Live Sound & Production

[agedhorse]

Not all shows suck!!!

Tonight is Leo Kottke who is one of the best legends of this genre. I first worked with him 25 years ago and he's as good today as he was back then. The show is all about the music, great music, 3 channels, all analog (other than speaker processing), no wedges (line arrays flown pretty far upstage in this room so he can hear some PA which is what he personally prefers.) Totally professional all around

Nice acoustic guitar sound, killer player, great old voice, no effects, just him, a been there - done that legend in a 1000 seat living room with his loyal fans. Very intimate. Standing ovation, easy out. Why can't all shows be like this???

If he ever comes through your area, it's a show worth seeing if you are into music.

[Pro Sound Guy]

Imagine what you could have done with an Ipad Aged!

LOL

Ya know back when they didnt have monitors the guys played together so they could actually hear

the vocals comining out of the mains.  When a verse would come everyone would bring it down

so they could hear what was taking place out of the mains.

Im not saying all pro acts and even club bands dont use dynamics but they rely heavily on the monitors.

Some of the Bluegrass acts ive ran sound for is a great example.   Here you have acoustic intstuments

and they want everything louder then everything else through the monitors.   However, some of them use 

one central large diaphragm mic and want NO monitors and they actually move back and forth to

the mic to control their solos, and vocals. 

Sounds like you had a great night.   Sometimes its great when you can just get the levels and sit

back and enjoy without trying to control a band that cant control themselves

[agedhorse]

Leo and I figured the the first show we worked together was 1982, so obviously time flies faster than even I imagined!!!

The professional working relationships are what make the pro side of the sound business so much easier and more productive than the butthead side of the same industry. How many acts have a 40+ year history of selling 500-1500 tickets year after year???

[dbMontana]

Yea I've seen (though certainly not worked with) Leo five or six times over that same period and every time was a different set/show and every time was absolutely excellent in both musicality and stage presence -- a true professional I totally agree.  The last show I saw he was just milling around the lobby beforehand chatting with folks. Just a normal, absurdly talented guy.

I just curious though.  My son was already performing at the time of that last show and I distinctly remember the great sound Leo was getting from his Taylors. Certainly a nice acoustic sound but with a certain sustain or almost punch that carried the hall extremely well.  Now that was before I started my "formal" SR education here so I didn't have much of an idea what he might be doing to get that.  So I'm curious, you mentioned three channels -- was that different channels for each guitar or some other parallel-processing magic?  Do you know what he had for a stage processor/DI/box? 

Thanks for sharing your positive experience.

   ...dave

[agedhorse]

One gtr channel was a backup. Just a chorus unit and a DI. Simple.

Flat tuned pa, console channels flat, no fx. No digital console, no digital snake, no i-devices. All talent.

[dbMontana]

Beautiful! Thanks.
...dave

[Bugzie]

That's a name from the past. He always had a good show so I thought I'd see if he was gonna be in the area. He'll be at a Casino a couple of hours away and thought I'd take the bride and stay the night. Till I saw the ticket prices! $351......ouch. 

[blsmn]

Leo is indeed always a true pleasure to work with.  I'll never forget the first time - after sound check he said he'd like to grab a bite to eat so he, myself, the LD and the TD from our theater took him down to a local pub for one of their signature burgers.  Bill came - he grabbed it and bought us lunch.  We all kind of sat there speechless - had never experienced that kind of consideration from someone of his level of talent and experience before.  I will always have a nice warm place in my memories for Leo...  

[agedhorse]

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blsmn wrote:

Leo is indeed always a true pleasure to work with.  I'll never forget the first time - after sound check he said he'd like to grab a bite to eat so he, myself, the LD and the TD from our theater took him down to a local pub for one of their signature burgers.  Bill came - he grabbed it and bought us lunch.  We all kind of sat there speechless - had never experienced that kind of consideration from someone of his level of talent and experience before.  I will always have a nice warm place in my memories for Leo...  

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Bill K. ?

[agedhorse]

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Bugzie wrote:

That's a name from the past. He always had a good show so I thought I'd see if he was gonna be in the area. He'll be at a Casino a couple of hours away and thought I'd take the bride and stay the night. Till I saw the ticket prices! $351......ouch. 

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Wonder why reliability is so high on some of our lists? You can buy a pretty nice console for 20 of those tickets...

[blsmn]

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agedhorse wrote:

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blsmn wrote:

Leo is indeed always a true pleasure to work with.  I'll never forget the first time - after sound check he said he'd like to grab a bite to eat so he, myself, the LD and the TD from our theater took him down to a local pub for one of their signature burgers.  Bill came - he grabbed it and bought us lunch.  We all kind of sat there speechless - had never experienced that kind of consideration from someone of his level of talent and experience before.  I will always have a nice warm place in my memories for Leo...  

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Bill K. ?

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Wasn't quite sure what you meant at first Aged - think I see now.  I should have said "when the bill came Leo grabbed it and bought us lunch".  Am I warm?

