"Discovered" at the Dell Lounge... What a Spectacle!

[bove]

Awesome! That's a nice roof.

[Remoteness]

Department of Eagles performed on the roof just next to where we captured the PT Walkley and Charlotte Sometimes performances.

DoE's rooftop set was a bit higher in elevation which for the most part cleared the studio building and gave you a direct view of Manhattan in the background.

Originally Posted by bove

Awesome! That's a nice roof.

[mixedupsteve]

Thanks so much for this thread. I've loved every minute. You turned me on to some new music too.

[fifthcircle]

Originally Posted by mixedupsteve

Thanks so much for this thread. I've loved every minute. You turned me on to some new music too.

+1

I've purchased a couple CDs by some of these groups and I'm really digging having some new music to listen to that I otherwise would not have heard. The disc I'm digging most is the Forro in the Dark disc that I got...

--Ben

[Remoteness]

Originally Posted by mixedupsteve

Thanks so much for this thread. I've loved every minute. You turned me on to some new music too.

Originally Posted by fifthcircle

+1

I've purchased a couple CDs by some of these groups and I'm really digging having some new music to listen to that I otherwise would not have heard. The disc I'm digging most is the Forro in the Dark disc that I got...

--Ben

Wow, that's really cool -- my job is now done...

Well, almost, I have three more weeks to show and tell this project.

Foro in the Dark was a lot of fun to capture.
I really enjoy recording live percussion all in the same room.

I understand that Foro in the Dark's CD was mixed by Fred Ruben at Joel Hamburg's place in Brooklyn, NY.

I bet it sounds awesome.

Thanks for the kind words fellas -- I really appreciate it.







Oh, one more thing...

I'm feeling there was way too much reverb on the Department of Eagles clip.
I was imagining floating in a large fish bowl, but when I saw the visual of the open rooftop space and seriously blue sky it completely threw me off into a kind-of selective cognitive dissonance syndrome.

All is well, because when I closed my eyes I'm right back floating in that large fish bowl.

Sweet!

[bishopthomas]

Originally Posted by Remoteness

Oh, one more thing...

I'm feeling there was way too much reverb on the Department of Eagles clip.
I was imagining floating in a large fish bowl, but when I saw the visual of the open rooftop space and seriously blue sky it completely threw me off into a kind-of selective cognitive dissonance syndrome.

All is well, because when I closed my eyes I'm right back floating in that large fish bowl.

I actually drowned while listening to it. My wife had to revive me. Thank God she knew it was actually on a rooftop, otherwise we'd both be dead now.

[mixedupsteve]

I have three more weeks to show and tell this project.

Cool!
I do have one little complaint about the thread though.
People please make your posts idiot proof for my benefit. I spent 10 minutes looking for that plane!

[Remoteness]

Originally Posted by bishopthomas

I actually drowned while listening to it. My wife had to revive me. Thank God she knew it was actually on a rooftop, otherwise we'd both be dead now.

Yes, but all you have to do is open your eyes and you would automatically be saved.
Selective cognitive dissonance can be a good thing if you know how to work it.

Hey, Thomas: K'Naan is coming up (tomorrow) next.
I remember that it was a pretty straight forward session and a pleasant experience all around...

Please chime in if you have any additional thoughts or ideas about that date.

Awesome!

[Remoteness]

K’Naan – Episode Eleven:

In this post you will find the second of the two shoots Thomas referred to in post #53...

K’Naan was the second of the day and last video shoot we captured for this awesome emerging artist series.

K’Naan’s music video interstitial shall be seen during tonight’s Jakob Dylan, Jenny Lewis and She & His episode which airs at 9PM EST on Sundance Channel. Re-broadcasts will follow.

This particular episode was special to me because I also attended the “Spectacle: Elvis Costello with…” live video shoot at the Apollo Theater. I really enjoyed seeing Elvis Costello in action.

IMO, the concept of a music talk show is an excellent scheme and I trust other folks agree.
Elvis is so perfect for this type of show. More power to him!


K’Naan Bio:

Somalia. The name alone conjures images of unbridled warfare and ruthless terror. But it's also 'The Nation of Poets,' with a vibrant arts culture. Both realities are reflected in the work of acclaimed musician/emcee K'naan Warsame, a Somali native who is now based in Canada. In January 2009, K'naan will release Troubadour, the follow-up to his Juno Award-winning 2006 debut, The Dusty Foot Philosopher. With Troubadour, K'naan continues to forge his own path through hip-hop, reggae, funk, pop and soul, in a disc that balances earnest tales of growing up and clever, braggadocio rhymes straight out of Big Daddy Kane's rhymebook.


