Adding effect can range from copying a vocal delay used on the album, phaser effect on the drums, chorus effect on background vocals to sound similar to extra singers used 9n the recordings. Adding reverbs used in the recordings or just adding effects so the sound is bigger and less dry sounding.
While I use a digital desk most of the time, it's awesome to go back to an analogue console from time to time. One of my favourite venues has an Allen & Heath GL-2200; still works well and sounds awesome. Not a single scratchy fader, pot or switch on a desk that is well over 20 years old.
Tool toured a Midas XL4 console when I saw them in Australia just pre-COVID, I was very impressed. Often said to be the best sounding live console ever built. It had been refurbished or at least thoroughly serviced. There was also a big digital for the satellite stage and a special surround sequence they do during the show but I was real happy to see someone spec'd that desk and some fantastic Avalon outboard pre's in the name of top-notch sound quality. I am a house mixer and still work on an older all-analogue system and I would hate to give it up. It's like playing an instrument. Digital is fine and everything but I feel zero desire to give up what I've used for so long. Thanks for this Dave, awesome to know what's doing what exactly when you see a fully loaded couple of racks like this, so much better to share and hopefully guide some new mixers than to keep it all trade secret. Awesome.
After working with a lot of the portable digital boards, I've been loving analog boards more and more, especially when working shows where musicians change instruments a lot, or use different vocal stations. No pages to scroll through, everything is right there. Thanks for this video!
I would bring the same arguments, changing instruments a lot, sound differs a lot, etc. , for the use of a digital desk. They can do so much more at the time time with just a single button pressed. and more
Yes, digital allows more to be done. And less of a view of what's going on. Know more, do less can beneficial for some applications and do a whole lot very easily can be good for other applications.
Thank you so much for sharing you wisdom! I'm newly obsessed with AV/FoH and I'm in heaven/Hell with the firehose of information I'm attempting to drink from. So much wonderful info to digest, thank you again and can't wait to see your other videos! 🤘
When I saw you play live Dave, two things struck me. 1, it's in stereo. So many bands play in some approximation of mono. 2, the subs rolled off nice. No over exaggerated bass for the sake of rattling the furniture. I did wonder if you compressed then expanded because it had a real punch, not just a wall of noise. Great to see how it's planned out. Sweet console btw. Lots of subs 👍
As a young sound engineer who enjoy analogue consoles a lot, this is fantastic! As much as I love my DAW set-up for production, I'm a firm believer in the "on the fly" school of thoughts for live sound. Adjustment should be constantly made in micro-increments as you're doing FOH duties properly, and it gets really hard with a digital board.
This scale of analogue is amazing, no downside if you have the space and crew. I wish for the best of analogue gear like this and digital, for many years to come. As with 35mm film, there are pros and cons to each - art, science and technology.
My love of analog is the ability to set it up such that I can see everything, always. I can see every gate, every comp, every effect and every iinput and output meter, without scrolling through screens and and losing focus on the show to stare at a computer screen. I can eq 2 channels at once without having to select them, I can feel the rotational position of a knob without looking at a screen. I personally have no interest in mixing shows on a digital console and will leave that adventure up to those that enjoy it.
@@DaveRat We can praise analog all we want (I like it too) but if it weren't for digital, especially reverb, well... I'll rest at that. Also, more than 20 years before this video was shot, if you didn't have a few Lexicon PCM41s or 42s in your rack, you were missing out... big time. 🙂 I re-watched the beginning of this video again. Look at around the 15 second mark. See that beautiful piece of blue and black Lexicon digital hardware?😁 It's mounted at the top of the rack, but right below the compressor and above some sweet Eventide gear. Analog is the cake. Digital is the ice cream. When used together, they're better than each on its own.
I think you are cross mixing two differing concepts. Nearly all digital gear has analog at some point in the process, and some analog gear has digital. Digital is often used to emulate, recreate, simulate or approximate analog or a natural occurrence. The absolute best digital in the world dreams of having the freq response and low noise of a simple piece of wire yet never can achieve it. The question of whether to take analog, concert to digital and convert back to analog as happens with mic to console to speaker vs staying analog and avoiding the conversion is best answered by looking at the particular application at hand
It would be nice to keep the chain analog, but isnt the PA processors and amps mainly digital nowadays anyway, so you have to go from analog to digital anyway? The choise is after the mic with digital stagebox or after the analog console in the speaker processors. Hardware has its advantages in improvising and playing the mix.
While the signals are dynamic and unpredictable early in the signal chain coming off the mics, analog is more forgiving. Once the signal is tamed down and sent to the amps, there are less likely to be issues that makes digital overload or need fast fixing manually So I thing the analog early and digital for final processing is a good combo.
Been subs to you since beginning of your channel,and glad still today you never stop to share insight and knowledge of your craft,what a time of life being able to interact to RHCP sound engineer,Thanks Mr Dave
That's a lot of analog gear. Makes me nostalgic for the old days. I'm still analog at heart. Since I don't own my own gear I end up swapping pages on whatever digital board I have that day. On the bright side my FOH takes up much less truck space.
Last analog console I ran was a Midas. I still miss the pre-amps…😢 That console and the A & H I used before it were beautiful desks! Great to see someone rocking it with such a tasty setup!
If You see BSS, Klark and DBX in a rack, You can be sure, he knows what he is doing! Absolute minimalist analog setup. No space for digital melts and mistakes. I love it! God bless all of You, and keep the Chilli hot!
I love this analogue stuff. Anytime i got a mixingjob, i have to mix on one of these weired digitaldesks which takes me more time to mix then on an analog desk AND sometimes i cant do jobs because i dont know every of these 10.000 different digitaldesks. I love analog. It´s greatsounding and at least you can mix nearly blind. But thats only my point of view. You´re a genius Dave. Thanx for that.
