Live From Daryl's House

[mastermix]

My girlfriend and I had a great time at the H&O show at the Borgata last weekend, and nice to chat with Peter, however briefly.

I was six rows back of FOH, was watching what was going on on the Venue screen nearly as much as the show... that's a Gearslut for you I guess!

[elijahlucian]

Originally Posted by andersmv

Great concept and execution, I'll be browsing through a lot of these today! I would love to be able to do this one day, it's great to get some ideas from someone who has done it well!

I have one humble suggestion: Personally I would prefer the performances without the auto-tune. It's not obnoxious by any means, I'm guessing Daryl made you do it?

OK! HOLY CRAP!

I thought I was going crazy and just starting to hear tuning everywhere!

ARGH! That is so ANNOYING! Why do people tune EVERYTHING!?? fekc sakes!

[PMoshay]

Great seeing you at the show! Should have met me in the casino later, I was on a winning streak at the roulette table...... Won an iPad mini $$$.
I wish I could do that everyday after work..... But casinos could be dangerous for me,robbing me microphone money.

Anyone try the new AKG D12 reissue yet? The Miktek PM-10 is my new favorite snare & just about anything mic..... Ya'll gotta try one, you'll be in love.

[tdblanchard]

Hey Peter
I stumbled across LFDH after seeing a YouTube video of Daryl playing No Can Do with Questlove & Co. at a Fourth of July concert. I was like, "Man! He's still got the goods, I wonder what he's up to these days...". Which led me on a google hunt and eventually to LFDH.com
Anyways, a similar Google hunt about the gear used found my way to this thread.
Fantastic stuff!
Are you guys recording new episodes for Paladium or are they just recycling all the old ones?
Either way I've got my DVR set to record 'em all. Finally there's a show I can enjoy with the wife
.

[DonJScott]

Peter, have been a fan of LFDH for some time and the production on the show is amazing. One piece of information I have not been able find is a list of musicians who appear on each episode, does this exist? If not, please post the members of the house band.

Keep up the good work!

[tdblanchard]

Just watched the Todd Rundgren Episode (#1).
That was an absolutely beautiful spot!!!
Did you get a mic outside the room to capture the natural reverb cascading through the valley or was it just not that loud?

[mastermix]

Minus The Bear show... LOVED IT!!!

Keep up the great work guys!

[PMoshay]

Hey All, i'm back.
Ive been out of the loop for a bit as i was in the hospital having back surgery, which seemed to go very well so far.
Ive had a long battle with back issues for the past 6 years + and after lots of trying things and seeing doctors all over the planet, one very amazing Doctor finally found my problem (Tethered Spinal Cord Syndrome) and fixed it.
It was a problem that i was born with that was not gonna get better no matter what i did, in fact it probably would have eventually taken me out, so im really happy to have finally dealt with it and now can live pain free.
There's nothing worse than living with chronic pain, specially back pain. I even completely re-did my studio so i am standing while mixing/tracking. I put my SSL and all my gear at standing level as sitting was killing me. What was even worse was that lying down (Sleeping) was the worst position for me for over 6 years and i rarely slept more than 2 hours at a time without waking up in pain.
Now that it all seems to be behind me (after 8 weeks of recovery and some rehab therapy) i can't wait to start back to mixing and tracking again.

If anyone of you has serious or Chronic back issues and is in need of a great spine doctor, contact:
Dr. Arthur Jenkins at Mount Sinai Hospital NYC 212-241-2975.
He saved my life and is a compassionate and caring doctor. His partner in his practice, Dr. Plancher of Plancher Orthopedics also fixed John Oates rotator Cuff after over 10 years of pain he was living with.
Great doctors are hard to find and i thought id share this info with anyone in need, i wish i had met him sooner.
All The Best,
~ Peter

I'll answer the questions now that im back too.

[PMoshay]

Originally Posted by tdblanchard

Just watched the Todd Rundgren Episode (#1).
That was an absolutely beautiful spot!!!
Did you get a mic outside the room to capture the natural reverb cascading through the valley or was it just not that loud?

i always have a couple of room mics capturing the space and always use them in the mix. One of my favorites is my Crown SASS mic and a pair of Miktek C-5's

[PMoshay]

Originally Posted by tdblanchard

Hey Peter
I stumbled across LFDH after seeing a YouTube video of Daryl playing No Can Do with Questlove & Co. at a Fourth of July concert. I was like, "Man! He's still got the goods, I wonder what he's up to these days...". Which led me on a google hunt and eventually to LFDH.com
Anyways, a similar Google hunt about the gear used found my way to this thread.
Fantastic stuff!
Are you guys recording new episodes for Paladium or are they just recycling all the old ones?
Either way I've got my DVR set to record 'em all. Finally there's a show I can enjoy with the wife
.

