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Setting
Levels
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Edited
by Paul "Pro" Pearson,
Ph.D.
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Dark Star Emissions This month I am pleased to have an interview with Cameron Blietz, the sound engineer for Dark Star Orchestra. But first… My travels this month took me for the first time to the Big Easy-Nawlins. I’m still trying to recover. Perhaps the best t shirt slogan I saw (other than “Give Reef A Chance” or the pervasive “Fuck You You Fuckin’ Fuck”), was “Music is the Language of New Orleans.” You can find everything from blues, gospel, solo street performers, jazz, zydeco, rock, dance, soul and even jambands up and down the uneven sidewalks of this storied city. Even the Bourbon Street cover bands have killer horn sections and you may stumble into the right restaurant and get the tasiest private jazz concert you ever imagined. Should I go in reverse? Blueground Undergrass ( www.bluegroundundergrass.com) with the Slip ( www.theslip.com) and Uptown Okra at Tipitina’s Uptown. Nursing my delta-sized hangover from the previous night/morning, I missed UO’s short set and part of the Slip’s. There was a good sized crowd watching The Slip’s intellectual, improvisational jazz/rock take form. Rhythmic interplay and impressive work by bassist Marc Friedman punctuated their set, but you could tell the crowd wanted to move just a bit more on this night. Blueground Undergrass obliged-BGUG is definitely a band to keep your ear on . Unlike many jambands that use bluegrass as one of their cornerstones, BGUG can also bring the thick East Coast groove. They called it Hick-Hop-I just called it good…. Before my liquid debacle the previous night, House of Blues graciously let us in free at the end of Steve Earle’s set, which gave us both encores including covers of the Chambers Brother’s “Time” and ZZ Top’s lolita hit “Francine.” The best part of the abbreviated show for me was Earle’s chastising of Nader for basically conceding the Supreme Court and Roe vs. Wade to the Republicans, saying he was “sick of the politics of sex.” Earle’s response was “He doesn’t have a dog in that fight anymore.” If you must, must seek your music on Bourbon Street, find yourself some friends from Alabama (word to Cheeks, Jen, Sonny and Harmony) and catch the Hemmens Band at the Old Opera House-featuring a lot of tasty Santana covers backed by whatever horn section happens to be in the house. Watch out for the beer prices and leave before they start doing dance/disco tunes and catch the Connection band at the Famous Door for that. But alas, the live music ends too early and all you get is Hollywood Herb the DJ…I still don’t grasp the concept, and I haven’t figured out why anyone wants to dance to recycled 80’s shit. But my favorite in the Quarter was at Andrew (somebody)’s-A Seafood House. The waitresses took turns with the jazz combo doing soul classics and serving etoufee and crème brulee. Everything was tasty at that place… My travel tips for New Orleans are these: Bring lots of money, watch your back and your friends backs, eat lots of gumbo and don’t START drinking scotch at 3:30AM. Until next month, Pro Dark Star Emissions Dark Star Orchestra is an enigma in the jamband world. Like many jambands, this is a talented, improvisational rock group that is highly influenced by the Grateful Dead. But, their shtick is the faithful recreation of different Dead shows night after night-setlist, sound, instrumentation, improvisational sequences-the works. (Rumor has it, mistakes as well) So, can a jamband that has everything planned out ACTUALLY be a jamband? I’m not even going to debate that point, I know they are. Twice this year-most recently on October 26th in Omaha, NE- I have had the opportunity to catch DSO, and my eeire impression was that of watching a famous play from the past. You’re aware that it’s another interpretation of the original, but there is a script, and that the actors know the same ‘lines.’ But is it as REAL as the original?? If, like me, you never the pleasure of seeing Jerry and Co. in action, or never had the chance to see them in the 70’s or 80’s, DSO may be the closest you get, (the Other Ones notwithstanding). As for the question of reality, Dark Star Orchestra is an incredible experience that is as ‘real’ as you believe it to be-because the interpretation is REAL-and in true jamband fashion, they’ll throw you a couple of extra songs if you cheer loud enough. One of the reasons DSO is so good at what they do, is due to their attention to detail. An integral part of what Dark Star Orchestra does so well, and man with a slightly different job than the guys on stage, is sound engineer Cameron Blietz. My thanks to Cameron for our conversation(s)…enjoy.
