The Dickens Inn - Middlesbrough

I volunteered to work a gig for Middlesbrough college, they put on a night at The Dickens Inn, to which the Music Practice kids got to play in this great local venue. I helped one of my lecturers by operating and packing up the system, he even have me some valuable tips and tricks in live sound which I didn't know!  

A picture from the mixing desk of the band playing

I got to operate the legendary Yamaha LS9, it was only the smaller 16 channel model but still! Encase you don't know, I LOVE the Yamaha LS9!!!! It's the desk that made me fall in love with the digital realm of audio, even though I can't afford one and will probably never purchase one sadly. This desk is just a great piece of gear (and a fun toy to use). My lecturer was using the Ipad app to control it, setting the input gains and fdfstage monitor mix from the stage whilst talking to the bands quickly to provide the optimum mix for them, as I got to fly the desk and control the FOH levels, effects and EQ.

I have my eyes on another mixing desk though, The PreSonus Studio Live 16.4.2!!! In recent months, I have become somewhat of a PreSonus fanboy, to the point where every time I mention the word in class, my classmates playfully and lightheartedly make fun of me. When I get it, I'll probably die of sheer joy... just as if Emma Watson walked in the room, right now and kissed me! Yes, the two things are comparable, THAT'S how much I love PreSonus!!!!

The Dickens Inn is a really nice venue, I had never been there before but had heard it was a nice place. It had some great lighting, a nice bar (even though they didn't serve Carling) and just a fantastic classy vibe in general. The stage area was ace! It had the perfect amount of space and the perfect layout for the type of gigs that I like to do at the moment (not too big and not too small that everyone is squashed in). I felt so relaxed in there compared to some other venues in Teesside, it was my kind of place.

We had a little lighting rig setup and a dedicated desk but we left it be and didn't really use it that much because the stage was already well lit, thanks to the guys that designed The Dickens Inn, makes my job easier and allows me to concentrate on the audio side of things.

Because it was a Middlesbrough college event, the place was packed full of people I know, some old teachers, some friends and some randomers I don't really know. I loved the experience though and I'd leap at the chance to do it again. Next time it would be great to record a multitrack of all the artists playing and get some video footage to go with it.

The Sun Inn - Stockton

During the summer I was chosen from my class and asked to work at The Sun Inn during the Stockton festival period. It was a brilliant experience! Not much hard work because the venue already had a dedicated sound system, so I effectively worked as an engineer, simply operating and maintaining equipment.    

The Sun Inn is a great little pub on Stockton highstreet

The venue effectively organised a festival type of show, where there was a massive lineup, all day long, for a weekend. It was pretty well organised and was packed full of people. I occasionally pop in every so often to see some bands and help the sound guys setup/pack up. I have a mate that claims to "work" there every weekend now setting up the PA but I really don't see it as a job, it's just It's a good little place to have a pint with some mates and see some bands. The people that put these gigs on don't get any money from it, they do it for the fun and they just want to see bands play. Great people! 

 This large Peavey system was the FOH monitors was is loving referred to as "Stone hedge". It might have something to do with the size/weight/shape of them! We placed them on top of a small crate in order to give them a more optimum angle of sound projection (it's no use having a Godly amount of wattage available on tap, or even having a really efficient speaker design if your going to aim the speakers at peoples feet!)

We used an active Laney floor wedge that also powered a second passive floor wedge on the other side. It's a simply little setup but it worked nicely. The power amp rack was ridiculusly heavy! So much so that I wouldn't consider purchasing one, even if it was cheap. I believe gigging should be fun! I don't want to worry about breaking my back trying to carry those over a long distance.

 We simply used a couple of Shure SM58's as the vocal mics. They may not be my first choice but they certainly get the job done. I'v heard some interesting points about the SM58 in the live sound world, that even if you purchase a better microphone for vocals, at the end of the day, people WANT to see a 58. At least in smaller venues like this, I can understand that I guess because people want to see that old trustworthy mic and know that the equipment the sound guy is using is at least industry standard.

