Good Week

[Andy Le Blanc]

I've had the opportunity the Last two nights to do FOH for "The Boys of the Lough"
Irish traditional, Great group. One of the fellows celebrated 37 years in the band.

Did it the hard way tonight, all condenser, rung out the foh and monitors manually.
No drive rack, no feedback elimination, what a great way to present.
Plenty of head room.

The wedding season is coming, nothing like the one guy who just as to feel it
starts turn up other players gear after the sound check, And the fiddle fests
Lions and tigers and oh look it blew up, they pay-in extra for the light show

[Andy Le Blanc]

The Boys of the Lough are wonderful performers, the last show was in a
converted cathedral, the Franco American Heritage Center in Lewiston / Auburn ME.
The hall made their vocals take on a Gregorian character.

Thank you, safe home.....



Tonight I'm very privileged to do FOH for Emma Kate Tobia

[Wayne]

I must say, Andy, you sound like you're having a blast at your new gig. I hope you're still finding time to huff solder fumes, tho.

W

[Andy Le Blanc]

last week Troy MacGillivray and Kimberley Fraser

This week its Maeve Gilchrist and Aidan O'Donnell

Next week Cynthia MacLeod.

Celtic, Irish, Canadian traditional is fun, Maeve is jazz on Celtic harp, very nice.
Her vox are surprisingly pop contemporary and fit well. A very nice contrast
to fiddle dominated acts. Berkley is producing some very well rounded performers.
Aidan O'Donnell is jazz bass, nice to hear a real jazz bass.

I've seen too many hacks playing bluegrass with a 57 crammed under the tailpiece
pretending to play trad like a newfy, cant really play bluegrass, traditional
or proper French Canadian. Jazz on the circuit is very refreshing.

[passfan]

I've had the opportunity the Last two nights to do FOH for "The Boys of the Lough"
Irish traditional, Great group. One of the fellows celebrated 37 years in the band.

Did it the hard way tonight, all condenser, rung out the foh and monitors manually.
No drive rack, no feedback elimination, what a great way to present.
Plenty of head room.

The wedding season is coming, nothing like the one guy who just as to feel it
starts turn up other players gear after the sound check, And the fiddle fests
Lions and tigers and oh look it blew up, they pay-in extra for the light show

Wow , listening, thinking, tweaking, fiddling all night long. Bet that was a mentally exhausting stint. A bad day at foh still beats a good day at the mill.

[Andy Le Blanc]

Its not as bad as all that, once you find max gain before feedback you've
established head room and with a compressor the system works well.
The compressor is the master volume and tone control.
The mix is the mix, with acoustic presentation the dynamic is left to the performer.
and once you find where the headroom is, it becomes fairly self regulating.
Its actually less work, better than baby sitting the mix, the performer
is left with his or her own presentation. I've had to coddle way to many acts.
The sound tech really can be a thankless role, stuck between the expectations
of the venue and those of the performer. Much better to not fall victim to either.
Provide the best canvas for the performer and let them fulfill their responsibility
and still give the best presentation of the venue.
With pro performers it's easy, its the amateur's that make you work.
Hard to realize but very true. Its why sound engineers get grumpy.
If the act is less than par, it not the sound guys fault, I'll still work like hell
to get the best presentation I can.

It was a great opportunity and a very good presentation of a wonderful performance.