Sighting in St Louis..

[Steve Smith]

Thought I would post some pics from a live date I am doing in St Louis with The Aura Sonic mobile... (Since I missed both the NYC and Nashville gatherings, I figured I would have my own version... lol) The event is a conference for high school and college aged kids that the label I do a lot of work for is hosting.. 5 bands, three days, and LOTS OF GEAR!

We are using the in-house PA ( that’s a whole other story..) which is pretty cool, Midas at FOH, DDA at monitors, everyone but the singers are on "ears" so the stage volume is pretty low ( yay) I am using all of Steve's mics, straight into the truck split, then the rack of APIs and to tape. I am a real happy camper, I kept wanting to use the outboard ( see pics) but the sounds are really happening, so there is literally 2 db of eq on the kick and snare ( finally woke up to the Genera Dry skins on snare.. sounds great) and a comp on the lead vocal and that is it. ( I did turn the Distressors on yesterday to at least look at the lights.. almost feels criminal to have em and not need em, but what are ya gonna do?) Most of the pics are self explanatory, but if ya got any questions... ask em

[Steve Smith]

gtrs

[Steve Smith]

and..

[Steve Smith]

the guilty parties...

[Steve Smith]

cant forget the rhy section..

[Steve Smith]

..

[Fuzzy Logic]

steve smith,

i wish more musicians would direct their guitar rigs towards themselves instead of the audience. you get so much more control when the backline isnt blasting into the auditorium. who came up with the great idea?

also why didn't the singers have inears?
and... i noticed the yellow patch cords have some red and black patches. then there were banks of blue patch cords. was there a reason for this combination of colors or just what was available?

oh and i saw the ksp8 remote but the unit wasn't in the racks. what gives?

[mwagener]

great pictures Steve, and great truck Steve

It 's gotta be a great feeling, being totally surrounded by gear.

[Steve Smith]

Originally posted by mwagener
great pictures Steve, and great truck Steve

It 's gotta be a great feeling, being totally surrounded by gear.

you know it... the kicker was when I realized that that was about one 5th of his gear...

the other super cool feeling is to be around that much gear in a truck that is dead quiet ( zero noise when we connected to the house rig, no loops, no ground problems, perfectly quiet out of the gate.. no bad cables, no scratchy patch points.. I have had less working studios that were in buildings, and this thing just travelled half way across the country!

[Steve Smith]

Originally posted by Fuzzy Logic
steve smith,

i wish more musicians would direct their guitar rigs towards themselves instead of the audience. you get so much more control when the backline isnt blasting into the auditorium. who came up with the great idea?

Me.. not originallly, but for this recording..i work with this group alot, and they are super cool with that sort of thing.. ego free!

also why didn't the singers have inears?

the singers ( lead and backing ) do alot of "interacting with the crowd, in ears are a bit too dsconnecting, and they were just not used to them. The lead vocalist ( acoustic) did have one ear in providing most of his mix, and with the rest of the band on ears, the singers wedges were at a manageable level, add some careful mic placement and voila, no bleed problems at all...

and... i noticed the yellow patch cords have some red and black patches. then there were banks of blue patch cords. was there a reason for this combination of colors or just what was available?

this is a very cool thing that Steve R does, the yellow cords are the main patches from the pres to the decks, with a red sord every eigth channel.. the blue cables are for my stem mixes and effects, and the black cables are for inserts.. makes it super easy to sort out what is going on in the heat of battle.. the whole rig is put together with this sort of attention to detail, everything you might need was super close & literally I felt like I arranged ti for me personally, it is that natural feeling.

oh and i saw the ksp8 remote but the unit wasn't in the racks. what gives?

the KSP 8 was in a rack below the HEDD/SSL comp/CD burner racks. it was my first time and wow I have G.A.S. badd.....

[Steve Smith]

Originally posted by Randall
looks like the guitar player with the strat copy may qualify as a future slut!!!! nice truck and rig!!!

you bet.. FYI, the "strat copy" is a G&L ( hard to make out cause I made the pics lower rez to fit em in..) he is running Ableton Live on the I Book to generate a click and loops for the shows, that is also what the midi floorboard is for.. the other guitars in his ig qare the PRS and a Taylor ltd edition acoustic, and the other guitarist has his red ibanez as well as a Strat, and a 12 string danelectro that sounded super cool.. I totally forgot to get a shot of all the guitars that were around.. i counted like 17..