So cool to hear new people tuning in, theres lots for you to see on the website as we still have every episode on the site and as always commercial free and fast streaming. We have been trying to release the shows simultaneously on Paladia and the web on the same day, but im not sure how that is gonna continue running as our filming schedule is changed now.
Have fun on the website and click thru some and see what you like..... Let us know your favorites, we love the feedback.
All The Best,
~ Peter

[Sounds Great]

Peter, so glad you found a good doctor for your back trouble. May you have many pain free years ahead!

[PMoshay]

Originally Posted by dcastar

Hello Peter,

I've been watching LFDH for quite some time now, and it's a pleasure to find that you, the engineer, has been kind enough to share your tricks with the community! Bravo, sir. Bravo.

Two items I wanted to bring up... and the first might be a bit of a 'testy' topic.
1) What are your secrets to getting such a non-intrusive, yet clean sounding autotune going? What plugin or rackunit and preset/settings are you using and can recommend for those of us seeking to accomplish a similar task?

2) Guest suggestion... going out on a limb here, but is John Mayer an option? Both Daryl and John are arguably two of the best songwriters in the modern era... combined with the fact that John is a killer guitarist and you might have a really great match.

Thanks again for all your great work on the show and for your willingness to help us all here!

John Mayer - That would be amazing! I know that we have talked about that already and would love to have him on. There are so many artists that we have on our short & long list now that its gonna take years & years to get thru them all at 12 shows a year, but its gonna be a blast trying to do it.

Here's my toughts on tuning (please dont take this personally, I know you asked in a super eloquent & polite way about it - im just responding to the many people who have mentioned it before and want to address it here):

As far as tuning goes, why on earth would you leave a out of tune note on a lead vocal track? Its usually the loudest thing in the mix, and its no different than using a tuner to tune a guitar. We are all trying to make enjoyable music for people to listen to, so if a singer is a bit out, and you have the tools to fix it,.... Fix it if it makes it more enjoyable. Nobody asks me to tune, i just prefer to do it sometimes. For the 10 or so people that hear it, 450,000 people are not bothered by it.
I usually seem to use Waves Tune, but will also try Autotune or Melodyne to see which one sounds the best on the source. I just spot tune any odd thing i hear and immediately audiosuite it, you could NEVER just leave a tuner on a live track with so much bleed like we have. If a note is out, i fix that note..... But all these musicians are all so dam good, thats the least of my issues. What i am really always concerned with is translating the song so that it moves the listener........ And that includes me.
I really lament over each mix i do, trying to get as much emotion out of the song as they put into it....... I wanna have the hair on my arms standing up when i print the mix, and i'll do whatever i have to do to try to get that.

If there is merit in leaving it alone, i have no problem with it. All our singers are singing fantastic and im not gonna waste a great take because of one or two bad notes, im no fool, im gonna fix it, and so many of our songs are first or second takes.
And by the way, how come people go to movies like James Bond 007 and dont seem to question all the CGI and special FX as Cheating for actors? Why is it that musicians get thrown under the bus?
As far as im concerned, do anything you want to do to make your records enjoyable & moving to the listener....... I'm never concerned if people use or dont use tuning, quantizing or editing to make their records great, But i do notice when they don't and they should.

I suggest to any engineers & mixers out there - don't follow anyones rules, dont take anyones criticisms, dont follow anybody else's path. Collect the info and turn it into you!
Be Bold & lead and take chances and do whatever you wanna do to make your music move you and others. People follow leaders - so go for it!

As always, Thank you all for your support! Lots more twists and turns to come.
I'll try to update my current gear list soon in a new clear post so you all dont have to dig thru all these posts.
All The Best,
~ Peter

[mastermix]

Hey Peter,

Good to see you "back". Glad to hear you got that sorted out!

