Inside Out : Robert Scovill

Discover Mixing and Recording Tips with Ken “Pooch” Van Druten

Robert Scovill — Wed, 27 Feb 2013 05:00:00 GMT

How can you set your mixes apart from others? This re-occurring question is one I have battled with and know it’s one that you ask yourself every time you sit down behind a console. So of course this was central to my train of thought when I recently sat down with award-winning live sound and recording engineer Ken “Pooch” Van Druten. He has apparently found an answer to this elusive question, which is why he has mixed for some of the biggest names in music, including Linkin Park, Beastie Boys, Eminem, Guns N’ Roses, and Earth, Wind & Fire, who stand out among the crowd.

So what was Pooch’s answer? Tune in to our “Concert Sound with Ken ‘Pooch’ Van Druten” webinar on Wednesday, March 6, at 10 a.m. (PT) / 1 p.m. (ET) to find out and learn how Pooch’s distinct approach to mixing is aligned with a goal we all share—to have a great show night after night.

(Please visit the site to view this media)

During the webinar, you will have the chance to:

· Gain insight into Pooch’s systems and workflows

· Learn techniques through actual tour show files

· Get answers to your mixing questions and more

I know I benefited from my chat with Pooch so take time to check out the webinar and join us in the discussion afterward.

Laters everybody,

Robert Scovill Out

Robert Scovill On The Audio identity Crisis; Are You An Audio Liberal or Conservative?

Robert Scovill — Fri, 12 Nov 2010 21:03:07 GMT

Analog or Digital I wonder?

Oh man, it’s so good to be home after a long summer of touring. While traveling the US this summer it was great to meet so many new people and be reconnected with many old friends. But ya know what? It drove home to me that the world we currently live in, specifically the United States, has become, a challenging place to have an opinion or a view point. You have to defend it at every turn. With the explosion of the world wide web and the ease of communication that allows the presentation of any and all ideas with the differing opinions that come with them, where we find ourselves living is in a country clearly divided by it’s ideals. The cultural divisions in the US today are pretty stark and there’s no better example of it than in today’s political landscape.

I mean look at the intensity of one of the most basic debates. There are seemingly endless arguments about the intent of our founding fathers with regard to what this country stood for at it’s birth, and what it will stand for in the future. How can it be so mysterious when they composed actual documents that set the course for the country’s future; The Declaration of Independence, The Constitution and the Bill of Rights. How can it be so contentious? Isn’t it written down? I mean, ask the “Red” guys and they will say the fathers meant “one thing”, ask the “Blue” guys and they will surely say they meant “another thing” then ask the “green” guys or even the “tea” colored guys and they say something completely different all together. We even have a supreme court who’s job many times is to interpret it all for us. And if that wasn’t enough, throw in the “fair and impartial” talking heads from the media who love nothing more than to “whack the hive” and you have all the makings of ideological grid lock. I mean, how can this be? How can we possibly expect to know where we are going as a country if we can’t even collectively agree on who we were, who we are now, and what has actually transpired in our past and where we will go as a result?

So you’re saying to yourself, “What the heck? … Have I accidentally stumbled on to Ann Coulter’s blog site? Scovill has obviously cracked! …Someone has obviously locked him in a tour bus with 24 hour cable news and he now thinks he’s going be the next Glenn Beck” … I mean, what the …?

Okay okay, easy now … I haven’t cracked and I assure you I have NO desire to be the next Glenn Beck, Keith Olbermann, Bill Maher or any other laughable, cartoon character pundit for that matter. That said, I do love a good metaphor lumped in with a good debate and that’s what today’s blog is all about.

Given that we’ve just come off of the mid term elections and also, that I’ve just finished up the annual AES Convention and trade show this week in San Francisco – or “audiogeekapollooza” as I have now titled it - I thought I might just try to tie it all together in one big ole blog!

As audio geeks, I guess AES is really kind of our version of a political convention. And for many years now, the audio constituency has been entrenched in the front lines of an ongoing debate about our own identity as audio pros and the ideals that go along with it. i.e. '”are you an analog guy, or a digital guy?” Clearly it’s now analogous to saying “are you a liberal or a conservative?” don’t you think? This debate has been running hot and heavy in professional audio for some time now, primarily in music production. And many wear their audio identity or “party affiliation” as a badge of honor and are in turn staunch, unwavering supporters of one or the other and they vow to never “cross the isle” or the break the party line. Me, I say I’m and audio guy, pro analog and pro digital. Yep, I’m a PC and I’m a Mac as well. I own and operate both PCs and Macs – and as a matter of fact my new MacBook is also my PC via the miracle of Parallels for Mac! So ya see, I guess that alone clearly makes me a moderate …

So as stewards of all that is audio, our challenge moving forward might be; how do we really recognize, understand and most importantly teach what the founding fathers of pro audio had in mind for our future audio quality? I mean, do our current efforts and choices pay homage to them while at the same time serve the listeners we currently aim to please? Are we at times guilty of simply using the romance of our golden analog past to falsely promote our own stature and credibility by conveniently bashing anything that is “new”. Hmmm, that sounds kind of “conservative” doesn’t it? Or conversely, do we blindly embrace anything new, merely because it is new, regardless of whether it actually does service to the standards that those before us set? Well, that sounds kind of “liberal” doesn’t it?

Much like the political debates, op-ed abounds on the internet which is chalked full of informed as well as uninformed opinions, powerful lobbies of manufacturers and users, hi profile pundits, endorsers, critics and downright arrogant know it alls. (Clearly our industry could use it’s own Steven Colbert or John Stewart to provide some comedic context don’t you think? Now that would be awesome!) But as opposed to me leaping up to the virtual lectern and spewing my own opinions on which format – analog or digital - I think is “better” (yaaawn … zzz…zzz…zzz) I’d rather submit a few deeper concepts for you to ponder and add to your repertoire when making either the “conservative” or “liberal” argument.

But first, a couple of amendments to the Professional Audio Constitution. PAC Amendment .775; subsection db; paragraph fs states: “Digital equipment will eventually replace Analog equipment”. Look far enough into the future my friends, and it’s going to happen. The proverbial digital genie is out of the bottle and by now she is way too fat to stuff back in - and by the way; yes, that is fat with an “F”, not a “Ph”.

But fear not all of you with analog tears in your eyes, because PAC Amendment 1.228v; subsection db; paragraph u states: “With specific regard to music production, analog audio quality and the pleasantries that it presents to the cochlear devices attached to the sides of our pointy little heads should NEVER be forgotten, misplaced or thrown under the bus (I like the pun there) under severe penalty to the enjoyment of said music production”.

Now, make sure you read that second rule closely. It does not say Analog audio equipment and the qualities they present.

Certainly one of the wonderful things that digital audio has provided for us is a healthy dose of context when measuring it against what we actually love and oft times miss about analog audio. I mean, for music production, more often than not, what we seem to really want is analog audio quality; meaning audio rich with harmonics and subtle (sometimes not so subtle) distortions without all of the hiss/noise, or the need for complex alignment procedures, maintenance, upkeep and performance decline with a slow and protracted, frequently inconvenient mortality rate over time.

Ya know what? Digital audio appears to be getting closer to that promise all the time, especially with the scores of analog emulation that continues to be developed by stalwart analog manufacturers. Read some of the reviews of the new HEAT feature that Dave Hill from Crane Song fame has recently designed into the new Pro Tools systems and you’ll get an idea of what I’m hinting at – and it’s only the beginning folks. If it all continues to steam ahead, digital could wind up with a healthy dose of cool if it can become a true chameleon. Meaning; we can coax it into changing colors and have it take on any audio quality we want it to have. As I’ve preached in some of my VENUE seminars I love this idea, especially for live sound, where I can now take something that is purely digital and with feature rich analog emulation, make it sound more analog than actual analog. i.e . have exaggerated analog qualities that actually wouldn’t be achievable with real analog gear. Conversely, I can’t really take something purely analog and coax it to produce all of the positive attributes digital audio. No better example of that than being able to use tape saturation emulation with in a live mix now days. Once you hear it, you’ll never go back.

