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I sat down recently with the CEO of Athens-based production company Big Events Presents, Curtis Manley, for a discussion about his company and his outlook on the business of concert promotion. Our extensive discussion touched upon many topics, including booking, marketing, the challenges of putting on a show, and Curtis's history in the business. I created a short podcast that features a few of the more important and entertaining parts of our conversation. Enjoy. Click to set custom HTML For my Live Venue Analysis assignment, I traveled home to
Cincinnati to see my long- time friends in the newly-formed, old-time band, The Traveling Jam, play at a bar in Covington, Kentucky, The Backstage Café. Also on the bill was the Yellow Springs based, old-time band, Blue Moon Soup. I spoke with sound technician James Robbins about his gear and his career doing live sound. James was very helpful in all of his explanations, and more than willing to answer my questions and share his wisdom with me. I was very well-received, and I feel very fortunate to have spoken with James. I was also able have a conversation with the promoter of the show, who is also a stage hand at the Madison Theater next door, and who also agreed to give me a crash course in promotions. Back to the topic at hand, live venue analysis, I spoke with James the night of the show and in follow up phone call a couple of days later. He told me about his equipment and making a living doing live sound. It was a very informative conversation and I am very glad I was able to establish a contact in Cincinnati, where I hope to pursue a career in the music business. Now, onto a synopsis of our conversation. James informed me that he has been doing live sound for about 10 years, and has been in Cincinnati the whole time. I was very impressed with his gear, the focal point of which is his Peavy XR 12-12, a 12 channel digital mixing console with built in crossover and effects rack. After nearly a decade in the business, James set his sights on this piece of equipment, ordering it directly from the manufacturer around 6 months ago. A key feature of the console, James explained, is the auto EQ function, which, in a pinch, can save him a lot of trouble. “The computer can hear a problem a lot faster than a human,” he told me when we spoke on the phone. James’s other gear includes combination JBL, Yamaha, and Peavy mains, all of which were in excellent condition. He was using industry-standard Shure SM58 microphones. Somewhat surprisingly for the small venue, he was running 3 snakes, one 16x4 channel main that he ran to the back of the stage, and two 6x2 channel sub-snakes, that he ran to the front of the stage. James went on to tell me that he is able to support himself between his sound gig at Backstage, where he does as many as four shows a week, and doing odd jobs at the Madison Theater next door, such as spotlighting or working at the door. He advised that a critical aspect in being able to do freelance live sound is equipment selection. In his assessment, when it comes to putting together a rig, there is no substitute for on-the-job experience. When I asked James about the venue and any problems that might arise acoustically, he told me about how he has to compensate for the sound reflections from the glass panels of the windows directly behind the stage. Typically, he explained, he would put curtains up in front of the windows to eliminate feedback into the mics from the reflections. However, police code in the jurisdiction of that particular venue prohibits windows from being blocked. Therefore, James said, he uses dynamic microphones on the stage, rather than condensers, which he would otherwise prefer to use. He went on to explain that the automatic EQ mentioned earlier helps with feedback issues as well. Inputting instruments directly into the signal chain will also help to keep feedback under control, he said, and advised me that this option is optimal for rigging sound whenever possible. All in all, my conversation with James was very informative and really beneficial. He mentioned that one piece of equipment he would really like to acquire is a small lighting system that he could run in addition to sound. Otherwise, he said he really enjoys his career in live sound and plans to keep doing it. In my estimate, I will likely run into James again in the future. I would be glad to have him aboard as a collaborator on future projects as I (hopefully) gain traction in my own career. "Simple kick drum and bass guitar balancing act: cut a small notch of 80Hz in bass, boost a little 80Hz in Kick. It WORKS."
Finding "room" for different sonic elements is essential to creating a good mix. When instruments compete for the same frequencies, the resulting mix may be muddy and difficult to listen to. This obstacle can frequently be easily remedied by cutting or boosting specific frequencies with an equalizer. "Before you touch the EQ or compressor knob, make sure your brain knows what you intend to do with it, and how it may enhance the mix." Compression and EQ are very effective tools when used correctly. If used incorrectly though, a mix can very easily be ruined. As an engineer, the more practice you can get with these tools, the better. "Vocal not POPPING out of the mix? Copy it, compress it hard, add some upper mids, mix in SUBTLY with original vox." Vocals are a tricky animal. There are numerous techniques that can be used to yield desired results. Certainly compression and EQ are critical tools in vocal mixing, as are delay, reverb, and automation. Finding the right mix is of utmost importance, and more often than not should be considered in the context of the composition. Uptown Cheapskate is a resale store that specializes in buying and selling name brand apparel, shoes, and accessories for young adults. Founded in 2008 in Salt Lake City, Utah, by brother and sister Scott and Chelsea Sloan as a franchising operation, the company now has 35 locations in 13 states. Uptown Cheapskate is currently ranked #332 on the the Franchise 500 and #18 for top new franchises in 2013. According to Chelsea, she and her brother (along with their four other siblings) share a "weird tendency" to think of ways to improve things. "We fix stuff," she says. "That's what helped us start Uptown." As kids, their mother got the family hooked on retail shopping. Their parents eventually went on to start a retail franchise for kids, KId to Kid, which now has over 100 store in the US and Portugal. "As some of the hardest working people I know, they instilled the value of work on us at an early age," says Scott. "I think these values are essential to being a successful entrepreneur because any success or failures you experience fall squarely on your shoulders." The goal with Uptown Cheapskate was to improve upon the resale experience, to "provide an arena for like-new fashions to be bought and sold at amazing prices," a place where "customers can be frugal and still look fantastic... We're an upscale resale option for our fashion forward customers." say Chelsea who last year became the first-ever female recipient of the Entrepreneurs Organization's Global Student Entrepreneur Award, a competition encompassing 1,700 student entrepreneurs from 20 countries. Both Chelsea and Scott were in college at the time they started their company. According to Scott, there was never really a point at which "we could equally balance work and school... you learn to make due with less personal and family time... We've both missed weddings and vacations." Chelsea certainly would concur, "..the thing you give up is leisure time. I always had 40-50 hours of work at least, and 30 hours of school. Hard? Yes. Worth it? Absolutely." As part of Uptown Cheapskate's business model, Chelsea developed a software program to ensure that clients are receiving fair trades for their items. The IMAP program, as she calls it, recognizes 5,000 unique brands, many of which cannot otherwise be easily identified, and assigns a range of values to each according to type of item. It's "basically the Kelly Blue Book for resale clothing," she says. "The program is the cornerstone of our franchise system." Apparently the determination and dedicati0n of Scott and Chelsea is paying off. Uptown Cheapskate is continuing to expand through its franchise operations, eventually hoping to reach as many 100 locations nationwide. Below you will find a link to the company's website as well as some images of the founders and the store. Click on the icon to learn more at uptowncheapskate.com. Chelsea and Scott Sloan As resellers, "we're the bottom feeders, but we don't have to look or feel like we're bottom feeders," Chelsea says.
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