Mixing FOH sound at large-scale, multi-performer events is a specialized task that I usually choose to avoid. I know myself well enough to understand that I possess neither the organizational skills nor the temperament necessary to successfully navigate through the rapid-fire changes of bands, musical styles and production formats. Over my 40 years of mixing, I have most definitely evolved into an “evening with” kind of a guy. I do my best work when my concentration is unbroken and when I have heard enough repetitions of songs to really get inside the arrangements. A distraction as slight as having a surprise support band can easily sidetrack my show day preparation process.
Knowing your most effective work habits and acknowledging your individual strengths and limitations will usually illuminate an optimal pathway that leads to favorable professional outcomes. Accepting a work circumstance that obviously runs counter to one’s nature often leads to less-than-fulfilling results.
Having said that, I have no idea what drove me to say “Yes” when asked if I would mix FOH for this year’s National Academy of Recording Arts & Sciences (NARAS) Person of the Year event in Los Angeles. The most likely answer stems from the internal pressure generated by mid-winter financial panic — an experience shared by all touring crew personnel until the concert business once again picks up in the spring. I also felt a great sense of personal obligation toward my good friend, Chris Smythe, from Delicate Productions, who had generously nominated me for this project. Chris also informed me about the fantastic lineup of artists who had committed to performing.
In addition, MusiCares is a noble, worthwhile charity that provides a financial safety net and support system when a member of our music community falls into serious financial need. It was my intention to diligently do my part and help make its largest annual fund raising event a smashing success. With compelling motivation pushing me forward, I found myself agreeing to take part when I spoke with one of the event’s producers on the phone.
The Lineup
The 2015 NARAS event honored Bob Dylan. Many of my favorite artists would be taking part and performing a song of their choice from Mr. Dylan’s vast catalog of material. Bruce Springsteen, Bonnie Raitt, Willie Nelson, Neil Young, Sheryl Crow, Crosby, Stills & Nash, Jackson Browne, John Mellencamp, Los Lobos and Tom Jones were familiar names that immediately jumped out at me. Also appearing were Beck, Aaron Neville, Alanis Morissette, Jack White, Norah Jones, John Doe and Susan Tedeschi & Derek Trucks. Each of these artists are performers whose music I definitely respect, although I was somewhat less familiar with their live requirements.
Top Gear, Top Crew
My more positive self believed that this job actually had strong potential to be a whole lot of fun. Delicate would be providing an excellent Martin Audio system and had assigned two great front of house techs in Brennan Houser and Makoto Araki, with whom I would work. The FOH console would be a DiGiCo SD7. I was most anxious to explore DiGiCo’s largest format console after my year of mixing James Taylor on the SD5. Delicate also enlisted Louis Adamo from Hi-Tech Audio to assist me in discovering the programming nuances for the SD7. Looking at the entire package Delicate had assembled, I knew I would be in great hands with the available personnel and mixing the show on the best gear available.
On the other hand, I had doubts about my own suitability for this particular task. In the day-to-day circumstances of touring audio, I am very much accustomed to overseeing, as well as performing, many critical audio system-related tasks. My road partner-in-crime is Clair systems engineer Andy Sottile. Beginning with the morning call at load-in, Andy and I devise an overall game plan for that particular venue. We act as a team to collectively determine the best system configuration for that day’s performance. Andy and I usually fly the stage right P.A. clusters together and thus ensure that the array’s size, coverage angles and flown position best fulfill our projections for an optimal audio result. I also work in tandem with our production manager and stage manager to secure a mix location that is favorable for my needs but also has the least impact on seat kills.
Complications and Solutions
For the NARAS event, however, I was compartmentalized by my job description and separated from any decisions about the arraying and tuning of the audio system. Working 230 feet from the stage increased that feeling of isolation. My defined function was to work the console based on an organizational scheme that I hastily created after comparing the various input lists that had been submitted by each artist. Larry Reed, the engineer on the recording truck, had generated all final input lists and designated all microphone choices. Additionally, he published multiple daily changes to those lists. It seemed that all artist requirements and performance parameters were in a continual state of flux tending toward chaos. The entirety of this situation was a bit difficult to accept as a person who is very much a hands-on engineer and accustomed to being the final authority for all things audio.
I was therefore reticent to become married to a particular console layout until just before the trucks were loaded at Delicate’s warehouse in Camarillo, CA. With as many artists as were on the bill, I was extremely leery of depending completely on automated functions like snapshots or DiGiCo’s channel spill feature to expedite changes to the control surface. Instead, I chose to heavily utilize the many banks and layers available on the SD7. Due to the rapid-fire rehearsal schedule, it was my belief that individually snapshot-ing every act left far too much room for careless, random programming errors. My intent was to use the snapshot function for muting inputs or to bring different fader banks to the top level of the control surface.
The SD7 worksurface offers immediate access to 52 faders: 12 100mm faders on the left section, 12 100mm faders on the right section, 12 100mm faders in the center section, plus two additional assignable 100mm faders in the center to the right of the bank selection buttons. Above the full size faders in the center section is a bank of 12 60mm completely assignable faders and two 60mm assignable to the right of the bank selection buttons. The left and right fader bays feature two layers of six banks each. The main center bay provides two layers of four banks each. The upper faders in the center section allow access to four banks. The four faders to the right of the layer/bank selection buttons in both the top and bottom of the center section are individually assigned.
Using Layer 1 on the left and right fader bays, I was able to assign inputs from the musicians and singers who would be playing in or appearing with the house band to the first three banks. Instruments were assigned to the left bay while vocalists were assigned to the right bay. The vocalists only required two banks deep, and so I placed the four Crosby, Stills & Nash inputs, the five Neil Young inputs and the three John Mellencamp inputs on Bank 3 of the right fader bay. Bank 4 was dedicated to 24 Los Lobos inputs and required using both the left and right bays. Bank 5 left and right was split between Jackson Browne and Sheryl Crow inputs. Bank 6 left and right was used for Norah Jones and her band’s inputs.
The top two banks of the center section large faders were designated as 24 Control Groups (DCAs). The first bank of 12 controlled input groups from the house band and the headline performers who appeared with that unit. The second bank of 12 DCAs sequentially controlled inputs from Jackson Browne, Sheryl Crow, Los Lobos and Norah Jones. The bank of small faders in the center section was permanently assigned to audio playback, video playback, announce microphones and podium mics. Additionally, one small fader was assigned as a Control Group for the entire house band, and I used that as a global mute when self-contained acts were performing on their separate stages.
I used the bare minimum of snapshots, managing as much as I could manually. All but two of the snapshots were simply changing mute status or bringing different banks up to the top level of the control surface. At all times, manual operation was the available failsafe. However, when Sheryl Crow and Jackson Browne performed, each appeared on a rotating satellite stage in the center of the venue. All of their inputs were routed to a separate stereo master that fed an in-the-round, secondary P.A. system that was arrayed above the circular rotator. Accommodating the limitations of the recording truck required the FOH and monitor desks to share five input preamps from very different sound sources. Each presented dissimilar gain levels and EQ requirements. This required devising a more complex snapshot for each of these two acts, but I had just enough time before the show commenced to rehearse these particular moves and discover any errors in the programming process.
And in the End
On my end of the snake, the show cues came off flawlessly. Changes between acts flowed easily, snapshots ran correctly and the equipment all performed admirably. Workflow on the SD7 was seamless. Keeping automated programming simple for a very complex show required very intense concentration, but the results were worth the effort in both preparation and execution. There were so many memorable performances.
That said, I am very happy to be back on the road with James Taylor. I was definitely a fish out of water at the NARAS event.
Safe travels!