This is a beautiful and very important thing for the future of digital, because guess what folks, we don’t only listen to music that was created with the latest technology. No, we regularly experience the entire history of music via the gift of recordings. Obviously with a recorded medium we can experience that music over and over again. We can literally time travel via music. The yummy thing that comes with this is, that as we listen to and study music from our past, we are actually training our ears to hear and sonically interpret instruments and voices in a specific way. We get used to it sounding a certain way. As a result, analog audio quality is deeply imprinted on our hearing DNA and we regularly yearn for it whether we even realize it or not. For example, whether you believe that Ike Turner or Jackie Brenston wrote Rocket 88, (recognized as the first song to use distorted electric guitar), is not important. What is important as an audio geek is that you understand why that distortion worked for both the player, the song and the listener. It makes me wonder sometimes where we'd be right now – or how we would interpret “good sound” - if digital had actually come first? Have you ever tried to explain to someone what “good sound” is and why it sounds “good”? Have ever even considered it? I listened intently to Dave Hill at the Avid booth attempting to explain it to the audience seated before him and I could see that it was challenging even for him and this was a fairly heady crowd. Try explaining it to a novice sometime and you’ll quickly discover where the expression on the RCA dog’s face came from.

Consider also, with regard to music, that we live and work in a very romanticized business; music production, and it has some very unique technology desires. I mean, name me one other relatively hi-tech industry where a technology that is 50,60,70 years old is more revered and oft times considered better at it’s “job” than the contemporary version of the same technology? Examples? Tube EQs, tube compressors, tube microphones, tube “what-evers” … and then their are recording and playback mediums, Analog 2” tape, Analog 1/2” tape, vinyl and of course discrete console, pre-amp and mixing circuits from the 60s and 70s and on and on. Why is that? I submit that at least part of the reason is that we are “used” to the sound that they provided because we are regularly reminded of it via recordings, and then strive to re-experience it in our own work. It’s the audio equivalent of why film vs. video, or black and white vs. color reproductions of the exact same image evoke such differing emotional responses when viewed.

Now as you can clearly see, I could go on ad-nauseam about the impact that the conversion from analog to digital has had on technology, manufacturing, workflows, music production techniques, sound quality, the now need for less “talent” to complete a production and on and on. But for the sake of time and focus, I’m going to narrow it down to some of it’s impact on live sound which is where I do most of my eating and breathing these days anyway.

The migration to digital technology in live sound, with the new workflows and sound qualities that come with it is, compared to our counterparts in the recording disciplines, in it’s infancy. But that doesn’t mean it’s any less important or vital to the success and growth of the live sound discipline and the well being of the industry for that matter. In fact in many way’s it might be more vital to the future and quality of live sound simply because it offers more practicality and value by at least an order of magnitude to it’s analog equivalent in analog technology.

What we’ve historically and consistently seemed to strive for in live sound is more “bang for the buck” whether we are talking speakers, microphones, consoles or even the number of acts on the bill for that matter. Digital technology certainly ratchets that “bftb” ratio up. Consider the most recent example; the digital live sound console. Because of digital, you can now travel with a console that is a fraction of the weight of it’s analog equivalent, especially if you consider that you can now have three to four times the input/output capability associated with a physically smaller control surface. And then there’s the processing power that is available via, in the case of VENUE, a rich and robust palette of TDM Plug-in processors that would be unmatched by an actual equipment offering by any sound company. With hi-quality plug in processing, you no longer have a fractional representation of the normal hybrid of analog and digital processing racks, cabling and associated footprint, but an elimination of it. And I don’t solely mean the physical footprint, although it’s considerable. I also mean the carbon footprint as well. Reduce the weight that goes in and out of a semi-truck every night by a couple of thousand pounds, multiply it by the number of total number of shows that happen on a nightly basis around the world throughout the year, and you don’t have to be a rocket scientist or even Al Gore for that matter to calculate the net positive impact on fuel as well as night to night power consumption. Don’t believe me? I recently read about a famed fighter pilot who was hired by a major airline to analyze their fuel consumption. His first move? Take all the magazine’s off of the planes. Wha? How much impact could that possibly have? It reportedly saved the airline millions of dollars over the course of a year in fuel consumption. It’s pretty simple math folks – somehow it took the airlines until 2010 to figure it out.

The wonderful part about of the paradigm shift to digital for live sound is that the physical girth of the technology has, and will continue to decrease dramatically but the processing power and associated sound qualities choices has, is likely to continue to grow and improve exponentially. The challenge for today’s, as well as tomorrow’s engineers, be they recording, live sound engineers or both, is the need to fully understand what is right and good about analog sound quality and in turn how to acquire it and execute it in digital form without simply bailing out and using the analog gear option. The challenge as a manufacturer is for us to respect the need and desire for analog sound quality in our equipment offerings and then effectively produce them for the end user. Why? See PAC Amendment .775; subsection db; paragraph fs

So my fellow inhabitants of the “audiogeekosphere”, just like our friends in the political arena we must continue to strive to achieve a clear and accurate picture in our minds – and our ears – of what good audio quality is, what causes it to be interpreted as such, why good sounds impact us in the way the they do, and who we are as engineers as a result of it all. If we don’t, audio won’t be able to move forward very quickly lest we, like our political counterparts continue to be mired in identity gridlock. It requires a healthy debate by both parties – but with a little concession from time to time. A true bi-partisan effort.

Gosh … I feel so … George Will-ish!

Robert Scovill On Avid, VENUE and The Global Audio Community

Robert Scovill — Tue, 21 Sep 2010 17:38:22 GMT

Robert on tour with Tom Petty followed by a visit to the Forbidden City in Beijing on behalf of Avid

Over the past 30+ years I’ve regularly traveled the world as a live sound engineer mixing shows on nearly every continent short of well … Antarctica. Now, while I’ve been trying to entice Tom and The Heartbreakers into touring the “great white south”, he assures me our tour bus drivers would never agree to take us there. Wow, that could be the next new History Channel reality show “Ice Road Tour Bus Drivers of the Antarctic” … strong concept. Okay, sorry, got off track there for a minute. At any rate, what I was about to get at was, that while I’ve toured to a vast number of geographies and mixed shows for a wide variety of music fans throughout the world, it was not until I stepped into my role as Senior Market Specialist for Avid Live Sound products that I really gave much consideration to the topic of today’s blog.

As one of the faces of live sound for a global audio manufacturer with the breadth of influence that Avid currently has throughout the world, one of my responsibilities, which I take very seriously, is to travel to all of these different locals around the world and meet with audio professionals across a wide variety of audio disciplines. This is all in an effort to get inside their heads, understand what they are trying to accomplish in their careers and in turn help guide Avid toward developing products that will address their needs and their sensibilities in their day to day work. This is no small task I assure you and as we gaze off into the distant future regarding the global economy, clearly the company that most effectively addresses the needs of these varied audio communities stands to capture the majority of the “global audio market”.

Robert giving VENUE presentations and participating in engineer panel discussions at PLASA in London

What I’ve discovered over a very short period of time when traveling to these locals during trainings and Avid technology presentations, is that the audio cultures of the world, in regard to techniques and workflows, are in varying states of growth and development if measured solely by western standards. (which by the way, I’m not convinced is the only valid measuring stick) And in the course of attempting to share what are sometimes complex console operations and seemingly mysterious workflows, with the added impediment of a language barrier, I find oft times needing to explain the “why” rather than the “how” certain things are done. My hypothesis on this is that the seeds of this are a function of the culture that these audio pros have grown up in and of the influences they were exposed to while they were young and gaining experience in their chosen field.

