Dave Rat - Roadies in the Midst

So the Champaign show was in this little round arena that left me finding the FOH mix area at around 65 feet from the front of the stage.

Personally, I am really easy going about how far I mix from now a days. I did not used to be that way though. I used to have a miserable time mixing if I was too far from stage or I was not exactly the same distance every show. Too far away and I would mix too loud and heard too much room sound, too close and it sounded too loud and I would have troubles keeping things balanced as you can get away with a much sloppier mix when you are close and still have it sound good, but only to other people that were close as well. Those days are long gone. I do like to be centered but sound wise, heck I am fine being 100, 150 or even 200 feet away and letting more audience humans have a better view. That does not come without a bit of a cost though. I miss seeing the band up close and clearly. So in Champaign, it was refreshing to be so close and I took the opportunity to squeeze in some photos between audio cues and the room sounded quite good so I did not have a lot of adjusting to do. So, for those of you that like the band shots, I hope there are a few here you'll enjoy.

Oh, and hello Ratketeers! You three got a special treat and it was great to hang and cool gig choice to venture your adventure and thank you for swag heaven! And then comes time to roll and off to San Antonio and with big eyes and an honored heart I took the shortcut way around the twenty hour bus ride

Gaining a few hours of time not lost buying myself a dent in the infinite string of unanswered emails and ever growing "to do" list and a pile of moments I try and spare each day to share the fleeting adventure called tour with you. Next up, I take a little trip to another rock show on my off.

The constantly in motion and promising that I will do my best to catch up and respond to all,

Dave Rat