Scene filters

[Stonepiano]

Qu’s scene-functionality would be just fine for a music festival, but I’m running a complex theatrical show here, 47 audio cues for a two-hour show. And I want to keep every single unused mic muted, the band stage is tiny, and I have a lot of condensers in there. Trust me, I am a 100% K.I.S.S. -type of guy, but there is a lot happening, the three guys in the band are all multi-instrumentalists, the double-bass player “doubles” on six other stringed instruments during the show. The allocated audio budget dictated the console-choice. But: the Qu is the best-sounding console for the price, IMHO. I don’t think I’m trying to overkill anything, quite the contrary- trying to manage… and eke out a living. And I DON’T HAVE TIME TO RECALL ANY LIBRARY-SETTINGS, things need to change in a 16th- note. Still waiting for the auto-incremental previous scene softkey-command…

[Stonepiano]

Running my own band with the 16 is a total picnic- Love It! But the present show is a different beast, to say the least… but do have great archive recordings! (I now remember that USB-source select lurks behind that CH/ST 🙄)

[Lou]

I only rarely need to do what you are doing, but a question – do you have soundcheck time to do this kind of presets? Or, if you know what you want, do the changes before a show, in rehearsal time, or at midnight if you have to, or something?

If it helps you feel better, I did a musical show in our music venue with over 40 scene changes, similarly with musicians changing instrumnts and singers changing mic positions, EQ, levels, etc. It took a few days to get the scenes set up. THeN at the last minute, they decided to record the show – and on the Soundcraft Vi4, all 24 channels had to have the direct outs assigned in every one of the 40 scenes individually. Three engineers racing through the scenes and we only missed a couple of direct outs the first day… If we had set the directs before making the different scenes, they all would have been on direct. Or if we’d had a Qu! 🙂
(Now I keep directs assigned in the template I start with, even if not needed at the start!)

It takes a lot of prep time for this kind of thing! What you want to do seems simple, really, just takes careful planning.

Best luck!

L

[Stonepiano]

@GC- there is absolutely no friggin’ way to do this show on an analog desk. And I am not a neophyte, as for digiconsoles. The scene-thing on the Qu just keeps outsmarting me.

[Stonepiano]

@Lou: had three weeks of rehearsals, but I only had chance to listen & take notes, had to get the show up&running in two days. Been trying to “fluentizise” ever since… with this one, even a custom layer-setup will not help- can’t fit all I need on a single layer. Amazing, actually, considering that I’m dealing with a trio. 10 more shows to go, out 73 total. I’ll survive, and I’ve learned a lot about what not to try… thank you guys for your patience!

P.S. Running the show single-handedly- so forgive me the occasional exhaustion🤒

[GCumbee]

We did worse than that on analog 40+ years ago. Just a matter of what you have to work with. I won’t say anything more. I have seen to much.

[GCumbee]

And I will go out on a limb here and say that if you are having to deal with scene changes on a 1/16th note you are way overthinking this process or too many musicians are spoiled. There is absolutely no need for that. Sometimes things can get over complicated. Creates too much room for error. That’s not only the old audio guy in me talking but the pilot also.

[Stonepiano]

@Andreas: blocking mixes/LR- processing was one of the first things I did, after tuning, no pains there. Just confucheized miself w. scene parameters. Youse make all them mistakes, take note, and you’re left with the right way to do stuff.

[Stonepiano]

@GC: x-fade on scene-change would be wonderful. My musicians are not that much spoiled, but the keyboard player has not been able to keep his levels steady, and I hate that sudden jump that wasn’t there yesterday. So I’m constantly riding faders also, amidst all the other variables. And he keeps bringing in new gear he’s not familiarized himself with. (never mind me) It’s busy. And it is a circus-performance- the people on the floor rely on the cues to be precise. If they hear something unexpected, they might lose concentration, and fall. There’s your sixteenth-note miss.

[GCumbee]

Then you need to tame the players. Someone take charge. No need for that. I know that’s easier said than done. Please understand. I am not trying to be hard on you. I am just an old practical, logical thinking type. When I got into digital I wanted to do it all. Then I figured out I had to not overdo it. I have taken a different approach now to teaching digital consoles.

[Stonepiano]

Check my previous edit: I am not running a concert here. I have heavy responsibility beyond anything the musicians may fumble.

[Stonepiano]

What I am dealing with cannot be compared to a band-gig, let me make this perfectly clear. There is a lot of pressure on the musicians also. The audio is expected to just happen, on the spot. We are not the focal point, but must deliver exactness.

[Lou]

I understand! the show I was speaking of was a concert presntation of a musical drama on Woody Guthrie, an adaptation with actor/singers. Closer than you think!
<https://www.thefreight.org/woody-guthries-american-song&gt;
Still wishing you the best!

[Stonepiano]

I have heard a lot of this “don’t piss off the sound guy”- stuff, and lived trough a hellish period in my professional life, listening to guys who think it’s their show. Well, it isn’t. My priorities -to get the next call- are, in this order:

The People Who Pay For The Ticket

The Musicians Who Expect Me To Understand Their Music, and make their audio environment comfortable

And, when somebody unexpectedly brings something new to the table, I accommodate,adapt,adjust,and make the best of what’s available at the time. And if something’s not feasible, I’ll tell them. And then we’ll find a way to approximate.

And then I get paid to do just that again.

Happy 2016, may it be prosperous for us all!

[Stonepiano]

“Scene Filters” is actually quite an appropriate headline- I would strongly recommend filtering any scene you might be part of at any given time… I played drums on a professional level for many years, and many years it took for me to understand what my job is: make other people sound good. Ditto for sound work, obviously. It definitely is not to bring as many blinking lights as possible to the FOH-position. “Look at my beautiful pearlescent, glittering set of drums!/ Look how many loudspeakers I have hanging there! And aren’t they loud, too!” Never mind most of even the high-profile gigs sound like crap. Time constraints/ venues where no music should ever be performed come into play, of course. But also engineers who don’t care about or understand The Music. Take the music away, and you’re left with a pile of junk a paying customer couldn’t care less about.

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