The Show & Tell Thread... All are welcomed!!

[T.RayBullard]

the Church I work in as an archivist(one of my regular recording gigs)

interior

jecklin disc/DPA on organ recital


sound devices/mytek/dpa preamp



more concert pics from the Church

[Remoteness]

Excellent... Can you tell us more about the pictures you just posted?

Let's keep this thread going -- Anyone else have anything to show and tell???

[T.RayBullard]

Those were all taken during concerts(or right before).
the Jecklin Disc was used on a Bach/Mozart Organ Recital. The mics I used for that were DPA 4061s(with the grille removed, flatter response). I ran those into the DPA mma6000 preamp>>>mytek stereo 192>>sound devices 722. Very handy two channel setup.
I spent about two hours walking around the Cathedral there trying to find the right spot to place mics. I am still learning the place, even though ive recorded there 15-20 times. VERY wet acoustic, all stone. The church was built during the late 1700s. I normally run 2-no more than 6 channels. I like keeping it simple. Ill probably go up to 8 eventually, but so far I like what I am getting and the people I work for do too, so all is good!

The Lute, Soprano pics were taken during an early music concert. Other players for that event were a harpsichordist and transverse flute. The other pics you see of the choir and orchestra were taken during Monteverdi's MarienVesper.

English Horns(the girls in the right of the pic) get on my nerves. Only thing that is farther up on my list of dreaded musical instruments is the piccolo.

It is a real blessing working there, learning how to deal with a real acoustic like the church has.Thank God ive got carte blanche to setup however I choose. Each concert is a new challenge. Maybe one day ill know my ass from a hole in the ground.

Teddy

[klangumwandler]

Hello everyone, I'm James Fei, I do mostly remotes for contemporary music (I'm a composer and improviser) in New York City, mostly 2 to 8 channels. Typcially the main pair is ORTF Sennheiser MKH-40's or Schoeps CMC64's on a Manfrotto stand. Sometimes spaced pair MBHO omni's. Closeup mics: Sony C48, C-38B, Groove Tubes MD3A, 414-B-ULS, AT4049/51/53, etc. I don't have any good recent "action shots," here's a mic pre setup: Hamptone tube, Sytek and Jensen Twin Servo (cards by Steve Hogan). I'm building four more channels of 990-based preamps at the moment.



I rarely mix live to 2-track now, so the custom mixer stays home for mixdowns of multitrack sessions. It's a minimal setup--P&G's, fader buffer, pan, passive summing, servo'd Jensen 990's for makeup gain, Jensen outputs. The PPM's are Innovonics.



There are more pics of mixdown gear, etc, at my website.

Best,

James

[Remoteness]

Wow, that's a pretty deep case for the console. Can you explain how the PCBs are mounted and anything else you can tell us about the cool little mixer of your?

Also, I just wanted to say how great the Jensen twin servo 990s sound -- You must love them much!

Thanks a lot in advance.

[nathanvacha]

Originally Posted by mwagener

...I'm running five S3As and a M&K 5410 sub via a LFE-4 bassmanagement...

Hey, Michael W, do you always stand your monitors like that? The rears set flat and the fronts upright? I wonder if you notice any difference in them that way? Or did it just bother you visually across the front? Too much in front of the glass? I've seen your place before, though, too... really nice. I especially like the 1 rack space across the bridge... It seems like you retain ergonomics, and use all of your space efficiently there.

(edit...) wow, i just looked back and saw how old this thread was... where'd that one come from?

[klangumwandler]

Hi Steve. Indeed it's a deep case, an Excalibur flight case. I acquired it as an "unknown" on eBay (for about $260!), having spotted some 990 op amps in it. After asking around a bit, John Hardy put me in touch with Steve Hogan (formerly of Jensen Transformers), who made it in the 80's. Turns out it was a custom job 4-ch mixer that the client didn't get completed, so it was left configured as just two mic pres (probably the largest and heaviest). I took out the Twin Servo cards and racked it in a 1RU case, rebuilt the mixer as a 8 channel (plus stereo input directly to the summing network for expansion), had to cut some extra fader slots with a jig saw. Here's a picture of the guts:




The 990 pcb is mounted directly on the top panel to keep wiring short. The summing network is right on top of the edge connector. The fader buffers (OPA627) are on little perf boards on the pan pots (blue Alps). Power and ground go to single points. The master fader can be bypassed to keep the number of gain stages to two. Inputs are connected to the main case via an Elco connector. The Jensen outputs are also on the lower case.