With that in mind, it’s certainly not a stretch to believe that cultures outside of the western world have experienced a completely different set of influences than our own. In the western civilization; specifically the US and England over the last say; 50 years, the live sound culture was clearly born out of the contemporary music scenes of the times. In the early days it was record production and in turn radio listening on home Hi-fi systems that provided the basis for our audio value system. Do you remember how different you felt about music the first time you heard it on FM vs. AM? In the 60s, music was the soundtrack for the cultural revolution and the idea of putting on a concert was not just a social event but a political event, and indeed it even became a rallying point for the audio community. Interestingly the cultural shift happened at a time when technology was providing a means to an audio engineering renaissance with music being produced in new and extremely creative ways. Sound quality i.e. the Hi-fi era was now in full swing. This in turn was the impetus for a specific culture of folks that took it upon themselves to present those same sorts of listening experiences to the largest numbers of listeners possible via large scale concert sound.

As it turned out, this initiative laid the ground work for what we see as today’s pro audio industry. For instance, in America you’d have to give a big share of credit to bands like The Grateful Dead and in turn, John and Helen Meyer. The Meyer’s seemingly simple goal was to make the Grateful dead sound better live, and to be able to do so for a larger number of the deadhead faithful; ergo Meyer Sound and all the innovation that followed. If Pink Floyd’s Dark Side of The Moon was your thing; the desire to experience it live and on the grandest scale; especially in regard to audio quality, bore the seeds of Britannia Row Sound out of England. During the 60 and 70s this cottage industry in turn spawned an entire generation of young people who were driven to get into the unknown and yet to be defined field of live sound production. As it turns out, in retrospect, I was just one of the many of that generation.

Now, I didn’t grow up at ground zero of the cultural revolution in California, nor did I grow up in the mod rock and pop scene of England. I grew up in the mid west; St Louis to be specific and at the ripe old age of about 13 years old, I discovered the name Bob Heil through his work with one of my favorite bands of all time; The Who. This drove me to find out how they recorded their records and how they achieved their great concert sound. This instantly made Bob one of my early heroes and he is rightly considered to be a pioneer in concert sound in that he was one of the early engineers to attempt to put together extremely large speaker and amplifier systems during a time when the concept was really in it’s infant stages. As the story goes, at that time, the goal was simply to be able to get Roger’s vocal over the roar of Pete’s guitar and Johns bass and Bob apparently had one of the few PA systems that could accomplish this to the desired effect. And so was born Heil Sound. Bob is now in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame … you do the math.

Robert closing the loop with live sound legend Bob Heil at recent trade show

During one of my early “deep audio guy” conversations with Bob Heil he presented a very interesting hypothesis on how their are likely cultural differences that might just impact the sound quality of technologies being developed and built in different parts of the world. He noted that he was of the opinion that microphones in particular that are being conceived an developed by eastern companies (not mics simply being constructed for western manufacturers) suffered from being “voiced” for the eastern languages. The eastern languages have a very different tonality and envelope to their consonants and vowels than the western languages; especially the English language. This in turn can make those products come off kind of hard sounding or lacking what we perceive as pleasing characteristics because they are designed to sonically enhance the eastern language phonics. I was really taken by Bob’s insight and it got to me wondering how many other products i.e. speakers, consoles, processors etc. might suffer from this same kind of challenge and whether products developed by western manufacturers sound just as odd to the easterners or other non-western cultures?

Okay, so my point of this little stroll down memory lane is actually to lead us all to ponder some questions not only about the difference in manufacturing but also in workflows and approach. Have you ever wondered what the developmental experiences of today’s pro audio cultures were in lands where they were not exposed to the kinds of auditory influences that we’ve experienced in the western world? i.e. our history of recording, radio and concert production? I mean, what is their perception of “good” audio? Is sound “quality” even at issue for them? How would they describe a piece of music that is well recorded or produced? What would they consider a successful good concert sound? What features have they grown to learn are important in a given technology. Where do they get their technology? If it’s technology that’s conceived and created in the western world, does it serve their actual needs functionally or sonically? How do they get past the language barriers in order to learn how to operate western equipment? And on and on infinitum.

Recently, while on a 12 day break from my mixing duties on the current Tom Petty tour, I had the privilege of traveling on behalf of Avid thru every time zone our planet has to offer with one of my stops being Beijing China for my first visit there. My agenda was to present VENUE technology along with all the features and workflows that it offers while meeting face to face with many high end system integrators, engineers and mixers while their.

Robert presenting Avid technology to integrators and engineers in Beijing

It was a fascinating experience to say the least and it was so interesting to share information with an entire community of audio professionals that worked from a completely different set of influences and in turn, values while doing their work. These professionals clearly worked from a very different agenda when evaluating equipment and it’s functionality and features. And in regard to workflow, I found it often vital to first explain the actual origin of the workflow and the driving forces behind it, and then explain how VENUE technology best leveraged it for their use, otherwise it was a complete non-sequitur. It was essential to explain the “where” it came from, followed by the “why” we use it and finally the “how” to do it. Also, concepts that we kind of take for granted now, such as TDM plug-ins and Virtual Soundcheck were foreign (no pun intended) to the majority of them and again it was extremely important to demonstrate not just how those features work, but the genesis of their origin, and in turn how the features could possibly help them address specific challenges in their day to day work.

Another aspect that completely blew me away while there was discovering that many of the engineers spoke little to no English – which also means they could read virtually no English – yet they were completely committed to our technology. Now in case your not grasping the ramifications of this, what I’m getting at is that they operate our consoles and recording systems with software and hardware interfaces that are completely notated in the English language. Now, granted a few operation manuals etc. have been converted to the local language, so they’re not operating completely blind, but the console surfaces and the actual software interfaces have not been “localized”. I wonder how many of us hot-shot engineers could actually step up at say; a festival, or a TV event, and operate a console that was completely notated in Chinese language symbols and actually pull off the gig with success. I certainly doubt that I could. The Chinese engineers and mixers do this every day in China. It was a very impressive display of commitment to our product line and the craft of audio engineering and we at Avid should recognize it and be in their debt for this dedication.

Robert working closely with Chinese engineers at shows and workshops in Beijing

All in all this trip as well as many others leads me to the conclusion that in regard to technology, workflows and culture; there is as at least as much to learn as their is to teach. Who knows, maybe thousands of years from now it will be the subject of the next History channel reality show. If you think about it, the History Channel by rights, should never go off the air. I mean it is history right? It’s not like they’re ever going to run out of material ya know? I can just hear the teaser now “Lost Audio Cultures of the Far East” and there will be this lead in, showing some old craggy archeologist paint brushing the dirt away from the highly coveted and only existing copy of the long lost Pro Tools manual completely converted to the Chinese alphabet.

This is your globe trotting reporter Robert Scovill … over and out!

Tom Petty, VENUE Technology and The Future of The Concert Experience

Robert Scovill — Wed, 25 Aug 2010 04:26:00 GMT

Life today under the big top …

As you readers may or may not be aware, this summer has been a particularly tough one for artists who have attempted to go out on tour and sell a lot of tickets. I’m extremely fortunate to be out on a tour where ticket sales are very strong especially in contrast to the tours that are not selling well and are dramatically downscaling their productions or in some cases closing down their tours completely.

So this kind of got me thinking – always dangerous as you’ve learned from previous blogs, but not to worry!. A few weeks back, I had my two boys out on tour with me and as I shared my time with them I caught myself pondering their experience – “I wonder what they are really thinking about all of this? How are they actually processing what they see and hear while out here. Do they get it? Or is it me that doesn’t actually get it?”

I wonder what he’s thinking right about now?

It got me really grinding on the future of not only the music business, but the concert industry as a whole. How will my kids experience live music concerts when they’re older? Will it even be appetizing or meaningful to them? What will promoters and artist be able to offer them that will entice them to participate in the concert experience? Will the fact that the music they love will simply be performed “live” be enough to get them pay up for a ticket? In the corporate world we give the concept the heady title of a “value add” … i.e. what will be the “hook” be to get them to see value in going to a concert as opposed to something else?

