Well the Leicester Comedy Festival is over for another year. Thankfully I managed to be a part of it this year by crewing for 3 of the acts (Jo Caulfield, Count Arthur Strong and Shappi Khorsandi) at the Little Theatre. The work literally involved me sitting and watching the act on the DSM monitor and it got me thinking that if I could do this as a profession, then life would be easy.
Jo Caulfield was good, didn't know what to expect having only every seen her on shows like Mock the Week and Nevermind the Buzzcocks, but the crowd reacted and interacted well. There was a few technical difficulties at the beginning, with Jo forgetting to bring her pre-show music CD. But the situation was easily overcome once all the crew members had listed the CD's in their cars.
Count Arthur Strong was amazingly funny and played to a packed house. This time there was a little more work involved with there being a scene change in the middle and there were a few shenanigans after the show, but thats another story.
Shappi Khorsandi was equally as funny. The show opened with support act Matthew Hardy and as with the Jo Caulfield show, there was little work to be done. Both Shappi and Matthew were very friendly and engaging people, with the show again being played to a packed house.
Now that the Comedy Festival is finished it's on to Billy Liar which I'm co-running the sound with Mr Atter. Hopefully this opportunity will be a massive learning curve for me and help me to hone in on some vital skills.
Well it's been another busy week again. The Barbershop recordings have been fully mixed and are currently being mastered. So hopefully they'll be finished by tomorrow afternoon and then it's time to think about packaging. Thursday night i participated in a recording session as a musician for the first time in a long time, helping Ed out with his recording project. Me and Rich blasted out Teenage Kicks, it's a little loose and my guitar playing is somewhat rusty but i'm sure it will sound alright after some tweaking.
Saturday i was paralysed by a titanic headache, but nothing a little set destruction at the Little Theatre couldn't take care of. Tonight I'll be back there crewing during Jo Caulfield's performance in the comedy festival.
I'll Leave you with this snippet of audio i found on my old PC. It's a radio shout-out from DJ Hype from a few years back. Not overly sure who DJ Hype is, but nevertheless, at least i was on the radio. Hype Shoutout by Paulie_h3
After weeks of planning, last thursday finally saw Rich and I orchestrate the recording of a barbershop chorus. Overall the session was a success, the chorus were brilliant and we managed to capture 12 tracks in a two and a half hour session. A few initial problems included the theatres PA speakers pouring out a horrid hiss and the kick drum of a band practing next door almost breaking down the walls, but they were quickly overcome. Unfortunately there are a few issues of spill on the recordings produced by suffering feet. Butshort of carpeting the theatre and stealing the shoes of the chorus members, there was very little we could have done about it and i'm sure the final production will be great.
The session was recorded using an X-Y pair, an A-B pair, four spot mics, a large diaphragm condenser with a figure-eight polar pattern and an omni mic, so ten mics in total. As i mentioned above, we managed to lay down 12 tracks so theres plenty of mixing and mastering to be done over the coming days. I've posted a quick mix of one of the tracks below to help give an impression of what the session was about. I've also posted a time-lasped video of the evening for one and all to enjoy.
As for the rest of the week.It's been one of continual research for potential business and website opportunities and a touch of music making with Alley Barber. I also discovered the sounds of Atticus Ross, the gentleman was responsible for the theme music of the film "The Book of Eli" as well as other great songs, so go listen.
As for now, it's time for a drop of wine and some Super Bowl Sunday!!!