The Aura-Sonic crew included Jon D’Uva, Robert Carvell, Thomas Bishop and I.

Here’s the input list during K’Naan’s live studio performance:

02 --- DJEMBE 1 TOP --- TLM103
03 --- DJEMBE 1 BOT --- TLM103
04 --- DJEMBE 1 O/H --- M160

05 --- DJEMBE 2 O/H --- M160
06 --- DJEMBE 2 TOP --- SM98

07 --- MAC LEFT < --- LBB100
08 --- MAC RIGHT > --- LBB100

09 --- AGTR AMP --- MD409
10 --- AGTR DI --- LBB100

13 --- U DOGG VOCAL --- KMS105
14 --- K’NAAN VOCAL --- KMS105
15 --- RAYZAK VOCAL --- KMS105
16 --- KIERSCEY VOCAL --- KMS105

[Remoteness]

Ah yes, yesterday's episode was the second to the last of the series...

We are almost done with this show and tell thread.

--------------------------------------------------------

Salt & Samovar – Episode Twelve:

The band's clip aired during the Diana Krall and Elton John episode.
As always, it aired at 9PM EST on Sundance Channel.

Salt & Samovar Bio:

Salt & Samovar is a five-piece rock collective intent on writing the next great American songbook. Uniting classic rhythm & blues, psychedelia and garage rock with a keen melodic sensibility, their repertoire gathers the musical heirlooms of a cherished collective past. Their revival-like performances gain momentum from 19th century spirituals and group song; onstage, their energy resonates clearly across these historical lines, placing Salt & Samovar at the fore of a new brand of American music. The band is comprised of D.S. Moltz, Fiore Tedesco III, Dane Risch, Kelli Scarr and Jo Schornikoff. Moltz recorded the first Salt & Samovar LP, Old Joy, New Joy, released in January 2007.


Jon D’Uva, Robert Carvell, Robert Anderson and I were the crew for this shoot.

Salt & Samovar's input list included the following channels:

01 --- FOOT --- M88
02 --- SNARE --- TLM103
03 --- KIT --- TLM103
04 --- SR OH < --- M160
05 --- SL OH > --- M160

06 --- BASS GTR --- LBB100

08 --- ORGAN --- LBB100

09 --- EGTR --- MD409

10 --- PIANO LO --- DC96B
11 --- PIANO HI --- DC96B

18 --- VOCAL 1 --- KMS105
19 --- VOCAL 2 --- KMS105
20 --- VOCAL 3 --- KMS105
21 --- VOCAL 4 --- KMS105

I did not get a chance to take any picture during this event, but I was able to grab a few from Chris at Pickerel Pie Studios.

[bove]

I'm assuming you are a fan of the Neumann KMS105 for location vocals! What is it about this mic that makes you choose it for a job like this?


I noticed they now put the videos on youtube, instead of their own server... why don't they use the HD functionality of YouTube? We could get some stereo audio that way...

[Remoteness]

Wow, it didn't start out that way...

I'm not sure what the motivation was to change the Dell Lounge site over to using YouTube as the delivery method for those videos.

It seems a bit strange to go that direction, since the original set-up was pretty decent -- Hey, at least it was in stereo!

Anyway, you presented a question (YouTube clips) of which I do not have the real answer to.
Next time I see the folks at Pickerel Pie, I will bring this to their attention.
Perhaps they can shed some light on this new development.

IMO, it's a drag that Dell decided to go this route.

--------------------------------------------------------------

Yes, I can answer your KMS105 question.
I am a big fan of the Neumann KMS105 for live vocals.
I like the smooth sound quality, low self-noise and how the mic handles transients.

This mic can also handles very high sound pressure levels which is a plus on any loud live performance stage.

[Remoteness]

Oh yeah, yesterday's episode was the last installment of the Discovered Emerging Artists series...

We are now officially done with this show and tell thread.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Thao – Episode Thirteen:

The band's clip aired during the Smokey Robinson episode.
As always, it aired at 9PM EST on Sundance Channel.

This clip was shot during a multiple day, multiple band shoot back in August 2008.
Jethro was on location to handle the audio capture.



Thao Bio:

With her perky strumming guitar, bluegrass tinged banjo, dry sense of humor and uninhibited vulnerability, Virginia-bred songwriter Thao Nguyen aces that rare trick of creating songs that sound happy but can be very sad. Featured on Kill Rock Stars' 2006 singer-songwriter compilation The Sound the Hare Heard, Thao released her first LP for the label, We Brave Bee Stings And All, in 2008. Using everything from an acoustic guitar strummed with a toothbrush to keyboards, horns and a full rhythm section with her band The Get Down Stay Down, Thao delivers 11 buoyant songs, full of catchy riffs and intimate lyrics juxtaposed with cheeky wit.


