YouTube -- Simple Plan New Year's 2008 Concert

[Remoteness]

Here's one of the two New Year's Eve concerts we were involved in.
It was uploaded for the 12/31/07 YouTube.com NYE2008 concert clips.
Future products are expected to be released very soon.

Simple Plan was one of the three perfomances we captured.
Talib Kweli & Conceit rounded out the NYE 2008 concert event.

The show was recorded live from the Highline Ballroom in NYC.

What do you think? Was it gigging or gagging?
Any questions or thoughts?

More information to come.

Oh, one more thing....

Click on the links below until I figure out why the above YouTube link doesn't work...

YouTube - SIMPLE PLAN NEW YEAR'S 2008 CONCERT

YouTube - New Year's 2008 Concert

[LX3]

Nice one Steve. The mix is kicking, even over the little built-in speakers on my MacBook Pro. How long did you have to set up a mix?

I watched the first couple of songs. Did the stage lighting improve? Seemed like the singer was in shadow the whole time. Whoops.

Out of interest, how was the changeover between bands managed? Do you record a ton of channels, is there a big or small repatch on stage, or do you repatch at your truck?

Happy New Year of course and thanks. Looking forward to another year of the forum.

[Jim vanBergen]

Hey Steve,

As always, good job, man!

Looks like a nice space- is it new, or just new to me?

How did you like working there? Good power tie-in, easy access for cable, nice place to deal with?

How was the house engineer(s) to deal with, and which split system did you use- the XTA800s?

Did you use the BreadMobile, or was this bigger than that?

Cheers to 2008!

[Remoteness]

Thanks Paul and Jim.

Well, the stage lighting was just that, stage lighting.
Nowadays, these young videographers don’t seem to push for more light for video.
It’s an interesting phenomenon. IMO, I would do everything I could to make sure the picture was right.
It’s all about lighting when it comes to making a good video.

Simple Plan sound checked first.
Their stage input list was 31 channels including a spare vocal mic and a click track for the drummer.

Talib Kweli had a total of 5 input channels from the stage.
Conceit used their own gear, but patched into the same input channel as Talib.

The change over to Simple Plan was completely smooth since nothing was touched.
We did a triple 48 record using two Tascam X48s and a set of Tascam DTRS machines.
The only re-patch was the DJ turn-tables for the first two acts.

Basically, we had 36 channels from the stage plus our four audience mics, my stereo truck mix and their FOH mix going to the recorders. We also recorded LTC just on an audio track for good measure.
There were a total of 45 tracks recorded all around.

I must say Simple Plan is one of the most talented group of musicians I’ve ever worked with.
They sounded incredible; their tone, performance and pitch were spot on.
I mean, right out of the gate they sounded like a seasoned rock act.
I can just imagine what in store for us in the next few years. They’re simple amazing.

I’ve always said we are only as good as the musicians we keep. They made our job easy.
The performance was prerecorded. The rough mix in the truck was pretty damn solid (thanks to Simple Plan’s performance level) and I wasn’t even trying to make it sound right since it was going to be remixed for the NYE2008 concert Webcast.

The band’s recording engineer/mixer - Richard Chycki mixed this in his studio in Ontario.

The Highline Ballroom is a new venue. It’s located on 16th street between 9th & 10th ave.

I really liked working there and look forward to the next time we’re going to be there.
I’m good friends with the owners so it was a pleasure to work there.
Normally the power tie-in is a no brainer. There’s a SR Cam-lok panel available, but we were being nice and gave that up for the band’s extra lighting rig.
We tied into the SL distro panel with some Trico clamps.

The cable run is interesting since the cables had to be rum up the stairs about 30 feet from the club entrance.
So, you really cannot park in front of the venue if you want to have a smooth cable run.

The Highline Ballroom staff was very helpful to us.
We used (your) 56/52X3 passive isolated split system for this date.
Since we were not doing a live mix and economics as a concern we brought in The Bread Mobile.

I must head out to prep for tomorrow’s show at BB King’s in NYC, but I will try to post some picture and additional information for you folks.

[LX3]

Thanks for the rapid and super-detailed reply Steve. All makes sense. Didn't realise they were "small" supports. That's a bonus.

(Strategies for changeovers are something I'm mulling over - after having to do a few big ones myself recently. Small rig in a medium-sized situation, throws up a few challenges. I'm aiming to make them less challenging in the near future.)

Have a good gig tomorrow.