I do love the Twin Servos, the most natural and extended bass response of the preamps I've used, and wonderful midrange. I wired mine with two outputs each, one pre-output xfmr (impedance balanced with Jensen load isolators), one post. This gives me isolated splits for stereo mic'ing work to two recorders, as well as an option in sound. Here's the pre:



Best,

James

Originally Posted by Remoteness

Wow, that's a pretty deep case for the console. Can you explain how the PCBs are mounted and anything else you can tell us about the cool little mixer of your?

Also, I just wanted to say how great the Jensen twin servo 990s sound -- You must love them much!

Thanks a lot in advance.

[Remoteness]

Very cool James!

eBay does have it's moments.

[ClickTrackAudio]

My turn...its been awhile since I posted any pics...


We just came off a TV gig last week. It was a french-language musical/variety show that airs in Quebec. We did 4 shows out of the full 13 episodes. What was nice is that we were called by one of the other mobile companies around because they were contracted for two other big TV gigs. Gotta love how the love gets shared around the remote world!

A large amount of inputs were needed as there was a house band and, depending on the show, up to two other guest bands. As well, there were interviewer mics, guest mics, and other traffic inputs that needed special attention. All told, I think we had about 85 inputs coming to the truck.

This was an interesting gig in that the production was producing the show as a live edit. It was taped before a live audience, but it was treated almost as if we were going live-to-air. I say "almost" because if there was a screw up (whether it be perfomers missing a script or somewhere in the technical world) we would stop and redo the section. A redundant tape would be played up to the screw up point and then we would crossfade live (audio & video) from the redundant to the master record tape.

As well, the video truck provided video playback as segments of the show were pre-recorded.

All this meant a myriad of signals going back and forth between the different "worlds"...mobile audio feeding mobile video...mobile video feeding mobile audio who then forwards certain feeds to the monitor and FOH world...

This all leads to picture of "patch world". The patch man onstage was great...he definitely knew what he was doing.

As I mentioned we were substituted in to help out another mobile, which is a tough job indeed...the staff from both trucks worked hard in the planning stages to make the transition as seemless as possible. After all, its one thing to get on site and do things in your "normal" way...its totally another to replace another truck...although we all do similar jobs, its amazing how many ways there are to skin the cat!!!

[ClickTrackAudio]

Inside our truck, a second console was used to help manage the traffic. This was also done to keep the differences between the two trucks down to a minimum...the truck we were subbing in for use a second console, so adding the second console meant not changing any of the patching from the stage.

I've also added a couple of pics of the full set, monitor world and the producers bench and patching from inside the truck.

There's probably a myriad of details I'm forgetting to relay, but I'm in the middle of nursing a cold...my faculties aren't at their best...sorry!

Cheers!

[Remoteness]

Clicky,

Sweet stuff my man!

I took the liberty to combine your seven photos into two combo JPEGs for us lazy folks that don’t like to click on each and every picture.

I hope you don’t mind. Here’s the first image…

[Remoteness]

Got any other pictures? What happened to interior pictures 1, 2, 3, 5 & 6?

And now the second of the two combos...

[ClickTrackAudio]

Originally Posted by Remoteness

Got any other pictures? What happened to interior pictures 1, 2, 3, 5 & 6?

And now the second of the two combos...

Hey, Thanks, Steve...yeah, it makes sense to do the combo pics ;). Good job! :).

Lol...trust me...there are *plenty* more pics, but I thought I'd just give ya a little sampling...besides, who'd wanna hear about lil ol me?

Hee hee....

I'll see what I can dredge up, resize and post up to whet more of your appetites :).

[Remoteness]

Cool, no problem...

Hey, I wanna hear about lil' ol' you... And I trust many other folks do too.

You built an awesome lil' truck and I am proud for you! Show it off...

[marty lester]

awesome! more! more!!

marty.

[ExistanceMusic]

Ok, Clicky (guess thats you new name on here!) time to spill...A: What's the digi console in your truck? DM1k/2k I'm guessing?? And the consoles in monitor world... ML4000 and something I can't guess?? Also, why 2 monitor consoles?
Great lookin truck bud, very simple, looks like something to get the job done with minimum fuss, just my style..

[ClickTrackAudio]

Originally Posted by ExistanceMusic

Ok, Clicky (guess thats you new name on here!) time to spill...A: What's the digi console in your truck? DM1k/2k I'm guessing?? And the consoles in monitor world... ML4000 and something I can't guess?? Also, why 2 monitor consoles?

