Theory and Practice

The Ten Dumbest Questions You May Need to Ask When Advancing a Gig

Every once in a while, I need a reality check. Apparently that time is due. As professionals, we ask certain questions when advancing a gig, and often those questions are the same, regardless of whether the gig is an arena, a festival, a theater or a club. Sometimes issues that we don’t anticipate catch us by surprise and make for an unpleasant day. Unfortunately, some such issues were raised at a recent gig, where the house “tech crew” (we’ll be polite here) was extremely unprepared. I thought those days were over, but apparently they are not, thus we have to ask The Ten Dumbest Questions You May Need to Ask When Advancing a Gig.

Over the past few years, you may have noticed (or been bombarded by) the availability of more and more mixing consoles that don’t have traditional control surfaces. By “traditional,” I am not referring to the now-standard operational model of a digital desk with one set of selected channel controls. I am referring to the proliferation of console-less mixers — mixers that are housed in what is essentially a stage box, often with little more than I/O connectors and a network port. What does this mean for engineers, software developers and manufacturers? There are some obvious, and some not-so-obvious answers.

I’ve touched on the festival experience in this column before, but with festival season kicking off this month, I thought I’d revisit the topic and maybe offer some useful advice for anyone facing the “fun” of festival mixing.

Last night I had the most amazing dream. Frank Sinatra called to tell me he was putting a tour together. When he woke me up, I tried not to sound annoyed. After all, it’s been a long time since we spoke. I think he may have been in a different time zone.

There are literally thousands of available audio plug-ins, ranging from the simplest filters to complex multi-channel surround reverbs. This month, let’s look at some commonly used plug-ins that can help you make better mixes. Best of all, you may already have some of them.

Suggested EQ for Common Sources
One of the most important tools we use on a regular basis is EQ. Sometimes we use it to correct problems, and other times we use it creatively. It’s worth taking a look at some techniques for applying EQ to common input channels. The photos below were taken from the screen of a DiGiCo SD10 mixing console. Keep in mind that EQ is, of course, intimately tied to the quality of the source as well as microphone selection, so these are just starting points. YMMV.

More Changes Afoot in the FCC’s Frequency Allocation Program

Back in 2008, when the FCC auctioned the 700 MHz portion of the UHF band (698 to 806 MHz), the audio industry took a huge hit on our ability to use wireless devices. Operation of wireless mics was prohibited in the 700 MHz region, a part of the UHF spectrum we had come to rely upon quite a bit. Vacating that space has put tremendous pressure on manufacturers to push wireless audio technology at an accelerated rate, and they certainly have responded with developments in alternate frequency bands, digital wireless technology and even re-examining the VHF band, which we had all but abandoned long ago.

Last month (FRONT of HOUSE, Nov. 2016, page 41), we discussed the concept of word clock. Here’s the highlight reel:

• Almost every digital audio device has an internal word clock

• All devices sharing digital audio must be synchronized to the same clock or we’ll hear noise, distortion or glitches

Does Anybody Really Know What Time it Is?

Last month, we touched upon the idea of routing digital audio from an outboard channel into a digital mixing console. Any time that digital audio is transferred between devices, there are two distinct components to the signal: the audio, and something called word clock. Often (but not always) these signals are combined on a single cable, so we don’t realize that word clock is being sent along with the audio. Understanding word clock is critical when interfacing digital gear, and that requires a brief review of digital audio. So here we go.

Let’s do a little math. (I know, you hate math.) But do it anyway. Let’s suppose a 32-channel digital mixing console has a retail price of $15,000. And let’s say that this mixing desk has 16 outputs. That yields a total of 48 I/O channels, each of which requires a certain amount of audio circuitry. Granted, most of the audio processing happens in the digital domain, so we’re not exactly in need of 48 hardware parametric EQs, but we certainly do need 48 amplifiers plus A/D and D/A conversion. That comes to around $312 per channel.

There are a lot of things that can make a gig bad: the weather, delayed or canceled travel (and the accompanying stress) and equipment breakdowns all come to mind. But when someone asks, “How was the show?” the reply is never “the weather was great” or “my flight was awesome, especially the sponge bath I had in Business Class” or “none of the gear exploded” (hmmm… anyone remember Phase Linear amplifiers?). Most often, what makes a great gig is the people who work it.

Dealing with Unfamiliar Mixing Desks

Engineers who tour without production have mixed blessings. If the P.A. system at a particular venue is terrible, they don’t have to live with it for long. If the system at a venue is wonderful, they get it only for one show. Sometimes we can advance our favorite console, and sometimes we get whatever has been installed in the room. Other times, the result may be whatever gear that’s available from the inventory of the sound company providing the P.A.