first live remote multiple bands

[sound_music]

hi remote expert slutz, i'm doing my first live remote recording on friday (19th... in 2 days), and have to admit i'm pretty worried about it! by trade i'm studio guy, with all the control in the world over what comes in and goes out, and this remote business is really freaking me out!

i live in morocco, and the live music festival scene is exploding here: the market for these remote recordings is skyrocketing--i've had 4 or 5 calls for this kind of job in the last couple of months alone. (this is the first one i've had time to take.) the real job is actually a mix after the fact for a DVD the events company is producing, but unfortunately they want me to do the recording as well--so i'm going for it...!

i'm treating this recording alot like taking a band live off the floor, with the glaring excepting that i'm not the one managing the board! (i don't do any live sound of any kind, ever, for any reason!)

so my main concern is this: i've asked the sound tech for a line signal straight out of the board, which i can then run through better preamps than on his midas before it hits my converters. he's suggested to me to take a "direct out" signal that is spit out post preamp on his board, trying to convince me i'll get all his "sweet" eqing etc and save me alot of work in the mix! frightening!

has anyone ever done this? my gut reaction is to avoid ANYTHING that goes on on the board and deal with it all in the studio after, using better preamplification, eq, efx, etc. make sense?

am i thinking this through properly?

also, there are 3 bands on the bill, all with drastically varied tech riders and patch lists. (one of them has 8 musicians and a million instruments.) complicating all this is the fact that i only have 18 imput channels/converters, so i have to get the soundguy to group alot of things--and trust his mix for those groups! ballz.

in these multi band situations how do guys organize their sessions? one per group? also do you stop and restart the transport often to make sure you have stuff saved to disk? (the logic being that if ever you have a bug or crash, you don't loose an entire 2 hour set--the audio is physically saved to the disk everytime the transport stops.)

advice REALLY apreciated! (so many "firsts" for me in the last few months... going nuts...)

[bishopthomas]

Please do not take offense to this: Hire someone else to capture the recording! If you are getting paid for this and it is mission critical, and if there is anyone in your area who is an established remotester you will benefit greatly to sub this gig out. You need a splitter, preamps, primary and backup recorders, and a way to monitor off the recorders to really do this right. You only get one chance so it better count!

If you do decide to take on this project yourself.... What recorder(s) will you use? If you're taking a direct out feed from the console why run the signal through another preamp? Which Midas console? Different models take the direct out at different points in the signal chain (or are switchable, the Venice has internal jumpers). The preamps in there should be of fairly decent quality.

I really feel that hiring someone more experienced in remote recording will do you a lot of good. You will look like you know what you're doing and you'll learn a lot from being able to see a remote rig in action. If you do it yourself I'm sure you will get a lot of helpful responses from the great people here.

[ergower]

I'll echo what bishopthomas said on this one...when you track these multiple set/multiple artist "festival" type shows things tend to get very chaotic...so using this show as a virgin run for remote work would be quite taxing...

maybe if you can give us a breakdown of what gear you are using we might be of more help...if you only have 18 inputs, then I'd say you are looking for trouble - they are likely to be taking at the very least 32 if it is a festival of significant size...and, again to echo the earlier post...you really need to split that signal between you and FOH to get the kind of results you want...if you are going to take the direct outs off the console, then there is no need for that signal to hit your pre's...

so, what are your gear options?

[juanpz]

most festivals use ISO snake splitters.
Ideally you could just tap in, use good pre's, and do a multi track recording.

You unfortunately wouldn't be able to dictate mic choice and position.
Unless you get along with the FOH guy well

[noamraz]

Though festivals are cheotic, They are fun!

The first Israely gearslutz co-operation (As far as i know) was me supervising sound-engineering student recording a festival here (two years ago if i'm not wrong).

After we've finished the recordings, the festival was 2 days with probably near 10 shows that we have recorded, i was thinking that this was the best way for this guy to learn how to do it - It was a small gig, 2 recording engineers, different approaches and some technical difficulties (as always).

It was sure educational event for me as there are always things you can learn anyday.

