First Rehearsal Thoughts

Well we made it!  The D-Show was installed, stage wired, and ready for rehearsal by 4p today which gave me a few hours to build a plug-in list and just mess around before the band arrived tonight.

Once the band started playing, all we could say was WOW.  There was an overwhelming clarity and natural character to the sound that we’d never heard before from our rig.  I’d been told by many people who had upgraded to Venue to be prepared that the system would sound better, but I had no idea it would be so true!  I expected something different just from hearing iTunes and my voice through the PA during the past 24 hours, but the difference with a live band was quite good…the kick sounded better in the room then I’d ever heard before, vocals needed less EQ, channel EQ in general is MUCH more musical, the rig sounds warmer and less harsh (perhaps I would say less “digital”) in the 2k and 6k range, low end while warmer is also tighter.  I multitracked the rehearsal successfully to ProTools so I’m planning to spend the afternoon tomorrow dialing things in and playing with plug-ins to see how much better I can make it.  I’m also interested to listen to the ears mixes and see what they really sounded like to the guys.  I set up everybody’s ears mixes during sound check just to keep things simple, but I saw the guys with PQ controllers tweaking their mixes as the night went on and getting what they needed.  I think I need to spend some time on the chain that’s actually driving their mixes because it seems there’s room to grow there, but regardless…

Besides the sound difference, my first “real” 4 hours on the console between 4p and 8p went very well.  At first I sensed myself being nervous of adopting to a new workflow since I’d become so comfortable working on the PM1D.  By the end of the first night, I feel like the system is very approachable and pretty easy to get under the fingers.  I think by the time I mix for a few hours with the recording tomorrow and then do the service, I’ll be in great shape for the upcoming weekend’s challenges. 

The new Shure UHF-R wireless system was definitely the right choice and I’m thankful that God made it clear this was the direction to go.  Nothing against Sennheiser at all because I was completely content to go either direction, but the UHF-R product seems very mature and a perfect fit for how we work.  I’m EXTREMELY impressed with the networking and Workbench software since our wireless receivers are off stage completely out of my direct site.  We never had reliable monitoring and control of our previous wireless system and I learned to deal with it, but the frequency coordination, data reporting from the transmitters, and overall stability of the platform is reassuring.  The new mix of capsules is wonderful – I now have at my disposal SM58s, Beta58s, SM86s, Beta87s, KSM9s, Neumann KK-104, and Sennheiser 5005 capsules.  Soon I’m also going to pick up one of the new Sennheiser MD5235s just to complete the collection.

Overall, the first rehearsal tonight was very positive.  Tomorrow has a short punch list of items to finish up that we didn’t get to today – labeling wireless packs with their RF #, some cable changes to the drum riser and keys rig to accommodate PQ mixers, etc.  But the list is quite short and then I can’t wait to spend a few hours playing!

Consider me completely sold.  Everyone present last night heard a difference in what we were used to hearing through our rig.  Those of us who knew what we were listening for can’t believe how much better our room sounds.  It’s hard to imagine what it will feel like once we get the new PA in the room next year as well.  It’s really hard to wrap my mind around how much better this system sounds and how much more intuitive it operates, yet it is such a substantial difference in price from our previous system.  For church world, regardless of the level of desired production, it’s hard to believe there could be a more powerful, efficient, and cost effective system.

Today was so busy tying up loose ends that I didn’t get a chance to take any more pictures.  I’ll go through tomorrow and do that so you can see how the system finished up.  Then I’ll post our docs later this week when I have a chance to see how we’re configured, input/output assignments, etc.

Thanks for your prayers and many of you contributed lots of advice as we considered such a substantial change to our system!  Call me a kid in a candy store…  :)