Show #400 - Thu, Oct 26, 2000 at
Music Box, Omaha, NE
SL Pro SL-What's your background in sound? Any formal training, informal training, generally how you learned what you're doing or is it all self-learned. I've been doing sound for about fifteen years. I started when I was 19 because I lived with a bunch of guys who had a band and they asked me to run their little six-channel powered mixer - just vocals and maybe a kick mic. Around that time I was also hanging out with this guy who managed a recording studio near Wrigley Field. I was around the studio constantly. Whenever I could, I would talk this friend of mine into hosting a jam or whatever after-hours. Not being the world's most talented guitar player, I hung out in the control room a lot. I did a lot of live sound in various clubs, most of which have changed names or gone under. Most of the work I got was hustled off bands that I knew. I'd convince them that they needed me because I knew the music and could produce it accurately, instead of the music being at the hands of a house engineer who might not know his job let-alone the songs. A lot of it was scare tactics, I guess... (... that's a joke, by the way... there are several engineers who were very talented here when I was learning the ropes who were also quite helpful.) But I really DID sell the bands on knowing their material and getting the desired effects, etc., I got the job with Dark Star for the same reasons - I know the material inside and out - NOT AS WELL AS THE PLAYERS, but I'm pretty versed... I went to Columbia College and took courses in system design, acoustics, physics, studio mixing, music theory, radio production... this was back in the day when we used to splice tape and stuff by hand. We didn't have all these fancy-shmancy computers with virtual hoo-has... and I finally got a job at my friend's recording studio, where I remained as an employee for over ten years while working the local clubs and doing small tours at night and weekends. SL-Besides salesmanship, How'd you hook up with Dark Star Orchestra? CB-I got the gig with DSO by accident... not MY accident but someone else's... I think the deal was that Ray Quinn (our Uncle Ray) called me one Tuesday afternoon about three weeks into the band's life and had to get a fill-in because he had a sick child. Ray is the owner of Martyrs' as well as the main house engineer at the time and throughout my history of engineering in Chicago, Ray has been a sort of guardian angel. Whenever I was hurting for work I could call Ray and something usually surfaced for me... I've never out-right thanked him for it but Ray Quinn is one of those talented guys who helped me out as well as one of the reasons for the band existing in the first place... So anyway Ray called me and I was like "Who's playin'?" and he tells me it's this Dead band... "I can do that." So I went in that night and mixed my first DSO show... there were different people in about every position at that time compared to the band we are today, but Scott and John (Brent Guy and Jerry Guy, respectively) were in place. At the time too, Scott hadn't sung a note so we had no idea (nor I think, did he) that there was a Brent vocal in him. There was only one drummer at the show that night because the other one was out of town, a different bass player, the whole nine yards... and I remember thinking "This is kind of rough, but man, there's something here." So the next week I offered to do the show and Ray was still trying not to pay anyone if he didn't have to, so he let me hang out and stage-tech for beers... I think I ran the lights as well... but I was thinking "There is NO WAY I'm taking my foot out of this door, now that it's IN." I was prepared to do anything it took (pretty much) to get a gig. So, a few weeks went by, and the crowd was growing geometrically. So Ray was having to deal with all sorts of things that just a few short weeks ago were inconceivable-like rowdy customers smoking in his restrooms and being a little light on bar staff for a basically sold-out crowd that liked their Guinness. It was growing, so in order to deal with his business, he had to reluctantly (and I MEAN reluctantly) hand over the mixing to me. Ray really enjoyed mixing the band, being an old-school Deadhead himself. SL-So you've been there basically since the beginning. How has your job changed as you've gotten bigger, more equipment, and how the band has evolved? CB -My job has changed... heh... a SHORTER list might be how it HASN'T changed. We started with the sources. John, Scott, all the members of the band are CONSTANTLY studying tapes and photos, videos... trying to get closer and closer to the mark. We may all use updated gizmos when we can't find the real-deal ones that the band used (or in my case, I don't have all the tube-driven comps and vintage mics) but it's an evolutionary process. The drum kits have of course been the most radically changed part of this band if I had to name one specific thing... Dino and Rob are a pair of drummers who came to the band as a team and they had over 200 gigs worth of time together before they started with us, so they've been studying Dead drums and collecting pieces like Billy and Mickey used for quite awhile. We're about to add The Beam... on a heavy night I have about 24 channels of drums alone, whereas I used to run just five per kit. The drummers we started with only had five-piece kits... now we have electronic pads, The Beast (a huge construction of 22" drums, etc. that are played with mallets, primarily)... As far as my stuff, I've been acquiring the right mic for the right job when cash allows and I've been building an effects/dynamics rack in order to control and warp the sound of the band whenever and wherever required... I started with an SDE1000 (delay unit) and a Yamaha dual-32 EQ in my rack and now the list is much more extensive. SL-Due to the special nature of what you are doing, give me a rundown on the 'basic' equipment you use and what you may also have depending on the 'show' you’ll be doing. CB-Because we're trying