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Sound Reinforcement - Forums for Live Sound Professionals - Your Displayed Name Must Be Your Real Full Name To Post In The Live Sound Forums => LAB: The Classic Live Audio Board => Topic started by: Alan Singfield on March 13, 2012, 04:02:38 PM
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If you were arriving with a band at a festival where only the headline act is allowed to bring their own consoles in, and where you will not soundcheck but line-check silently (on headphones/local monitoring) in twenty minutes and go?
Remember kids, I don't want to turn this into a discussion on the rules imposed by festival production, I just want to know if you had to choose one console for this situation, which would it be?
Obviously it would be better if the festival provided the console that you specified/had a show file for, but let's assume that isn't the case, for the purposes of this poll. As we know, if there's one group of people you won't be able to please all of the time, it's sound engineers.
Thanks for your input.
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This might influence my decisions about what to provide at festivals this summer, if you need any more motivation.
Thanks,
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If you were arriving with a band at a festival where only the headline act is allowed to bring their own consoles in, and where you will not soundcheck but line-check silently (on headphones/local monitoring) in twenty minutes and go?
Remember kids, I don't want to turn this into a discussion on the rules imposed by festival production, I just want to know if you had to choose one console for this situation, which would it be?
Obviously it would be better if the festival provided the console that you specified/had a show file for, but let's assume that isn't the case, for the purposes of this poll. As we know, if there's one group of people you won't be able to please all of the time, it's sound engineers.
Thanks for your input.
I picked digital of choice, but the reality is that I'll mix on anything that has enough working inputs and outputs for my act. It's a festival... and while I want my act to be presented as best able, if I have no choice of desk, outboard, etc I'll take whatever is there and play our 40 minutes (and hope we sell out of merch).
YMMV.
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If you were arriving with a band at a festival where only the headline act is allowed to bring their own consoles in, and where you will not soundcheck but line-check silently (on headphones/local monitoring) in twenty minutes and go?
Remember kids, I don't want to turn this into a discussion on the rules imposed by festival production, I just want to know if you had to choose one console for this situation, which would it be?
Obviously it would be better if the festival provided the console that you specified/had a show file for, but let's assume that isn't the case, for the purposes of this poll. As we know, if there's one group of people you won't be able to please all of the time, it's sound engineers.
Thanks for your input.
I voted for digital here. I have worked a number of festivals now with the Soundcraft Vi6 and can say that it excels at festival work. It is easy to use, and fast to teach to the noob. Also your FOH tech can command the right fader bank and help the BE get his show up and running FAST.
When I do this, I'll let the BE work on his money channel while I start dialing in the drums. We will meet somewhere around the guitars and then he can take over. It works great, and it's a fantastic sounding desk.
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Had to vote analogue. Realistically, I can hardly think of a worse time to have to deal w/ the learning curve of an unfamiliar digital system than with 20 min. to showtime and 24 channels to line check. God forbid you should actually encounter any actual problems on any of those channels. Who has time for THAT when your learning to program on an unfamiliar OS?
But it's NEW -it's HIGH TECH, it's the LATEST & it's the GREATEST. ya gotta love it! Right? MAYBE, but we really should be realistic about the subset of arbitrary digital issues that comes with any new software. It's often a giant pain in the arse that in LIVE sound, we simply don't have time for. There . I said it and I'm glad.
Chuck
PS: Maybe we should vote, how many think we need MORE or LESS headaches running live sound?
Voting results notwithstanding, I'm pretty sure which one we're gonna GET! Ha! Thank God for the control Z button. (undo)
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Had to vote analogue. Realistically, I can hardly think of a worse time to have to deal w/ the learning curve of an unfamiliar digital system than with 20 min. to showtime and 24 channels to line check. God forbid you should actually encounter any actual problems on any of those channels. Who has time for THAT when your learning to program on an unfamiliar OS?
But it's NEW -it's HIGH TECH, it's the LATEST & it's the GREATEST. ya gotta love it! Right? MAYBE, but we really should be realistic about the subset of arbitrary digital issues that comes with any new software. It's often a giant pain in the arse that in LIVE sound, we simply don't have time for. There . I said it and I'm glad.
Chuck
PS: Maybe we should vote, how many think we need MORE or LESS headaches running live sound?
Voting results notwithstanding, I'm pretty sure which one we're gonna GET! Ha! Thank God for the control Z button. (undo)
I would presume that you'd ask for a familiar console regardless of ones and zeros, but I would pick a familiar digital desk first, followed by familiar analog desk with sufficient outboard... and if we're not the headliner, how much outboard dynamics do I get?
