. Louis. It was the first of the "riverboat" casinos. Today, those "boats" are buildings that float, and some have production venues that rival anything on solid ground.
I've spent quite a bit of time on that "boat." I operated the showroom at this casino all thru the 1990s and did many bands in the 250-seat Aces Lounge. But since then, they have added a new showroom, and it draws national acts. Some of the band I have done at this casino: Little River Band, Lonestar, Steve Allen, Steppenwolf, Shirley Reeves, The Flamingos and many other great legacy acts.
Mighty Max
We recently got the call to do Max Weinberg's band. Some of you may know Max for his years with Conan O'Brian on TV, but long before the small screen, Max was known and revered as the drummer for The Boss – Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band, with whom he has toured since the 1970s.
Our Max Weinberg concert went very well, and we had a nice crowd. Max was impressed by the mics that Bob Heil brought to us, and when he found out he was near Miles Davis' hometown, he added a song to his set list, which, I was told, had never happened before. (Alton IL is where Miles Davis, the King Of Cool, was born, and he later moved to East St, Louis and beyond, but I am proud to say that this is his hometown.)
An All-Heil Stage
I'll cop to being a big fan of Heil mics, and Bob is right around the corner, so to speak – in Fairview Heights, IL. He brought out a bunch of mics, and it ended up being an all-Heil stage, including Bob's brand new PR 31, a shortened version of the PR 30. It finds itself under cymbals, under snares – anywhere a smaller footprint is needed. And it retains the frequency response of the PR 30.
On our bandstand, we had, for horns: five PR 31s on saxophone, three PR 30s on trombone, four PR 35s on trumpet.
On Max's drums, we used the new PR 48 on kick, and with a closed drum head.
In a Jazz-style kit such as Max's, this works great. It's full and fat and has great attack, but picks up this style of kick with authority.
On snare, we used the PR 22 on top, and this gave a great sound when used with brushes or a stick.
On the toms, we used the new PR 28 tom mics mounted with the HH-1 tom mounts.
On Max's first tom, we needed a side mount solution. Bob has set about designing one to give a low profile drum mount. These mounts offer a great deal of flexibility and attachment ease.
On hi-hat, we used the PR 30, and under the ride cymbal, we used the new PR 31, which is a great solution for over/under cymbal miking.
Inside the Kawaii Concert Grand piano, we used a pair of PR 40 mics, which sounded fabulous,
On upright bass, we used a radial passive DI and pre-amp into an Eden 410 bass rig. The small, tight rhythm section smoked and was tight, and then that 12-piece horn section – When these guys let go, it was fun. Dueling solos, back and forth solos from trumpet to sax, sax to sax, piano to sax – it was a joy all night to listen to this swinging big band.
I've had quite a bit of experience with these types of bands, and you really have to be on your toes to rehearse one time and then do a show – watching for solos and cues, which come fast and furious – but we had things well in control.
On Top of the Mix
I used a Crest HPW 48-channel console that's been modified by Crest, removing the Automix channels and installing eight more mono channels. It's now a great standard analog festival console – I've used it now for about two years, and its been a workhorse, hauled around and facing outdoor heat, humidity, rain, etc., and it's given me no problems. Its 10 auxes let us do monitors from FOH, and that eliminates all the space issues of finding room for the monitor guy and his gear, etc.
The Speaker Setup
The speaker system in the hall included Meyer and Mackie loudspeakers. A pair of Meyer UPA-1P compact wide coverage speakers were flown on each side of the half moon stage, and with the internal power amps did a great job of covering the 500-plus people who were seated in the room.
Two Mackie SWA 1801 subwoofers were used on each side of the stage, and I used the Galileo 616 system processor for tuning and time alignment.
The system was powerful and tight and had LOTS of headroom, even with that high horsepower big band on stage.
Overall, it was a great day of great music, and an example of how great it is having the right tools (and also having Bob Heil in my back yard as a mentor and Professor of Musicology).
Don Lanier owns Pearl Productions, a soundco that serves the greater St. Louis, MO. metro market.