Consider that the movie theater industry has come through a similarly challenging period where they as an industry had to answer the question “with video, DVD rental and cable TV, how do we entice people to actually want to come to a movie theater?” While I had the boys out, we had a day off in downtown Kansas City and not far from our hotel was completely renovated old movie theater. While it retained the vintage theater facade, probably established in the heyday of movie going in the 40s and 50s, it was a completely modernized experience on the inside. It offered a huge array of food and drink options; smoothies of ANY variety and flavor, not just popcorn and candy but a complete dinner menu and a beer selection to rival your best brew pub. Inside the theater; cutting edge surround audio with incredibly plush, reserved seating, complete with individual subwoofers attached to each seat for the “max-bass” experience. If all of that was not enough, the movie we watched was in 3D. In the end, all of these are “value adds” meant to make the experience better than sitting at home and watching it on DVD or TV and make you feel okay about plopping down your hard earned money to experience it.

The modern movie going experience; plush reserved seating and 3D glasses!

So now, compare that to the current concert experience. Where are we going go for our value adds for the future concert experience? Well, given that our little part of the world focuses on the technical aspects, let’s take a look at some of the “value-adds” that have been put in place over the years to elevate the concert experience.

Let’s just talk “production hooks”. I’ll admit it, I’m old enough to remember a time in the mid 70s when I heard an advertisement on the radio for an upcoming concert that; with great excitement, pronounced “the sound system will be flown from the ceiling to ensure that every seat experiences the highest fidelity sound”. Wow! I gotta go hear that! Is anybody shelling out money because the sound systems are flown from the ceiling anymore? How about when moving lights became all the rage in the 80s during the first Genesis tour incorporating Vari-lites. I paid to see it, it was incredibly impressive! Anybody really excited about seeing moving lights anymore? (Not to come off like a stick in the mud, but I might actually pay to go see a big show that boasted “no moving lights – par cans only”). And then there’s video! Man think about the impact that video has had on the concert experience. Set aside video as a creative element for a moment and let’s talk just IMAG, can you imagine going to a shed style venue, or any concert for that matter these days, that did not offer video support of the show for the people sitting very far from the stage? There would be a riot!

Caution! Caution! A topic digression is about to take place!

Speaking of the shed experience, what is up with the current state of support PA systems for the customers seated on the lawn in these venues? As you may or may not be aware, more often than not there is an additional PA system installed in these venues that is responsible for supporting the main PA system provided by the artist. “Mr. & Mrs. concert fan, the quality of your audio experience on the lawn is dependant on the quality and care of this system provided by your local venue.” I have never in my career seen such a poor presentation of technology and lack of competent personnel to handle these systems, as I have witnessed this summer while touring the sheds with Tom. Of course, the irony being that in many cases, more people are seated on the lawn than the reserved seating under the roof. As I was politely told by one of the lawn faithful this summer, “dude the party is on the lawn”

Venue owners; (Not VENUE owners) if you’re listening, PLEASE dedicate some resources to upgrading and maintaining these systems. The fans will thank you and they might even come to the shows a little more often. Don’t believe me? Here is an excerpt from a post on a popular live sound chat site regarding the lawn experience during the current Petty tour. “I have to say, I needed that show to sound good. I have been to so many big shows that were very disappointing sound-wise. I swore off big sheds a LONG time ago … The mix was just so right for TP, and the venue … There seemed to be studio like separation in the mix, but yet it all blended just right.”

The modern day “shed” style venue

Dare I suggest that good sound quality might just turn out to be a “value add”? It certainly seems to have added value to this person’s experience. If by chance his experience were to go totally viral on the web could it actually drive ticket sales? If someone reading it was on the fence about going to a big show, but discovered via the post that it was a great sounding show, might that sway them to plop down their cash? Could a bad concert experience and a subsequent post be just as damming?

We take audio very seriously in Tom Petty land for every show and I’m shocked at how many local venue techs have told us that rarely does a visiting engineer even go out to listen to the lawn during the day to evaluate it let alone adjust it. It’s kind of like we say at Avid regarding the world of VENUE technology “great sound quality is not a feature it comes with every console.” It should come with every show too … But I digress …

Alert! The topic digression has ended! We now return you to your regularly scheduled blog.

So what might the next big production hook be? Can today’s technology help to add value to the concert going experience and not only draw people in to the “big show” but keep them coming back? What will be our industry’s “Technicolor” or “THX” or “3D”? Will the manufacturers drive the next technological development or will the production companies and creative entities drive it? More importantly will the artist, and in the end the consumer, be willing to pay more money for it? What is keeping fans away from shows today? Is it the quality of the music presentation or the lack of new and interesting production elements? Are all shows starting to look and sound alike? Are there simply too many shows attempting to go out on tour and not enough concert fans to support that number of shows? Or is it just simply down to ticket prices finally hitting some sort of wall?

I’m of the mindset that it’s not as simple as just blaming high ticket prices and put it down to artist or promoter greed; although given some of the ticket prices of seen lately, it certainly has to be at least a contributor. For example, I’ve seen one multi-act stadium tour with a top ticket price of $895.00! Are you kidding me? With artist revenues from CD sales way down, the artists are certainly within their rights to look for revenue from other sources such as concert tickets and merchandising. But can that kind of ticket price be good for the industry as a whole? I don’t know the answer to that for certain, but what I will submit to you here is, that the dramatic growth in the size of the touring production might be as big of a contributor to the ticket price escalation as greed. If you consider the shear quantity and quality of the technology combined with the personnel that comes with it for even a relatively modest tour such as Tom Petty, I’m shocked that ticket prices are not even higher. In Tom’s case it’s a testimonial to his loyalty to his fans along with the fact that he’s been an advocate for keeping prices under control for his entire career. I think his fans are in many ways rewarding him for it this summer. From my perspective, and his fan’s apparently, his “value add” appears to be quality and consistency and at a pretty appetizing ticket price.

7-8 trucks is considered a moderate tour size in 2010

So as you can see, this whole concept of the future of live concerts has me spinning. Gosh, it just dawned on me … I hope live music doesn’t end up where movie production is heading right now with the live music the equivalent of computer generated actors performing on virtual sets. I actually had a conversation the other day with an industry professional who was trying fervently to convince me that even though the animations that we see on screen are computer generated, the animation is created directly from the actor’s movements right down to facial expression, so the animations ARE the actors. And because we see them in the digitally created, lavish backgrounds and sets, we believe the sets are real too. Really? … let me repeat … REALLY?

Really? …

Well, I actually hope I’m long gone from this world by the time we get to the point of having musicians dressed up in infrared suits, connected to computers that animate them playing their instruments so that we can insert them into digitally created stage set. Wow! Think of it, maybe then they could even do the gig against a green screen in their lavish homes, while a 3D rendering of each band member is transmitted to a distant arena full of people. Or worse yet, maybe you would just be able to watch the band members in your own green screen room at your home, pick the band members and place them in which ever venue you wanted to be in for the show! Whoa! You might even be able create your own super-group (you guys remember those don’t you?) and even choose their wardrobe and what instruments the play! (starting to sound familiar?) Okay, okay, I know … I lost my virtual head for a second. But wait … we would never let that kind of thing actually happen … right? That will NEVER happen right? … anyone … anyone … Bueller?