[lifesize]

enlightening to read your description of gear, method. i always marvel at how close to a finished studio sound you manage to capture in the setting. helps of course to have session caliber players, but still. the show is a treat.

[justDoug]

Originally Posted by PMoshay

Hey All, i'm back.

Sorry to hear you had back issues, OUCH! Glad you're back on your feet. Love the "stand up office", as my buddy and I call it. It really is a great way to work.

Should you need an assist, I've got a nephew holed up at Parsons...

[smashburn]

Peter, Thanks so much for this thread .. this is a goldmine for us aspiring sound/recording engineers. I was especially happy to see you using the PreSonus 24.4.2 as I picked up the same this past fall. I only mixed a couple of outdoor gigs with it before winter hit and the gigs dried up .. we don't do many outdoors gigs here in winter (near Aspen CO). However I loved this board from the get go, as they say .. great tool.

For recording, are you going from the PreSonus to the Alesis HD24XRs, or have you changed recorders too? I have not recorded from the PS yet but was going to upgrade my laptop to support the Firewire option .. but wondered if it might be better to go right to ADAT. Did you ever try out the Firewire option?

If you're not using the Firewire, and I assume you're not, how are you getting the signal out .. the channel inserts or the DB25 direct outs?

Thanks again! love your work and the show!

Steve

btw .. I won the Epi LP signed by the band and the QSC K-10 speakers .. way too cool! .. but you should have signed it too! being the wizard behind the curtain!

[PMoshay]

Originally Posted by smashburn

For recording, are you going from the PreSonus to the Alesis HD24XRs, or have you changed recorders too? I have not recorded from the PS yet but was going to upgrade my laptop to support the Firewire option .. but wondered if it might be better to go right to ADAT. Did you ever try out the Firewire option?

If you're not using the Firewire, and I assume you're not, how are you getting the signal out .. the channel inserts or the DB25 direct outs?

I use the Presonus as a monitor mixer for the band and me. I still use my list of external mic pre's straight into the Alesis HD24XR's and come out of them analog into the line in of the Presonus.
The HUGE thing for us is the band has its own monitor control with their iPad/iphone and i can walk around the room tuning up the room and the guest monitor with my ipad mini while standing in the Guest position...... Something that once you do it this way, you'll never go back!.

Congrats on winning that GREAT GEAR!
ALL THE BEST,
~ PETER

[smashburn]

Originally Posted by PMoshay

I use the Presonus as a monitor mixer for the band and me. I still use my list of external mic pre's straight into the Alesis HD24XR's and come out of them analog into the line in of the Presonus.
The HUGE thing for us is the band has its own monitor control with their iPad/iphone and i can walk around the room tuning up the room and the guest monitor with my ipad mini while standing in the Guest position...... Something that once you do it this way, you'll never go back!.

Congrats on winning that GREAT GEAR!
ALL THE BEST,
~ PETER

Thanks Peter .. that makes sense. I'm always looking for better ways to do things and learn from the best, and with the results you're getting you are certainly one of the best.

For me the recording will be secondary to mixing the live band so I'll be sending the recording signals from the PSL via the Firewire option. The cool thing about the IPad option, just ordered mine (my first), is I can adjust the board settings and also control the recording on the Mac Mini, mounted in my rack. Technology is so cool!

Steve

[Timothy Lawler]

Peter, I can't tell you how much I love your thread. I also can't believe it was here 5 years before I found it. The sound is fantastic.

I just watched the Jason Mraz episode. So many things are great about it I couldn't even start a list.

[rlg]

Watching a string of LFDH episodes on Palladia right now. Fantastic!

[bishopthomas]

Hey, Peter. I'm just getting back to Gearslutz and catching up on this thread after watching the Guster episode a couple of nights ago. They're one of my favorite bands so it was cool to see (I had only seen it in parts before). I really haven't seen an episode that I didn't enjoy, even if the guest artist(s) is not my favorite.

In response to your back troubles, I know a little bit of what you were going through. I have stenosis, two bulging discs (probably herniated at this point), and arthritis. I can't move my neck more than about 30 degrees each way and I'm lucky if I can get much past my knees bending at the waist. My comfortable positions are actually the opposite of yours, sitting and laying down work best for me. Standing in one place (like washing dishes) is excruciating. Even with insurance copays are a killer. Anyway, I'm glad you had a good experience, surgery is scary to me; I really haven't heard that many success stories. Thanks for sharing, and thanks for helping make this show happen.