Dave thanks for sharing, LOVE this. I learned on analog, and still strongly prefer it. I have had to mix on digital, and while all the bells and whistles in a neat little package is cool and has many great uses I feel there is major argument for having an analog board in front of you. I do a lot of festivals that have numerous band changeovers. Yes I am a small frog in a very big pond, but to this day, I will haul out my various analogs boards and know I'll have a good day with quick changeovers. I appreciate your rack and your quick explanation of how you use it. Thank you for sharing!
My problem with digital consoles is this - they're all high performance these days and they all do everything and compact and powerful and great, BUT... you do one show on a Yamaha and the next on Allen & Heath, then an X32/M32 then a Digico, and so on, and the interfaces are all different! They're all reasonable designs in their own right, the problem is memorising where does this company put that function, how do I get from this buss to that function, where do you re-config the stage box... again, they're always perfectly reasonable designs, but you have to learn each brand or even each model, and that's no small task, so you tend to try and stick to the one you know. Yes, you can use certain apps that can offer a standard interface to multiple consoles, but gimme a break, how do I transition between them all without getting lost or just plain forgetting? The beauty of even the biggest analogue desks is, A) you can just look at it and find everything you need, and B) every function is right there in front of you, no menus, no layers, no configs, and that to me is the worst limitation of ALL digital consoles - one channel or buss at a time, essentially. I really do mix on analogue with one hand on faders and another on EQ or sends on a completely different channel, or even something on a buss, yet this is almost impossible on all but a few high-end digital consoles (and even then, that brand-specific problem appears). I've seen one big Midas digital laid out more like an analogue, but otherwise it's a real disadvantage. I thought the Yamaha CL5 having the same layout and interface as the old M7CL, so if you're familiar with that popular console you can just walk up to the new model and start using it, was an extremely intelligent design choice. One I wish more companies would follow. Or, I wish AES or someone would define some kind of standard interface for digital consoles, so you can use the proprietary one OR the AES standard, but I don't hold out much hope, they're still evolving and none of them want to concede that theirs is anything less than the new standard that everyone else should follow. And it really holds back live production IMO, the same as the differences between open and closed-source software. Don't get me wrong, I love the power of modern digital, but it's the interface that stands between it and me using that power. What's the solution?
If this is the same guy who did Audio for Chip Wilson wife's Birthday party RHCP main act in Vancouver then this guy knows his stuff and is beyond chill.
I remember that gig! I was making paper airplanes out of setlists and flying them down to the people gathered on the rocks below the cliff behind mix position. Huge mansion with concrete walls. Good times!!
@@DaveRat Nice one. Was the overly tall technician helping you out. I remember the people walking out in the water not knowing it was a sewer outlet. Hopefully they didn't catch anything but paper airplanes.
Man freaking love analog setups! The company i work for recently decided to ditch our two H3000. Hope our H2000's wont follow up soon. Sad to see it go. But they where just collecting dust.
It’s all you need to know when there’s a plug in for Analog distortion. We’re about the same age, and look at the process the same way. In 1979 I was in my last year of school( Sound Master at ABC Dunhill, Roger Nickolds was making those amazing records with Steely Dan there, a new API console was just installed in the next room) when a guy from a start up company called “Sound Stream “, an 8 channel, something like 8K , 8 Bit, Digital sound recorder was presented to the President of the recording division Brian Ingolsby. Nobody liked it. Stephen Stills popped in, he wasn’t impressed, commenting “ It doesn’t sound real “. 10-4. Now I’m retired, in Thailand, and I’m so pleased you are using that beautiful analog desk, and ancillary goodies. Here, everyone wants the latest box/gizmo. And it sounds like it. The Thais have come a long way, and are producing some nice tracks. Sadly, as far as Sound Reinforcement goes, louder is better, 80% is below 60 hz. And our old friend the pesky 1K nail through the ears FOH man, partying on this and that before the show. Oh well, its a cultural thing. If the above the line crew are happy, so be it. We veterans all have stories, where the management asks for a dripping wet plate pilot vocal, with a wicked tape slap. Their paying me to help everyone have fun, sooo😁🤙🎊 No Problem!!! I really like you, and your channel. I think i saw a Surfboard in the shop. Great minds think alike. Well Done!!! Chok Dee ( good luck) ☮️❤️🤙🇺🇸
All top gear. Pretty much what i would expect. That's not being condescending. All brilliant gear. Bss. Klark technik. Drawer. Eventide 3500. I loved using similar set up in a V-dosc line array. The heritage over the XL3 or 4 is a debate with the XL8 also. I mainly mix Monitors so I'd take the XL3 or 8. These days TM want DigiCo or SSL for freight purposes. Give midas any and every time. They pretty much are fader up boards. 👍👍👍👍👍
Super cool. Yes the 404 has a 1db gain reduction led and the 402 and does not. Super important to have good metering and the sound and control of the 404 is quite good. Great stuff!!
Love Analog Consoles even though I Only Do in small weddings,....mixing with feelings and Fun, not with Eyes and Screen....Greetings from Indonesia Dave,...sorry for my bad english 🙏😁
Hi Dave, Long time no see! Was on the Blood Sugar Sex Magik tour as Tour manager and Guitar tech for SP. Not sure if you remember any of us, Tommy F was our Sound guy. Still Have my "RAT Sound F*ck You" T-shirt; with the u of course! 😜 You were way up to speed on gear for the time! Daaaaaaaaaaaaaang. We had some pretty good times.
Midas H3000 is the ultimate analog board! Grew up enjoying Red Hot Chili Peppers live with L-Acoustic V-Dosc to K series. Soundgarden live at The Forum July of 2011 was a memorable day just sonically powerful! Seeing RHCP this summer is going to be a homecoming while weird that Dave is no longer a FOH however Toby Francis is using analog console and outboard. Analog spirit lives 🔊 Thank you Dave Rat for all the years as FOH engineer and translating sound from stage to audience in a musical way!
Cool cool and thank you! Soundgarden was one of the most enjoyable tours I have had the honor to mix and so many great peppers' shows over the years. Good times!
