Audio for Video

It seems like I’ve been getting an unusually large number of projects tracking bands at live shows and mixing down for video. Don’t get me wrong, it’s a welcome change of pace from the FOH one-offs, I just find it interesting how after a good year of no such project, I now find myself working “audio for video” gigs every couple of weeks.

More often than not, I don’t see the video until it’s edited and synced with my audio, so I always enjoy seeing the finished product after the video folk have done their thing.  Yesterday I received a link to a video I tracked and mixed for back in October.  This particular song, a cover of The Beatles’ Across the Universe, was a bit tricky.  I wasn’t informed ahead of time that the band was bringing four additional members on stage for the song, but if you’re no stranger to live production, you can relate to the situation.  Though no show goes without its challenges and I’m happy with how everything turned out.

And now for the feature presentation:

Another of such projects, mentioned earlier, is the Gillioz Theatre’s First Friday Live. This Friday, Feb 1, marks the fourth installment of the series that has grown into a beast of it’s own. Originally only four shows were planned, but the Gilly crew has been busy booking local SGF acts for every First Friday through the end of summer. This time around I’ll be working with local basement rockers, The Bootheel, who, by the way, just released a great album.  To see all the Frist Friday Live videos release thus far, check out the Gillioz YouTube channel, and if you’re local, come out this Friday at 8:30 for The Bootheel’s performance.

Here’s one from J-None’s December First Friday Live rager:

And for those looking for something a bit more relaxed, check out highlights from January’s show with Bella Donna:

About that job…

Things at the Gillioz are going swimmingly.  Check out my “office:”

At the heart of the audio system is a Midas Verona 400.  Not a top end Midas by any means, but damn, it’s still a great sounding console with plenty of usable features.  We’re lacking in outboard gear, with only a T.C. Electronics effects unit and a handfull of Ashley equalizers in the racks. [Edit: Compression is coming soon!]  This rig only gets used for the smaller, local shows.  Obviously the touring acts require consoles of another pedigree.

Since the Warren Haynes show I mentioned last, we had an acoustic evening with Lyle Lovett and John Hiatt.  Lovett’s voice really blew me away.  A truly great show.  They brought in some sweet purple road cases housing Midas XL4 consoles on 16 channel frames.

For some local events, there have been some notable artists on stage, too.  Steve Ewing, formerly of The Urge, played an acoustic set at the premiere of 180, a local film in which Ewing had a great cameo as a soft-spoken drummer.  The Lonely Wild, an LA based band with a guitar player calling SGF home, rocked the theatre while on their summer tour, and shared the stage with local act Bella Donna.  Those cats were a real laid-back treat with smooth stand-up bass, female lead vocals and a mixture of both clean electric guitar and dirty acoustic, reminiscent of Cake.  Another night we hosted a class reunion that featured the James River Band with special guest Randle Chowning, founding member of the Ozark Mountain Daredevils.

Yesterday I drove up to St. Louis to rent some consoles from Logic Systems for this Sunday’s Gavin DeGraw show.  Those Logic guys have a cool thing going on.  I love the friendly dogs hanging out around the warehouse.  Anyhow, Gavin’s tour requires an Avid D-Show Profile at FOH and a Yamaha PM5D for monitors.  As far as I can tell, there isn’t a D-Show Profile for rent in the state of Missouri, so we picked up the full-size Venue.  Other than taking a huge amount of space at front of house, it should do quite nicely.

I love a good mysterious road-case picture.