Diaries of a Sound Engineer Part 2
What follows is a stop by stop breakdown of the audio setup at each venue through the eyes of sound engineer Gregory Morris while on the road this summer with Protoje and the Indiggnation band.
First Stop Czech Republic:
Getting a band ready in 30 minutes on an analog console is never easy, especially with a
Sound Craft MH3. The first issue, bad insert cables, they made the
first 3 minutes of the set a living hell. Line array L-acoustics system
sounded pretty decent except it was lacking in low end department.
I ended up boosting a bit of low end on the graphic EQ (equalizer) to make things
sound a better. It was a good show nevertheless. The stage was a bit
dark so I tried to have a few words with the LD (lighting designer) during the show but the
language barrier became a problem as he only understood a few words.
Next up Lakesplash Switzerland:
This second show was a mess. Lakesplash is a small reggae festival in Switzerland with a small
stage and a low tent for a roof. This is a recipe for disaster if you are
mixing for a loud band. Plus the noise laws in Switzerland are no joke! You will
be removed from the console if you keep going over the limit. Lakesplash had
some custom build German speakers which didn’t sound too bad. I just had a
lot of rumble and bad frequencies coming from the stage. The monitor engineer
kept complaining that the stage was too loud, however no one cares as the band was
having a blast.
Onto Summerjam Germany:
Summerjam was mad fun, as usual, they had a very good system, complete with my favorite digital
mixing desk, the Venue SC48. The only problem was getting everything ready in
25 minutes. I had minor problems with the drum mics and had to ask the stage technician
to reposition the snare mics for a better sound. Overall was probably
one of the best shows of the tour because the system was so easy to
mix on. Unfortunately I missed a few parts in the dub section, outboard reverb failure. You know I am
still not even sure what happened. On a side note, please get the contact info for
system technician.
Then to the Montreux Jazz Festival in Switzerland:
Definitely one of the most organized festivals that still caters to
reggae. DiGiCo SD12 for both stage and front of the house. Everyone gets a
sound check which is good. The room is a little tricky as you hear less bass at
the mix position. So every few minutes during the show I had to walk like
12 feet out into the audience to check that I’m still good where bass is
concerned. Shure KSM9 for lead vocals, not sure if the artist liked
it, but I certainly did. The high end on that motherfucker is amazing. He complained about it being a bit bright on stage for his taste though. Definitely like the sound of the console, it is a bit hard to get used to
since I don’t use it very often. But it does sound good. Side note: I should ask Veer to
compare the specs of this system to the one in Spain.
Arrive in Rome:
Italy is famous for horrible systems, this one, however was the exception. Yamaha
PM5D at front of house. Well-tuned, so it was easy to get a good
sound with the JBL VerTec line array. Plus for this festival we had a sound
check due to the fact we were headlining the first night. So it was
easy to fine tune the mix of the band. Not sure if I liked how the
band played though. Maybe they were a bit too relaxed for a closing act. Awesome
crowd though. Definitely one to remember.
Quick stop at the Dour Festival Belgium:
Old Midas never fails. One would be surprised to see an analog
console at such a big festival. But as an engineer when you hear the
sound of it, you just have to show the analog a lot of respect. Definitely
was one of the most powerful systems so far this summer. It was very
funny to see the closing act using a CL5 which they brought in just
for their own set. Compared the Midas? It is night and day. As much as
we all love digital for its convenience and reliability. There is just
something about a Midas console.
Then back to Italy for the One love festival:
The Midas Pro2 is probably my favorite sounding digital console. But as far as ease of
use or being user friendly, I still prefer SC48. Good thing is that we had
a sound check. This helped to me get more familiar with this console as
I had only used it twice before. We had weird looking Nexus speakers, but they
didn’t sound too bad after carving out a curve on the graphic EQ (equalizer).
These speakers are very aggressive in the 3K region. They had some
weird microphones with no names? For vocals? They sounded like
Shure 58S but just a bit duller.
The tour last shows were basically the same rig. Midas console with L-
acoustic stacks with pretty decent sounding PA system. Had to notch out
some 160 Hz from the graphic.
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