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Skip Navigation LinksHome > SE Systems Classroom > Cliff's Notes

Cliff’s Notes

Cliff's Notes: From the Road
November 7, 2012
 
Capturing Alison Krauss & Union Station
 FOH engineer Cliff Miller recently used a BlackBox BBR64-MADI Recorder to capture a series of concerts performed by Alison Krauss & Union Station, featuring Jerry Douglas, in the USA and Europe. He talks to JoeCo.

Joe Bull and Cliff Miller at Hard Rock Calling, Hyde Park, London

Please tell us a little about your involvement with this project
The JoeCo BlackBox was used with Alison Krauss & Union Station, featuring Jerry Douglas. I’ve worked as production manager and FOH engineer for the last three years and was systems engineer for nine years prior to that. I’m also President of SE Systems Inc., the audio supplier for the tour.

What were the typical venue/audience sizes for this particular tour?
Our typical audience would range anywhere from 3,000 to 30,000 with the exception being “Hard Rock Calling” in London’s Hyde Park where the crowd was estimated to be upwards of 60,000.

What was the main requirement for having a multi-channel recording system for the shows and why was the BlackBox Recorder spec’d (as opposed to any other systems you had already worked with)?
Our main requirement was to have the shows documented and available for a possible “Live” CD. The JoeCo BlackBox was an ideal solution, as mixing the live show is the primary concern and set-up of the BlackBox required only a BNC connection.

How was the BlackBox Recorder integrated into the actual technical set-up?
The BlackBox was mounted in my UPS rack, along with a tray of (three) 1.5Tb drives, and connected via BNC to my DiGiCo SD-10 console.

What did you particularly like about working with the BlackBox?
Simplicity, Simplicity, Simplicity! I just had to remember to hit “Record” before the band started. No screens and keyboards to set up, just “Record”.

What is happening to the captured audio from these shows?
After I create reference CDs of each show for management, they will decide whether or not to send the tracks to the studio. I just wish the JoeCo BlackBox had been available before I’d invested tens of thousands of dollars on other recording systems over the years!
(Interview August 2012)

Check out JoeCo BBR64-MADI  and the BBR64-DANTE




Cliff's Notes: From the Road

 

 

 

March 28, 2012
Well, finally an updated post from the road. As some of you may know, we toured the US and UK with Alison Krauss and Union Station on 60 plus shows. I was pretty slack writing any information from the 2011 tour. Well, to keep that from happening this year I'm starting out early. We just finished dates in Little Rock, AK, Tulsa and Oklahoma City, OK. So far, so good. If you're reading this, you probably would like to know what we're carrying for audio. So here goes, At FOH and Monitors we have (2) brand new Digico SD-10/24 consoles (last year we used our 36 fader SD-10's). We're clocking at 96K via Optocore fiber and an SD-192 rack loaded with 32 analog in's and out's. What I really like about this is my 500' FOH snake is less than ¼” in diameter and fits on a 10” plastic reel.
 
I've built a 2-space rack into the SD-10/24 case that holds a Sound Devices USB-PRE and Lectrosonics TM-400 test & measurement receiver for my Smaart rig. Underneath that is a new LM-44 Lake Processor for EQ when I use the house loudspeakers. This is inserted via AES/EBU I/O on the back of the desk.
 
My loudspeakers this year are (24) of my trusty JBL Vertec VT-4888's, with a pair of VRX918SP power sub cabinets each side. The processing is done with a pair of LM-26 Lake Processors to give me upper and lower array processing. Since we're playing mainly auditoriums and performing arts centers, I like to tailor the EQ of Floor and Balcony separately. This is necessary because they are different zones. I won't even get into how I drive the processors to get it all down the fiber, but it is two pages of Excel worth of inserts and returns.
 
It makes more sense to explain that the outputs of the LM-26's eventually come out of a SD-192 stage left and a SD-192 Mini Rack stage right. The SD-192 rack has 32 in and out and the Mini rack has (4) 8-channel modules. (2) 8X AES/EMU input, (1) 8X AES/EBU output, and (1) 8X analog output module. The LM-26's are mounted in the stage right drive rack. These racks make set-up very convenient as the cross-stage signal is also fiber. I can tie in power anywhere because there are NO more ground loops!
 
Output signal from each SD-192 rack is via (1) DT-12 connector to each amp rack. My amplifiers are all QSC PL-380's; with a pair of PLX3105's to drive the JBL VRX928 front fill loudspeakers.
 
All of the Lake processors are networked and controlled wirelessly with a Motion Computing CL900 tablet PC. This in turn controls an old Sony computer running Smaart Software. This allows me to roam the venue with the Lectrosonic TM-400 Transmitter w/ Analyzer microphone and the CL900 tablet and tune all areas while listening to the changes, IE; balcony, front and side fills.
 
I'll try to give more reports as is possible. (From my laptop at my Nashville home; The Hutton Hotel)
 
Cliff Miller is founder and President of SE Systems, production manager for Alison Krauss & Union Station (AKUS) and audio director for the Carolina Panthers.