At the moment I'v got my eyes on the Sennheiser e845 because it is a superior microphone by miles! I might do an A/B test if I get chance, I'v heard good things about the AKG D5 but (and tbh this might be a stupid reason) I don't like the physical look of them... a mate of mine has the AKG P5 and loves them but (to me) they don't look as professional as I would like.

We used a Yamaha MG124CX mixing desk. It's only a little thing but again, it did the job. Me and some other techies lovingly refer to it as "The retard proof desk" because of it's ON buttons that glow, as opposed to normal mains buttons on a desk. It's just a way of making fun of ourselves however, because as musicians and music techies, we don't exactly see ourselves as amazing academics. 

This is the view from the stage area. It's a cozy little back room, filled with a number of great people. 

Middlesbrough College recording studios

This is my third and final year attending Middlesbrough college, I can honestly say I have enjoyed my time here. The teachers in particular are what makes this college great (in my department at least).

This is the smallest control room, it features a Soundcraft desk, studio monitors, a PC this Cubase, a Fostex hard disk recorder, MOTU audio interface and a rack of outboard gear.

 The PC is merely an Intel core i3 desktop, mounted in a rack on the bottom. It does the job however, I don't actually do any mixing on the PC in this room so it doesn't need the processing power. All the mixing done in this room is done through the Soundcraft. The room is acoustically treated and sounds like a control room should (dead) it has an average noise level of around 30dB with the PC running, but can't really handle more than a couple of engineer in the room at one time. I'v spent some time recording bands into this room into Cubase, saving the files onto my USB stick and mixing the tracks down at home. Even though I don't have a good set of studio monitors yet at home (or even a treated room to place them in) I find mixing through this desk and a bit of outboard gear too limiting for my taste. 

The outboard rack consists of a Behringer headphone amp (which gets the job done I suppose but it's only Behringer) a compressor and the T.C.electronic M350 reverb and delay unit.

I enjoy using these effects but I can't see myself buying them for my studio. I particularly like the T.C.electronic M350 reverb/delay unit. T.C. are a great brand and some of their stuff is amazing... but software is so much more appealing to me!

I'v been keen on trying convolution reverb techniques recently throughout my house. Just because it means I can produce a reverb sound that I can design and control from the ground up. This could then become part of my signature sound to differentiate my mixes slightly from others, giving a Munro "sonic stamp" to my tracks!

This is one of the live rooms 

SPL - Gateshead

As part of some work experience, one of my lecturers let me go to Gateshead to work with his company SPL Sound and Lighting http://www.1spl.co.uk/ these are a bunch of amazing guys that really know their stuff. I learned so much just by listening to them talking about equipment and asking questions on how this beastly rig was wired.
It was good experience working with a much larger sound and lighting company and in a larger venue. I spent all day learning, talking about equipment and just having a good time with friends fellow techies. There was obviously work involved... but it was exciting and challenging! I absolutely loved it! It's given me a taste for something, I want to go into the live sound industry now!!

The mighty Yamaha LS9 32

This is the Yamaha LS9 mixing console, the larger (32 channel) version of the desk that made me fall in love with digital consoles! It feels so fluent and professional to use, I'm a man of efficiency and practicality, I don't want to carry around racks of reverb and compressor units to a gig, only to use them on a couple of channels. It's also the reason I choose to run a DAW system rather than an analogue desk in the recording studio environment. I don't like too much clutter! Even if it's hardware.

I wired up this LS9 myself whist trying not to drool over it's godlike abilities! 

I love these Sennheiser e604's!!!! Brilliant little tom mics

The lighting rig was classy, not too crazy! but impressive.

We wired up their DAS line array! It sounded ACE! 

This DAS line array was my first time wiring a line array! I enjoyed the experience and learned how to mount them properly on their brackets. Maybe one day, I might have a rig as crazy and amazing as this, it's definitely given me something to work towards!!! 

The venue was http://www.thelancastriansuite.com/ it was a nice place and held a ace show