Uh oh … wait a second … my boys would LOVE that actually …

This is Robert Scovill reporting from the final frontier, boldly going where no man dare go before …

Tom Petty and The Heartbreakers, Robert Scovill and VENUE Get “Intimate” …

Robert Scovill — Wed, 21 Jul 2010 14:19:00 GMT

Tom Petty and The Heartbreakers playing to huge sold out shows in North America

Hello faithful followers of the Tom Petty / Robert Scovill / VENUE / K1 / (fill in blank) blog. Sorry for being away for some time now, but safe to say I have been extremely busy during that time fulfilling my duties for Avid as well leading the double secret life of a touring concert sound dude. I even made my way down to Mexico for some very spirited training and demonstrations of VENUE technology in Mexico City and Guadalajara while on a short break from the tour. While in Mexico City, I was really juiced by how excited our Latin American users are about our technology. They are eating it up and VENUE is growing leaps and bounds down there. I loved sharing my workflows and ideologies with them and look forward to going back, if for no other reason then the incredible tacos at the all night stand we hit on the way back from the gig in Guadalajara. In-freakin-credible tacos and salsa. Okay – okay – I know, this is supposed to be an audio blog, but what I also discovered while in Mexico is that, while concert sound technology is making great technological progress in the world, cell phone technology is still a not totally there – especially for international service, and especially for some carriers with certain phones. I won’t mention any names, but their corporate identity rhymes with the word “Splint” … which is what their customer service rep would have needed after about our sixth conversation without a resolution to my cell phone woes if he would have been within striking distance. But I digress … now we return you to your regularly scheduled blog.

Robert Scovill presents VENUE Technology at events in Mexico City and Guadalajara

Late night taco run in Guadalajara!

At risk of jinxing myself, I must say that if you’ve been keeping up with us, then you know that the shows have just been going fantastic. We have done a number of venues that, over the years, have presented some of the biggest challenges for me to achieve high quality mixes at for Tom as well as some other acts. But I must say, this combination of Avid VENUE and LAcoustics K1 speakers is a lethal combination. I’ve walked away feeling like I have literally conquered them all. I think LAcoustics should consider making use of the tag line that Dave Ratt coined the first time he described the K1 to me – “ Dude, it’s just unfair”. I know I’ve used it many times since being out here. I’ve also been making note of some of the post show posts by fans and engineers on some of the more popular chat sites such as ProSoundWeb and am beaming after reading the reviews they’ve posted about the sound quality, even by people who are sitting very far away from the system. Nice … thank you people!

Huge crowds in Milwaukee and the large LAcoustics K1 and Kudo hangs for Milwaukeefest

While in Chicago recently my good friends Scott Ragsdale, Matt Wilkerson and Jeff Pelletier from Willow Creek Church attended our show at the enormous United Center in Chicago (I know it’s enormous because it took me nearly an hour to run up and down every step in the building for my AM workout) They noted how the audio was of a size and a quality that it made even the enormity of that arena feel pretty intimate. I couldn’t agree more. It was interesting in that as I was mixing that night I was flashing back to my very first show in the United Center, which was THE first show in the United Center if memory serves me with Tom and The HBs. This was around 1994-5 with a traditionally arrayed PA and while we had a successful show, it was a very very different experience from what transpired this night. During the day, I also caught myself reflecting on a kind of funny story from that day in the 90s. Sam Berkow, the driving force behind SIA Smaart and now SIA Acoustics was just putting the finishing touches on his soon to be released software app and was in town doing some consulting for the United Center. He stopped by the FOH position mid day and said “ Hi, I’m Sam – would you mind if I borrowed your PA for a few minutes?” I didn’t know Sam from Adam and much to my assistant engineer’s chagrin I said, “sure, here ya go … let me know when you’re done.” I’ve been using Smaart pretty exclusively since that day and am now using Smaart V7. Oh … and Sam and I have been very good friends ever since … but frankly, it would cost him a lot of dinners in order for him to borrow my PA these days.

Wilkerson, Pelletier, Scovill and Ragsdale along with Smaart V7 at the United Center in Chicago

I carried on some very interesting discussions with Scott, who is a very fine mixer by the way that I have a great deal of respect for, about audio and mixing consoles. I saw his ears kind of perk up as I submitted for his consideration that there is more to the live mixing game than simple input to output sound quality in any console be it digital or analog. Now, while input to output sound quality and the capabilities in terms of head room etc. of the mix busses are vital – which BTW are all great on VENUE products IMO – for us music mixers, the real key to a console’s success is when we combine it with best mixing tools available. As you know for those of us who use VENUE, we are blessed with the best array of tools available. As many of you know, there is a very rich palette of choices for us right at our finger tips in VENUE land. I gave him a few examples during Virtual Soundcheck in the afternoon. He was inquiring into how I actually use the Crane Song Phoenix plug-ins and I think he was a bit surprised in how many places I was using it to great effect. I explained that for the first time really in live sound, we can treat inputs much like we treat them when recording and mixing in analog. For example I use more or less tape saturation emulation on strategic inputs, just exactly as I would do if I was recording to analog tape. Some inputs I drive hard into the emulation, others not so much. Then, just as I would if I were mixing to analog, I use more across my actual mix bus, just as if I were mixing to an analog two track machine. I ran some tracks and by-passed the tape saturation and he looked a bit startled at the impact. At which time I re-emphasized -- “yeah, live music and analog tape emulation, another lethal combination that we’ve never had at our disposal before – good times huh Scott?” I’m pretty sure he visited the Crane Song web site when he got home. :) All in all it was a great day with Scott, Matt and Jeff and I was delighted to have them down for the big hang.

Well, we are off to The Palace in Auburn Hills MI tomorrow. As with every day now, I’ve begun to look more and more forward to the virtual sound checks to see how far we can raise the bar today. Take care fellow sound dude-geeks. Stay in touch! Well, unless I’m south of the border, at which time I’ll either be at the all night taco stand, or on hold with “Splint” customer service.

Robert Scovill over and out …

Two Nights of Tom Petty with VENUE and LAcoustics K1 at The Gorge

Robert Scovill — Tue, 15 Jun 2010 19:58:47 GMT

Tom Petty and The Heartbreakers and Joe Cocker performed to two sold out audiences at The Gorge

Hello blogosphere buddies --

Well, the Starbucks here in Calgary may make a few extra bucks this morning as I clank away on my laptop recounting the events of the past few days in glorious George Washington (yes, that is the actual name of the city!) at a gig affectionately and formally known as The Gorge.

I’ve been doing shows at The Gorge for many years now and it’s always interesting to watch the growth of a venue over time as more and more shows adopt it. The Gorge is certainly no exception as I’ve watched it go from essentially an open air deck on the side of a cliff to a full blown stadium style concert stage that can handle the production requirements of nearly any act that passes through. But even with those advances in staging etc, there are still challenges that are out of the direct control of the venue etc. For example you’re still sitting on the edge of a cliff, out in the open, exposed to wind, rain and any other element that decides you should have a bad day. This alone can inhibit you from putting up video screens and other production tools of that nature because at the drop of a hat, if the wind whips up … and the wind will whip up … they could turn into a big sail and be damaged or worse yet, get loose and bonk a group of folks on the head. OUCH!

Luckily today, high end speaker technology is well equipped to handle elements such as wind and rain and will, generally speaking, just keep on working regardless of the conditions in which they are placed. We are currently touring with a full compliment of LAcoustics PA products including the new K1 system from our French friends across the pond and luckily the elements did not test us while we were there. Quite the contrary, we had two really beautiful days of whether and shows at this storied local. Now see there, you thought this was going to turn into some big disaster story didn’t you! Clearly you watch too much CNN … or Fox News of course for all of you who reside in the red states. Well, don’t worry there are plenty of outdoor shows to come … so chances are pretty good you’ll get your wish and at least one of these blogs will include the terms “tornado” and or “rain soaked”.

Okay, so I gotta say, the new K1 PA system from LAcoustics is really something to get your ears around. I’ve always felt it can be a real test of any PA system when you set it up in open air and apply the pedal. It will generally show you what it is, and is not, capable of doing. From my current vantage point, there is not too much that this PA is not capable of doing. That said, I’m still figuring out K1 operationally and tonally to be sure, but this is to be expected really. As with any PA, but especially with a new system design that requires a shift in mind set from how we have previously set up and driven PA systems in the past, you have to do a show, assess your performance while using it, make adjustments and try again the next night. That very process has come along very fast compared to other tours I have done and we have had such stellar results within the first couple of shows, I can’t imagine where I’ll be with it all in a few weeks.