The best suggestion for you is to grab this opportunity as i have a feeling that a multi-day festival is probably the best "school" - And i will join my fellaz from the top of the thread, Do not try to do this alone since it is not always so simple when you're at the field

[sound_music]

thanks for the replies guys, but i can't sub this gig out, there's no one else IN THE COUNTRY that does quality live recordings on a freelance basis! (the national TV station has a nice mobile rig with good gear, but they don't do any private events or festivals: just government sponsored fesivals and the odd bigtime concert.) for those that asked, i'll be running a protools HD2 accel rig with a single 192, and some nice pres and comps for this gig. all cabling mogami etc...

so, out of all those posts the main wisdom i gleaned is that the midas preamps maybe aren't so bad. i don't doubt it, but i can't see them being as good as the ones on my focusrite isa828, the graces in my drawmer 69, my avalons (2), UAD 610s, chandlers etc... not to mention the outboard compression i have at my disposal etc... so taking a line signal from the midas before my pres still seems the best solution to me.

but that's besides the point of my original question: does anyone actually USE this "direct out" signal and bring in without preamplification? is it usable and clean after? the main thing that scares me about this idea is that i'm 100% dependent on the soundguy, who i don't know the first thing about! (he's coming in from marrakech, an oldtimer to boot--usually in morocco that means not super qualified... it's not like back home where you can learn alot from the seasoned older cats.)

anyway, just to let you know, i've hired an engineer from a local studio i work at alot to assist me, so i have a second set of hands and ears on it, and he has quite a bit of experience with the live thing. should be cool.

can anyone speak to the other question i posed:

"do you stop and restart the transport often to make sure you have stuff saved to disk? (the logic being that if ever you have a bug or crash, you don't loose an entire 2 hour set--the audio is physically saved to the disk everytime the transport stops.)"

thanks guys, this is going to be fun and nerve-racking at the same time, and a new audio experience whatever goes down--so it can only be good right!? i may even enjoy it, and if so, maybe i'll buy another couple of 192's and do this properly one day!

[sound_music]

oops forgot to add, i decided to slave 2 other protools LE rigs running mboxes off the hd rig to cheat 4 extra channels! LOL, yeehaw! i have 22 channels now... couple laptops synced via midi, nothing fancy. might just give me that little bit of breathing room i may need for marginal comfort!

[bishopthomas]

That's too bad about not being able to get help for this gig. If there really is the huge market and no competition for this type of work that you describe then you can really clean house. But this gig will be the one to either make your career or make sure you never do live recording again. Sorry to put more pressure on you that I'm sure you don't need, but there's a lot riding on this gig - don't screw it up!

RENT A SPLITTER!!! If you learn nothing else from this thread please take that from it. You have quality preamps that will do you no good if you take direct outs. The direct outs will be after the preamps in the console. This means that whatever this guy does (who you already don't trust) with the gain you will be affected. If you do not heed this advice and still use the direct outs then do not use your preamps. Why would you want another gain stage in the chain? You'll be padding your preamps and only adding more color to the sound.

As far as those "extra" channels go, you may have to take group outs from the console. For a typical festival patch there's usually 2-4 electric guitars, bass lines on either side of the kit, and some DI's. These are usually not all used at once so making a group for guitars, bass, and DI's (for acoustic guitars, keys, etc.) will consolidate your track count. Try to take individual feeds for vocals, kick, snare, maybe the overheads. Take a group for the rest of the kit (toms, ect) if necessary. Again, you're going to be at the mercy of the FOH guy here. Depending on the console, if there are available aux sends you can take a pre fade aux send instead of a group. In this case, hopefully the FOH guy won't mind you reaching over his shoulder a bit. Now's a good time to learn to mix upside down.

Oh, and to answer your specific question: No, do not stop recording between songs. Have one guy dedicated to record world, the other on stage duty. Before the gig start new session files for each band. After one band's set is done stop, save, open the next session file. This will take time so you'll need that guy on stage helping with changeovers, mic placement, and patches.