Just so you know, the current sound system for RHCP is 4 hangs of 20 D&B Audiotechnik GSLs (main and side fill hangs), and 3 hangs of 12 D&B Audiotechnik KSLs (Delay hangs.) Subs are D&B Audiotechnik SL-SUBs, 10 flown per side near the main hangs and a few (8 max) on the ground. Front/near fills are either D&B Audiotechnik V or Y series point sources, some set on top of the subs, others on tripods. Stage monitors are Clair Global Cohesion series wedges (CM22) and line arrays (CO12) for RHCP, but they’re actually D&B Audiotechnik M2, V8, and B22-SUB for the openers, after which they swap them with the Clairs. This is what it was in Seattle tonight, but it could be a slightly different setup wherever you are.
Hello! If you read this can you please help me with two questions? I am also using analog system and looking for an equalizer for live vocal processing i have tried some parametric eq studio but no frequency constrained, any ideas for me? question 2 is the distressor for live vocals setting ratio , attack, release is how much? I'm just a home entertainment player so I'm looking forward to your help. Thank you
@@DaveRat Oh, I've been listening to them since the 80's (specially) and always thought to myself, what a clean sound, so crisp and sometimes you just take things like that for granted, not knowing someone like you is responsible for it. I thoroughly enjoyed it! 👏😎
Well, not using aux fed subs means that high hat, vocals, overheads and every single mic on stage is sending some signal to the subs. A high pass will reduce the level sent to subs but aux fed subs will eliminate the level sent to subs. That excess rumble in the subs sent from every mic is not ideal and unnatural things like wind noise or mic motion or puffs of air from the high hat that can create significant low freq energy that does not exist in the original signal is all getting sent to the subs. Putting subs on an aux is like turning off an air conditioner rumble. You dont notice how much better it is till it shuts off and then, ahhhh, clarity! As far as recordings, if you were to put subs on a post fader stereo aux that is set to 0db, then the send to stereo subs would be identical to sending not on an aux. And you could unsend all the instruments like high hat. And your recording would be the same.
@@DaveRat thank you for the swift reply.. That is very true dave.. I just want to point out one thing provided we have a well optimised system and many engineers if they want to increase the low end for the live mix, they just increase the send level to the subs instead of using the EQ, but this will not affect the LR mix so that is what concerns me because sending the LR through a matrix for recording will not translate well. I hope I am making sense.. Thank you for your insight..
Agreed, yet the recording unless paid attention to tend to have vocals too hot and any other non amplified instruments at excessive levels To solve this, I would record from a matrix and dial the subgroups up into the recording. That way I could re balance the recording. That said, the EQ on the channels should be set so the inputs sound good for the recording and then for the live mix, more adventurous pushes of the subs to match audience enthusiasm can be done without messing up the recording
I gotta chime in here. This is a common question. I get stuck with aux send subs a lot because most systems are set up that way because most engineers feel the same way as you. Ok, it’s a great trick for guys who don’t know how to deal with transmitted rumble. I get it. Personally, I hate ‘em. 1. I do some radical EQ on drums and get really punchy heavy metal sounding kick drums for metal, hard rock and reggae. Yep, same kick sound. My hats (very loud in a reggae mix and very thin), have everything dumped except the very top, and high passed as high as it will go. That is usually a constant slope unlike the low band on a channel strip so when I dump the low band at 50, and the low mid at 250 with the band width at max, and high pass at 300, there is absolutely no rumble from that channel going to the subs. On mic channels with no subsonic program material, I’ll roll the high pass up to the point where it begins to interfere with that signal and nobody hears the difference. I might have a little less deep richness in the vocals but unless the guy sings bass in a country band ( Oak Ridge Boy’s Elvira), then it’s of no consequence. When I get to mix on my Gamble EX, the high pass goes to 300 and is a true full 24db per octave slope. Between that and dipping the low band at 50, I never have issues with rumble in my vocal mics. And I refuse to use round base mic stands. Those are notorious for transmitting rumble. I like the real nice heavy K&N tripods, even for lead vocal cuz they just gonna pull that wireless out and run amuck with it anyway. 2. I find that if the rig is set up right, and it sounds like studio monitors at FOH position, what I hear is what’s going on the recording and that impresses my bosses and I get to keep my job. 😁 I’m not a studio guy and can’t speak for that at all. But, my live board mixes have been used for albums…. You just haven’t heard of any of them. Actually, nobody has! 🤣 But, that is my rebuttal to Aux send subs. (If you wanna hear my live board mixes unedited, find Reggae On The River on you tube and the official channel has the direct board feeds right on the multi camera shoots. NOT the cell phone one angle BS from the photo pit, even tho, those sound pretty good too! Lol But, you can download the board mixes and put them up in your studio monitors and tell me if you hear extraneous low info. That show has left and right feed to a summed mono out to the subs. My way of dealing with getting handed a rig with a separate mono sub send. I can hot swap the sub send to an aux in a second from the back of the console without muting. Tell me what you discover cuz I haven’t tried that. I don’t have a studio environment to test this theory.
I personally am really good with many years of experience doing huge shows on analog and mediocre with digital. If I tour with digital I would need to take a huge pay cut
Milk the girth for all its worth, cure screech, hands reach. Flow with the show, all channels i know. True speech, Pure teach. Wisdom gained, staged, through road war waged against sonic suckage. ✌️wonderful share you post
I don't have a place for round things made of metal but I did have a place for circles and a bent circles until I began misplacing cones by by volume alongside pipes of varied materials...
Back when I toured, I brought my own technician worldwide. And when we carried gear from my sound company, we have the 4 techs that my company supplied.
DROOLING as always over DBX RTA1 I have still yet to find one but always leave room in the rack for the day you part with yours. And top on rack 2 I did snag the 120 and she’s a beaut! Did a video comparing silverchair and zepp 2 RL press where this was invaluable.
Not many issues, and enough redundancy to where it's not a big deal if we lost something for a show. Unlike digital where it tends to be all or nothing, analog has a very functional mostly working scenario.