[studio1117]

Very, Very excellent. I'm selling my studio and buying a remote truck that sounds like a blast. I've never heard of the band but they kicked some pretty good booty up there. The mix sounded great even through my little computer speakers. Nice work, really, no ass kissing. That was very nice.

[Richard Chycki]

hey Steve,

Great job reocording the Simple Plan show! It was a pleasure to mix!

All the best,

Rich

[Latinlover]

MIX : Excellent
BAND : WEAK

[Remoteness]

Originally Posted by Richard Chycki

hey Steve,

Great job reocording the Simple Plan show! It was a pleasure to mix!

All the best,

Rich

Thanks Rich.

If you have the time can you tell us a bit about your mix process.

Your mix was totally on point -- Excellent work my friend!

All the best to you and yours in 2008 and beyond!

[Remoteness]

Originally Posted by Latinlover

MIX : Excellent
BAND : WEAK

That's funny since I think this is one of the strongest young rock bands to come along in a longtime.

[LX3]

I initially assumed this NYE show was mixed live... Was it on NYE and "broadcast" later?... how long did you guys have to turn the audio around? Who mixed the supports?

Steve, that's what crossed my mind when I saw the YouTube clip - you don't get a kick and snare sound like that live without great drums, tuning, and a good player. (Or replacing it in the studio! But from what you're saying, I'm assuming that didn't happen here).

Nice job both of you.

[AMIEL]

Hey Steve!!

AWESOME mix!!

Really rocks and the drums sounds amazing!! what a snare!!

Happy 2008!!

[Indrestudios]

Very cool report Steve! The band sounds great.

I'm curious how you got this gig? Without naming names, were you hired by You Tube? Third party production company? video producer? It's always interesting to see which relationships turn into paying gigs.

-MC

[Richard Chycki]

Originally Posted by Remoteness

Thanks Rich.

If you have the time can you tell us a bit about your mix process.

Your mix was totally on point -- Excellent work my friend!

All the best to you and yours in 2008 and beyond!

hey Steve,

Pretty straightahead .... cleanup extraneous noise and then mix. Once that's done, it fell together pretty quickly.

Best to you as well,

R.

[talbe1019]

Overall the mix sounds very good. Not really a Simple Plan fan though.
I am curious if the kick and snare were triggerred?

Tnaks.

[Remoteness]

Originally Posted by LX3

I initially assumed this NYE show was mixed live... Was it on NYE and "broadcast" later?... how long did you guys have to turn the audio around? Who mixed the supports?

Steve, that's what crossed my mind when I saw the YouTube clip - you don't get a kick and snare sound like that live without great drums, tuning, and a good player. (Or replacing it in the studio! But from what you're saying, I'm assuming that didn't happen here).

Nice job both of you.

IMO, live shows can sound as good as this show sounded. With proper pre-production, plenty of ESU sound check and rehearsal anything is possible. We recorded the performance on 12/18/07. The hard drive of all three performances was shipped over night to Rich in Ontario. He had a few days to turn the audio around. Richard mixed all the performances. The clips were uploaded and available for viewing on 12/31/07.

I do not believe the kick and snare were triggered because they sounded awesome on their own right from the stage mics, but Rich can answer that to be sure.

Originally Posted by AMIEL

Hey Steve!!

AWESOME mix!!

Really rocks and the drums sounds amazing!! what a snare!!

Happy 2008!!

So, Mr. Chycki did you do anything special to get that killer snare sound?

Originally Posted by Indrestudios

Very cool report Steve! The band sounds great.

I'm curious how you got this gig? Without naming names, were you hired by You Tube? Third party production company? video producer? It's always interesting to see which relationships turn into paying gigs.

-MC

Thanks Michael.

I got this job like many of my dates. It was a recommondation from an associate and mobile audio truck owner from another part of the country that works with the client. Anytime I'm in his part of the country and it's applicable I always call upon him and his rig. He's an excellent engineer and good friend. Say they say, one hand washes the other.

Originally Posted by Richard Chycki

hey Steve,

Pretty straightahead .... cleanup extraneous noise and then mix. Once that's done, it fell together pretty quickly.

Best to you as well,

R.

Ah yes, but it sounds like you used all the right processing to make it work on all forms of media.

Originally Posted by talbe1019

Overall the mix sounds very good. Not really a Simple Plan fan though.
I am curious if the kick and snare were triggerred?

Tnaks.

I trust Rich will chime in on this one for you.