to re-create certain eras and certain ambiences I have several different reverbs that I've tailored for 70s shows to sound a bit more like springs and plates as opposed to the digital sound you might hear in the 80s or 90s. In the 70’s shows I lay off the delay almost entirely and the reverb is very subtle. Into the mid-eighties, there were delays used on the vocals either in a tight slap-back fashion (like on "CC Rider") or the freakouts during "Estimated" or "Throwin' Stones". I also have pitch shifters to simulate what Dan would do to Bobby's voice during "The Other One", say. Although we have listened to some tapes in the van where Jerry's vocal is getting shifted to a disturbing outcome on something like "Stella Blue"... I always wondered if he was checking a new toy on headphones and it got in the mix by accident or he was pissed at Jerry or what. SL-So set the record straight, do the guys cover the mistakes, or do YOU cover mistakes the sound crew made? Maybe throw in a soundboard solo here or there on a show with bad feedback problems? CB-About the effects that I use and mistakes in general - People ask if we make the same mistakes the band or crew made on that particular date. If there were some things that happened that later became stuff of legend, we try to get that stuff in... but as far as clammed notes or Dan leaving the vocals off for a verse or whatever, we try not to do those... we're a good enough band that we make our own share of mistakes... My personal classic is to leave a delay up in the mix with about 550 ms and lots of regen comin' out of 'Space'... But there ARE odd moments of fate where stuff happens like this: We were doing a show where the first set was cut a bit short by the PA having a minor melt-down. At the original show the speakers began cracking and overloading during "Masterpiece". Well, during "Masterpiece" at OUR show, Mike's bass began freaking out and popping the PA really badly, and we would have had to take a short pause at that point for real if there was more material... There are also stories of John breaking a guitar string on the same song Jerry did in a show, but i think that's just some sort of DSO urban legend going around... I haven't seen John break a string in forever. SL-Do you also listen to the recordings for the upcoming show, and do you do anything special to 'prepare'? Do you prefer boards or audience tapes for your part? CB-I listen to the shows, absolutely. I pay more attention when we're listening to an audience tape of a show. Those have more for me as far as a study aid is concerned, because I can hear relative volumes and treatments. The problem with board tapes is that they don't necessarily give you an accurate idea of how the hall sounded, whether or not the piano was cutting through or laid back. But there are a few rules I'm starting to come up with. Rob is schooling me on how the drums were from era to era, for example, that the 70s were more snare-driven as opposed to the 80s, where Mickey was more tom-oriented... SL-How involved are you in the actual performance? Do you pretty much run sound as ‘running sound’, or are you tailoring the mix to a particular sound for the period of the show? In the beginning, I used to sit around listening to these guys haggle and argue over the tiniest details and I used to get so frustrated with them... but years later it's that attention to detail and those points being studied and hammered out that have paid off. I have lots of rules I need to follow, like how much I can get involved in 'Drumz' and 'Space'. In the 70's I don't do anything, whereas into the 80’s and 90’s shows I can join in when I see something to work with ala Healy or Bralove. Because this is a talented bunch of musicians, there's generally little for me to do as far as changing the timbre of the instruments during a show... I leave it up to John to get the Garcia sound... my job is to translate it accurately. But I'm very lucky in the respect that the band takes my opinion into serious consideration whenever they're doing something and they respect my position... ... at least to my face. Most of the changes I'll make to a strip or the overall system happen in the first set, and hopefully in the first two songs, if I can get my shit together. There are rooms where I can work off what I do during sound check, and there are others where I have to radically re-work my mix or my approach to a system after I get it full of people. I've learned not to waste too much time with an empty room because people absorb sound and they energize performers, so sound check is a very poor time to judge a room or a PA in my opinion. I DO alter the levels of the vocals depending on who's the lead, and sometimes I will accentuate a solo, but for the most part once the mix is together it's together... the only other time I'm really busy is during 'Drumz" and 'Space'. SL-Tell me about the group of musicians you work with. What’s your working relationship, and what are the band’s demands, strengths, and weaknesses from a sound guy perspective. CB-I wake up every day with a smile on my face. This project has literally turned my life around. I can't say enough about how well we all get along. I don't want to talk about the personal side of our relationships any more than to say that I've never felt more love for a group of people than I have for this band and it's extended family. Being on tour with DSO is the greatest happiness I've known since before Jerry died. I'm a lucky man... I get to hang out with one of the best bands on the road and listen to them play nightly, and I love them for it. Also, I've got dirt on all of them that keeps them in line. (KIDDING, KIDDING) SL-What's the band’s taping/trading policy? Do you tape/archive? Do you have an archivist/taper? Any special requirements in that realm because you are performing the Grateful Dead’s material? We allow taping of all kinds, including video. Wherever possible I give out board patches through our taping rig which is run by Tiny, a member of our crew. We carry a CD burner and a