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Can you imagine being the FOH Engineer at the Grammy's!>?!


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I know they have several things going on... Seperate mixers for the live room and TV, etc.

 

I wonder what FOH Console they use? You know it's digital to bring up all the prior sound checks. I just can't imagine. Things would have to be labeled, re-labeled and triple checked. I'm sure half the show's fake? I'm sure all instrument mics stay on.... I'd LOVE to see how all that works!

 

I have some extensive experiance working at bigger venues, multiple bands, digital console.. and that can be a serious headache.... just can't imagine working on something like the grammys!

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So much reverb, so little time? As far as the mix goes, it seemed a little long on the segment I saw. Worse was using Stevie nicks to be TS's backup vocal-- that is a shame. But different strokes for different folks-- maybe the system I was hearing it on sucked.

 

Technically, tt doesn't seem like that complicated a show. And there is as much pre/production as necessary, not to mention that most folks there are pros.

 

Certainly FOH for the live and the TV recording truck are separate units.

 

Frankly, I work every weekend on an M7CL and do a couple mixes for the venue (FOH, monitors, 2-track to recorder and other rooms)... it is pretty easy with digital. Way not a headache.... of course, I am not mixing for an audience of millions.

 

I'd be stoked to work any position on that production; high standards aside, it sounds like an easy gig if you have the chops to work it.

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This is where it's obvious regarding the lack of big world experience making a gig like this seem "easy".

 

A gig like this is anythig but easy. The only reason why these kinds of gigs come off well at all is because there are decades of experience in the production trenches.

 

There are multiple mixers, many different types of inputs from the outside world, there are the live inputs, prerecorded tracks, remote truck inputs from video and remote locations, maybe satellite downlinks, and then you hsve all the output mixes, the splittinmg, the cross-patching to keep straight, and then there's the whole RF scene. This is generally coordinated by the "show" mixer. There may be 4 or 5 different engineers mixing at the same time, various segments or stems. There are also guys that just keep track of stage patching.

 

Add to this the show director(s) and producer(s), and all the ego related stuff, the multiple and tight cues, the on the fly changes.

 

THEN, add just a little pressure. It's a blast, a real kick in the ass once it's all over. When things go bad, it's not cool in a very big way.

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That's what I was thinking. Just the stage patching is a big task. One cat comes off.. You rip out all thier patch work.... Set up next act, plug in, recall those settings and hope you didn't put channel 6 in channel 9, etc.

You do all your sound checks with an empty room...now it's packed, how does that change your mix?

 

20 plus wireless mics on stage, ONE seems too loud. How are you going to track that down in seconds to pull it lower in the mix?

 

Everythings GOTTA be done to some form of click.. most likely started by the drummer on a directors que? The light and video has to sync perfectly.

 

Like I was saying earlier.. I've done shows with several bands on the bill. Sometimes I've had the luxury to have enough mics and didn't have to switch em out... Roll out the drum kit already pre-wired, Zbars on guitar cabs, DI Bass really fast. We would make all vocal mics stay in say channels 18-24 left to right. Recall settings from soundcheck and HOPEFULLY things work!

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Now coordinate with 12-16 monitor mixes in a seperate "universe" by different guys with different priorities.

 

 

I was thinking that the monitor mixes must be the biggest bitch to manage. So many artists/backing musicians and every one of them wanting a "perfect mix" in their ears!

 

Rehearsals must have been a nightmare!

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I would also imagine that there is a crew patching each band into a snake with a multi-pin connector so that when the first band is done the second band just needs one quick connection change and they are live to the engineers that handle Live venue sound, broadcast sound and monitor worlds. Everything would likely be split somewhere between the muti-pin and the various consoles.

 

But with new digital snakes... I may be off base.

 

But I did always assume that there were FOH, Broadcast and Monitor World engineers.

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In all seriousness, I would have loved to have been the junior board flunky, coffee fetcher, cable wrangler just for the opportunity to see how the big dogs do this kind of stuff and get a closer look at Ms. Swift.

 

The folks who do this stuff are in a way bigger league than most of us, that's for sure.

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In all seriousness, I would have loved to have been the junior board flunky, coffee fetcher, cable wrangler just for the opportunity to see how the big dogs do this kind of stuff and get a closer look at Ms. Swift.


The folks who do this stuff are in a way bigger league than most of us, that's for sure.

 

 

There's probably 20 of those guys.

 

It's a freekin' huge crew, lots of IA, and you have to remember that audiio is a small part of the production. There's conventional lighting, followspot ops, moving lights, video playback, video production w/ camera ops, boom ops, line producers, entire audio and video recording suites, there's staging, carps, rigging, props, catering, communications, and a couple of wireless wranglers thrown in. I'll bet there were well over 100 folks working on the technical aspects alone.

 

I don't work shows this big, but I do work plebty of larger shows where it's not uncommon to have 50 workers on the call for an awards or theatre show.

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It was a few years ago, but I had the opportunity to "hang out" backstage at the Grammys. It is very eye opening to see all the different things going on and how there are a number of specialists for each and every discipline.

 

Here's the piece I wrote about it at the time:

 

http://www.livesoundint.com/archives/2003/may/grammy/grammy.php

 

Of course it's only gotten more complex and "over the top" since then. But notice the modular staging, each piece with a dedicated audio breakout that mates with a multi-pin somewhere on the stage, etc. RF coordination is a major thing in itself and they usually have James Stoffo or somebody like that on hand.

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"This is where it's obvious regarding the lack of big world experience making a gig like this seem "easy". "

 

Maybe the word isn't "easy", but a well-supported show with high standards having access to as many talented folks as necessary isn't like Woodstock or something like this:

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NzJ2NKp23WU

 

By contrast, that awards show is mostly proven tech with reliable workers.

 

Not easy, maybe.

 

But is putting together the tools and personnel some abstract mixture of art and luck? Is having a bunch of highly trained union folks work for you difficult? I wouldn't know, but it isn't like there aren't highly developed sets of best practices.

 

Maybe easy is a crappy word, but my point is that over the last couple of years in which I have been working better and better jobs with more talented people I work with, the easier the jobs have been.

 

Would you disagree with that point?

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A very difficult job with long hours for many days in a row. Lots of places for things to go wrong or to get out of hand. The only reason why it works as well as it does is because of the quality level of those involved.

 

With less talented people involved, the job would go from difficult to impossible in a hurry.

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