The SOUND in St. Louis

Mike Weirauch · From: Harrisburg, Illinois**The Hub of the Universe

I want to think that this years sound was the best it has ever been and Bill Ferguson and the Peavey crew deserve a huge THANK YOU for making it that way. It was not as loud as it had been in the past and the mix was just right. It started out sounding great on Friday night but sounded fantastic by Sunday. Great job guys!!!!!

Ron Page · From: Penn Yan, NY USA

And they made it look easy. You didn't see steelers or anyone else having the tinker a lot with settings. They pretty much plugged in and played. It was obvious that Peavey, Bill Ferguson and the team really put in some extra effort.

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HagFan

Bill Ferguson · From: Milton, FL USA

Thanks for the compliments Mike. Actually the live sound was provided by Golden Road Productions. The 2 young men mixing and I had a little meeting before the show to discuss what was expected and wow! did they do it right or what.

Most of the show was mixed by 17 year old Matt Dolbeare and assisted by Allen Carsey, I would say he is about 22.

Matt's dad, Charlie Dolbeare owns the sound company and did the mixing for the stage monitors.

Yep it was great and thanks again.

Bill

Al Marcus · From: Cedar Springs,MI USA (deceased)

Yes, the sound was exceptionally good this year from what I could hear on Steel.Radio....Thanks...al

[This message was edited by Al Marcus on 02 September 2002 at 07:29 PM.]

seldomfed · From: Colorado

Agree - the sound wasn't too bad - better than years past. By Sat. they had it dialed in pretty good. Except.....

IMHO:
My only suggestion to the crew mixing was to try to not ride the faders so much. Let the musicians control the dynamics. (I did talk to them once)

I was a little disappointed when the first few notes of every solo, except the steel of course, was cut off. That band is so pro they know how to back up steel shows!, and they know how to control their own dynamics, and I sort of missed the interaction of the instruments. I think we missed some of the band interaction magic I've heard at past conventions.

Don't get me wrong - it is a steel show after all, but I also like music to blend together. I missed hearing the drums more clear on the swing tunes, I missed hearing Roy Rosetta's nice changes and fills, Bobbie Caldwell's excellent fills (and some leads) and I know we missed about 50% of the Feral Swing Katz music because all you could hear was the steel unless they caught the fact that there were double leads happening. Their arrangements were amazing on Fri. night and it was gone in the big room Sat.

I've mixed live sound for 25 years and run a recording studio so perhaps I'm just overly sensitive to it. I could be all wet. But if the mix person was watching the stage he could even see Bobbie (or the steel) cue the next leads. So if you are going to ride faders you should be watching for those cues. I'd cut some slack for being late on a fader move for the first solo of a set - but not every one.

They did get the steel right!, and they did control the volume and that's what they were coached to do. But it could have been brilliant.

p.s. Oh yeah - Mike Brown (Peavey) did the 'Katz' sound on Fri. and it was wonderful! He rang out that PA like a pro in about 5min. He set the faders and walked away! Perfect. He also tweaked one vocal fader during one vocal changeup. He also mixed a set or two on Sun. and it was the best mix I'd heard all weekend - at least I saw him sittin' at the board.

that's my tuppence, minor gripe , it's still the most amazing musical event I've ever seen or will prob. ever see. I just wish PBS would do a special on steel like they did for Jazz - but that's another topic.

chris

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Chris Kennison
Ft. Collins, Colorado
"We can't afford to let Nature run wild" - govt. offical - Alaska
www.seldomfed.com

Tony Palmer · From: St Augustine,FL

The sound was good but I wonder why the steel players' mike wasn't kept on all the time.
I noticed quite a few comments from the performing steel player were lost due to their mike being constantly turned off and on again.
They would go to compliment a solo by a backup musician and nothing....their mike was turned off. By the time the mike was turned up again, their comment was over and lost for good, or at least the first part of the sentence was missing.
This seemed to happen for EVERY steel player.
Also Bobby Caldwell was constantly tapping on his mike or motioning for the mike to be turned on.
??????

seldomfed · From: Colorado

Yeah, mics were off because they were riding the faders, or muting. I can understand the steel talk mic being off, depending on how the monitors were set up and the way those guys would swing it out of the way before they played their tune, it could possibly feed back. Good caution - but poor execution by the sound guy.

