Live Event #2

The second live event that I worked was for the Jazz Ensemble Spring Concert at Bakersfield College. This event was held in the indoor theater on April 25th. Our very own jazz ensemble plus other musicians and bands from Bakersfield College performed for this event. The shift that I picked was from 2-4pm and consisted mostly of set up and input patching. It honestly felt cool to organize and problem solve major parts of a live event.

For this set up, the stage plot was the similar to the KCMEA Jazz Festival. However, we were limited on the amount of mics that were available to us, so we had to work together to problem solve.

For mics we had a beta91 for the kick drum, two SE4400a mics for the overhead sound of the drums, a re20 for bass, two sm57 mics for the guitars, two Gefell mics for the piano, four beta58 mics for the horn/woodwind section, and two 58 wireless mics for the vocals. For the keys we had a radial passive DI and for the bass we had a radial active DI.

Overall, we used 28 channels and I helped a lot with input patching. It was very important that the stage boxes were put in strategic places so that the mics had access to a stage box. I had the iPad and documented what mics/channels were associated with the stage box number.

Some things that went well was mic and monitor placements. I was very interactive and involved with getting power, mics, stands, stage boxes, and the chords situated. It was nice to have a vision and an overall idea because it helped keep things organized. One challenge I had was communication. When the ensembles and bands started setting up their stuff, it got quite noisy because everyone was trying to soundcheck and play at the same time. I learned that it's important to communicate with your face and hands. It may not be sign language, but any visual hand motions help!

I didn't get to mix any music but I did get to monitor some input levels during soundcheck. We actually had a problem with the DI for the keys, but it turned out that its input on the stage box didn't work that well. Overall the bands sounded great, and it felt amazing to be involved in a different perspective of live sound.

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