Amazing, amazing. Set up! Brother! Have you ever thought of this? The mixing console has the most basic channel strips: gain, equalizer, sand, panning, and main bus fader, There's a compressor or gate in the recording console, but why it's not in the live console, and why it's not. In one of the finest analog live mixers of soundcraft, there were gates on each channel, personally, I wish it was a compressor I'm curious about your opinion and why the technical engineers are only equipped with an equalizer.
Yes! The ability to seamlessly react; 𝙩𝙤𝙪𝙘𝙝 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙘𝙤𝙣𝙩𝙧𝙤𝙡 ... 𝙢𝙖𝙠𝙚 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙖𝙙𝙟𝙪𝙨𝙩𝙢𝙚𝙣𝙩. Also, another key fundamental element of this approach is the visual signal path laid out before you. So tactile and intuitive.
@@DaveRat thanks for reply... when you here in Brazil, try to know @Lisciel Franco a amazing brazilian audio engenier, famous here for record all in analog setup. He develop compressors, mixers and other valvuled devices for record...
@@DaveRat Yep, I would say that the goal is to get your mic selection and positioning and all other techniques so that you don't *have* to process much; you want your input sounds to be as close to right as possible. Correct and enhance as needed, but try not to need! THen it's easy. You CAN process everything into submission, but it takes a lot of time and effort that may not be available on a tight schedule; it's most important to get the show on, you cannot afford to take 3 hours faffing with a couple of details chasing perfection, when you need to get it ALL done in maybe a 20 or 30 minute soundcheck. So the real magic happens before it ever gets to the desk IMO. But Dave is def. showing us some fantastic techniques, esp. for running the PA itself from the ops position.
can you please speak about the singers vocal EQ how in the last few day it seems every artist has an individual, interesting think they do to their voice. is this something the Artist producer has hidden from you, how that all work? or do they stip all the complexity away during live concerts.
Hi Dave, when you came to Argentina@Luna Park Stadium in October 5/6 (1999), you was using this same console or you used the Ramsa? Can you tell me something in genral about this period 98/99. Thank Dave for all your videos!!
Its beautiful seeing a real analog console at work......and a sweet Midas
@@dabadoo7631 sound-design/Artistic fx vs mixing/technical fx
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@@dabadoo7631 guitarists/bassists maybe but drums and vocals need external reverb
Adding effect can range from copying a vocal delay used on the album, phaser effect on the drums, chorus effect on background vocals to sound similar to extra singers used 9n the recordings. Adding reverbs used in the recordings or just adding effects so the sound is bigger and less dry sounding.
While I use a digital desk most of the time, it's awesome to go back to an analogue console from time to time. One of my favourite venues has an Allen & Heath GL-2200; still works well and sounds awesome. Not a single scratchy fader, pot or switch on a desk that is well over 20 years old.
Tool toured a Midas XL4 console when I saw them in Australia just pre-COVID, I was very impressed. Often said to be the best sounding live console ever built. It had been refurbished or at least thoroughly serviced. There was also a big digital for the satellite stage and a special surround sequence they do during the show but I was real happy to see someone spec'd that desk and some fantastic Avalon outboard pre's in the name of top-notch sound quality. I am a house mixer and still work on an older all-analogue system and I would hate to give it up. It's like playing an instrument. Digital is fine and everything but I feel zero desire to give up what I've used for so long.
Thanks for this Dave, awesome to know what's doing what exactly when you see a fully loaded couple of racks like this, so much better to share and hopefully guide some new mixers than to keep it all trade secret. Awesome.
Thank you Bernard!
💯
😉🔧😉
After working with a lot of the portable digital boards, I've been loving analog boards more and more, especially when working shows where musicians change instruments a lot, or use different vocal stations. No pages to scroll through, everything is right there. Thanks for this video!
🤙👍🤙 selecting the right tool for the job is the way to go
I would bring the same arguments, changing instruments a lot, sound differs a lot, etc. , for the use of a digital desk. They can do so much more at the time time with just a single button pressed. and more
Yes, digital allows more to be done. And less of a view of what's going on.
Know more, do less can beneficial for some applications and do a whole lot very easily can be good for other applications.
OMG I’m in audio geek heaven - your channel is truly unique - Thanks for a glimpse of the magic
Thank you thank you!!
Gotta love the simplicity of those effects
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Even though I'm just a very non-pro home recordist and mixer, it's cool to see how things work in the real world of live sound.
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as a person new to the world of sound engineering your videos are super cool and interesting! thank you!
Wonderful and thank you
Thank you so much for sharing you wisdom! I'm newly obsessed with AV/FoH and I'm in heaven/Hell with the firehose of information I'm attempting to drink from. So much wonderful info to digest, thank you again and can't wait to see your other videos! 🤘
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When I saw you play live Dave, two things struck me.
1, it's in stereo. So many bands play in some approximation of mono.
2, the subs rolled off nice. No over exaggerated bass for the sake of rattling the furniture.
I did wonder if you compressed then expanded because it had a real punch, not just a wall of noise.
Great to see how it's planned out. Sweet console btw. Lots of subs 👍
I don't expand but do keep a simple clean signal path and like clear LF
@@DaveRat this is gold
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As a young sound engineer who enjoy analogue consoles a lot, this is fantastic! As much as I love my DAW set-up for production, I'm a firm believer in the "on the fly" school of thoughts for live sound. Adjustment should be constantly made in micro-increments as you're doing FOH duties properly, and it gets really hard with a digital board.
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This scale of analogue is amazing, no downside if you have the space and crew. I wish for the best of analogue gear like this and digital, for many years to come. As with 35mm film, there are pros and cons to each - art, science and technology.
My love of analog is the ability to set it up such that I can see everything, always. I can see every gate, every comp, every effect and every iinput and output meter, without scrolling through screens and and losing focus on the show to stare at a computer screen. I can eq 2 channels at once without having to select them, I can feel the rotational position of a knob without looking at a screen.