For example, the way K1 handles subs vs. the rest of the PA system is unique compared to the vast majority of other PAs out there. In fairly recent history, the strive (and rightly so) was for high frequency and mid range intelligibility for a bigger portion of the listening space along with being able to service a mix position that was relevant to the rest of the room. IMO, line source arrays were a huge step forward in this regard with special credit given to Christian Heil for having the courage and wherewithal to present the world with the V-DOSC line source. It was clearly a game changer as the response from the entire industry of both users and manufacturers shows. With K1 he’s looking to step up the result one more level with a number of new features none the least of which is a wonderfully effective low frequency shelving concept called “Array Morph”. It allows you to match low frequency signatures between array topologies within the LAcoustics line and is handled entirely with DSP control within the LA8 amplification systems. And while emphasis and detail in the hi and mid frequency of the system is still certainly the focus, that focus also now resides in the bottom half of the frequency spectrum as well. And that focus is well founded as my low frequency experience has been nothing short of phenomenal on this tour.

Because of this, it’s not out of line to state that the Tom Petty and The HBs faithful have been experiencing the bass guitar on an entirely new level on this tour. It’s startling at times, because for my money, we’ve lived with quite a quandary in sound reinforcement for a long time in that bass guitar has consistently been one of, if not the hardest instrument to present properly in sound reinforcement. It was primarily because of the way low frequency elements interact in a give system, not only with one another, but with the space within which they are working. Bass guitar is vital to the foundation of both rhythm and melody and is critical to the music listening experience. This has never been more so for the Tom Petty experience than on his latest release “Mojo”. The bass lines on Mojo are both mesmerizing and vital to the feel and flow of music in general. It’s wonderful to be able to do them such justice with the K1 PA system. Producer and engineer Ryan Ulyate put a lot of emphasis on the bass guitar and the bottom end in general within the Mojo production and wanted to ensure we would be able to present the audience with the same experience. He’s made numerous positive comments on the abilities of the PA system to present the vision and spirit of the record to the audience in this regard.

Obviously, the other half of doing anything successfully with the PA, is that you have to be able to address sources well at the input stage. This ability is one of the real hallmarks of the VENUE consoles in my opinion. You just have so many tools at your disposal with which to address and attack a specific sound. The whole process is now so analogous to the studio workflow that it is going to present the challenge of learning more and more tools and applying them properly but that’s not a bad problem to have in my opinion. With VENUE there are so many harmonic, compression and EQ tools available that you can go places you might never have even attempted to go in analog. For instance I use the Sansamp amp modeler plug-in for Ron Blair’s bass sound in the front of house mix and recall stored changes on it throughout the performance. It allows me to be so flexible and repeatable night to night. I use it in conjunction with Crane Song Phoenix tape saturation emulation and finish it all off with McDSP MC2000 multiband compression. But frankly the secret is not totally based in the use of Plug-ins. I use the VENUE onboard EQ and the onboard dynamics as well for not only the bass but the majority of other inputs as well. Don’t underestimate them, they are the cornerstone of an incredible sounding input strip with all VENUE systems.

All in all we had a couple of incredible shows at The Gorge, as we did with the Red Rocks shows. Maybe the best I’ve been a part of in either location. All indications are that the fans enjoyed the shows even more than the band and I did. I’ll tell ya what I would enjoy right now though, a refill on my coffee …

“I have a grande, non-fat vanilla latte for Robert” … oh the challenges of the modern day touring life!

Robert Scovill out --

Opening Night for Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers and VENUE at Red Rocks

Robert Scovill — Wed, 02 Jun 2010 23:40:44 GMT

Tom Petty and The Heartbreakers opening night. Click here for more photos and comments

Hello VENUE and Tom Petty fans

Well, it finally happened last night …

No … I’m not talking about Larry King finally getting to interview Lady GaGa …

We, meaning Tom, The Heartbreakers and a bunch of faithful old road dogs pulled into the infamous Red Rocks Amphitheater in Denver Colorado for the opening night of the 2010 tour. Now this was no normal first day of a tour for a show this size. Normally in these situations, you would have a load in day, that would allow everyone – including the band – to get their feet wet with a little run through the night before so that you might avoid un-foreseen problems and challenges that might threaten the first show. But did I mention this is Tom Petty and The Heartbreakers? Yeah, that’s not how we roll in the world of The Heartbreakers. In our world you steam right in, straight out of band rehearsals, set it up all, check your lines and levels, just in time for the house lights to go out so that when the band hits the stage you pull the trigger on two hours plus of classic music and bring all your focus and experience to bare. There’s even a chance (read as remote chance) that you might have even been allowed to mix some of the songs once or twice before the first show. Okay wait, I got all delusional for a minute. I remember now, that’s not how The Heartbreakers roll my friends and that’s one of the reasons I love the gig so much. House lights out dang it, it’s time to get’cher mix on! It’s all pretty exciting and I assure you, as the mixer, you’ll wear out the edge of your seat by the end of a tour.

If that wasn’t enough for day one, this was our first actual show with the new LAcoustics K1 PA system. Add a brand new PA system to your list of variables to deal with and you’ll end up with a very good night’s sleep at the end of a very long day. Thank goodness for Virtual Soundcheck, although I certainly could have made good use of a little more time with the tracks while tuning the PA system etc. That said, Virtual Soundcheck really is a life saver in these situations. If first impressions of the new PA mean anything, K1 is a very impressive sound system. I can’t imagine any system being able to handle the extreme upward geometry of Red Rocks as easily and seemingly effortlessly as the K1 rigging system. I’m still getting my head around it operationally, but sonically speaking, if last night was any indication, this tour is going to be lots of fun to mix. Now admittedly, I certainly made my share of opening night boo-boos, but confidence is high that I’ll find the groove and it will all come together very quickly and end up another legendary tour for Tom and troupe.

On the console end of things, the day turned out to be a bit of a “VENUE love-fest” in that for Tom we’re using 96 input D-Show systems for both FOH and monitor positions along with 48 input Profile systems for Joe Cocker FOH and Monitors. Petty monitor engineer Greg Looper and I both have 128 track Pro Tools HD systems as well for deploying Virtual Soundcheck independently for the house and the stage. All consoles and PA technology for both acts are provided by Sound Image out of Southern California. As it happens, the Sound Image connection turned out to be a big advantage for us because Tom is at Red Rocks June 1st and June 3rd, and as luck would have it Crosby, Stills and Nash are booked in on June 2nd. CSN is a Sound Image account as well, so we offered to leave the LAcoustics K1 system installed for them which they very graciously agreed to. This saved us the VERY laborious load out and then load back in again here at Red Rocks. Pulling off a show here is logistically speaking, a very slow process because all gear gets off loaded from the tour semis at the base of the mountain and then reloaded onto flatbed trucks that are properly geared to transport it up the steep mountain slope to the staging area. It’s a long, slow process that is … et-hem … PERFECT for a first show load in! (he said with sarcasm dripping from his fingers on to the qwerty keyboard) Luckily all of us have been to the Rocks many times over the years and kudo’s go out to the local crew and and the production crews for handling it so well and making the first show a big success. It was a “getter done” day to be sure. Luckily for us the weather held out and it was very nice for the majority of the day. The clouds rolled in late in the day but the rain held off for the show thankfully. We’ll hope for a similar fate, and a little more Virtual Soundcheck time on show number two on Thursday.

I’ll have more techy and geeky stuff to report as the tour carries on, but for now, I’m just happy we are finally under way!

Thanks for tuning in!

