Working with seasoned pro's

[Tomm Williams]

I did an event last night that was a true eye opener. Louis Price (Temptations, Drifters) put on a show at our college in celebration of Black History Month. Upon first meeting him and all the band members, I was a little shocked how laid back everyone was. We started with monitors which took all of 5 minutes and everyone was happy, they then started rehearsing which was an education in itself. Personally, I've never had the chance to work with an act with this much experience, watching what was being said, direction being given, critical ques, details, details, details. It was a real learning experience of how it's done.

I also now know what it's like when someone REALLY know how to work a mic. Price informed me after rehearsal that he didn't want me to move the faders during the performance. He liked where things were set and they would use dynamics for any changes. They (mostly he) did so with great results. He was all over the place with the mic, I was having a hard time understanding how he was being so effective as I'd never seen that before.

As for their performance..................absolutely incredible, one of those times where I almost couldn't pay attention to my job because I found myself enjoying the performance. Price's entertainment style was without a doubt old-school Motown. There was a healthy dose of James Brown similarity. I don't think he was making any effort to copy JB, it's just how he does things. He was on a Line6 XD V55 and was wondering all over the room singing to the ladies. It was funny as hell watching these women get all flustered while he was singing love songs to them. As his wife was in the band, I thought that made it even funnier.

At the end of the performance he introduced all the members of his band and spoke a bit about their background, lot's of deep Motown history there. They had all pretty much played with a "Whos-who" list of the greats from the 60's and 70's. Then he did something very unexpected..................he introduced me and told how helpful we'd been and easy to work with, this went on for about 30 seconds. I was floored.

On other notes, I had an EV 967 just die on me. I had the 3 back up singers all on them and one just wouldn't work. I checked cables, snake, channel mix-up, all the normal stuff not even thinking it could be the mic but it was. Really shocked as I bought them new and baby them, I'll send it back to EV for repair. Concerning the 967's, the background singers sounded excellent on them (though they probably would have sounded great on tin cans and strings) I have used them before but not with this kind of talent, they are keepers. Don Boomer made a comment about the Line6 wireless being seemingly feedback resistant but for not quite known reasons, I have to agree. Price was doing things with the mic that should have been a problem and were not.  

All in all a great night and a real education.  

[agedhorse]

This is why I prefer working with pros. As long as you have your act totally together it's a pretty easy deal, but if you are struggling (read as talking the talk but not walking the walk) it will be a nightmare. Good gig!

[Pro Sound Guy]

Ive worked with a lot of national Blues acts Gatemouth Brown, Tinsley Ellis, Luther Allison, Lonnie Brooks, Jimmy Thackery and the Drivers  and the list goes on.  They all are all "set it and forget it" acts.

Jimmy used to tell me...get the levels and leave it.

I used to really enjoy Gatemouth Brown...dam what a band.

 

 

 

 

[agedhorse]

Gatemouth is one of my all time favorite blues acts too.

Back in the day, I used to work with all of the major touring blues and folk/folk-rock acts. The band's balancing of dynamics helped me develop my own mixing style as well.

Another great blues act was Willie Dixon, wow what a band!

[witesol]

a great band just makes me seem better than I am! and instead of damage control you can actually make it art.. 

Notables from my experiences:

Merle Haggard, great band..

Steve Miller band, steve's vocal and his guitar faders are all you need to mess with

Ambrosia

Max Carl

Robben Ford, I could have went to Mcdonalds and took credit for the mix

A few really good tribute bands in the area

A few really good local bands I love to mix. 

[Shaster]

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Tomm Williams wrote:

 

 

 

On other notes, I had an EV 967 just die on me. I had the 3 back up singers all on them and one just wouldn't work. I checked cables, snake, channel mix-up, all the normal stuff not even thinking it could be the mic but it was. Really shocked as I bought them new and baby them, I'll send it back to EV for repair. Concerning the 967's, the background singers sounded excellent on them (though they probably would have sounded great on tin cans and strings) I have used them before but not with this kind of talent, they are keepers. Don Boomer made a comment about the Line6 wireless being seemingly feedback resistant but for not quite known reasons, I have to agree. Price was doing things with the mic that should have been a problem and were not.  

 

All in all a great night and a real education.  

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I'm glad that you had a great time. Bank that feeling for the times when you're at a less than stellar gig! Back in the eighties (and even today) I worked with folks that were from that Motown era. Mic control was a big thing, and the singers really knew how to control their volume and timbre.

Re: dead mics, now you know why I mentioned that redundancy is often more important than the "perfect" mic. I reckon that's why some folks just run with a bunch of "fill in the blanks" so there is consitency across the mic spectrum.

Re: wireless... I have grown to quite like those Line 6 mics. I had to do a show where the conductor of the Vancouver Symphony was talking. He would wander from the podium to the piano to wherever. I was very pleased with the performance of the Line 6.