I personally have no interest in mixing shows on a digital console and will leave that adventure up to those that enjoy it.
@@DaveRat We can praise analog all we want (I like it too) but if it weren't for digital, especially reverb, well... I'll rest at that. Also, more than 20 years before this video was shot, if you didn't have a few Lexicon PCM41s or 42s in your rack, you were missing out... big time. 🙂
I re-watched the beginning of this video again. Look at around the 15 second mark. See that beautiful piece of blue and black Lexicon digital hardware?😁 It's mounted at the top of the rack, but right below the compressor and above some sweet Eventide gear. Analog is the cake. Digital is the ice cream. When used together, they're better than each on its own.
I think you are cross mixing two differing concepts. Nearly all digital gear has analog at some point in the process, and some analog gear has digital.
Digital is often used to emulate, recreate, simulate or approximate analog or a natural occurrence.
The absolute best digital in the world dreams of having the freq response and low noise of a simple piece of wire yet never can achieve it.
The question of whether to take analog, concert to digital and convert back to analog as happens with mic to console to speaker vs staying analog and avoiding the conversion is best answered by looking at the particular application at hand
It would be nice to keep the chain analog, but isnt the PA processors and amps mainly digital nowadays anyway, so you have to go from analog to digital anyway? The choise is after the mic with digital stagebox or after the analog console in the speaker processors.
Hardware has its advantages in improvising and playing the mix.
While the signals are dynamic and unpredictable early in the signal chain coming off the mics, analog is more forgiving. Once the signal is tamed down and sent to the amps, there are less likely to be issues that makes digital overload or need fast fixing manually
So I thing the analog early and digital for final processing is a good combo.
Been subs to you since beginning of your channel,and glad still today you never stop to share insight and knowledge of your craft,what a time of life being able to interact to RHCP sound engineer,Thanks Mr Dave
Awesome and thank you Montel!!
That's a lot of analog gear. Makes me nostalgic for the old days.
I'm still analog at heart. Since I don't own my own gear I end up swapping pages on whatever digital board I have that day.
On the bright side my FOH takes up much less truck space.
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I preferred the analog days - modify anything in an instant. I don't miss the weight. I do miss the racecar feel. Thanks for sharing!
Thank You Rob Presson
Last analog console I ran was a Midas. I still miss the pre-amps…😢 That console and the A & H I used before it were beautiful desks! Great to see someone rocking it with such a tasty setup!
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If You see BSS, Klark and DBX in a rack, You can be sure, he knows what he is doing! Absolute minimalist analog setup. No space for digital melts and mistakes. I love it! God bless all of You, and keep the Chilli hot!
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I love this analogue stuff. Anytime i got a mixingjob, i have to mix on one of these weired digitaldesks which takes me more time to mix then on an analog desk AND sometimes i cant do jobs because i dont know every of these 10.000 different digitaldesks. I love analog. It´s greatsounding and at least you can mix nearly blind. But thats only my point of view. You´re a genius Dave. Thanx for that.
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Dave thanks for sharing, LOVE this. I learned on analog, and still strongly prefer it. I have had to mix on digital, and while all the bells and whistles in a neat little package is cool and has many great uses I feel there is major argument for having an analog board in front of you. I do a lot of festivals that have numerous band changeovers. Yes I am a small frog in a very big pond, but to this day, I will haul out my various analogs boards and know I'll have a good day with quick changeovers. I appreciate your rack and your quick explanation of how you use it. Thank you for sharing!
Awesome and selecting the right tool for the job applies to digital vs analog as well
My problem with digital consoles is this - they're all high performance these days and they all do everything and compact and powerful and great, BUT... you do one show on a Yamaha and the next on Allen & Heath, then an X32/M32 then a Digico, and so on, and the interfaces are all different! They're all reasonable designs in their own right, the problem is memorising where does this company put that function, how do I get from this buss to that function, where do you re-config the stage box... again, they're always perfectly reasonable designs, but you have to learn each brand or even each model, and that's no small task, so you tend to try and stick to the one you know. Yes, you can use certain apps that can offer a standard interface to multiple consoles, but gimme a break, how do I transition between them all without getting lost or just plain forgetting? The beauty of even the biggest analogue desks is, A) you can just look at it and find everything you need, and B) every function is right there in front of you, no menus, no layers, no configs, and that to me is the worst limitation of ALL digital consoles - one channel or buss at a time, essentially. I really do mix on analogue with one hand on faders and another on EQ or sends on a completely different channel, or even something on a buss, yet this is almost impossible on all but a few high-end digital consoles (and even then, that brand-specific problem appears). I've seen one big Midas digital laid out more like an analogue, but otherwise it's a real disadvantage.
I thought the Yamaha CL5 having the same layout and interface as the old M7CL, so if you're familiar with that popular console you can just walk up to the new model and start using it, was an extremely intelligent design choice. One I wish more companies would follow.
Or, I wish AES or someone would define some kind of standard interface for digital consoles, so you can use the proprietary one OR the AES standard, but I don't hold out much hope, they're still evolving and none of them want to concede that theirs is anything less than the new standard that everyone else should follow. And it really holds back live production IMO, the same as the differences between open and closed-source software.
Don't get me wrong, I love the power of modern digital, but it's the interface that stands between it and me using that power. What's the solution?
Agreed
I'm an old analog dog myself. What a nice setup Dave thank you.
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This is super cool. Thank you for posting this. Great insight into a pro setup 🙌 Keep the videos coming.
Thank You garethplaysdrums
Dave, thanks for sharing this stuff with us!!! 🙌
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A DREAM job. Greetings from Guatemaya!
Thank you for the video!
Greeting and thank you!!
i have four BSS mic preamps and I am impressed you have more BSS gear than I do
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Dave 👍👍👍👍 creativity all the time full of knowledge.... Respect
Awesome Bakare!
Recently I rebuilt 2 power supplies and did some TLC to the same model of Midas. Such a killer sounding console!