Scovill out

Robert Scovill on Pro Tools and VENUE TDM Plug-ins for Tom Petty 2010 Tour

Robert Scovill — Tue, 01 Jun 2010 00:04:00 GMT

Thinking outside the box resulted in mixing inside the box with virtual processing for Tom’s concert tours

Hello friends and followers!

As the weeks of rehearsals for the upcoming Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers tour comes to a close here in Los Angeles and we pack it all up to head off for our first gigs of the summer, I’m struck by three thoughts:

1) This is one great freaking band. Over 30 plus years, these guys have rarely if ever lost sight of who, or what they are and as a result have developed into complete masters of their craft and their domain. They make it look easy my friends. It’s fun to watch it all unfold.

2) Digital consoles are already great for live sound. However, they are still very much in their infancy. And like anything that matures over time, be it child, band, country or (fill in blank) no growth is without defining moments, some of them bloody, some of them glorious. Sometimes, it’s not so fun to watch it all unfold.

3) And finally, as I sit here typing, in my head I notice that I sound just like Carrie from Sex In The City while she is narrating the lead in/out for the show while sitting in front of her computer. This troubles me. If later in this blog, I say something like “When a relationship dies do we ever really give up the ghost or are we forever haunted by the spirits of relationships past.” you’ll know I’ve gone off the deep end and it’s time for Robert to return home for a while. Wow, wait just a second here. That quote from Carrie could be talking about a live sound engineer’s relationship with analog technology! Boy that Carrie is one smart sex columnist. Be that as it may, for the purposes of this blog, let’s just concentrate primarily on thought #2.

As it’s turned out, my tenure in professional audio, particularly live sound, has nearly spanned the entire genesis of digital for professional audio. When I got my start, (at the age of 9 of course if you’re trying to figure out my age) there was little to no digital technology available for live sound or the studio. It was primarily analog mixers, crossovers and eqs, spring reverbs, plates etc. Little did I realize at the time, but I was on the very cusp of “the great transition”.

For my money, nothing currently represents this transition, and all the challenges that come with it for live sound, more than digital consoles and the processing that we as mixers need to have associated with them. One of the pressing questions regarding digital console development is; “should processing continue to be developed by 3^rd party manufacturers or should the console manufacturer simply take on the roll of designing, building and providing the console AND all of the processing?” Along that line of thinking, by doing so are we as engineers, and we as manufacturers, simply serving convenience over sound quality? – I for one, do not want to follow a trend that leads to where consumer audio has been heading for some time; i.e. convenience over sound quality.

Let’s begin by taking a trip back to an earlier time and examine the way we were doing things before digital consoles. Consider this; can you picture in your minds eye, one time, that you ever saw a front of house or monitor position that offered the following: an analog mixing console made by [fill in manufacturers name] sitting next to racks of analog (or digital) dynamics, eq, effects and system processing all manufactured by [the filled in blank]? I can’t think of a single instance. Well here’s the rub, that’s exactly what we’re being asked to accept today in live sound with the current offering of digital consoles, short of the ones in the VENUE line. That is; one manufacturer providing all mixing and processing choices for our front of house and monitor positions. Hmmm … is that really what we want now or in the future?

One of the most attractive yet daunting aspects of being able to incorporate third party processing on a digital mixing console is the shear amount of choice in both manufacturers and styles of processing available. These choices provide a means for you to impart your own style and imprint on the audio you are in charge of mixing and presenting. Make no mistake about it, it’s awesome to have this at your finger tips with the VENUE systems.

But as great as it is, in it’s current state, it’s not entirely a bed of roses. The shear quantity of choices and the subsequent challenges of obtaining, installing and maintaining authorizations as well as managing versions of plug-in against your current version of operating system is not for the meek, and certainly not for the engineer that is short on time my friends.

Also, consider this; for us mixers that strive to be true to our craft and really on top of our game, we’ll feel compelled to explore ALL of the processing possibilities available let alone ones for a given job. We’ll then in turn, have to guard against experiencing what I’ve coined as “choice fatigue”. I can remember experiencing this while auditioning things like microphones or guitar amps or sampled sounds when working on recordings that involved samplers and sequencers with artists. At some point the amount of choices becomes so vast, and making a commitment becomes so all consuming that you run the risk of losing track of what you were actually trying to achieve in the first place. Choice fatigue will be a real challenge moving forward in the digital era for live sound engineers because the amount of processing choices has already grown by an order of magnitude and is no longer governed by what you have in your rack or what the sound company has sitting on it’s shelves. So it can indeed be burdensome, but as I mentioned earlier, digital for live sound is here to stay and is in it’s infancy right now. It calls for a balance of patience and diligence by both mixers and manufacturers if the promise of digital is to be truly realized. If we don’t, we’re at risk of falling into the trap of just “doing what is easiest” as opposed to digging in and doing what is best for the work at hand.

Let me give you an example; for my work this year with Tom Petty. I’m working closely with Tom’s recording engineer Ryan Ulyate to port the effects settings he used during the mixing of the record directly into the plug-in processing used in my VENUE system for the tour. (yes, I’m allowed to say “record”, instead of CD because they mastered to vinyl as well. Nice!) The entire record was recorded using VENUE and ICON sharing a single Pro Tools system. Even though the plug-ins that Ryan used on the record such as Sound Toys and Acousticas EMT impulses offer stated compatibility with the Windows XP operating systems, they do not have stated compatibility with VENUE systems nor do they offer VENUE installers. So the process has been a bit cumbersome and tricky and scarey at times in regard to stability and reliability. Sound Toys and Acousticas, if you’re reading this … please test and optimize your plug-ins for use with VENUE. Please? Pretty please with sugar on top? I and all the other VENUE dudes and dudettes need access to your great sounding plug ins and impulses.

Okay well, the long term outlook for the concept of digital for live sound is certainly a topic that is worthy of volumes of discussion, certainly more than I can address in a single blog entry. But if I look far enough out into the future, say my next 30 years in pro audio, (because I’m only 23 years old right now) the world that I dream of is not one with a vast landscape of digital consoles that offer only a singular, narrow processing model and architecture; one that in the end is constricting and stifles creativity. No, it must be a world of open architecture where there exists a rich community of manufacturers that specialize in building the finest processing and in turn make that processing available to ALL digital consoles on the market. A world where presets can be openly and easily shared between recording and live sound workflows regardless of the console that is used to host them. It’s a big dream I know … but hey let’s get real here … I mean could Carrie live in a world that only offered shoes made by one manufacturer … say Manolo Blahnik? Carrie, my wife and Jimmy Choo certainly think not.

Later –

Robert Scovill out …

Tom Petty and The HBs Rehearsals and Virtual Soundcheck with VENUE

Robert Scovill — Thu, 06 May 2010 19:31:00 GMT

As I sat at my DShow console recently while in rehearsals with Tom in Los Angeles, Pro Tools in looped playback, reviewing inputs, working up mixes through the PA system, I starred at the cardboard cutouts of the band in various positions on stage, and began to take stock of how far the live sound process had actually come. I caught myself thinking back to my first attempts at doing anything like Virtual Soundcheck in the early 90s with Tom while using a Gamble EX56 with an ADAT track inserted on every channel, patched on through to any subsequent insert processing. 56 track ADAT recording … mmm … good times!

(btw, for the record, the cardboard cutouts I mentioned above are life sized replicas of the band members so the lighting guys can pre-set focus and camera blocking etc … I’m heading off to trademark the name Virtual Lightingfocus right after I get done with this entry)

Fast forward a little more than a decade from my Gamble and ADAT days and through our work with VENUE and Pro Tools, a really solid version of Virtual Soundcheck is now a reality. Virtual Soundcheck has not only completely changed the way I work as a live sound mixer and systems engineer during rehearsals or on a day to day basis, but it’s also impacted the touring life of the band and even more importantly the concert sound experience for the fan’s. Now, as if that weren’t enough, I’m also of the opinion that Virtual Soundcheck stands to positively impact the concert sound industry as a whole.