Again, not to scare you, but this is a huge undertaking for a first timer! Careful planning and being prepared will save the day. Find out what console will be there and learn how to operate it and what the signal flow is like. Contact the FOH guy and let him know what you're doing. Get there early enough to not be rushed in the setup and to allow time for troubleshooting. Good luck with this recording. I seriously hope that all goes well and your remote business explodes because of your great success.

[Jim vanBergen]

great advice so far. a bit to add:

1. Bring a backup recorder. USE IT! My backups have become my masters when something else failed.

2. If you don't have great mic preamps (the Midas Heritage 3000 mic pre is a world better than the 002's) a direct out is not the worst thing ever. But it's my next to last resort, and I always take it pre-EQ.

3. An iso split is a smart move with your own preamps. Don't stop the recorder between songs, only between acts. Make sure you have done a dry run of two hours (or whatever the set lengths are) plus 25%, with save & checks to make sure you can do it.

4. Outdoor festival? Computers don't like 'em. You will need shade, A/C, - hell, I have had to ice down a CPU to make it work. Plan ahead, plan for the worst. This location is FULL of great ideas, best of, and worst of threads.

5. Good luck. Let us know how it goes! Take pix, and post 'em here!

[sound_music]

hey jim and bishopthomas, some great advice there! i'm gonna print this thread out and tape it to the side of one of my racks!

just for clarity, i've requested a LINE signal from the midas, PRE EVERYTHING. was only asking about the direct out out of curosity. i'm gonna stick with my instinct on that one and use my own pres. (even if the midas pres are good, i know my boxes and am comfortable with them.)

also jim it's not a 003, it's a 192... world of difference between those converters!

i wouldn't say the live recording thing is booming, but there are tonnes of festivals these days so i'd call it more of an emerging market--it's gonna come. alot of these festivals and events are real shoestring affairs (we're in africa man, EVERYTHING'S done on a shoestring!), so the ones with extra dough kicking around for recording are fairly few and far between. put it this way: i've turned down every other proposition i've had to do remotes! always had a better paying studio gig with jingles, records etc; but things are moving here, evolving fast, the number of live festivals has tripled in recent years, so it's only a matter of time before the budgets grow too... definately worth considering as a future revenue stream. (although if i get into this i'd prefer to hire someone else i trust to do the live bit and just take care ofthe mix part of the equation in the studio.)

4am here and just finishing up some computer maintenance, gotta pack up cable and sleep for a couple hours before i hit the road.... wish me luck!

[bishopthomas]

Originally Posted by sound_music

just for clarity, i've requested a LINE signal from the midas, PRE EVERYTHING. was only asking about the direct out out of curosity.

Depending on the console this may or may not be possible. The Venice has internal jumpers to dictate the routing of the direct outs. Of course as you step up in quality you gain routing functionality. A line signal will be after the preamps. Only on monitor consoles with built in splits will you get a signal that is before the preamps. Otherwise, that's the first thing that microphone is going to see (why do you think the gain knob is at the top?).

Anyway, it sounds like you're almost on your way to the gig so it's time to place your toes off the edge, bend at the knees, and jump! Please let us know how it goes. May you only have good news to report!

Originally Posted by sound_music

wish me luck!

Good luck! And have fun!

[RobAnderson]

just for clarity, i've requested a LINE signal from the midas, PRE EVERYTHING. was only asking about the direct out out of curosity. i'm gonna stick with my instinct on that one and use my own pres. (even if the midas pres are good, i know my boxes and am comfortable with them.)

If you are taking a line level signal, do not use your pre's - if nothing else, you will probably end up with distortion, since your mic pre's expect a much smaller output impedance and the console line out will expect a much greater input impedance. Even if the meters look good, there is still a good chance for distortion. Use a mic level transformer split, then use your nice mic pre's. With a line level signal, your nice mic pre's can become a liability.

I know this from my own first-hand experience.

RENT A SPLITTER!!!

what he said

An iso split is a smart move...

him too

Please use a mic splitter.

I hope it's not too late.

Good luck!