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Digital Consoles. A solution looking for a problem. Love the American and British analog sweetness and simplicity !
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Bruh. Epic rundown.
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Hey Dave, Really enjoy this video! Nice to see how and what you use! :-) Thanks, Dave!
Awesome
If this is the same guy who did Audio for Chip Wilson wife's Birthday party RHCP main act in Vancouver then this guy knows his stuff and is beyond chill.
I remember that gig! I was making paper airplanes out of setlists and flying them down to the people gathered on the rocks below the cliff behind mix position. Huge mansion with concrete walls. Good times!!
@@DaveRat Nice one. Was the overly tall technician helping you out.
I remember the people walking out in the water not knowing it was a sewer outlet. Hopefully they didn't catch anything but paper airplanes.
Great to meet ya again! Hopefully the sewer water is just street runoff.
Man freaking love analog setups! The company i work for recently decided to ditch our two H3000. Hope our H2000's wont follow up soon. Sad to see it go. But they where just collecting dust.
Yeah, would love to have the space to have a full analog setup at my house! Kind of like watching muscle cars being sent to the junkyard
damn man you are so lucky to work with chilli peppers! they are LEGENDS!
👍🤙👍 ha, I figured they were lucky to work with me
@@DaveRat Stay humble 😩
Smile
You're the coolest for doing this thanks Dave
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Nothing like analog and skill combing to make great sound at a show.
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Thanks for sharing this great insights, i have both on my sound system its a very carefully balance of digital/analog.
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Thanks David for the tour of your gear
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Watching this 9 years later. I actually understand what you are saying 😅
It all makes sense, so simple once ya see it
It’s all you need to know when there’s a plug in for Analog distortion.
We’re about the same age, and look at the process the same way.
In 1979 I was in my last year of school( Sound Master at ABC Dunhill, Roger Nickolds was making those amazing records with Steely Dan there, a new API console was just installed in the next room) when a guy from a start up company called “Sound Stream “, an 8 channel, something like 8K , 8 Bit, Digital sound recorder was presented to the President of the recording division Brian Ingolsby.
Nobody liked it.
Stephen Stills popped in, he wasn’t impressed, commenting “ It doesn’t sound real “. 10-4.
Now I’m retired, in Thailand, and I’m so pleased you are using that beautiful analog desk, and ancillary goodies.
Here, everyone wants the latest box/gizmo. And it sounds like it. The Thais have come a long way, and are producing some nice tracks.
Sadly, as far as Sound Reinforcement goes, louder is better, 80% is below 60 hz.
And our old friend the pesky 1K nail through the ears FOH man, partying on this and that before the show.
Oh well, its a cultural thing. If the above the line crew are happy, so be it.
We veterans all have stories, where the management asks for a dripping wet plate pilot vocal, with a wicked tape slap.
Their paying me to help everyone have fun, sooo😁🤙🎊 No Problem!!!
I really like you, and your channel.
I think i saw a Surfboard in the shop.
Great minds think alike.
Well Done!!!
Chok Dee ( good luck)
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Super cool and thank you Chok!
Sound and surf and making noise. Love Thailand
Yeahhh!! AWESOME SETUP... There's a long time I don't see something like that, nice!
Cool cool Pedro!
Thanks Dave! Very interesting! Although my ears blew up now because of the last few seconds of the outro! lol
Ooops!!
very comprehensive. thank you Dave!
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hard work, good work...... I love these stuffs (sorry for my english, i'm brazilian and your fan)
Great to meet you Thiago!
wonderful
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All top gear. Pretty much what i would expect. That's not being condescending. All brilliant gear. Bss. Klark technik. Drawer. Eventide 3500. I loved using similar set up in a V-dosc line array. The heritage over the XL3 or 4 is a debate with the XL8 also. I mainly mix Monitors so I'd take the XL3 or 8. These days TM want DigiCo or SSL for freight purposes. Give midas any and every time. They pretty much are fader up boards. 👍👍👍👍👍
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I love the analog sound! What a great audio gear! Thank you master!
I do as well!!!
Love to see all that BSS stuff.
👍👍👍 Stereo Anthony
Thanks for sharing, This is the way.
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isso é um colírio para os olhos dos amantes de som profissional
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Love the choice of gear..
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awesome stuff Dave, thanks for sharing.
Thank You Neil Deyarmin
WOW!! another great video
Thank you Michael!!
I bought a BSS Dpr404 because you rated it highly Dave R . Great comp. Can only afford a midas venice F24, love the midas sound.
Super cool. Yes the 404 has a 1db gain reduction led and the 402 and does not. Super important to have good metering and the sound and control of the 404 is quite good. Great stuff!!
@@DaveRat love how you mentioned good metering! One of the reasons I used the BSS DPR 404 and the DPR 504. 👍🏼
@@DaveRat 100%
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Fantastic F.O.H. Gear, I did the Job for Years and I‘ll prefer this to any digital mixer.....
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Love Analog Consoles even though I Only Do in small weddings,....mixing with feelings and Fun, not with Eyes and Screen....Greetings from Indonesia Dave,...sorry for my bad english 🙏😁
Cool cool Nova! I love analog as well
Wish there were more videos like this! 👍
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Before the 3d printed parts on the EQ. Neat!
Ha, yes!
Midas pre’s are where it’s at!! Absolutely love seeing this. Thanks so much for sharing.
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This was so cool! Thank you!!
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Hi Dave, Long time no see! Was on the Blood Sugar Sex Magik tour as Tour manager and Guitar tech for SP. Not sure if you remember any of us, Tommy F was our Sound guy. Still Have my "RAT Sound F*ck You" T-shirt; with the u of course! 😜 You were way up to speed on gear for the time! Daaaaaaaaaaaaaang. We had some pretty good times.
Midas H3000 is the ultimate analog board!
Grew up enjoying Red Hot Chili Peppers live with L-Acoustic V-Dosc to K series.
Soundgarden live at The Forum July of 2011 was a memorable day just sonically powerful!