[neirbod]

Hi Peter,

I discovered LFDH a few months ago and have been working my way through the episodes in order. Such a great show! Truly inspirational as both an engineer and musician. My 19 month old daughter loves it too. She gives a hearty round of applause after most songs (she is not as big a fan of the cooking sessions, however). We watch it in my studio, and it is a big part of our "quality studio time."

Any chance Daryl would allow you to have a "studio geek" episode where you go into more detail about the set up and show us the process of mixing the tracks? I'd love to hear the drums stems, soloed vocals etc. and see how you mix it all. Kind of like what Steely Dan did in their "Making of Aja" video:

Steely Dan - "Aja" The Making Of: - YouTube

Wishing you continued success.

PS - just got to the T-Bone episode. What an amazing person and musician. My belated condolences.

[antithesist]

I don't usually come to this area and I haven't read the thread, but I was somewhere that had this show available, and watched most of an episode. It was great, though I was unfamiliar with the artist(s?). Anyway, I just thought I'd say. I know this is pretty vague, but kudos to all involved. I hope to see and hear more in the future.

[Ephi82]

Hey Peter,

How are you? Hope well. I am spending a Sat afternoon cruising some back LADH episodes that I havent seen yet, mostly of artists I know nothing about.

I know it's an old episode, but I wanted to compliment you on the sound/mix of the Patrick Stump episode. Pretty broad range stylistically, and all the variations were presented very well. I love your drum sounds.

Here's another vote for this show> As an older guy (54) I would never have heard of Patrick, and his talent is just pretty huge. Thanks to LADH for helping to keep this old guy in the loop of new artists!

[PMoshay]

Originally Posted by neirbod

Hi Peter,

I discovered LFDH a few months ago and have been working my way through the episodes in order. Such a great show! Truly inspirational as both an engineer and musician. My 19 month old daughter loves it too. She gives a hearty round of applause after most songs (she is not as big a fan of the cooking sessions, however). We watch it in my studio, and it is a big part of our "quality studio time."

Any chance Daryl would allow you to have a "studio geek" episode where you go into more detail about the set up and show us the process of mixing the tracks? I'd love to hear the drums stems, soloed vocals etc. and see how you mix it all. Kind of like what Steely Dan did in their "Making of Aja" video:

Steely Dan - "Aja" The Making Of: - YouTube

I definitely want to do that one day because i love to see other people doing the same too. I'm sure Daryl does not wanna waste an episode on it and truthfully id rather be doing music since we are filming anyways, i'll do it and post it in segments on YouTube and will start to do it when we start up filming shows soon.

So great to hear people enjoying the show and specially when they can share it with their kids, thats how i got started - watching my Grandfather and his Orchestra play at events, then i got to help out and watch his amazing musicians do their thing all night.... They were all incredible.

[PMoshay]

Originally Posted by Ephi82

Hey Peter,

How are you? Hope well. I am spending a Sat afternoon cruising some back LADH episodes that I havent seen yet, mostly of artists I know nothing about.

I know it's an old episode, but I wanted to compliment you on the sound/mix of the Patrick Stump episode. Pretty broad range stylistically, and all the variations were presented very well. I love your drum sounds.

Here's another vote for this show> As an older guy (54) I would never have heard of Patrick, and his talent is just pretty huge. Thanks to LADH for helping to keep this old guy in the loop of new artists!

Thanks! We are gonna start filming new shows next month after a few months break which we all really needed.
As some of you may or may not know, Hall & Oates are also always touring doing 60-90 shows a year, as well as both Daryl & John have been doing their own albums and touring individually at times too. Plus there is always special events (like "The Voice, Jimmy Fallon Show, Etc) that keeps us busy in the cracks. I've been with Hall & Oates since 1987 and we have never slowed down really at all, and thats a good thing!
So,
When we started the show, we didnt really know that it would take so much work/time to do each episode. Much of the work is in planning and setting up the event as we dont leave anything set up in Daryls house.
We have so many amazing people that are gonna be on the next round of shows, im really looking forward to them! One of the guests is my fathers 2nd favorite artists (his first is Louis Armstrong)....