I will post a few pictures when I come up for air a little bit later.

[huub]

Awesome!

Strange, there's grip and like 5 cameras? but no extra lighting? Oh well, the audio is terrific anyway..

[Richard Chycki]

Originally Posted by talbe1019

Overall the mix sounds very good. Not really a Simple Plan fan though.
I am curious if the kick and snare were triggerred?

Tnaks.

Glad ur digging the mix. Kick and snare are the real deal ...

[talbe1019]

Originally Posted by Richard Chycki

Glad ur digging the mix. Kick and snare are the real deal ...

Nice Job! I would have bet money they were triggered.

[Richard Chycki]

Originally Posted by talbe1019

Nice Job! I would have bet money they were triggered.

i split the snare and de-ess it pretty hard to get some of the hat out but you can still hear the gate/hat thing happen when the expander opens up ... seems to have worked out well for the show though

R.

[Remoteness]

Okay, the link is now fixed so you can review the performance from this thread...

[Remoteness]

So, I have a moment to upload some pictures from this live production venture.
I wasn't able to take as many pictures as I wanted because I was in the mobile unit most of the time.

Here are a few shots of Video Village and the Jib...

[Remoteness]

Here are some shots of the stage setup and band during the sound check...

[Remoteness]

When I did the location scout days before the shoot I notice there was a 3 phase 60 amp Cam-Lok panel available on stage right.

I asked the Highline's production manager if anyone was using it on the day of our production.
He said, 'No."
I said, "Can we tie in our truck to this feed?"
He said, "It's all yours."
I made a note of it.

Come day of the show the band had extra lighting that never was advanced. They saw that panel and wanted it.
We got the production company to sign off on using Trico clamps onto the main (line side) lugs of the audio panel.
We place a large "danger, danger, danger" sign over the panel and everything was everything.

My stage A2, Robert Carvell did an excellent job rigging the cables and such...

[FFTT]

Nice job capturing the music and the mood of the whole event.

I'm a big fan of live performance videos over the typical audio only CD.

I also think that's where things will be headed in the industry as time goes on.

If the band can cut it live then they might survive.

Production Videos have their place too for promotion and MTV etc, but
live concert production gives the listener more of a feeling of being there.

Best wishes for a happy healthy and musical 2008!

[Remoteness]

Right on, right on, right on!

It's kind of funny because I was saying this sort of thing back in the late 70s.

[thedoner]

Great job Steve and Richard. That's exactly how a live rock band should sound if you you ask me. What mics were used for vocals Steve?
I'm impressed by how tight and punchy the drums are, especially given the size of the stage and their close proximity to the vox mics. I recently recorded a band in a similarly sized venue and am having a little trouble with the drums sounding overly ambient in the mix. Gee, I wonder if the low ceilings, brick walls, 3 whisper-quiet background vocalists, and the nearby 6 mic percussion kit have anything to do with that?

[Jake 2.0]

Great , tracking and mix. Not a fan of the band but they played their songs well with no lip syncing.

[Remoteness]

Thanks a lot.

I must say, an engineer is only as good as the (band) musicians he/she keeps.
These guys are on point in many levels.
It was a pleasure to track this band.

All the hardwire vocals mics were Sennheiser E835s and the wireless vocal mic was a Sennheiser system with an E835 capsule.

For that matter all Simple Plan's mics were either Senheiser or Neumann.
The direct boxes were passive JDIs.

Originally Posted by thedoner

Great job Steve and Richard. That's exactly how a live rock band should sound if you you ask me. What mics were used for vocals Steve?
I'm impressed by how tight and punchy the drums are, especially given the size of the stage and their close proximity to the vox mics. I recently recorded a band in a similarly sized venue and am having a little trouble with the drums sounding overly ambient in the mix. Gee, I wonder if the low ceilings, brick walls, 3 whisper-quiet background vocalists, and the nearby 6 mic percussion kit have anything to do with that?

[scifijedi]

sweet recording of the blink 182 clone band........you rock steve......
but, this kind of band ruined rock.......new kids on the block + rock =simple plan...............high school girls love it though so as long as their happy.i guess..........it still sucks...........just a great example of a record co. making cash from trash.......i've heard wind up music boxes with more talent.......your recordings are awesome though ,and are very inspiring.......i mean it when i say you rock.......sorry to offend your music tastes but this is the real view of a TRUE rocker............no bubble gum..........even poison was way cooler than that..............defense for better music listening...dbml....