John, Jazz, & The Starlight Quartet

Just this past Sunday, September 13, 2009, we played host to an amazing Clarinetist and Flutist, Dr. John W. Wagner. He brought the Starlight Quartet with him for the first half of his show. The Starlight Quartet consisted of Paula Harshaw (First Violin), Tina Pulley (Second Violin), Charis Burger (Viola), and Bruce McLean (cello). I have to admit that it was a such a nice change of pace to see a very good string quartet. We get them from time to time here, but sometimes it just feels like they are few and far between. For their audio I decided that, with some discussion with the performers, in order to keep in line with classical tradition I wasn't going to mic the ensemble. Of course not using any instrument micing, from a technical standpoint, makes for a very easy work day. Our hall here is very intimate. From the lip of our stage to the back wall of hall is 75 feet. Acoustically, it doesn't take much sound reinforcement to get a very good, even, and balanced sound and sometimes the best decision to make in order to have good sound is to have no sound reinforcement at all. I did, however, set up two of our wireless mics on each side of the stage in order to accommodate the singing and announcements that were to be in the jazz portion of the second half of the show. The first half of the show consisted of the quartet playing:

Three Pieces for Clarinet Solo,

composed in 1919 by Igor Stravinsky

Third Piece, preferably for Clarinet in B-flat

and

Quintet in A Major for Clarinet and Sring Quartet, K.581

by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozard

Allegro

Larghetto

Menuetto

Allegrettocon Variazioni

After Intermission Dr. Wagner brought out his Jazz Combo. The Combo consisted of Muisicians:
Millie Keefe Black (Vocalist)

Shawn Hair (Pianist)

Katie Justice (Electric Bassist)

Martin Gailes (Percussion)

Together these talented musicians took us on a forty-five minute journey through such tunes as:

I want to be Happy by Vincent Youmans

I Love You for Sentimental Reasons by William Best

Nice Work If You Can Get It by George Gershwin

and many others spanning a wide range of sub generas within the "jazz" idiom.

For this half of the show I used only 2 microphones. Again, to keep it as simple as possible. Remember my two wireless mics that I was using for announcements and singing vocals. Yep, those were the only two I used. Of course Mrs. Millie Black, was using one for her wonderful vocals and the other, when it was not being used for Dr. Wagner's tune intros, was being used for picking up the rest of the ensemble on stage. I thought of early days of recording when engineers would use only one mic with the band performing around it as inspiration for this mix. I must say it was fun to "get more" by using "less." In order to pic up enough of the ensemble with 1 microphone I had to push the gain and then of course lower it to it's original level for Dr. Wagner's speeches. To polish off of the mix, I added the slightest bit of reverb and a pinch of slap back delay. Of course whether or not/ how much of effects I used was depended on what I felt in that moment the tune and performance called for.

Overall the performance of Dr. John Wagner, his Jazz, and the Starlight Quartet was a great way to unofficially start our 2009/10 season. Many thanks to all of the people who came out to the free event.

Thanks, Peace, and Blessings,

~JAG

The Spirit Singers, Sat. Sept. 12,2009

Well, sound check and rehearsals/warm-ups for tonight's shows have finished. We have about and hour before the House opens and the seats begin to fill. Tonight, we have a very easy set up audio wise. Our input list consists for only 4 inputs, 4 wireless microphones. For the mic's we have used our two Sennheiser wireless handheld microphones and two of our Shure wireless handheld microphones. The Spirit Singers consist of about 30 teenagers standing on risers. The two Sennheiser microphones have been positioned directly in the front line of the chorus about 3 to 4 feet away and they will be used for solos taken by the front line singers, as well as, picking up the overall image of the chorus. The two Shure microphones I have placed behind and to the outside of the chorus and they will be used for the rest of the individual singers solos. The plan at the moment is for the students to pass the Shure microphones to one another. We will see how that pans out during the performance.

In order to keep things as simple as possible I have decided not to mic the piano for tonight's performance. There were a couple of reasons for this. They are playing with the lid on half stack and facing the chorus. At first thought "Yeah let's throw our mics on it".. However, for our piano mic set up I usually use our Rode's NT1A

microphones. Our stage's area is about 40 feet wide by 30 or so feet deep. Not very large. When we use the Rode's NT1A microphones I generally have to careful and considerate on my placement and treatment so I do not get a ton of bleed from other instruments and performers. Second was that while listening to the overall sound I was getting off of the stage during sound check with the microphone at, what will be, show levels, I decided that some of my microphones I was already using were picking up enough piano already and even all of the microphones in use or muted everything could be heard, distinguished, and understood. So, after a touch of House EQing we were finished with sound check. Not bad, it was quick, smooth, and painless.

This is all for now. The doors to the house open in 20 minutes. I need to go and do some last minute battery checks. I will let everyone know how the show goes on our end later on tonight.

Thanks & Peace,

~JAG

Gear

Often times during a show I will snap a pic with my iPhone from the back of the house where my mixing desk(mixing console) is located. Just for a keep sake. I try to get as much of board as I can in the shot, so that one day I can say, "Hey here I am working." In this picture you can see a bit of my desk. It is a Sound Craft Spirit Series 32 Channel *8 Buss analog audio mixing console. I forget, at this moment, what show I was mixing. I know it was one of the Big Bands we have come through here several times a year.

Photo by: JAG

Most of the time during a show I am mixing at the Front of House (FOH) mix position. There are times where my services is needing at the monitor mixing console(Monitor World). Which depending on how many channels we are using could be located in the wings off stage right or left. Most of the time it is off of stage left (House Right). Our monitor console is the sister board for our FOH mixing console, the Sound Craft Spirit Monitor 2.

Photo by: JAG

I really like these consoles because they are extremely logical and instinctual to use. When you look at them they make sense. Part of my job here is facilitating other sound engineers when they come through while on tour and having a board that any engineer can hope on a go without taking tons of time explaining how it works is of great importance when the curtain rises at 8 no matter what. The old saying is true, no matter what happens or goes wrong the show must go on.

I think that is one of the best aspects of being a sound engineer on a live gig or even being in the band on stage, an Lighting Director (LD), or stage hand. We all work together to produce a show and we all have just one chance to get right. There aren't any second takes. Every show is different. Even if it is the same show.

I really love that aspect of music too. When I am playing or just watching from the audience. To be there in the moment and share in that experience is quite an amazing feeling. It takes everyone in the room to create the full experience. Well enough for now. There is much more to come.

Peace, ~JAG

Welcome to the Newberry Opera House Sound/Audio Blog

Hello, My name is J. Allen Graham (JAG for short) and I am the Sound Director for the Newberry Opera House, which is located in downtown Newberry, SC. Let me be the first to say Welcome to our brand new Sound/Audio Blog. With this blog I would like talk about the technical aspects of our performances specifically the part I work with. This Blog will be geared for any with an interest in the Newberry Opera House, our performances, and audiophiles. Any of you audiophiles feel free to message us or leave comments with "likes"and/or "tips" about anything sound related that we (I) post.

This will be a very exciting season for us and I can't wait to share the linear notes with you.

Peace,

JAG