Halfway Competent
21 Jun 2010, 14:23
People who know me say that I am very detail-oriented when it comes to my audio hobby. Not so much in other aspects of life, but definitely with audio.
Not so much this last Friday. This was probably my worst failure as a live recording engineer ever.
1. I got to the venue (a small jazz bar -- same one I recorded at before) at 8:30p. Band starts at 9:30, leaving me plenty of time to get set up. Problem: I just realize I've forgotten my headphones.
2. I run home to get my headphones and return ot the venue at 9:20p. I start up Pro Tools on my computer while the band helps me out by putting up mic stands (small room, no amplification needed except for vocals). Waves V5 says it needs authorization to start; I didn't bring my iLok. Rather than go home and get it, I just uninstall Waves so that Pro Tools will start (I'm not sure whom that fail belongs to... I'd rather the plugins just disable themselves).
3. Got everything plugged in and the band starts to play, a half hour late. Everyone's like, "Whatev." I'm getting a lot of buzz off the bass amp's DI. I'd just added the last preamp to my SCA chassis, and the grounding method is a little goofy on these things (gain switch grounds the module through the faceplate). I suspect I have a problem with the module. Also, signal is a bit quiet but it sounds OK.
4. Sax mic (Audio Technica 4033) has the gain up to 5 (out of 12), and is quiet. Further, it's REALLY distorted. Sounds like clock error, but everything else sounds OK. Between songs I swap the mic to another input. Still distorted. Since what I'm getting is totally unusable, I just swap the mic right then and there for my other 4033. Pro Tools now clips like crazy, so I crank the gain down to 1 or 2. Loud signal, clear sound... It was the mic that was at fault.
5. At set break, the bassist shuts his amp off. The bass channel goes dead silent -- it's not my preamp buzzing, thank goodness! I flip the ground lift on the bass amp which gets rid of the buzz. I turn up the D.I. output and get a louder signal, but also quite a bit of hiss. Something's up with his setup, but none of us care enough to troubleshoot it further.
6. Band frontman asks how it's going; I tell him, he says no worries, they're not playing worthy of a recording, anyway. He buys me a beer.
Through it all, I'm still pissed off that my mic failed. It worked perfectly the last time I used it. It's been stored in its Pelican case the whole time, surrounded by foam, never dropped. I've no idea why it suddenly failed so spectacularly.
Guess we all need these fail-tacular moments once in a while to keep us grounded, so we can keep our focus, eh?
Not so much this last Friday. This was probably my worst failure as a live recording engineer ever.
1. I got to the venue (a small jazz bar -- same one I recorded at before) at 8:30p. Band starts at 9:30, leaving me plenty of time to get set up. Problem: I just realize I've forgotten my headphones.
2. I run home to get my headphones and return ot the venue at 9:20p. I start up Pro Tools on my computer while the band helps me out by putting up mic stands (small room, no amplification needed except for vocals). Waves V5 says it needs authorization to start; I didn't bring my iLok. Rather than go home and get it, I just uninstall Waves so that Pro Tools will start (I'm not sure whom that fail belongs to... I'd rather the plugins just disable themselves).
3. Got everything plugged in and the band starts to play, a half hour late. Everyone's like, "Whatev." I'm getting a lot of buzz off the bass amp's DI. I'd just added the last preamp to my SCA chassis, and the grounding method is a little goofy on these things (gain switch grounds the module through the faceplate). I suspect I have a problem with the module. Also, signal is a bit quiet but it sounds OK.
4. Sax mic (Audio Technica 4033) has the gain up to 5 (out of 12), and is quiet. Further, it's REALLY distorted. Sounds like clock error, but everything else sounds OK. Between songs I swap the mic to another input. Still distorted. Since what I'm getting is totally unusable, I just swap the mic right then and there for my other 4033. Pro Tools now clips like crazy, so I crank the gain down to 1 or 2. Loud signal, clear sound... It was the mic that was at fault.
5. At set break, the bassist shuts his amp off. The bass channel goes dead silent -- it's not my preamp buzzing, thank goodness! I flip the ground lift on the bass amp which gets rid of the buzz. I turn up the D.I. output and get a louder signal, but also quite a bit of hiss. Something's up with his setup, but none of us care enough to troubleshoot it further.
6. Band frontman asks how it's going; I tell him, he says no worries, they're not playing worthy of a recording, anyway. He buys me a beer.
Through it all, I'm still pissed off that my mic failed. It worked perfectly the last time I used it. It's been stored in its Pelican case the whole time, surrounded by foam, never dropped. I've no idea why it suddenly failed so spectacularly.
Guess we all need these fail-tacular moments once in a while to keep us grounded, so we can keep our focus, eh?