I Love Salsa...

[Remoteness]

A few weeks ago marked Aura Sonic's 29th year anniversary. We worked on that day...


My crew and I happened to be on location at the Paradise Theater in da Bronx for a live video shoot and audio record.

Abe from Abe V. Systems contracted us to record "I Love Salsa" with N'Klabe with Moncho Rivera, Ismael Miranda, Kevin Ceballo, Voltio, Rey Ruiz, La Lo Rodriguez and Victor Manuelle.

We used The Bread Mobile for this production venture. We were able to fit everything within 32 tracks and that included ten RF HHs and a couple of room mics.

Below are a bunch of photos of the production truck. You folks have seen my The Bread Mobile plenty of times so, I'm going to spare you those photos...

[Remoteness]

Here's a few pictures of the ESU, soundcheck, rehearsal and show for your review.

Any questions about the gig? I'm all ears.

[pan60]

very cool Steve, thanks!

[parissound]

Damm, that is nice dude. I wish I was there.

Awesome, top notch musicians.

Send me a copy of the performance. LOL

[Remoteness]

Do you like Salsa music?

I'll keep you posted when the video is available.

[parissound]

Do I love salsa? It's in my blood.
I eat, drink, sleep salsa.
I would love a copy of both the DVD and Cd.

Thanks.

[Remoteness]

Any technical questions while we wait for the DVD and CD?

[FilmDingo]

Do you normally use a main stereo pair out in the venue for this type of show, and how large of a role does it play in the final mix?

[Remoteness]

Normally we would use a minimum of four to five audience mics with at least three downstage mics pointing outward into the theater and at least a pair at or near the FOH position.

For this production venture we only had two mics for audience/room tone that happen to be a pair of Sennheiser MKH416 spot mics also known as short shotguns. We placed them downstage left and right and pointed them slightly towards the center of the space. They sounded very good considering that they were our only option.

This date should have been a 40 track session. The budget dictated only 32.
With 40 tracks we would have had three to four MKH416s downstage pointing out and a pair at FOH. I like using the rear pair as important part of the final mix element. Sometimes I time align the rear pair, sometimes I like what it does to the final mix without correction.

All my live shows mixes have room tone blended into the final mix. The amount really depends what the producer is going for and what it does to the musical arrangement.

30 to 40% room is not out of line the ordinary -- I like a lot of room tone in my mixes.