Atlanta Passion Play 2011: The Final Season

This past April we closed the final curtain on the Atlanta Passion Play. I have had the pleasure of working as the Audio/Video Chairman for the last 5 years. This year we raised the bar and decided to jump into the area of HD video. Every year prior to this one we had shot in Standard Def. To do the show in HD we would have to change some of the Show elements we used in years past.

In January my good friend Jay moved to England to work as a editor/camera op for a Non-profit organization, Omnivision which is a division of Operation Mobilization. Jay was my main video guy. We have grown up together so we are very familiar with each other strengths and weaknesses. With Jay on England all of the video fell to my shoulders. While I had a great team that worked on the video more than most professionals would have, I was tasked with all things video on top of my normal position as FOH Audio A1.

We had a few main components that we had to overcome. With the desire to be in HD we felt the need to re-film portions of the show that were to be video elements to keep from having to upscale from SD. So we packed up video equipment, talent, and the production team and headed to a little place called LaGrange, Ga. Our destination was the Museum of Biblical Antiquities where we had filmed segments the year before. We had 4 sequences to capture so when we arrived we began to immediately setup for the first scene. What we didn't anticipate was the construction the site was undergoing. We were in a competition of space with a decorative concrete crew. If you have ever been around decorative concrete you know that sensitive video equipment and powder don't mix. So we had to wait until the crew broke for lunch.

Once they left we began to feverishly film the scene with the intention of being finished before they returned. What we didn't factor in was that one of the main actors for this scene was 2 years old and had not had his lunch nor nap. So after a few bad takes we decided to break and film a scene inside with another group of actors while someone went for lunch. So we broke all of the gear down and moved it all inside and set for the new scene. This scene was about 20 seconds long so it was wrapped in about 10 minutes.

There we sat for a few minutes while we waited for lunch to arrive. When the mother of the young actor said that he may be ready to try again. So we moved the equipment outside and set up for the 1st scene again. After using a few unconventional ways of getting a toddler to do what you need him to do we got the shot that we needed. (Sidenote: When dealing with young children always have toys around. You can get them to do just about anything if you place the toys in the correct situations.)

Late in the afternoon we began to film a scene outside that required a long 2 minute shot. So after practicing the blocking with the director we began to tape. The problem was that the longer that we taped we lost the light. After capturing a few takes and noticing some lighting problems we kept chugging along. We'll the more we wanted to tweak with the lights the further the sun went down.

So all in all we were able to capture everything that we set put for avoiding another day of traveling and shooting.

One thing that I learned during this video shoot was that you need to pre-plan what your scene shooting schedule would be. Also you need to do a site visit before you show up to tape. You can never count on the on-site personnel to give you all of the facts. Something that may be small them is a huge inconvenience to you.

More on APP to come in the next posts.

RAC

Compressors. Your friend or worst enemy!

This past weekend I ran sound for a luncheon meeting that was supposed to have a women's singing ensemble.

After doing my initial system checks I found that the system seemed to be in order so I sat around waiting for sound-check to begin. As I was waiting people began to walk in and be seated waiting on the event to begin. Meanwhile the leader of the group came and tole me that she did not want to do a sound-check in front of all the patrons, so the sound-check was cancelled. Thus began the butterflies in my stomach. Normally I am comfortable in these situations but this was different.

In my head I began to go thru the system components checking off all of the things that could go wrong. Did I check this, is the gain structure correct, what are the hot spots in the room.After a few minutes the ensemble took the stage and my worst nightmare was confirmed. On the first big note I head the system compressor clamp down at the same time my mouth hit the floor. So the harder I drove the system the quieter it got due to the long release time. The only way to get the compressor the let go was to turn the mains down for an extended period of time so the compressor release time would let go. Then the music would come back up until another big note was pushed out. After the event was over, I immediately went looking and found exactly what I thought. Someone had been playing with the system compressor and added a low threshold and a long release time.

So moral of the story is to check everything. If you cant get a sound check run the system at the show volume. This will at least let you know what the system will do at that SPL.

RAC

2008 APP FOH engineer

Old Show Pics

Here are a few Pics from some shows that I have worked in the past few months.




Elevate 2006 Conference - I was the monitor Engineer




FOH engineer Atlanta Passion Play 2007

FBCA Beach Camp 08

Well, just got back from and exhausting week of setup with wrong gear and headaches due to technical glitches. I learned a lot this week.

One thing in particular that I learned this week is that, when you try to pull off a large scale production with limited equipment and/or personnel you will work 10x harder . For example,

- When you have a nominal amount of FX on a individuals voice it can benefit you if you were trun down his clean channel and leave the FX sends open. So in essence you use the FX channels more than the clean channels. I found that when the song kicks up and gets big then the FX channels will disappear into the mix. On the slower songs it seems the FX fill out and create an atmosphere that envelopes the crowd.

- Another thing we found early on was that we did not have enough power cables for all of the moving light, conventional lights, Audio System, Video Screens. This is ne thing that you need to have when it comes to electronics. So next time you are out on a gig check, double check, and triple check. Then have someone else go behind you and check your lists. There is nothing like being in the middle of nowhere and needing equipment that you cant find at a local hardware store.

- Sometimes less is more. The large scale needs of the band caused us to use a FOH and Monitor Mix positions. With the limitations of having to use a passenger elevator to the 3rd floor. We decided to use 2 small format audio consoles, a Yamaha O2R at FOH and a Yamaha DM1000 at Monitors. The benefit of using these boards is the preset recall and store/save options. You can also flip the faders into a Aux mode and build a really fast mixes for the band. Another plus to using a smaller console is that you have less truck space to take up.

Well that is all for now. I have some other technical things I am working on so we will see what I can come up with.
RAC

The Beginning

This is an attempt to put down what my thoughts pertaining to the arena of live productions. I will be discussing topics that I stumble upon. Hopefully the problems that I face will help others in the problems that they are facing.

My wife is sure tired of me coming home with the new thought I found at the office or stumbled upon surfing the internet. So this will be a new outlet for me to be able to express my ideals.

I will try to update this as much as possible so it will be on and off again. Hope you find something that you need an answer too.

RAC