[Jules]

Did you know Steve Remote & the Aura-Sonic truck before Gearslutz?

Was this a world wide web hook up?

Was the final product the live mix?

Or did you spend some time doing that afterwards?

Any overdubs?

Did you configure the gear Steve brought?

Or did he recomend stuff?

He has 3 trucks worth OR MORE!!!!

Rock on Steves!

[Steve Smith]

Originally posted by Jules
Did you know Steve Remote & the Aura-Sonic truck before Gearslutz?

Was this a world wide web hook up?

Met Steve right before gearslutz.. IIRC Fletcher recommended him to me along with some other remote guys in NYC, but one gig was all it took to make me a Aura-Sonic beliver.

Was the final product the live mix?

Or did you spend some time doing that afterwards?

I will do post in September, tracked the whole thing to 40 tracks of DA-78s + a DA98 for Stems..

Any overdubs?

We will add some extra BGVs and guitar parts before mix..

Did you configure the gear Steve brought?

Or did he recomend stuff?

I called Steve ad told hi when the gig was, his default rig has my standard monitors, recording format and outboard, so all I added were the 48 channels of "ASL modded " APIs.

He has 3 trucks worth OR MORE!!!!

MORE! I had the medium truck, his new expando opens up to a 14' x 22' control room.. I want that, it could double as the hotel on the gig!

[Mordecai]

Steve R, so nice to meet you this weekend. I've read a few of your posts, and hear Steve S talk about you all the time. I hope we get a chance to work together again. If you need a roadie on that RH gig, you just let me know okay?

Steve S, thanks again for having faith in me for FOH. It was a long weekend, but went very well in my opinion.

Still in St. Louis, back to KC tomorrow.

-Rob Kreisel

[Remoteness]

I'm Back! We got in late last night and our return trip went real smooth.

The pictures Steve S. took was edited in the truck and posted via Steve's laptop via the wireless network that was set up at the venue.

It's refreshing to work with an engineer that's surrounded by buckets of gear, but isn't compelled to use everything just because it's there. Steve only used what he felt was necessary. Too many times, we have to deal with outside engineers (that don't get it) asking for everything on board and then some, but never find the time to adjust and set the stuff properly. If it sounds good why screw with it?

Dr. Smith had a great mix going to the CDRs. He also had a stem mix tape for future CDR dubs. No need to set up a 40 channel mix when you got a groovy stem tape to mix with. Steve set up four stereo mix stems which included, drums, band, vocals and audience.

It's a wonderful thing when the guest engineer totally understands (where you're coming from and) how you like to do things. It felt like Steve's been on staff at Aura Sonic for years. A truly natural vibe all around.

The crew Steve S. brought in was super. Even the facilities personnel were totally there for us. Thanks guys! Great job.

I hope we get a chance to work (play) together soon. It's hard to call it work when you're with folks that care about what they do.

All the best to you and yours!

[Fuzzy Logic]

now that its been some time, how does the tracks sound now that youre back home?


anyway, sounds like you guys really worked well together.

do i see an A team in the making?

keep up the good work!

[Steve Smith]

Well, I have only listened to the 2 mixes, but they are sounding really good, minimal fixes needed, and the producer is currently deciding on songs with the "commitee" involved ( 3 bands, the producer, 2 MDs and the label.. glad I am out of those discussions!) I am doing post work on this in mid september shooting for a november release lots of time.

[Remoteness]

Steve "Waylon" Smith:

It's been way too long since we did this recording. Many miles of travel since St. Louis...

Man, I let this one slide away. I'm curious, how did the record turn out?

Hey, if applicable, can I get a copy for the Aura Sonic archives?

All the best to you and yours my friend!

[Waylon]

errmm...yeah.....


remember my comment about the committe involved?



I finally got the go ahead to mix in the 3rd week in November.... for mastering in the first week of December! Lots of editing performance wise to create what the client wanted, but all in all everyone was happy. Gotta love working at 99mph!

I am no longer with the company, but I will see about getting you a copy, and Congrats on the grammy noms, the Blue Note stuff sounds FANTASTIC!

[Remoteness]

So, Stevie baby...

Did you ever get a copy of this work?

If so, how does it sound?