As i've mentioned before, ive been using lots of the Miktek mics on the show and now also use them at the concerts too and im now really hooked on them all, so if you are in the market for some new mics that really step up your game, check them out.
All The Best,
~ Peter

[BruceWayneGilmor]

Until LFDH came along, I never really liked the sound of "live" performances. Everyone I introduce to the show has the same "I can't believe how good the sound is..." reaction. Really glad that the show is coming back. Your advice is awesome. I would love to see how you are able to remotely adjust monitor mix from an IPAD and how you set up for the show. Also, why is it that you don't leave things set up for the show? Your back could obviously use a break.
Many Thanks & I wish you a Flawless Recovery.

[PMoshay]

Originally Posted by BruceWayneGilmor

Until LFDH came along, I never really liked the sound of "live" performances. Everyone I introduce to the show has the same "I can't believe how good the sound is..." reaction. Really glad that the show is coming back. Your advice is awesome. I would love to see how you are able to remotely adjust monitor mix from an IPAD and how you set up for the show. Also, why is it that you don't leave things set up for the show? Your back could obviously use a break.
Many Thanks & I wish you a Flawless Recovery.

Thanks so much! Im so glad to hear that what i envisioned it to sound like is translating to people, i just really wanted it to sound like you are in the room, kinda 3D..... And i didnt want the mixes to get in the way by having it too drum heavy or something like that. Since i grew up as a musician, i know every person playing in that room wants to hear what they are playing, so i work hard at trying to make that happen..... Thats what i'd want if i was playing.

I know it makes sense to leave the monitor mixes the same for each show, and overall i do, but the songs and people who come on each time brings a whole new dynamic every show. For example, Smokey Robinson really took the helm when he came in as a band leader. Since he is such an incredible musician, he wanted everyone to turn down and be able to hear each other with only a little bit of vocals in the monitors and keys of course too. The volume in the room that day was to the extreme of where it was when Butch Walker was there, not because they wanted it loud, but mostly because the songs are so high energy, you have to dig in to get into the groove.
Also the room has a real sweet spot in volume, right in the middle when its not to loud, it sounds so killer...... But when you go over it, it all collapses and smears and gets hard to get definition..... Thats when my job gets tough.
Since i got the Presonus console to do the monitor setup, theres no way to go back, its 10x easier and better sounding because i do monitors from the artists spot, not in another room. And the Presonus board has nice gentle parametric eq and a wonderful graphic eq, so i can dig out the frequencies in the room that build up. You'll often see me standing behind Daryl listening as they run thru the stuff.
Daryl has (1) QSC k-10 & (1) QSC HPR122i monitor in front of him and (1) QSC HPR122i behind him as a side fill for everyone..... And it all is always right on the edge, just where he likes it. Daryls likes it when he can hear himself breath when he is doing falsetto notes. I use the Waves C6 in expander mode to push along with him at low mid & hi mid areas, ive put a video on YouTube of it working in action so you can see what i mean.

Ive been doing my physical therapy now for a few weeks and my back is getting better little by little. Take care of your back, i don't suggest surgery like me unless you have to, i wish i had a better choice, but nothings gonna stop me from doing what i love.

Anyone have the Avid Control or Mix controllers? Ive seen the threads but its a 50/50 report it seems, some love, some not...... Any glaring problems? I hate that the Control does not have a fader flip mode.... Hope they can add that?
I wanna get one for travel. any tips?

[Robert Rinkewich]

Peter

Thank you very much for this thread and a wonderful show.

As a videographer I appreciate several of the scenes where you can see some of the cameras used in the show. Is the show mainly shot on the Sony EX3 series cameras? I know that camera has a very distinct view finder and I thought I saw it a few times. I also thought I saw a couple GoPro cameras, one near the drums.

Also are some DSLR's being used? I thought I saw one mounted up high on the left side of the room.
Thanks
Rob

[PMoshay]

Originally Posted by Robert Rinkewich

Peter

Thank you very much for this thread and a wonderful show.

As a videographer I appreciate several of the scenes where you can see some of the cameras used in the show. Is the show mainly shot on the Sony EX3 series cameras? I know that camera has a very distinct view finder and I thought I saw it a few times. I also thought I saw a couple GoPro cameras, one near the drums.

Also are some DSLR's being used? I thought I saw one mounted up high on the left side of the room.
Thanks
Rob

It changes all the time, about the speed of new technology.......... We rent it all so we can get the latest stuff to try.