Did I mention that a splitter might be a good idea?

[sound_music]

ooooohhh a splitter, my kingdom for a SPLITTER!!! sweet lord i wish i had started this thread just a few days earlier, when i would have had time to organize a rental... the whole event/recording was a DISASTER from a technical standpoint, the FOH guy painfully slow and highly unqualified in general as i suspected, and surly to boot... and i had to rely on his shitty ears for all of it!! add to that blazing 40 degree heat outside, an assistant that got sunstroke, 8, yes count em EIGHT ****ing hours of SOUNDCHECKS with this hack of a soundguy... and now it all makes perfect sense: get as far away as possible from the FOH console and SPLIT like a ****ing tree!!

will do a more detailed post in a few days when i get a chance, haven't slept in two days, in massive damage control mode... trying to rescue this poor beat up audio! have to deliver rough mixes to the production company tuesday morning.... at this point i'll be happy just to deliver ANYTHING PASSABLE...

[bishopthomas]

That is definitely not the follow up that we wanted to hear! I'm sorry about your troubles. Getting as far away from the FOH signal flow as possible is a good idea on a good day - add in a FOH person who doesn't know what they're doing and you're pretty much screwed. After you've had a chance to sleep off your frustration please let us know the details (gear used, signal flow, etc). I hope that at least the bands were easy to work with. How is your assistant? I guess that's the bit of advice we forgot to give you on an outdoor summer show - stay hydrated! I keep a cooler full of water and Gatorade in my truck at all times. If you're not sweating AND peeing DRINK MORE! Good luck sorting it out and we'll try to be patient to hear about it. Pictures?

[sound_music]

well, mixes delivered, and have finally slept a bit.

where to start!? (Get a coffee and a smoke this is a LONG post. But you seasoned remote guys will find this VERY amusing, it’s worth the effort!)

FRIDAY:

9:30am - we arrive 2 1/2 hours before 1st scheduled sound-check, only the stage and lighting is up. already 30 degrees outside. sound team is still cabling stage and FOH—they don’t look worried. Not enough room for our rig under the tarped area FOH, so we need to get assistants to spit and tape a bunch of large umbrellas together and rope off an area beside the board for our gear. this is all fine until they hand us the balanced 1/4" multi-pairs i ordered, and i realize they're only 2 meters long! (asked for 6 meters) we could only reach the last 8 channels on the FOH board!

10:30am - with no other possible solution, we end up ripping everything down, and set up shop directly in front of the FOH board so the cabling could reach the outputs on the board. Soundguy immediately crying that we’re blocking his view. (a reasonable complaint, but I guess his bosses should have stuck to the plan and delivered the cabling I asked for…) AND LOW AND BEHOLD, I learn that the board is not in fact the 40 channel Midas Venice they promised, but a Yamaha PM-3500 that only has the cursed DIRECT OUTS for me to draw signal from! Post gain, post fader, post EQ! all my nice preamps just went down the toilet. Thank god most of the boxes had line in’s. (not all, was forced to set preamps at zero for a few tracks and **** up the gain staging… brutal.)

11:00am: The Yamaha has 52 channels though, ample free strips to buss over any instrumentation not shared by all 3 bands, right? WRONG! The soundguy assures me on his mother’s grave that there’s no possible way to achieve this--even though I show him how, he refuses to believe it. After a 15 minute argument in which I outline the PURE HELL it would be to have to re-patch in between each band in real time on the changeovers, I finally give up and start formulating a plan B. The guy barely spoke French, and was completely incapable of grasping the concept—I have found that 100 times out of 100 when you have a closed-minded asshole in front of you, the onus is on you to find a solution—you’re just wasting your breath arguing with a brick wall.

Noon – 1st band shows up on time for their soundcheck. 35 degrees and counting… everything patched and ready on our end, but the stage guys are still patching stuff and putting up mics. they still don’t look worried.

