A new twist for me

[One_Dude]

I have been hired to provide sound for a concert that I have done in the past; this time however there is a twist.

 

Three acoustic groups performed in the past with the mixes for groups one and three being only slightly different from each other. I sound checked the second group (small vocal acappella) on the fly during the concert. On those occasions each group did their numbers and moved off stage. This year the concert producer wants to mix things up. Group one will do three songs, then group two (four acappella voices) will do three songs. Then group three does three songs. Group two then comes back for two songs, followed by groups one and three combining for two songs. The mix for groups one and three are not a problem since they are so alike, however group two (the four singers) will require a completely different mix. To make things a bit worse, group two has three members who have almost no experience using a mic and hence are mic shy.

 

In a pre-concert meeting I expressed my concern about the producers plan being one that unnecessarily complicates things for the sound crew. Her response was "your the sound guy so that's your problem). I reserve the possibility of telling the producer that the current plan creates a situation where many problems can arise.

 

I am not concerned about group two's mic experience, but am a bit puzzled when trying to come up with a plan for the different mixes on the fly. All my equipment is analog and hence has no memory to store different mixes. I thought about having separate mics for group two, but I really don't want to clutter the stage with four more mics and stands than necessary. I am also thinking about using a different mixer for group two and possibly two condenser mics rather than four individual dynamic mics. The condenser mics might actually help with the mic shy issue since the singers will be farther away from the mics. I could see the two mixer option working if I can isolate each from the other but still maintain my feeds to the FOH and the monitors. I have often done concerts with more than one group performing, but this is different in that group two with a totally different mix is coming back for two additional songs.

 

In the absence of a better plan I will just treat group two as completely different performers and mix both of their turns separately on the fly. Any ideas or helpful experiences you can offer will be greatly appreciated.

 

Thanks in advance,

 

One_Dude

[Dookietwo]

I'd go with more microphones and stands. Is your current mixer large enough to handle the channel count? If the stage area is large enough have one group on the left. One center and the last on the right. At least have the two similar on one side. Put them close together as possible and mute unused channels. Some microphones could be common per. band

[agedhorse]

Multiple mics/stands/input channels.

 

The comments made about it being your problem is a warning shot across the bow IMO. This is the time to start dotting the I's and crossing the T's as they appear to have no problem throwing you under the bus if things don't go well in spite of your best effort.

[One_Dude]

Thanks for your suggestions of multiple mics, stands, and mixer channels. I had planned to use my Peavey passive mixer along with a Peavey powered mixer, but neither of these mixers has mute options on their channels. I also have a 16 channel Mackie that does have channel mute capability. I normally don't use it just because I am most familiar with my Peavey gear, but I spent some time with the Mackie yesterday and tested each channel and function, so I will use it for this job. I think by dedicating 4 channels to group two, I will be using a total of 11 channels on the Mackie. So this approach should work OK, and I will have my Peavey mixer in the car for backup.

 

I agree with the comment about "being thrown under the bus". In the past this producer has always been easy to deal with and very appreciative and complimentary of my work. So maybe her comment was not meant to be as harsh as it sounded. I know that she is concerned about the potential for low attendance since it turns out there is another local (insert small town) music event going on the same day at almost the same time. Someone apparently didn't do their homework when picking the date.

 

Thanks again for your help,

 

One_Dude

[Dogoth]

This one of the few cases where having a digital board can be is LESS effective. Unless you can herd all of those cats into sound checking each segment and saving it (this could take hours), you'll never get it just right. If you have the extra channels, dedicate channels to the different performers and just drop the LABELED cables for future use. I've done a number of these shows and the mix of musos almost never works as planned and usually end up with everyone on stage for some final hurrah. Even with my digital monitor console, I try to have dedicated channels (luckily I have 48 available) and build my scenes as we soundcheck so that the last one has everything (with many channels muted). Since odds are these various artists may not have played together in these exact arrangements, the levels are rarely "just right" but at least you have a place to start (mixing on the fly). Make sure your voice was heard by the production people so you can avoid those bus tires .

 

Have fun & good luck