Wow! Tee it up Robert tell us more!

Okay I will …

Just for some context, in the not too distant past, preparing for a tour at the console level involved setting the band up in a warehouse or some large space rented out by the band. Once there, you would essentially line check with the crew guys, recall your best tried and true effects processor presets and wait for the band to show up so you could actually start mixing. Heck, many bands might even skip the warehouse and just head on to the first gig and do it all on sight the day of the first show! Either way, this approach would allow for very limited time for you to work on tone, blends and rehearsal of moves within the show unless the band was actually playing. I used to lightheartedly give the band’s producer a hard time when we would be discussing the mix for a given song etc. and I would say something like “how many passes did you and the recording mixer make on this song when you were automating mixes for it? … okay, well this is my 3^rd pass … can you give me just a couple more passes before you take out the note pad?” … “uh, no” … mmm … good times …

Working in this way, it’s clear that any opportunity to put any level of detail into what you are doing is going to evolve over the course of many more sound checks and shows. Essentially it is a macrocosm of mixing a festival or a one-off event, meaning; as soon as you get it sounding really good and repeatable, it’s likely that the show (or in this case the tour) will be over. But, ya know what they say about mixing “you never finish mixes, you just stop working on them”

Virtual Soundcheck leaves those challenges in the dust because it offers a studio-style workflow allowing me to simply play back recordings of the mic pres into the console exactly as they appeared when the band was playing live and work as long as time allows. This coupled up with how input and track rich we are these days – and it offers me a ton of opportunity to really refine what I am doing out here. For instance for this tour with Tom, I’ve been auditioning a bunch of different microphones by recording multiple mics on instruments like guitars, piano and drums, and then auditioning them after the fact and really evaluating placements and what is working well together and what is not … yeah … just like we do in the studio.

Additionally, because VENUE offers us an enormous array of 3^rd party processing on par with today’s best studios via TDM plug-ins, I can audition dynamics and effects processors till I’m blue in the face, again without the need for the band or road crew guys up there playing endlessly … yep, you guessed it … just like we do in the studio. The juiciest part of the plug-in thing for us live sound guys is, it cost NOTHING, ZERO, ZILCH to audition all the different processors. You simply download them in demo form from the manufacturer, audition them, and then buy the authorization for the ones you want without ever nagging the sound company or needing Fed Ex once! It’s like having a huge equipment rental department right down the hall. Nice …

Finally, Virtual Soundcheck audio allows me to really refine how the inputs and the mixes are going to react through the PA system and in the room. I can really refine my system equalization and balances by using … wait for it … not an overly bright, overly compressed piece of recorded studio material, that bares little to no resemblance to what the band or the PA will be delivering a few hours from now … but the actual recorded inputs, … yep, the ones that are dynamically accurate to what will be happening a few hours from now because they were recorded while the band was playing an actual show. For my money, this alone would make Virtual Soundcheck the killer app for live sound.

Okay, I know, I got all lathered up talking about the other stuff and didn’t mention how Virtual Soundcheck helped improve the band’s touring psyche or how it will make the world safe for concert sound as we know it. Well; let me step firmly up on my soapbox, so you can hear me loud and clear here.

In the context of a touring band it goes like this and it’s quite simple really – if they don’t have to come over to the gig every day at 3:00 in the afternoon, limp through a generally meaningless soundcheck, eat some extremely average food and then hang out for hours until the actual show, guess what? … they’re generally in a much better mood! A mood much more conducive to playing music – and that is GOOD for the show AND the sound of the show. Also, this saved up energy adds up over the course of a long tour. Trust me; there’s job security in that little notion because the tour might just last a bit longer. Ya know, it’s a lot like the Phoenix Suns this year when you think about it … they’ve had GREAT play from their bench this year which has allowed Steve Nash and Amare Stoudemire to sit out a lot more minutes, keeping their legs very fresh for the post season … okay … okay … I digress. Sorry, I lost my head … the playoffs against our nemesis the Spurs starts in few hours.

As for making the world safe for audio at concerts, I submit to you this; given that all disciplines of live sound mixing; FOH, Monitor, HOW, ProAV, Broadcast, Theater, you name it, can now work in a studio style workflow, meaning; for the first time in live events, maybe ever, the artist or the creative interest can be sitting at your side and evaluating and possibly contributing to how you the mixer are going to present their art to the world. By doing so, it is going to actually start a process of weeding out some of the mediocrity in our business. A thinning of the heard if you will. Harsh you say? Maybe … But mixers and sound companies alike will no longer be able to hide behind 300 feet of snake. This can be a scary proposition for live sound guys, because there are a lot of variables in play on any given day that can make you look pretty bad, but if you can embrace the concept, the criticism and critiques, it is very likely you’ll develop into a more competent mixer. And that my friends, in the long run, has to be good for an entire industry that is under some serious scrutiny in terms of it’s ability to present live audio.

So, this summer if we’re playing an indoor/outdoor venue near your location … and it’s about 3:00 in the afternoon and you start hearing Tom Petty and the HBs blaring from the big French PA in the distance, don’t worry, you haven’t missed the start of the show. It’s just little ole me, the live sound geek, employing last nights recording to help ensure your listening experience at the concert will meet your expectations (hopefully) … but keep in mind, there’ll be no looped playback of your favorite songs during the show.

Later everybody!

Robert Scovill out ...

Tom Petty 2010 Tour Blog: VENUE and Mixer Robert Scovill

Robert Scovill — Sun, 18 Apr 2010 03:01:00 GMT

And so it begins …

As many of you may or may not know I have been involved in one way or another with the VENUE product line by Digidesign, now known as Avid, since it’s earliest days of conception. In 2005 I formally joined the company to contribute to the ongoing development of the product line along with helping to inform live sound professionals around the world about the virtues of this amazing product and company.

After introducing VENUE, and Digidesign for that matter, to the live sound community in 2005 I’m still amazed how quickly the VENUE line has been adopted by the users and the industry as a whole. It continues to be an ear opening ride and frankly I feel like I’ve learned considerably more than I have taught since accepting my role at Avid.

One of the aspects that I love about working for Avid, is that they’ve afforded me the opportunity to continue my work in live sound and recording. This year I’ve been presented with a unique opportunity where Avid has allowed me to return to my role as concert sound engineer for the 2010 Tom Petty and The Heartbreakers Tour while continuing my work with them as a Senior Market Specialist. It will be a great chance to actually get out in the world and practice what I have been preaching since I stepped back from touring in 2007 as well as grab some face time with VENUE users and dealers around the world.

As for Petty, we have been in rehearsals in Los Angeles for nearly 2 weeks now and I will be blogging regularly to let you in on some of the life on the road with The Heartbreakers as well as the day to day audio challenges that we tackle with VENUE as well as other high end technology while on the tour. I plan on regular text and picture postings along with some short video blogs focused on unique workflows and applications with the console, plug-ins and Pro Tools. Monitor engineer Greg Looper is also using VENUE on the tour, so I’ll try to drag him into the conversation as well from time to time.It’s also worth mentioning that we’ll be touring with a new LAcoustics K1 PA system provided by Sound Image so look for some insight into that as well.

My next week will be spent in Saddleback Church in Lake Forrest California teaching for proaudioseminars.com I’ll be handling VENUE training on Monday; (nearly 25 students!) and the proaudioseminars.com signature course called “The Complete FOH Engineer”. So look for some info on that as well as the week progresses.

Okay, well that’s about it for now in order to get this thing rolling. As for today, well – a Saturday off in the hotel which means; catching up on email, starting this blog, paying some bills, tidying up the final details for the week of teaching, the occasional Facebook post and of course the NBA and NHL playoffs blaring in the background. Wait a minute … aren’t the D-Backs in San Diego tonight? Okay, maybe not so much bill paying tonight …

Thanks for subscribing – I hope it’s a fun and informative ride!

Scovill out --