[agedhorse]

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blsmn wrote:

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agedhorse wrote:

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blsmn wrote:

Leo is indeed always a true pleasure to work with.  I'll never forget the first time - after sound check he said he'd like to grab a bite to eat so he, myself, the LD and the TD from our theater took him down to a local pub for one of their signature burgers.  Bill came - he grabbed it and bought us lunch.  We all kind of sat there speechless - had never experienced that kind of consideration from someone of his level of talent and experience before.  I will always have a nice warm place in my memories for Leo...  

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Bill K. ?

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Wasn't quite sure what you meant at first Aged - think I see now.  I should have said "when the bill came Leo grabbed it and bought us lunch".  Am I warm?

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Sorry, I was referring to his primary promoter's name... Bill K.

never mind.

[MarkGifford-1]

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agedhorse wrote:

The show is all about the music, great music, 3 channels, all analog (other than speaker processing), no wedges

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Have you worked w/Gilian Welch and David Rawlings?

Same thing -  2 - 58's, 2 - 57's, no monitors. Tremendous music.

OTOH, I had a contract to do sound for a local folksinging society, who would bring people in for shows, once a month.

This one old guy was a real traditionalist - vocal mic, gtr mic, no monitors.

We did a soundcheck and he told me exactly how loud he wanted it in the mains - basically, if he could hear it, it was too much.

We did the first set, and during intermission, a lot of people, including the society's director, came and told me that they couldn't hear it in the back. So I snuck up the volume a little bit when he came back on. After the first song, he gives me the look, tells me to please bring it down...

There really wasn't a way to tactfully tell him that the people in back couldn't hear him, as he was onstage. I felt bad for the people who'd paid $20, and couldn't hear the show.

MG

[Bobby1Note]

Leo really knows how to get the most out of that 12-string guitar. Fantastic player.

[dedmeet]

I am watching a video of Leo in another window on my PC and have to say - I'm a little jealous you got to work with him, OP!  Great sound, amazing talent.  The opportunity to run a simple, clean, and effective mix had to have been remarkable.

The closest I have come to this sort of thing is when I mixed acts for a local eco-fest and mixed a talented local bluegrass band.  They clustered around a single Audio Technica 2020 and basically mixed themselves.  Sounded amazing.  I bought two 2020s shortly thereafter.

[agedhorse]

I just saw that John Hiatt popped up on my schedule, another great act (and he happens to play our big stereo acoustic amp too).

[DanBAP]

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MarkGifford-1 wrote:

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agedhorse wrote:

The show is all about the music, great music, 3 channels, all analog (other than speaker processing), no wedges

---

Have you worked w/Gilian Welch and David Rawlings?

Same thing -  2 - 58's, 2 - 57's, no monitors. Tremendous music.

OTOH, I had a contract to do sound for a local folksinging society, who would bring people in for shows, once a month.

This one old guy was a real traditionalist - vocal mic, gtr mic, no monitors.

We did a soundcheck and he told me exactly how loud he wanted it in the mains - basically, if he could hear it, it was too much.

We did the first set, and during intermission, a lot of people, including the society's director, came and told me that they couldn't hear it in the back. So I snuck up the volume a little bit when he came back on. After the first song, he gives me the look, tells me to please bring it down...

There really wasn't a way to tactfully tell him that the people in back couldn't hear him, as he was onstage. I felt bad for the people who'd paid $20, and couldn't hear the show.

MG

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I've had that happen before and every time, I've regretted acquiescing. I'm at the point now where I'll do what's right for the audience and if the artist wants to bitch at me, they can bitch at me.

-Dan.

[toober]

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DanBAP wrote:

I've had that happen before and every time, I've regretted acquiescing. I'm at the point now where I'll do what's right for the audience and if the artist wants to bitch at me, they can bitch at me.

-Dan.

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+1  Perform your job according to who hired you. If there's a direct conflict that needs a resolution immediately, decide what is best overall.

[monthlymixcd]

Saw Leo once in Ames, IA in ~1993?... student union gig, ~300 people in the round, basically... talk about intimate setting! Amazing talent and the best artist/audience dialogue I've ever had the pleasure to be a part of... that banter was priceless!

[WynnD]

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MarkGifford-1 wrote:

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agedhorse wrote:

The show is all about the music, great music, 3 channels, all analog (other than speaker processing), no wedges

---

Have you worked w/Gilian Welch and David Rawlings?

Same thing -  2 - 58's, 2 - 57's, no monitors. Tremendous music.

OTOH, I had a contract to do sound for a local folksinging society, who would bring people in for shows, once a month.

This one old guy was a real traditionalist - vocal mic, gtr mic, no monitors.

We did a soundcheck and he told me exactly how loud he wanted it in the mains - basically, if he could hear it, it was too much.

We did the first set, and during intermission, a lot of people, including the society's director, came and told me that they couldn't hear it in the back. So I snuck up the volume a little bit when he came back on. After the first song, he gives me the look, tells me to please bring it down...

There really wasn't a way to tactfully tell him that the people in back couldn't hear him, as he was onstage. I felt bad for the people who'd paid $20, and couldn't hear the show.

MG

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Sounds like the perfect situation for time delayed satellite speakers closer to the back, but that's not something that you can do on the fly. If you knew it was coming you could prepare for it. (Large audiences and low volume situations. Pretty rare.)