Here comes another summer — and with it, festival season. You better get some sleep while you can, because the next stop is Labor Day. As a tour manager and FOH engineer, I figured I’d offer a few suggestions to help you survive the ordeals.
Keep It Digital
It should go without saying, but a digital desk is a must in a festival situation. So why do I mention it? Because last week I worked a multi-band bill where the FOH desk was an analog dinosaur. The venue already had the analog desk in-house, and the promoter didn’t want to foot the bill to rent a digital desk. Ugh. Sure, it sounded great, but changeover was not quick. You youngsters may not realize this, but the term “console snapshot” came from the Paleozoic era when engineers actually took Polaroid photos of the desk so they could recall settings in a festival situation. As much as the engineer for last week’s support act promised to reset everything to the way he found it, what I discovered was that stuff like drums had been routed into delays, creating some silly effects that had no business being in anyone’s mix. Fortunately, analog desks in festival situations have now been officially outlawed in all 50 states — well, we can dream, can’t we?
Now that we have that straight, find out what kind of mixing desk will be provided for your stage and send your file to the systems tech in advance. This solves several problems. Most mixer manufacturers offer free software that can be run on your computer to create an “offline” console file for their desks. If the mixer is new to you, you’ll have time to hunt down the software and build the file when you’re less stressed. The systems tech will be able to view your setup and hopefully spot any anomalies that may exist. For example, let’s say (like me) you don’t travel with production. You have a console file that you used last week for a show. On that particular show, the bass DI line was bad, so the stage tech re-patched the bass DI into channel 37. In your mixing console file, input 37 was cross-patched to channel 12. The systems tech needs to know this, and you need to try and remember it, too.
Sending your file to the systems tech ahead of time also gives them the chance to make sure that the outputs of your file match the configuration of the P.A. system being used on that day. I’ll probably take some flak from console manufacturers for this, but the recall procedure for some desks is still finicky. Sometimes, importing a console scene that was created using one software revision into a console running a different software rev can cause problems (like crashing the system), particularly if the desk’s rev is older than the version of software used to create the scene. So in the unfortunate event that loading your file screws up the output configuration, it would be a lot better for everyone involved if this happened while the tech was prepping at the shop, and not on day-of-show with 37,000 people present. It also provides the tech a chance to make sure that the outputs for subwoofer, delay, fill and matrix feeds are routed properly.
Take The Early Train
Here’s a typical exchange with our travel agent, bless his soul…
Me: “Let’s talk about the shows in Bowling Green, KY; Lincoln, NE and Melbourne, FL.”
(For those of you who are unfamiliar, Bowling Green is an hour from Nashville. There is no such thing as a direct flight from Nashville to Lincoln NE).
Travel Agent: (computer keys clicking in background) “I can get you into Lincoln at 4:00 p.m., but that’s probably too late…”
Me: “Yup”
T.A.: “Oh, you’re screwed. How about Omaha? It’s an hour from Lincoln. I can get you into Omaha at 12:35 p.m.”
Me: “That puts us at the gig at around 2:00 p.m. That’s workable.”
T.A.: “Okay, your first flight leaves Nashville at 8:00 a.m.”
Me: “Ugh. That means a 5:00 a.m. lobby call.” Out of bed at 4:15 a.m. Again.
I’ll spare you the gory details the next day in getting from Lincoln, NE to Melbourne, FL in time for a sound check, but let’s just say it required a 4 a.m. lobby call. We had similar travel for most of our shows in the first half of June. Could we have arranged more civil departure times? Possibly, but getting to a gig at 5:00 p.m. is asking for trouble, first because it’s not smart to show up at a venue so late in the day and expect things to go well, and second, many smaller airports have two flights in and out per day, per airline: an early flight and a late flight. The late flight is the contingency plan. Miss that later flight and not only will you miss the gig, but you’ll be stuck overnight. Not cool. Take the early route. You’ll sleep when you’re dead. The insult to your injury will likely be that you’ll get to the gig early enough to sit around waiting for something to happen so…
Don’t Wait for Something To Happen
Get with the stage manager and see what you can do to prep for changeover. Rolling risers are your friends. Get the drums set and miked if possible. This is where carrying a microphone package is a wonderful thing. You won’t have to worry about whether or not there are enough mics available to pre-mic the kit. Skid-type risers (four-by-eight feet by four inches high) can be great for setting guitar and keyboard rigs, so you can build them in the wings while the other bands are performing and roll them onto the stage at changeover. See? There really is a reason to wake up at 4:00 a.m.
While your tech is prepping the drum kit, find out if everyone involved has the correct input list. This is especially important for the more (ahem) mature bands that have been around for a while. Recently, someone came to me with an input list from 2004. Really. Did I send it to them? Definitely not. Maybe they pulled it from the Metal Archives at the Smithsonian. Avoid confusion and carry extra copies of the real input list. Ditto for the stage plot.
Where Are The Rabbit Ears?
Festivals can be an RF nightmare, so do everything possible to make sure wireless gear operates without interference. Some festivals actually employ an RF coordinator to minimize the carnage. RF coordination is critical when using wireless systems in the UHF band because that band is so crowded. I recently did a taping for DirecTV in the Los Angeles area, and the RF coordinator contacted me a week ahead to ask about our wireless requirements (don’t forget the in-ear monitor systems). She actually came back to me with a request that we change the frequency of one of the guitar systems because she knew the frequency we were using was problematic in that location. Problem avoided.
Systems operating in the 2.4 GHz range may require less in the way of frequency coordination, but it is possible that wireless routers in the vicinity can disturb transmission of wireless instruments and mics in that range. Test each system ahead of time and find out if any additional equipment will be switched on at showtime.
Time Is Not On Your Side
One of the most important aspects of festival appearances is that your show runs on time. It is absolutely imperative that you and your crew have an “all hands on deck” attitude at changeover. In the event that your act starts a minute or two late, you still need to end at the designated time. Nothing screams “unprofessional” more than a band that exceeds their time slot. While we’re discussing professionalism, a cool head and a positive attitude go a long way, especially with house crews who are often overworked and underpaid. And occasionally, try saying “please” and see what happens.
Steve “Woody” La Cerra is the tour manager and front of house engineer for Blue Öyster Cult.
