final prep for GZ

Now that Marko has helped me tweak my loops and samples, I can start constructing the set from start to finish
Marko gave me advice early on that all samples should be sent as flat as possible to the board which makes sense
Sound as with any kind of art like painting or cooking, it is easier to add to than take away from
This means send a fairly bland signal to the board and the sound person can mix it the way it sounds best for the club and the PA
Sending too much bass is especially bad because it can sound distorted even before it gets to the board
Highs are easier to tame and get affected less by too much gain
I wish I could actually apply these techniques because I still mix like shit
Just because you watch Hell’s Kitchen don’t make you a chef

There are only a few things left to accomplish
First, I need to edit the background videos so that they are as close to the loops and their length as possible
The trick will not be just to make them look like they are the same sample as the audio but the most important part will be adding things to the beginning that indicate when I start the appropriate audio loop
Another cool trick is using the PPF Hypno-Swirl as a bumber on the beginning and end of each vid
It is 10 minutes long and can be left running in case of emergency
The tool that makes all of this possible is the Virtual DJ
It helps to have both vids on their own preview screen
The old way was just to burn a DVD with the vids in sequence on a portable DVD player
This meant they had to vague and have no timing

Building a physical configuration for the gig is going to be much easier
I have a huge stage and more than adequate staging areas for the performance
Since I have all of this liberty I will go with the big drum setup including the 24″ bass drum and all of my bass drum/floor toms
I don’t really need that many cymbals
The coolest thing I have developed is taking old drum throne seats and stripping them down to the wood core
There is still a bracket attatched to the bottom where the seat connects with the stand and you can use it as mounting hardware
Tack some carpet to the top and you now have a very small and versatile carpeted area to mount electronics
And it can be clamped to anything
The idea started with the SPDS but has yielded extra benefits
All you do is put a couple of strips of velcro to the bottom of your electonics and it sticks to the carpet
You can use angles that were impossible before because the unit would fall off at such an angle

The final thing I need to do is a runthrough to make sure I get all the timing right
It would also be good to start doing more warmups on the pads
I may have played these parts a million times but muscle memory is not enough

I have a get-together planned for all of the participants of the gig
We will be meeting at club Jaeger on Wed night
This is half morale booster and half me being a control freak
I will have set times and line requirements finalized for Bahb (soundguy) to keep everyone on the same page
The other discussion will be final flyering/promotional opportunities
New ideas keep adding themselves to the show and I am incredibly excited

I have to keep saying this to myself so that I can stay excited/nervous rather than anxiety/nervous
I have planned this show very well
Everything will go just fine
There is very little to finish and I still have 10 days to the performance