Posted by Dave Rat on December 02, 2003 at 20:50:04:
In Reply to: making the transition posted by Kevin Reimer on November 21, 2003 at 12:56:06:
: Dave, how do you guys make the transition from the studio to the tour with bands. I'll take Blink for example becuase I just saw them at HOB chicago(didn't have tickets but went up there on my lunch break) the other week and they are a band I like. Plus their new album is loaded with overdubs and sequencing. Should be interesting how they pull it off live. Do you guys sit down with the band and their producers and figure out how to recreate everything live, or do you have someone along with them during recording that will run the console live? Just curious as today's bands tend to be a little more involved than just plugging in amps and drums and putting on a show from there. I'm starting to get a lot of bands bringing in sequencers and it's a fine line when you have no clue what the hell they have recorded and want to run through our PA. Obviously you have the luxury(or not) of spending every show with the same band whereas I see a new band every weekend.
My experience has been there are two basic trains of thought:
1) Go to great lengths to try to exactly imitate the studio sounds and effects whenever possible. Typically this would involve an artist that is very "hands on" with the live show and/or the record producer is brought in to influence the live mix/setup etc... The goal is to try and make the live show as close to the studio project as possible.
2) The live show is treated as another and different perspective of the songs. Here focus on the actual band members performing, takes precedence over the "difficult to recreate live" parts.
Both are valid approaches though I personally tend to mix the latter type. Often the attempt to recreate a sound or situation that was brainstormed in the controlled studio environment does not transfer well to the mobile live environment can be cumbersome, inconsistent and unreliable.
Depending on the particular effect or sequence etc... and the songs reliance on that effect, it is often preferable to find new and other ways to improvise in the live environment.
I am not sure what blink is doing on their current tour but will email their engineer and maybe he will post.
DR