1:00pm – facade, stage, FOH, and 1st band up and running. Thermometer breaks 40 degrees. Not a cloud in the sky. The location is right next to the ocean, but not a hint of a breeze. ½ hour into their check power cuts and EVERYTHING GOES DEAD. After 20 mins of panic the backline people realize they forgot to gas up the generator! 2nd generator (standby.LOL!) wasn’t even running! This tiny glitch in the program gets ironed out and we continue. Stage guys are smoking cigarettes and laughing among themselves.

2:30pm – 2nd band takes the stage for their check. The stars of the show. (I have a big hit with them on the radio here at the moment—the whole event has been built around them.) my assisitant is fighting the stage guys for mic placement. He is losing. immediately the bass amp blows up, and the hi-hat clutch breaks. Backline guy has no replacements. Stage guys shrug and take a smoke break.

3:30pm – bass is going DI now, and the hh clutch has been welded by a furniture maker down the road. Soundcheck is going painfully slowly due to the band’s large variety of instrumentation, FOH guy is stubbornly refusing helpful suggestions from the band. There’s so much bleed in the tracks I can’t tell what’s what. they won't let us move the mics. Despite repeated pleas for less output gain from the board, nearly half of my session is in the red. All his faders are above zero. Master at half. He refuses to pull faders and push master. Assistant and I are madly engaging any and all available pads on all boxes.

4:00pm – lead singer of band #2 throws a temper tantrum and storms off the stage. He’s been standing in the blazing sun for an hour and a half (easily 45 degrees in the shade now) and the FOH guy has yet to work on vocals. (BTW: there’s 5 singers in the band) just as I’m calling the band’s manager, I notice my assistant keeling over stage right. He’s been running back and forth between the booth and the stage for hours with his shirt off, is now as red as a tomato, and has in fact collapsed from sunstroke. I hang up on the manager and dial the ambulance. I’m on my own.

6:00pm – incompetent soundguy is STILL working on LINE CHECKS for band #2, THREE AND 1/2 HOURS LATER, and my assistant is in a hospital in Casablanca somewhere receiving fluids intravenously. Singer has yet to return, so I do his check for him personally.

7:00pm - incompetent soundguy is putting the finishing touches on his HORRENDOUSLY CRUDE, IMBALANCED MIX for band #2, and we have 45 mins left before guests start arriving to squeeze in band #3. There’s a buzz so overpowering in the drum OHs I can’t make out the splash. Neither the stage guys OR the FOH guy are too worried about this. they refuse to change the cabling or try another set of channels on the board, citing the fact that we’re running late as an excuse not to deal with it. A lot of channels still peaking.

7:05pm - we learn that band #3 (opening act) doesn’t speak French, English, or even Arabic! (Arabic being the shocker—here in morocco 90% of the population speak both French and Arabic, and 99.9% speak at least Arabic) They are a traditional folk group from the southern desert regions, and speak and sing in only a certain Berber dialect called “Amazghit”.

7:10 - I find one of the kitchen staff that speaks a similar berber dialect, and we get down to business with the dishwasher manning the talkback microphone.

8:00pm – guests arriving. Feedback. No microphone for the djembe. Chaos. At least it’s cooling down a bit temperature-wise.

8:15 – we shut the check down unfinished because we got word the Minister of Culture’s limo had arrived outside. Despite my proposing 3 types of cabling, FOH is unable to find a way to get the ambient/transition playlists I have carefully constructed for the event into the board from my laptop. I end up using the establishment’s crappy little outdoor bose system which is scattered around the beach area and various bars on the property. The bose system is connected to a virus ridden PC in a building 400 meters away from FOH. Having no assistant, I am forced to run like hell between FOH and this building all night long to fill the audio gaps during band transitions.

8:30pm - Buffet commences and the 450 or so guests eat a lovely dinner. I use this time to jump into the atlantic ocean with all my clothes on to avoid going completely insane.

9:30pm – 2am – a cacophony of pounding, raw, unskilled mixing assaults the audience through 40,000 watts of gear. Strangely none of them seem to mind and they dance the night away as happy as drunken clams. All the while audio is recording. The event itself is a huge success. Everyone makes money.

