I found some of my work on Youtube!

[Psycho Bass Guy]

I know, I know. Youtube: big deal. ... but I didn't upload this stuff and I'm pretty proud of it. I found this stuff when I was looking up an old promotional spot from 1982.  For those of you who don't know, I work as broadcast engineer, but (obviously) my first love is audio. The station where I work, WBIR, is #1 in the country for market share per capita, but East Tennessee is not a big market, and we're not a huge station or anything. We have a local variety show called Live@5@4 (don't ask about the name- the story is stupid) and from time to time, we have local and regional musical acts perform live.

For those of you who have never been involved in TV studio work, it's nothing like stage production. Everything MUST be mic'ed in some capacity or the audience will never hear it, there is NO PA or built-in monitoring system, and no audience to play to and feed off. We've all heard too many instances of shitty performances done on TV by bands that kick ass, even from the "big boys" who have dedicated entire live music production setups larger than my entire station. Well, that pisses me off, because 90% of the time, it's not the band's fault, so whenever we have a band on our show, I'm the go-to audio guy.

Since our TV audio board is set up for anchor mics and line-level sources and has next to no headroom, whenever there is a band, I submix from another mixer in the studio and feed a line-level output back to the main board. My studio setup consists of a 16 channel Mackie mixer, two JBL Eons for monitors, and an old Yamaha SPX 990 reverb that I got when it was decommissioned from the Commercial Production Department. I have a really crappy AKG condensor mic suspended roughly 15' above the set where performances take place, two SM58's, three SM57's, a few EV 267ND's and two Whirlwind Imp passive DI's run through a 100' snake to another set so that I can use headphones to mix, which are either Sony 7506's or Sennheiser HD280's. That's it: no graphic EQ's for the monitors or compression other than my fingers on faders. Occasionally, bands will bring in their own mics, but that's it.

Now for the part so you know this is me talking: even with such a relatively modest setup, I'll put my results up against the networks and the like any day. Here's an example of the on air-product as the home audience gets to see and hear it:



You'll notice that it is somewhat overcompressed: this is the compressor chasing the output of the main audio board which was set for a much too slow attack and too long a release. It worked OK for voices and it kept things from hitting the transmitter too hot most times, but there is definitely the 'compressor set wrong' pumping going on.  That was beyond my control that day; I didn't set it, nor did I have access to it. Still, the end result isn't bad.

This next example is resume material. It was taken from a recording sourced before the broadcast output compression and then tweaked /mastered at my home studio. The band uploaded it from a DVD I made for them. Everything in it is 100% live, with no dubs, no comps, no edits, and no re-takes. It was the first time they performed the song the whole way through. There are even a couple of minor rhythm guitar clams you should be able to catch.




So what do you all think? There are some others, but these two are the first ones I found on Youtube.

[nofi]

to my ears it sounds as good as any of the stuff the morning network shows have to offer. think today show outside in the plaza stuff.

[OldManC]

I've seen plenty of SNL performances that couldn't touch those. The separation and clarity of voices and instruments is top notch. When I was younger the network and local market stations in L.A. (especially morning and local news programs) never could broadcast a live performance worth a damn. Those clips prove it is possible (to someone with a brain and the desire to do so).

[Psycho Bass Guy]

to my ears it sounds as good as any of the stuff the morning network shows have to offer. think today show outside in the plaza stuff.

Being an NBC affiliate, and having to sit through three hours of that prattle in the mornings doing live cut-ins, I don't know if that's a complement or not! But yes, actually, if the Today show plaza concerts are the yardstick, I'm thinking I'm getting 'em in meters.

I've seen plenty of SNL performances that couldn't touch those.

IMO, SNL sets the bar for horrible live sound with very few exceptions. They have more equipment than most studios and still manage to reduce stadium caliber acts to sounding like half-assed garage bands on a regular basis. Oddly enough, Ellen seems to be the best show for live music now, though not always. Anybody else miss the days of the Arsenio Hall show where he hired the guys from Motown to mix his live acts? Living Colour kicked ass on there and IIRC it was before Wimbish.

The separation and clarity of voices and instruments is top notch.

Thank you. It doesn't hurt that those guys could play well either.  I had one of the finalists from last season's American Idol in here last month, and suprisingly to me, he was extremely, legitimately talented, and his band of hired guns was equally astonished that some redneck in the middle of the hills could give them a decent tv mix. BTW, how'd you like hearing bass AND kick drum?

[jmcgliss]

I'm very jealous of the separation you achieved.  It's hard to listen to bands on most large network shows where everything seems squashed.  It must have been especially difficult capturing the percussion device under the singer's chin.   

[Psycho Bass Guy]

It must have been especially difficult capturing the percussion device under the singer's chin.   

You laugh now, but I have seriously had a drummer in a band who had a washboard tie, harmonica and kazoo with holders on all while playing a snare with brushes! 

[Highlander]

Something to be proud of, without a doubt...

[Dave W]

You should be proud of it, it sounds better than most TV performances I've heard.