DAT machine (the true specifics of which I'm uncertain) so that the band's archives are kept on tape and we have CDs to listen to in the van the next day or give out at the next night's show. I believe Tiny is currently running a cassette too, so he can check his mic/matrix work. We let everyone tape because past the payment for performance, we really don't feel like we have any right to control how people process the music, whether that's to listen to the show or record it for later. The fact of the matter is that we feel lucky to be doing this at all... people wanting to tape what we do, to ME, is a tremendous compliment. We're out there using what the Dead laid out for our own basis of sonic exploration, and the challenge is to keep it fresh while coloring inside the lines and staying true to the charter. When you think about it that way, it's impossible to get bored with it in my opinion. SL-One common complaint, and one that I always ask sound engineers, is that rock shows, and jamband shows, in general are too loud. Do you have any thoughts on that, or strategies? Any advice for learning or mid-level engineers? Give me some of your 'sound' philosophies. CB-All of these kind of come under the same heading for me... My one bit of advice for engineers would be to remain sober while you're working. Too many engineers either dismiss or don't understand the effects of alcohol on your ear and your subsequent perception of the mix. Running a PA is like driving a vehicle. You should remain in control of yourself and your powers of perception for the responsible transport of the audience from one place (hopefully) to another... at least as far as we're concerned. You have the power to hurt people, even with the smallest sound system, on a very permanent level. Making people deaf is not what we're in the biz to do... it's kind of self-defeating. You run out of ticket buyers if all they can hear is an 8khz ringing 24 hrs a day... "Loud" doesn't equal "Impressive". I've been accused of being a bit soft on the mix, but I think this is largely due to the fact that people are USED to getting their heads so stomped by the PA that they feel it for days. Contrary to the Beavis & Butthead Generation's ill-founded beliefs, this is not a cool condition, this is NOT a keep-sake from the show. This is most likely a PHS, or 'Permanent Hearing Shift'. It's permanent damage to your hearing that won't heal, EVER. I mix the band so that they are in control of the power...they control the dynamics, so if they want it to, that PA will knock your dick into the dirt. I'm not afraid to unleash the PA, I just don't think you need to be able to slam-dance to "China Doll" is all. But I've had times where I've questioned my future fertility after a "Not Fade Away"... One other thing that bugs me is parents not understanding about protection of little one's hearing and how important it is... I wrote a whole piece on it for my Road Rash column on the site, but I'm still walking up to people who've brought their babies, etc to a show and asking if they have hearing protection. Most people are just unaware that the eardrums, etc are still developing for many years after birth and that the adult ear has gone through a gradual scarring etc to be able to withstand the SPLs of a modern concert. That's why we started carrying foam roll-up plugs for whoever wants them, free of charge at our merch booth. SL-I must say that the two DSO shows I saw were not ear-busters and that the mix was excellent both nights. You need to find the right level that allows all the voices to be heard, but not overwhelm…plus you have to live with it night after night. CB-Why thank ya! People come to me and ask me to turn it up... and sometimes i will. Sometimes I'm idling the PA down just a bit for the first set so that I CAN buck it up just a hair for the second set. Little dramatic tricks like that I learned directly from listening to Healy and Cutler work over the years. Hell, Cutler was just doing it here at the Riv with Phil & Friends... I heard it three nights running!!! One of my thoughts on sound is that, yes, I'm there to work for the band. But I'm also sort of an employee of the audience for the night as well. If someone has a problem or a question I always try to make time for it because in my opinion you ticket-buyers are keeping me from having to get a REAL job. I mean sure... I can ask 'Do you want fries or an apple pie with that?' just like the next guy if I had to, but I'm glad as Hell that I don't... and I have our audience to thank for that... Bryan Adcock, our LD (lighting director), tells me every once in awhile how nice it is that we've been on the road forever and his hearing has never complained, except maybe once in Asheville NC... SL-Pleasure to meet you. Thanks for your insight! Comments? Have a topic for ‘Setting Levels’? Want to put in your $.02 on taping, trading or mixing live music? Send me an email…SEND ME YOUR FAVORITE LIVE RECORDINGS FOR THE NEWBIE OFFER!!
Pro Since there hasn’t been a pile of new shows in my mailbox lately, I’m going to offer one of my own works. This offer is available to anyone-not just newbies, and you don’t even have to pay for it. In the spirit of self-promotion, I offer you
Strange Pleasures-Live at the Music Box (
www.strangepleasures.com) Psychedelic groove engine Strange Pleasures teams up with the phenomenal rhythm section of JRZ System ( www.jrzsystem.com) and Stephen (RATT) Pearcy’s Nitronic. Keyboard magic provided by Scott Moore. Source: SBCD->CD, engineers-Fig and Pro Setlist (band edit)
Sweet Tweed%^à Send me an email with your mailing address attached. FREE!!!!
www.darkstarorchestra.net DSO for YOU!! www.nola.com New Orleans’ Official Website. Check out the cams! www.tipitinas.com Check out one of Nawlin’s coolest jam venues. Pro don’t need another Hurricane-the gumbo and crawfish have warped his brain-he listened to music night after night-now he’s back in Nebraska where the ground is white….check him out at www.strangepleasures.com.
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