SATURDAY: saturation, buzz and hiss everywhere, incredible bleed, ooooh the bleed--to the point where in certain instances the audio on the snare mic and HH mic are indistinguishable from one another. 2 track from the DJ in the live house/tribal/electro group (group #1) cuts out intermittently. Buzz in both the drum and percussion OHs is PAINFUL to the ear. I have 3 days to deliver 6 titles to the production company that’s producing the DVD. Summoning all the studio magic I possess… I ATTACK.

SUNDAY: decide to press on and not sleep, there are just too many problems to let up. I’m mixing my ass off.

MONDAY: bright and early I receive an email from the prod. Company, they have only filmed small portions of each band’s show. I have already mixed certain titles for which NO FOOTAGE exists. Just to put you in the loop on the original deal: video crew was hired and paid to film EVERYTHING. I was hired and paid to record EVERYTHING. I busted my ass to record over 50 gigs of audio in BRUTAL conditions to be sure I could deliver what was required: imagine how I’m feeling at this point. (have to admit, I fantasized about beating the living crap out of the video director when the project’s over. still may do that... )

TUESDAY: still no sleep. Have reevaluated my options based on the tiny list of footage available to me. Most of which contains the worst musical performances of the night in question, and many of the worst technical problems. I ask for more time. They accept.

WEDNESDAY: still no sleep, sound familiar? I press on, espresso in one hand, mouse in the other.

THURSDAY: I finally fall into bed at 7:30am while 6 tracks are uploading to the mastering studio in Toronto via ftp. It’s all just barely passable as finished material. It’s my birthday. I have a rehearsal at 2pm, and a jingle to record at 5pm. I get VERY WASTED with friends at a local restaurant that night, and start downloading the masters when I get home.

FRIDAY: mixes delivered to client. And my last day EVER in the live concert recording game!! Thank-you, good night, and GOOD ****ING RIDDANCE! (if the live thing is even HALF this ****ed up on a normal gig, I want NOTHING to do with it! I don’t care what it pays! I just want out….!)

[bishopthomas]

That's quite a tale. I'm glad you were able to deliver a product under the circumstances. That says a lot. You had my complete sympathy until your last statement. I hate that this gig has turned you off of live recording, especially since it sounds like there's actually a market for it in your area.

I'm not a told-you-so person and never even thought it until that last little paragraph. If you had listened to our advice here you would not have had such a mess. You got in WAY to deep for your first recording just as we warned you. Simply renting a splitter snake would have solved 85% of your problems.

Anyway, enough lecture. I am truly sorry for the adversities you faced (hope your partner is feeling better). And I hope that you reconsider giving up on location recording. It really can be a fun and rewarding experience (you have to at least feel a sense of accomplishment on this gig that you could actually deliver anything at all).

[sound_music]

just re-read that last part bishopthomas, your right it's pretty over the top... (but you can imagine i'm pretty turned off by the whole process!) didn't mean any disrespect to the experts who posted all the helpful suggestions--hope it doesn't read that way! sincerely appreciated that advice.

but i honestly can't see myself going thru all that again anytime soon...tutt

and regarding the splitter, just didn't have enough time to get that together--wish i would have started the thread earlier. since i never do these types of recordings it didn't even cross my mind until you hipped me to its existence! (i have to admit i barely knew such a device was used in live situations--in the studio world anything between the microphones and the board or audio chain is a no no.)

[bishopthomas]

I certainly didn't take any offense to what you said, only disheartened that one bad (albeit VERY bad) experience has turned you off such a wonderful way to record. I think you have learned SO much by this process and if (hopefully when) you do it again you will certainly have a very enjoyable experience. At the very least, don't give up on a side of your business that has the potential to be very lucrative.

In all the madness did you get a chance to take any pictures? Care to share some audio clips if you can?

[mixedupsteve]

You are a great writer and you will be back. I'm sure of it!!