Seeing RHCP this summer is going to be a homecoming while weird that Dave is no longer a FOH however Toby Francis is using analog console and outboard.
Analog spirit lives 🔊
Thank you Dave Rat for all the years as FOH engineer and translating sound from stage to audience in a musical way!
Cool cool and thank you! Soundgarden was one of the most enjoyable tours I have had the honor to mix and so many great peppers' shows over the years. Good times!
Just so you know, the current sound system for RHCP is 4 hangs of 20 D&B Audiotechnik GSLs (main and side fill hangs), and 3 hangs of 12 D&B Audiotechnik KSLs (Delay hangs.) Subs are D&B Audiotechnik SL-SUBs, 10 flown per side near the main hangs and a few (8 max) on the ground. Front/near fills are either D&B Audiotechnik V or Y series point sources, some set on top of the subs, others on tripods. Stage monitors are Clair Global Cohesion series wedges (CM22) and line arrays (CO12) for RHCP, but they’re actually D&B Audiotechnik M2, V8, and B22-SUB for the openers, after which they swap them with the Clairs.
This is what it was in Seattle tonight, but it could be a slightly different setup wherever you are.
Hello! If you read this can you please help me with two questions? I am also using analog system and looking for an equalizer for live vocal processing i have tried some parametric eq studio but no frequency constrained, any ideas for me? question 2 is the distressor for live vocals setting ratio , attack, release is how much? I'm just a home entertainment player so I'm looking forward to your help. Thank you
Great to see the Ice Man made the photo!!
Yes!!!
Magnificent.
Hey Hey Gady Marcus cool cool
I would love to see how you EQ, Comp, Gates those drums on your next videos. Thank you.
For more on how I used to set up my mixes, there is a video on Dave rat mixing strategy you may find interesting
No wonder their sounds sound so dang good! Keep up the excellent work! Wow!
Thank you though I left in 2017, this was the rig I used on the last tour I did with them.
@@DaveRat Oh, I've been listening to them since the 80's (specially) and always thought to myself, what a clean sound, so crisp and sometimes you just take things like that for granted, not knowing someone like you is responsible for it. I thoroughly enjoyed it! 👏😎
So cool and thank you! 👍👍👍
Wooow. Love from Sri Lanka ❤️
👍👍👍 Dileepa Mangala
Beautiful
Analog is sweet
👍👍👍 Bakare Anthony Babatunde
Dave what do you think about aux fed subs..
Some engineers love it, but I think it will not translate well on the live mix recordings?
Well, not using aux fed subs means that high hat, vocals, overheads and every single mic on stage is sending some signal to the subs. A high pass will reduce the level sent to subs but aux fed subs will eliminate the level sent to subs. That excess rumble in the subs sent from every mic is not ideal and unnatural things like wind noise or mic motion or puffs of air from the high hat that can create significant low freq energy that does not exist in the original signal is all getting sent to the subs. Putting subs on an aux is like turning off an air conditioner rumble. You dont notice how much better it is till it shuts off and then, ahhhh, clarity!
As far as recordings, if you were to put subs on a post fader stereo aux that is set to 0db, then the send to stereo subs would be identical to sending not on an aux. And you could unsend all the instruments like high hat. And your recording would be the same.
@@DaveRat thank you for the swift reply.. That is very true dave..
I just want to point out one thing provided we have a well optimised system and many engineers if they want to increase the low end for the live mix, they just increase the send level to the subs instead of using the EQ, but this will not affect the LR mix so that is what concerns me because sending the LR through a matrix for recording will not translate well.
I hope I am making sense..
Thank you for your insight..
Agreed, yet the recording unless paid attention to tend to have vocals too hot and any other non amplified instruments at excessive levels
To solve this, I would record from a matrix and dial the subgroups up into the recording. That way I could re balance the recording.
That said, the EQ on the channels should be set so the inputs sound good for the recording and then for the live mix, more adventurous pushes of the subs to match audience enthusiasm can be done without messing up the recording
I gotta chime in here. This is a common question. I get stuck with aux send subs a lot because most systems are set up that way because most engineers feel the same way as you. Ok, it’s a great trick for guys who don’t know how to deal with transmitted rumble. I get it. Personally, I hate ‘em.
1. I do some radical EQ on drums and get really punchy heavy metal sounding kick drums for metal, hard rock and reggae. Yep, same kick sound. My hats (very loud in a reggae mix and very thin), have everything dumped except the very top, and high passed as high as it will go. That is usually a constant slope unlike the low band on a channel strip so when I dump the low band at 50, and the low mid at 250 with the band width at max, and high pass at 300, there is absolutely no rumble from that channel going to the subs. On mic channels with no subsonic program material, I’ll roll the high pass up to the point where it begins to interfere with that signal and nobody hears the difference. I might have a little less deep richness in the vocals but unless the guy sings bass in a country band ( Oak Ridge Boy’s Elvira), then it’s of no consequence. When I get to mix on my Gamble EX, the high pass goes to 300 and is a true full 24db per octave slope. Between that and dipping the low band at 50, I never have issues with rumble in my vocal mics. And I refuse to use round base mic stands. Those are notorious for transmitting rumble. I like the real nice heavy K&N tripods, even for lead vocal cuz they just gonna pull that wireless out and run amuck with it anyway.
2. I find that if the rig is set up right, and it sounds like studio monitors at FOH position, what I hear is what’s going on the recording and that impresses my bosses and I get to keep my job. 😁 I’m not a studio guy and can’t speak for that at all. But, my live board mixes have been used for albums…. You just haven’t heard of any of them. Actually, nobody has! 🤣 But, that is my rebuttal to Aux send subs. (If you wanna hear my live board mixes unedited, find Reggae On The River on you tube and the official channel has the direct board feeds right on the multi camera shoots. NOT the cell phone one angle BS from the photo pit, even tho, those sound pretty good too! Lol But, you can download the board mixes and put them up in your studio monitors and tell me if you hear extraneous low info. That show has left and right feed to a summed mono out to the subs. My way of dealing with getting handed a rig with a separate mono sub send. I can hot swap the sub send to an aux in a second from the back of the console without muting. Tell me what you discover cuz I haven’t tried that. I don’t have a studio environment to test this theory.
