"Correction" - the HPF

The EQ the most abused/neglected section on a mixing console.  I always try to teach people at square one that the EQ should primarily be used to subtract, or "sculpt" the sound.  When have you seen a sculptor pack material on to create a statue?  Yet, I still walk into our student Chapel every couple of weeks and find almost all of the vocal channels with low-mid and high-mid frequencies boosted.  Thats a muddy mix, and its asking for feedback.  I rarely boost EQ on any source except for some playback channels or to accent transients on drum channels.  

On some old Neve audio consoles that were built to “military spec”, the term used for this section on the mixer was “correction”, instead of “equalizer”.  That gives a little bit different picture of what this section of the mixer does, right?

Master Reset

I'm going to give away the punch line of this blog early.  Its my blog, I can break the rules if I want.  In fact, I could name my blog "Fred" if I want - its my blog.

So here it is, I was thinking about how blessed I am to get to reset things and that I get to go do things that I know I was made for.  Its a "Master Reset" to my "manufacturer's default" if you will.

Announcement

Dear Friends,

Effective December 31^st, I am resigning as AVL Manager at Colonial Baptist Church (don’t worry – I’m here full bore for Christmas Sweet).  After much prayer and consideration, I have concluded that this is God’s clear direction for our family.  I would like to thank my fellow co-workers, church members, and most importantly – the tech arts volunteers for the last 3 and a half years of shouldering up together in kingdom building work for the Lord. 

d&b audiotechnik

Last week I attended an audio workshop hosted by d&b audiotechnik in Asheville, NC.  Gracious people.  SMART people!  I thoroughly enjoyed that.  And, as a result, I am now a certified d&b audiotechnik technician.

Event Production troubleshooting & thoughts on the Roland M-400

This week I got a call from a local event production company (Creative Visions) that came up short handed because of multiple events scheduled in a perfect storm.  They needed an A1 sound guy, and since I know the guys there, they called me to ask if I could help.  I was glad to because they have been a big help to us at Colonial, and to me personally when I've been stuck and needed a quick answer, and it was a chance to kick the tires on the little Roland M-400 digital mixer.   

New Avid Venue & Pro Tools stuff spotted in the wild

iPad app, "Venuelink" for Pro Tools, and AVB in this video

VenueLink:
OK -so, the thing I'm MOST excited about here is the "Venuelink" feature.  Wow!  If I could go back and reclaim all the time I spent setting up patching, and marking and naming the beginning of each song on a 2 hour long session...

Part 3. Recruiting: How To Fire A Volunteer

Don’t Judge Me!

You’ve recruited, begged for help.  Now, when that operator shows up, don’t be afraid to judge them.  Check references.  Make sure they measure up.  Can you fire a volunteer?  Well, if they don’t show up, walk off with headphones, sneak up into the tech fridge at other times during the week to “refresh” themselves, or just have a generally critical and stinky attitude towards the “talent”… sure!

Part 2. Recruiting: Newbies

Newbies

Part 1 was all about the FASTEST way to GROW a tech team.  This post is about “newbies”.  We were all "newbies" at some point, and we really don't have a desire to create a secret handshake club.  In fact, one of the most fun things about doing this tech arts ministry is seeing someone "get it".  Whether its understanding signal flow or creating their first lighting cue, seeing someone excited to learn a tech arts trick is pretty satisfying.  And its even more satisfying to see them down the line become an integral part of the team. 

Recruiting (part 1of 3) - You Get What You Ask For

Recruiting: You Get What You Ask For? (pt. 1 of 3)

I don’t claim to have recruiting tech arts volunteers all figured out, but I have some thoughts I’d like to share.  And before I start in on this, let me just say that we have a terrific volunteer team at Colonial, made up of a mixed bag of volunteers both with years of professional or other experience in the tech arts, and those who just came on board wanting to serve this body in whatever way they were needed.  In this post, I’m specifically dealing with recruiting from the beginning, and what is the FASTEST way to grow a tech arts team.

Cool Tools October 5th, 2010

SafeFlame.com has a very cool LED candle light.  $35 each, but they pack a punch and look VERY realistic.  Can run off of AC or DC power.  I ordered one to try - came in today and I'm having WAY too much fun.

Whats wrong with Christian music.

This has kind of always been a burr in my saddle.  But yesterday while waiting on some wav files to import into a session at PureMix I decided to pop in one of my favorite artists in the CD player and put it up on the big Dynaudio M3A mains.  After all, I was just going to be writing some notes and waiting on about 50+ tracks of wavs to import into my Pro Tools session.

Cool Tools September 15th 2010

Audio Technica AT2035.
My Favorite Large Diaphragm Condenser with Shockmount for under $99
Ok, this category used to belong to a different microphone, and was actually a slightly different category.  It USED to be My Favorite Large Diaphragm Condenser under $99 and it belonged to the AT2020.  However, Audio Technica has now dropped the MAP price of their AT2035, and it streets for under $99.  It can be had on B&H site for $95 with free shipping.  The cheap asian condenser market area is flooded with products, and this one stands head and shoulders clearly above any others I have tried and liked, loved, or hated in the past.  Mainly because it adds a low cut filter, a 10dB pad, and a really solid shock mount.
(I should also mention that I have owned 6 of these for at least year that are used weekly.  They have proven to be durable as well as sonically excellent on a variety of sources.  Just purchased more recently)

AJA Ki Pro
We just got this last week. I'm blown away by how cool this thing is.  Its VERY convenient and compact.  Has all the I/O you could need and records in FCP friendly Pro Res 422 and 422HQ.  Menu is super easy to navigate.  The included 250g hard drive has bus powered FW800 connections, and eSATA with an included power supply when using the lightning fast eSATA option.  It even has a dummy proof channel that the hard drive slides in on to prevent wearing out the connectors, and locks into place for recording with a super convenient "eject" feature.  This piece of equipment was VERY well thought out.
But probably the MOST convenient thing about it has not actually arrived yet.  The AJA Ki Pro Exoskeleton.  It mounts to the camera at the bottom, and to the tripod between the camera and tripod.  Gives you the option to actually pick the camera up and move it to another location quickly and neatly.  Not only that, but you also have the option to pull the camera off the tripod with the Ki Pro still attached to shoot video without the tripod, or, or or...  way cool.

Mighty Bright LED Orchestra Light
OK, I haven't purchased one of these YET.  Instead we got 5 of their $20 dual LED clip on music stand lights to test.  AAA battery powered, so I got some Sanyo Rechargeables and some Powerex Chargers, which are also great by the way.  I will need to get a couple of the more expensive (under $70) Orchestra Lights because they will do a much better job for folks who don't have great eyesight.  The biggest value here is a very uncluttered orchestra area.
So, while you're thinking about lights, check out all the other cool tools Might Bright makes for battery powered LED lights.  There is a pedal board light, a roadie light, a cool book reading light (for those of you who don't read all your books from a Kindle or iPad these days).