I just think it was a lack of experience at seeing people play like that. You have to watch all the time, listen all the time, be familiar with how bands work, how the material is usually presented, and above all don't interpret the music for the musicians unless they ask you to. (ie. pull faders back on instruments!) Once you get the mix good - just leave it alone unless there is a problem. Plus you think about system design, time align issues, smearing, vol., how it sounds as a whole, monitor mixing, feedback, set changes, announcers, vocalists, etc. and deal with all us nuts in the audience that think they know how to do it

Not an easy job in that room.

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Chris Kennison
Ft. Collins, Colorado
"We can't afford to let Nature run wild" - govt. offical - Alaska
www.seldomfed.com

clive swindell · From: Huddersfield, West Yorkshire, UK

Hi Mike - me old room mate!

Yes, the sound was good, and the high light of the show for me was Sunday morning - Jim Cohen and Smiley Roberts.

See you next year and by the way, I will join the NTSGA - do I get a badge?

Bill Ferguson · From: Milton, FL USA

Being in the sound booth with the crew for the entire weekend, let me explain something.

The problem encountered with keeping the mics "hot" all the time was the fact that we could not use any direct boxes on stage, which meant there were 24 live mics. Now you try to control feedback with that. It can't be done.

The hotel electricity was horrible this year, even with the distro box, we could not get rid of AC hum if we connected a direct box.

I too have been doing sound for over 25 years and believe me, we tried everything possible to make it the best possible, so yes, cut us some slack.

By the way, the Friday night show in the Jefferson room is a little different, 3 vocal mics, and the rest was off the stage sound. Don't think that would work in the big hall.

Bill

Paul Warnik · From: Illinois,USA

I won't try to sound like an expert here-only state that at least two well known players who performed told me that they did not like the sound-and that they could not hear themselves playing-perhaps the steel players should have a monitor(s) facing them on stage-another player in audience who also runs sound and lighting company told me that the placement of the speakers was not the way to do it right

Jim Heffernan · From: Haddon Heights NJ

I want to personally thank all of the crew working the sound at the convention. It's a thankless job boys, and the only time as a rule that you hear anything about it, is when something goes south.
The Resocasters were thankful of all of your extra efforts for our set and welcome working with you all again.
THANK YOU !!

Brad Sarno · From: St. Louis, MO USA

The sound was decent this year, not great, but also not the nightmare fiasco that they had in Dallas. It takes a special crew to put on a festival like this where the musicians come and go every 45 minutes for 4 days, and I think these guys did a fine job and did it with grace and patience. But, there were some feedback issues with the monitors which were clearly heard at the beginning of Lloyd and Don's set. But, they were on it as soon as Lloyd complained and they got it fixed. In my opinion, the stage needed to have more time to ring out the monitor eqs.

My big gripe is that the sound company placed the mid/hi speaker cabinets at ear level on the platform. This is not only a professional no-no but by placing the cabinets that low and close to people's ears it becomes hazardous and violates OSHA standards of safety. The mid/hi cabinets MUST be placed above the people's ears, it's the industry standard and it's common sense. I've got a number of photos of people putting their fingers in there ears and making painful faces. It happened every set and anyone sitting it these zones can attest to this. However this really only effected the couple of hundred or so people sitting near the PA stacks and only at times. In general, for the rest of the room I thought it sounded really good in there and the steels came off big and full.

Brad Sarno
Angelfish Mastering
St. Louis, MO

Bill Ferguson · From: Milton, FL USA

"perhaps the steel players should have a monitor(s) facing them on stage-another player in audience who also runs sound and lighting company told me that the placement of the speakers was not the way to do it right"

To answer this, the players did not want steel in their monitors, to my knowledge without exception.

All this griping. Whew, and here I have received probably 200 emails stating how great the sound was.