I certainly agree that learning a new desk at set change isn't fun. There's a wee bit of pressure being the teacher, too. ;)
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The other side of your discussion is that if we have 20 minutes in a festival situation, how deep into the board are you really going to be digging? If it's a festival, the board is (hopefully) already patched, odds are you're not going to be spending much time with the house EQ or processing. I can see some room for frustration if you have lots of very specific effects or routing that you need help finding, but that's what the provider's system guy is for. For a line-check-and -go gig, I'd rather have the digital board with lots of channel dynamics and effects a click or two away, than have to take time to run around to the back of board and physically patch a spaghetti mess of insert cables and gak in the doghouse for whatever FX are leftover in the rack.
Had to vote analogue. Realistically, I can hardly think of a worse time to have to deal w/ the learning curve of an unfamiliar digital system than with 20 min. to showtime and 24 channels to line check. God forbid you should actually encounter any actual problems on any of those channels. Who has time for THAT when your learning to program on an unfamiliar OS?
But it's NEW -it's HIGH TECH, it's the LATEST & it's the GREATEST. ya gotta love it! Right? MAYBE, but we really should be realistic about the subset of arbitrary digital issues that comes with any new software. It's often a giant pain in the arse that in LIVE sound, we simply don't have time for. There . I said it and I'm glad.
Chuck
PS: Maybe we should vote, how many think we need MORE or LESS headaches running live sound?
Voting results notwithstanding, I'm pretty sure which one we're gonna GET! Ha! Thank God for the control Z button. (undo)
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The other side of your discussion is that if we have 20 minutes in a festival situation, how deep into the board are you really going to be digging? If it's a festival, the board is (hopefully) already patched, odds are you're not going to be spending much time with the house EQ or processing. I can see some room for frustration if you have lots of very specific effects or routing that you need help finding, but that's what the provider's system guy is for. For a line-check-and -go gig, I'd rather have the digital board with lots of channel dynamics and effects a click or two away, than have to take time to run around to the back of board and physically patch a spaghetti mess of insert cables and gak in the doghouse for whatever FX are leftover in the rack.
+1 digital of choice. You will have all of your dynamics processing and some key FX right there. If you have done gigs on this digital of choice, you might have a setup that will get you close as well.
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If I couldn't have digital of my choice, I'd take the analog + outboard. I wouldn't want to try and learn an unfamiliar digi console while line checking all at once.
Having said that, I'm slowly picking up some time on various digi consoles, and in a pinch I reckon I could do ok on a new one.
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If you were arriving with a band at a festival where only the headline act is allowed to bring their own consoles in, and where you will not soundcheck but line-check silently (on headphones/local monitoring) in twenty minutes and go?
Remember kids, I don't want to turn this into a discussion on the rules imposed by festival production, I just want to know if you had to choose one console for this situation, which would it be?
Obviously it would be better if the festival provided the console that you specified/had a show file for, but let's assume that isn't the case, for the purposes of this poll. As we know, if there's one group of people you won't be able to please all of the time, it's sound engineers.
Thanks for your input.
If the provider knows what they are doing and has a good festival template setup, it can be dead simple to walk up to a digital console, line check, and get what you need, if you are familiar with the band you are mixing.
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actually, i think to make the poll more fair you should have picked a particular digital console just as you did a particular analog one. i suspect you'd then get a more even response.
truth is, my 'console of choice' will always be > or = to any other analog or digital choice. kinda has to be by definition.
that being said, i still work faster on an analog desk, so i'd still take the XL4. unless you had a PM4K. at which point i could go about planning the rest of my evening whilst slamming together a mix with my eyes closed....
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If you were arriving with a band at a festival where only the headline act is allowed to bring their own consoles in, and where you will not soundcheck but line-check silently (on headphones/local monitoring) in twenty minutes and go?
How much do I get paid?
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How much do I get paid?
The best answer by far...
Having said that we have just added a Heritage 3000 for the summer festivals.
Goes alongside the PM5d-RH on stage. Too many engineers still want analogue.
Generally doing an XL4 and a Vi6 out front.
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Not enough info. If I've been touring with a small band, if we need only 20 fast inputs, and we develop the set sheet, and there are no brakes on SPL, and the festival and soundco have a good rep, I'd be tempted towards the analog solution. But less and less.
OTOH - My artist has a string section, we're traveling with mics, the off-line editor of the offered console has a fast-boot rep, etc., I'd probably go digital.