Robert Carvell, Kaz Noda, Shashi Panday, David Moench and I were the crew for this shoot.

Thao's input list is as follows:

01 --- FOOT --- M88
02 --- SNARE --- TLM103
03 --- KIT --- TLM103
04 --- SR OH --- M160
05 --- SL OH --- M160

06 --- BASS --- LBB100

07 --- AGTR --- LBB100

08 --- EGTR ---- MD409

10 --- THAO VOCAL --- KMS105
11 --- ADAM VOCAL --- KMS105

We started the series on the Dell Lounge website with pretty decent quality audio/video, but for some reason they decided to use YouTube in low-res as their delivery system.
I don’t see why they could not (at least) use YouTube's hi-res option; unfortunately this is what it is.

In any event, I hope you folks enjoyed this show and tell thread.

[bishopthomas]

You had Jethro on this date? Any major differences as far as parking, connecting, etc. from the Bread Mobile? Were you still using the HD24's and P8's or were they all tied up in TBM?

[Remoteness]

Yes, Jethro was on location for this production because TBM was at the Blue Note Jazz Club recording another Conrad Herwig record, “The Latin Side of Herbie Hancock.”

Even though we had a completely different truck and equipment spec there really wasn’t a major difference with regard to the set-up. We used the same mic placement techniques and all the same interior equipment as per all the other dates at Pickerel Pie Studios.

• The power tie in was the same since all three truck have the same isolation transformers and Cam-Lok panels.

• The audio snake system was (almost) the same. The Bread Mobile uses a single 56 channel MASS W4, while Jethro uses a two 52 channel MASS W4 system. Normally we use the upper (49-56) channels to handle all our communication and return lines. We had the re-patch the upper channels for Jethro’s spec, but that was just about it.

• Video was very similar since both trucks have a video interface at the back of the mobile unit. Our PTZ snake just plugs into the custom ELCO connector just like in TBM. Very thing else is transformer isolated BNC connections

• Parking was a bit different since TBM is 24’ long bumper to bumper and Jethro is 33’ long when the lift gate is up and in use.

Both the X48s and HD24XRs were used for this project. One of the three dual X48 racks almost always lives in The Bread Mobile along with the P8's. This time around Jethro had the dual HD24XR rack for these four sessions. We used the API 3124 mic pres which usually live in Jethro.

Except for the fact that we tracked Thao, the Virgins, Richard Julian and Foro in the Dark with our API 3124s, HD24XRs and mixed it on the Otari Status 18R with the standard outboard gear that's in the truck everything else was business as usual. Well, except for the Focusrite Mastering EQ/Compressor/Limiter rack which I patched on the stereo buss that is.

• Same mics & DIs

• Same mic placement.

• Same studio space.

[mixedupsteve]

I loved the series. Thanks!!

How do you like working with sidefills??

[Remoteness]

Cool.

If you're referring to the sMackies on sticks they were not too bad since we had KMS105s on the vocals.

I got pretty decent isolation from all the mics -- IMO, mic (and speaker) placement is everything.

[fifthcircle]

In a film situation like this, how much "say" do you get in how things like speakers are set up on set? Obviously they can make a huge difference in sound and if they are willing to hire a record truck to get it right, I would assume they'd do everything the keep the sound quality as high as possible...


Is that a correct assumption? The lines between the visual and the sound can get a bit rough on set sometimes.

--Ben

[bishopthomas]

I can only speak for the gig I was on, but keeping the speakers out of shot was definitely a consideration. I think that's probably why the side-fill technique was used. For the low-volume bands and acoustic acts having the speakers far enough away from the musicians to be out of the shot worked well enough. But at the same time there was a great relationship between audio and video crew; no one was dictating where to put speakers, we just knew what we had to do.

[Remoteness]

Ben,

That was a very good question.

Typically the director would ask us to hide all wiring, mics, speakers as much as possible during a film and video production.

In this case the director was much more loose about the "look" of the shoot.
IMO, he was going to a more real life live performance look and vibe.

Since I was hired to record and produce the music, I had the ability to specify exactly what I needed within the budget presented to me. As long as the bands and artists were happy they (producer & director) were happy.

The producer and director were both very concern about capturing the sound of the band exactly like they sounded during their live performance. Whatever it took to make it so was the mission at hand.

From my perception, it was like a recording session with lights and cameras.
The audio was a very important part of this production venture.

I hope we get a chance to work with them on another shoot like this.
It was a total blast to be part of this very cool series for Sundance Channel.

Those Pickerel Pie Folks RAWK!