On The Road Again

So much happened over the week-end that it is really hard to know where to begin.

We played a concert on Friday evening which I thought went quite well. We brought our own system and backline and it is truly amazing how much equipment is needed to provide a professional presentation of music these days. When I toured in the 70s, the backline did most of the work. The PA was really pretty basic: a small mixer, a couple of speakers and an amp. Today, the sound systems are highly sophisticated at the top end and still pretty complex for smaller venues.

I planned for a system that would allow for sustained 95 dB SPL levels over an area that could seat roughly 250 people. 16-channel mixer. 4 discrete monitor mixes. Integrated driverack with built-in crossover network, graphic and parametric eq, compressor, and limiter. Snake. Power Amps. Speakers. Compressors. Reverbs. Microphones. Mic Stands. Monitor wedges.

In my equipment checklist, we had over 40 discrete pieces of equipment for the sound system. And this did not include the backline for the musicians nor all the cables. The FOH sounded great. The monitor sound was full of buzz. I could not resolve the electrical issues as there was not enough time between load-in and sound check. Thank goodness the FOH sound was not impacted.

Did we touch lives with the music? I hope so.

Then I spent most of Saturday and Sunday finishing up a remix for one project. We hope to get in to master the remix in a couple of weeks at Joao Carval’s mastering studio (see photo below). I have not used their services before. The last two projects that I had submitted for mastering did not turn out that well and so it is time to try a new mastering facility. They have some great talent at this studio. And certainly a great listening space.

And, between all of this activity, I squeezed in a golf lesson, took my boys out, spent some time with my wife and caught up on some reading.

What I really need is some sleep.