Study Hall

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Front Lines: Festival Fun

Staying cool, calm and collected at front of house while getting the job done.

The Value Of Labeling

Working off my festival patch and corresponding input list, I’ll often label the bottom of channel strips with the solid – not to be changed – festival patch/input list. The top of the strip is reserved for the ever-changing current acts input names.

I still use tape because in the heat of the battle there never seems to be enough time to pull out the keyboard or tap the screen – I can write faster. A black Sharpie on white tape has quite an edge over most digital “scribble strips,” especially in the blaring sun.

Sometimes old-fashioned tape and marker channel labeling is in order, depending on light conditions.

I Can See Clearly Now

Screens these days, regardless of the anti-glare solutions, can still be quite reflective. This leads to some troublesome reflections, particularly when there’s the all-too-common white pop-up tent above our head. Sometimes a slight adjustment of the console can alleviate the issue.

The blazing summer sun can also cause visibility issues as well as a sun-burned neck. I string up a mesh-like material using a temporary and easily changed bungee or zip tie solution to allow air to flow through while reducing direct sunlight on the console (and me).

Subs “A La Carte”

Although most systems these days have some sort of method for driving subwoofers independently from the L-R/stereo bus (a.k.a., “aux-fed subs”), sometimes visiting engineers would rather not have that feature or retain control of the independent left and right low-end information.

One punt I’ve worked out is feeding the subs from a few matrixes off the L-R bus.

Some simple yet effective work can clean up things on the low end.

If the console du jour doesn’t allow a matrix send from a channel, I may create a few stereo groups fed from channels that contain the low-end information and spin up a matrix send from that group.

Another tip when using “stereo subs from an aux/matrix” is a possible reduction in “power alley” by sending inputs like the inside kick mic and the outside kick mic to one or the other sides of the subs. Think the same for bass mic and DI. (Big nod to Dave Rat for that tip).

So Many Faders!

Digital consoles bring some wonderful tools for channel management. For example, Yamaha QL and CL Series consoles offer a feature called “custom fader layer,” which provides four “layers” of faders that can be assigned to any input, output, group, or DCA. DiGiCo also offers a powerful tool with the “assign faders” function.

Taking advantage of these features allows me to streamline the current act I’m mixing by eliminating faders I don’t need. If the band has its own engineer, I set up a custom fader layer in accordance to the given engineer’s input list, resulting in his inputs coming up where he/she wants them regardless of where my inputs come to the desk. Use a simple strip of tape to mark the console with the input names, and it’s good to go.

Inserts & FX

Just typing the word “inserts” probably dates me. In my live sound workshops, I tend to garner a few blank stares when I talk about inserts and how they’re intended to function and patch. The way “external” or additional tools are added to the signal chain has changed quite a bit.

In the analog console days, I’d be asking visiting engineers what gates and comps were needed and where, as well as the patching of external FX units. These days, a few screen taps or button pushes and that’s that. In the festival environment, regardless if I’m the only engineer or not, I set up a short and long reverb, as well as a delay that the can be “tapped” from a button on the console.

Another thing I set up is user defined keys, shortcuts or preferences to get to the parameters of each unit quickly. The same holds true for graphic EQs – I don’t want to (or make anyone else) have to search through the console to get to an often-used function or tool.

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