[sound_music]

@ bishopthomas: unfortunately no pics, i didn't have time! (as you may have guessed...) there was a photographer on site, will ask the organizers for a few snaps when i see them next week.

regarding audio: just asking myself whether i really want to put that audio out there to be heard!?? don't have time this week i'm doin a gig in paris as of thursday, will be back in morocco sunday and may find a minute or two to rip off an mp3 or 2 early next week... if i decide i can stomach the idea of letting peers hear that audio!!!!

@ mixedupsteve: lol! maybe i should switch careers and become a writer huh!? doesn't appear i can hack the remote thing does it...!? could be a good move...!

[tnjazz]

Yep...all that sounds about right.

Location recording is all about flying by the seat of your pants sometimes, and that's usually what drives the studio cats away from it after a try or two. If you live for chaos and "one take to get it right" in a completely uncontrolled environment (sometimes), then you'll adapt to it reasonably well after a couple more remote gigs.

I've had situations similar to this in the past (although not in blazing desert heat) so I can appreciate what you went through.

It was definitely a great story! Hope to see a pic or two at some point, because it sounds like a very interesting gig.

[slaphappygarry]

I just laughed through reading all that experience. Not out of spite but because I can relate to almost every part of your tale first hand.

All of it in one night is rough but the fact you get the mixed up and approved is a demonstration that you can do this stuff.

G

[videoteque]

Don't stop now!!!!

[Andy Krehm]

I'm the mastering engineer who had to master these mixes!

Steve just sent me this link so I would understand what he went through.

And you know what? They were pretty good!

Congrats to Steve for pulling this out of the fire! I swear I've had far, far worse mixes from guys who had the benefit of time and a decent studio!

[sound_music]

@ andy: thanks man, really, you are too kind! nice job on the masters on your end too! (remote slutz, check out andy's shop he does very good work)

@ everyone else that's getting a kick out of my sob story: if nothing else i'm glad people are getting a bit of entertainment out of all this! long live GS... enjoy!

[edwinhurwitz]

I'm going to chime in here and urge you to not give up on remote recording. The fact that you came through this and delivered a good product means that you will get more work and the better the jobs are, the easier they are (to an extent). It's the low pay, thrown together gigs that are the hardest, but once you get your rig together, you'll be able to handle anything. The fact that you did this proves it.

I've encountered just about everything you mention here (including having to yell at the FOH engineer to unmute the lead guitar track during a solo when getting a post everything feed) and it is one of those what doesn't kill you makes stronger situations. I now own 32+ channels of split and enough mics, snakes and cabling to handle the stage myself. I am therefore stronger!

Hang in there, it will get better!

Edwin
PS Once you get to know the local FOH people, it gets way easier as they get to know you and get on your side.

[cortisol]

Sound Music - did you really set up in front of FOH and try to show the engineer how to use his desk! Man you sound like a pr!ck! No wonder the guy didn't want to listen to you... the crowd lapped up his mixes and had a good time and you show up without any splitters or redundancy in your recording system.

Somebody was an amature at that gig! Thanks for fessin up.

Peace,
cortisol

[bishopthomas]

The cables that he got were not what were spec'd. I would have (and have) done the same. It sounds like the FOH guy was clueless and needed hand-holding. Was he supposed to sit back and let him COMPLETELY ruin the recording. I agree that this guy was in WAY over his head, but he did it and delivered product to the client. And that's really all that matters. Well, that and the health of you and your crew. How's your friend doing?

[sound_music]

@ cortizol: you're a FOH guy i take it... and i guess you didn't read the whole thread/post--many hours of polite/professional attempts at communication were made to no avail. so, whatever.... the only prick chiming in on this thread so far is you bud...

@ bishopthomas: thanks for the support, it's true sometime you gotta just do whatever you gotta do to get the audio i guess! and thanks for asking about my friend mr. sunstroke--ran into him last night, he was recording an acoustic show at a bar we hang out at... he's back in top form, feeling great, and chasing pretty moroccan girls between sets!

[sound_music]

here's a few pics just recieved from events company, mostly of us stressing out! few nice shots of property... and one great shot of the horrendous micing technique employed on the drum overheads! (remember the mics they wouldn't let us move...!!??)