Guess some just can't be pleased. I'm sorry if we did not please everyone.
Bill

seldomfed · From: Colorado

Bill - Hey, you got slack man. It was tough. Don't think of it as griping, think of it as customer feedback and use what you can, discard the rest. We all know it's a tough job. 24 open mics! - see we don't know what you're always dealing with, so thanks for the dialog.

I deal with computing infrastructure all day, when it works nobody tells you how nice it is, but when it breaks - holy s---!

I LIKED THE SOUND! I had FUN! Good job! Just take my comments as 'perfect world' wishes. Not enough time and money to ever get it perfect - we all know that. 200 good emails is a great metric for success!

cheers, chris

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Chris Kennison
Ft. Collins, Colorado
"We can't afford to let Nature run wild" - govt. offical - Alaska www.seldomfed.com

[This message was edited by seldomfed on 04 September 2002 at 01:38 PM.]

Mike Brown · From: Meridian, Mississippi USA

I know that the placement of the subs and high pass cabinets in the sound system was not "the norm" and I did mention this to the Charlie Dolbeare of Golden Road Productions before the show. But, after I heard the system in use, I thought that it sounded much smoother than in years past. The central mixing point at the console was where I spent my time while in the room and it sounded very good there. However, I did walk the outer edges of the room and the mix could be heard well from any point in the room.

This room is a difficult room to mix because of the shape and the fact that the stage is located on the long wall and slapback is heard when sitting on the stage. This makes for a difficult set for the players.

The mix was loud at times if you sat in front of the speaker stacks, but there is the option of moving to another seat. I only wish that the room layout was different. I believe that the sound was better this year than in years past. The band made positive comments to me about the stage mix as well.

A steel show is not your normal music show, and I spoke with Charlie prior to the event on several occasions on what to expect. A different performer every 30-45 minutes is a task.

Overall, there were more compliments than complaints and Golden Road personnel were very professional with the way that they approached their first steel show. Many thanks for their work.

As for the 1AM Australian set, there were only 3 vocal mics and 1 instrument mic to dial in, which is not a great accomplishment, but with the Peavey Feedback Ferret that was built into the mixer, it was an effortless task. As a matter of fact, I had to turn the system level down!

Mike Brown
Peavey Electronics Corporation

[This message was edited by Mike Brown on 06 September 2002 at 07:29 AM.]

Tom Moorman · From: Decatur, GA USA

Bill,

As some say 'no good deed goes unpunished.'

Thanks for all you did and do for program. I am still amazed at the pedal steel guitar fraternity. I know of no other musical group as anxious to share and perform as we. My first experience attending a 'convention' in Nashville 25+ years ago floored me. And it continues today.

winston · From: Frankfort, Kentucky 40601

Bill Ferguson
So many EXPERTS.. You are handling this better than I would. Knoxville was bad enough, I cannot imagine St. Louis. See you my friend. Winston

Buddy Emmons · From: Hermitage, TN USA * R.I.P.

My booth was practically center stage so we had a good all around assessment of the total sound of each player, which I thought was the best I've heard so far. Far less "goose" than a few years back.

As a player, I could have used a bit more monitor gain but I remember turning the volume down on each amp before my set, which in turn lowered the gain in the monitors. Due to the various volume and tone settings for each player, it's a tough job for a sound engineer to keep a consistent balance, especially at the first of each set. I sensed that my highs could blister paint at times, but it was my fault for not requesting more monitors to check it out. So, if anyone that sat in front of the main speakers Friday night, finds raveled or shredded threads in their clothing, I'll take full responsibility for it.

Jim Vogan · From: Ohio City, Ohio 45874

I thought the sound was great! Having a good musician on the board makes all the difference in the world.
Buddy, you sounded great! Thanks for being there!

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Jim Vogan Emmons Sd10 Stereo steel Amp

Bill Ferguson · From: Milton, FL USA

Thank you Buddy. Your post meant more than you could possibly know.

By the way, it was great seeing you and Peggy again. Looking forward to seeing you soon. Hmm, Maybe at the Hicks in a few weeks.

Bill Ferguson

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