Sorry for the delay in responding...

In the truck we run with the Yamaha DM2K. It was a nice balance of cost vs. sound quality in a digital console vs. usuability vs. general familiarity and acceptance by other engineers who may do work in the truck. Size was a bit of a factor, as well as "drop-in-ability"...being able to replace the console in a pinch if fit hit the shan without major changes to harnesses etc.

In Monitor world, it was actually a soundcraft variation...I actually can't tell you which specifically, but based on one of the other pics (that I have yet to put up <insert sheepish grin here>), I'm thinking its in the Europa class...

There were two consoles in all worlds...FOH, monitor, mobiles...simply because of the size and variety of the performers involved. Basically, there were 13 total episodes done but they were done in 2 or 3 episode stints. We did 4 of the 13 episodes.

For each show, there was one constant house band and then 1 or 2 different musical acts. In all the worlds, the house band was run from one console while the "other" acts were run from the second console. Because the show was loaded in to the venue for 2 shows at a time, doing it in this manner made it the same every time logistically, regardless of how many inputs were actually needed for that particular day.

Originally Posted by ExistanceMusic

Great lookin truck bud, very simple, looks like something to get the job done with minimum fuss, just my style..

Thanks....we work on a KISS rule scenario...we tried to build it as flexible as possible while keeping the actually foundation fairly simple. We've found a couple of things that need modifying in order to support the flexibility we want, but on the whole the truck has been performing well. We've been quite happy to find that once getting to the site, it takes about 15 to 20 minutes to be up and running in the truck (assuming park & power goes as planned). The stage interface, as you all will know, is where all the time will be taken.

[Remoteness]

What did you need to modify?

[ClickTrackAudio]

Originally Posted by Remoteness

What did you need to modify?

When spec'ing out the truck, one of the earliest decisions made was to go with the RADARs as the primary recorder. This is one of the best decisions we made.

Since we had the RADARs on board, we went one step farther...we wired our patchbays half normalled so that the input signals go directly to the RADARs...which is our standard configuration. This allows us to send any input signal anywhere at the patchbay without needing to patch the recorder channels that tend to stay the same for 90% of our gigs. This also killed multiple birds with one stone...we focus on the "capture" angle so it made sense to record the raw input signals and then send the recorder output to the console for simultaneous mix. As well, the RADAR A/D's are top notch...hell we had em...may as well use 'em for all they're worth!!! Why pay for more A/D than you need?

This configuration is fine for our normal gigs, but this job highlighted one flaw in the configuration. On this job, because of the sheer amount of inputs, the mixer wanted everything at the console and then send specific tracks to the recorders. Once again, this, in itself, is not a problem...since we have everything at the patch bay, we can just re-route the stage inputs to the console for A/D. The RADARs also have a digital connection to the console for all channels so its easy to send anything and everything to the recorders from the console...this wasn't a concern. The only problem is, once again, due to the sheer size of this show, the mixer already had the console A/D's fully loaded for other duties.

Anyways, we had an easy solution...we got extra pre-amps with on board A/D and sent everything digitally to the console via the option slots. We're now in the process of doing gear selection to make this a permanent option...which means another patchbay, more wiring, yada yada. (Its amazing how the comment "lets just add xxx" can easily turn into a week long wiring festival) This will allow us to do our normal configuration, but also be able to satisfy reqirements like that one without any thought.

Ahh..mobile work...gotta love the need to invest enough to stay flexible and say "Yeah, we can do it...no problem". Being able to say it costs nothing. Not being able to do it can cost jobs.

We're also thanking our stars that we did the majority of our planning and spending on infrastructural elements and the raw truck platform. We figured that gear-wise, things can move around fairly easily for job to job if need be, but we can't afford not being able to say "yeah we can do it" for something that would need the truck to go to the shop for an infrastructure change. Its just not economically feasible, but it leaves you open for murphy to play the asshole that he can be. Knock on wood, that has proved itself well.

[Duffster]

Two nights of recording a live MTV DVD for a Brasilian punk band.

[Duffster]

Inside the tin crate they supplied for us as a control room.

[Duffster]

Some of the guitar and bass rig setup for the show.

[Duffster]

One more live shot for good measure.

[Remoteness]

It looks like you had some sweet gear in that tin CRM.

Can you supply us with a list or a larger picture?