Super cool, thanks for sharing.
Thank You Adam Gotheridge !!!
Wow! I love the analog setup. Cheers!
Awesome!!
I went to a show in 2012 I think, knew the lighting guy and got to chill at FOH. I took pictures and It all looks the same lol.
Similar but a few changes in sub processing, some added compressors and I believe new metering
Magnifique !!
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Who demands the analog? Chilli Peppers or Dave Rat?
Great question!
I personally am really good with many years of experience doing huge shows on analog and mediocre with digital.
If I tour with digital I would need to take a huge pay cut
Sweet gearrrrr ❤
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Milk the girth for all its worth, cure screech, hands reach.
Flow with the show, all channels i know. True speech, Pure teach.
Wisdom gained, staged, through road war waged against sonic suckage.
✌️wonderful share you post
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Thanks for the unexpected prize. Regards.
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I don't have a place for round things made of metal but I did have a place for circles and a bent circles until I began misplacing cones by by volume alongside pipes of varied materials...
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Hi Dave, great vid. Was wondering, do you bring in your own team/staff for setting up pa for shows?
Back when I toured, I brought my own technician worldwide.
And when we carried gear from my sound company, we have the 4 techs that my company supplied.
DROOLING as always over DBX RTA1 I have still yet to find one but always leave room in the rack for the day you part with yours. And top on rack 2 I did snag the 120 and she’s a beaut! Did a video comparing silverchair and zepp 2 RL press where this was invaluable.
How can he be so chill when he says "The band is rehearsing right now as you can see"? Man, that's so exciting!🤣🤣
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If you don't mind me asking what's the reliability of the kit when you bring it around the world for the tour?
Not many issues, and enough redundancy to where it's not a big deal if we lost something for a show.
Unlike digital where it tends to be all or nothing, analog has a very functional mostly working scenario.
Awesome video man, cheers
Amezing ⚡✨✨💥❤️ Real Analog world ❤️
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Amazing, amazing. Set up!
Brother! Have you ever thought of this? The mixing console has the most basic channel strips: gain, equalizer, sand, panning, and main bus fader,
There's a compressor or gate in the recording console, but why it's not in the live console, and why it's not.
In one of the finest analog live mixers of soundcraft, there were gates on each channel, personally, I wish it was a compressor
I'm curious about your opinion and why the technical engineers are only equipped with an equalizer.
Yes!
The ability to seamlessly react; 𝙩𝙤𝙪𝙘𝙝 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙘𝙤𝙣𝙩𝙧𝙤𝙡 ... 𝙢𝙖𝙠𝙚 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙖𝙙𝙟𝙪𝙨𝙩𝙢𝙚𝙣𝙩.
Also, another key fundamental element of this approach is the visual signal path laid out before you.
So tactile and intuitive.
Yes!!!
Amazing setup
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@@DaveRat thanks for reply... when you here in Brazil, try to know @Lisciel Franco a amazing brazilian audio engenier, famous here for record all in analog setup.
He develop compressors, mixers and other valvuled devices for record...
th-cam.com/video/EIzmZSB5_WY/w-d-xo.html
Cool cool, not touring anymore but hope to head to Brazil on holiday at some point
@@DaveRat You will Love his compressors handmade... And more that person he is...
I have a lot of the hardware as in the box plugins … I can only imagine the color you get from the analog versions
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Did I get this right? 5-band EQ just for the subs? 😮 I guess navigating the low end in live sound is even trickier than I'd have imagined.
Yes, getting a smooth sub sound can be quite challenging
im gonna say it ---- this is more impressive to me than the actual performance 🤣
Agreed and to me too!
Nice man thanks for sharing. I got a mic pre and a compressor for my vocal chain. Lol
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great setup sick of the digital sound
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beautyfull!!!!
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Great stuff and great you. Would you recommend those compressors you use on drums also for studio use? I've seen tons of them on second hand sites.
They should be fine for studio. They are not as delicate in their settings like the highly preferred studio units but they function well
AMAZING RIG!!! Wow!!
Fun!!!
Given the wavelength of the sub bass region the separate control of left right bass signal makes more sense than mono in a room to me.
Identical sound from subs on left and right insures the nulls will be maximally audible. Differing sound will minimize issues
@@DaveRat A fine explanation of the physics of my view .
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id really like to hear the difference between the raw sound coming in and the sound after all that processing!
Not much processing. Not a lot of EQ either, mainly routing and some smoothing of the rough edges.
@@DaveRat Yep, I would say that the goal is to get your mic selection and positioning and all other techniques so that you don't *have* to process much; you want your input sounds to be as close to right as possible. Correct and enhance as needed, but try not to need! THen it's easy. You CAN process everything into submission, but it takes a lot of time and effort that may not be available on a tight schedule; it's most important to get the show on, you cannot afford to take 3 hours faffing with a couple of details chasing perfection, when you need to get it ALL done in maybe a 20 or 30 minute soundcheck. So the real magic happens before it ever gets to the desk IMO. But Dave is def. showing us some fantastic techniques, esp. for running the PA itself from the ops position.
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Dude....very cool!
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can you please speak about the singers vocal EQ how in the last few day it seems every artist has an individual, interesting think they do to their voice. is this something the Artist producer has hidden from you, how that all work? or do they stip all the complexity away during live concerts.
It varies from artist to artist. Some are simple and some have things like autotune and special effects and delays
Hi Dave, when you came to Argentina@Luna Park Stadium in October 5/6 (1999), you was using this same console or you used the Ramsa? Can you tell me something in genral about this period 98/99. Thank Dave for all your videos!!
Wow amazing video , thnaks for sharing🤟🤟. How do you manage to move all this stuff for thr tours ?
This is small compared to carrying a stage, the lights and video