What a day. I woke up at 6:15, and surprisingly I wasn't the least bit sore. I must just be a beast when it comes to digging holes. I got to church right around 7 and got to work with some things I needed to finish up for the morning.Things did end up sounding really good. I didn't think the vocal sound was perfect, but it was pretty decent. One thing I have really been unhappy with is the bass sound. It seems like the low B and the E string are louder than the others, and the volume just fluctuates in general. I decided to completely slam it today with a really low threshold and a fairly high ratio, and it seemed to help. Another thing I thought of is that maybe too much of the signal is getting sent to the subs, so that when it gets above the crossover frequency it isn't as present in the mains. I may mess around with that next time to see if it helps.
I had this one weird problem this morning where my drum faders would randomly end up completely off or all the way up. I figured out that I had accidentally linked the CD faders to them, so every time I faded music in or out I was screwing up the drum faders. It was a big pain until I figured that out. I also miced Chad's amp this morning, which I thought sounded a little better than usual. I think it's just the fact that you are micing something that is pushing air that makes it sound a little better than a direct line. It doesn't matter that much though, it's not a mind blowing difference. A good guitarist is going to get good tone almost regardless of what he/she is using. And a bad guitarist will never sound good. Actually, that is the biggest thing I have learned about mixing and production. It's not really about the way the signal gets amplified as much as what the signal sounds like originally. If the source doesn't sound amazing, you can't make it sound good. You could be a Nuemann on a crate amp with an Ibanez, and it's still gonna sound crappy...but put an MXL on a Matchless with a Gibson or Fender or something, and it's probably gonna sound pretty great. Of course there are alot of qualifications that go along with this. Give me some powered JBL's and a Allen and Heath board and I will make your guitar sound better than I can through a Peavey portable sound system. It's when everyone is amazing at what they do and there is an unlimited budget for equipment that you really start to get to studio quality. Just my opinion though, take it for what it's worth
After church Kristi and I went to Zaxby's with the Hudsons. It was fun eating with them, and I really love Zaxby's. They just got a puppy named Remmy, we need to take Lucy over to meet him. They live in Mauldin, really close to where I grew up. Mark is an engineer (structural?), so I always want to ask him about work, but I know nothing about engineering. That seems odd as the title of my major was "Audio Engineering." That's why I always have to clarify with people by saying it was a performing arts major.
After lunch Kristi and I did some quick grocery shopping at Wal-Mart. Grocery shopping has really become boring for me. Kristi and I always procrastinate it and then end up having to squeeze it in at an inconvenient time. The diet ginger ale has been on sale for 3 straight weeks, which is pretty sweet. Today the Schweppes was on sale instead of Canada Dry...but really I could care less which kind it is, they taste really similar. By the way, have you seen the Schweppes water balloon commercial? It is really cool, Joe showed it to me the other day:
After grocery shopping I went back to church to get ready for Refresh. There was really no point in me driving all the way home and then coming back immediately. I checked email and facebook and then changed out batteries and moved some things around. When everyone got there we started sound check, which ended up being a little stressful. The Yamaha digital board has a weird issue where sometimes the second layer inputs don't interface with the board at all. We had to reboot 2-3 times, and Joe had to take out the card and put it back in. It finally started working after the 3rd time I think. Tech stuff always seems to have issues. There is always a new ground loop or a new piece of equipment acting up. I guess that's why they hire pros like me. Actually, I just go ask Joe what to do most of the time, 'cause I have no clue.
The band ran through all the songs quickly and I took tons of notes. There as many as 10 singers at times, and a ton of songs and transitions. I was a little worried I would mess something up, but there ended up only being one mistake that would have been noticeable. For some reason the signal from a video we showed was quiet, so I had to bring it up slowly. I don't like to make mistakes, but I try to not to feel too bad about ones like that. Overall it was a good night. The band sounded good, the songs were pretty powerful, and everyone seemed really engaged.
Kristi and I left pretty quickly afterwards to go over to the Bunns' house. Today was the 5 year anniversary of my close friend Joseph Bunn passing away in a car wreck, and his parents wanted to have some of his friends over for a little get together. It's always a different type of day to look back and think about that time of my life. The only way I know how to explain it is surreal. The whole story of how God completely changed Joseph a few months before his death and how completely on fire he was for God is a pretty amazing one...you should ask me about it sometime.
One of my favorite memories with Joseph was when we played for a youth retreat in Myrtle Beach for some church from Aiken. Joseph, Tim, Daniel, and I all played with the now mildly famous Chris Sligh, and we got a gig playing a week retreat in Garden City. That was one of the funnest weeks of my life. Chris always got so mad at us, because we were only like 16 or 17, so we were pretty immature. Nothing is better than being paid to play music and act like idiots at a beach all week. I have so many good memories from that week...but anyways, it was good to see everyone and to be able to encourage the Bunns by going.
Kristi and I didn't stay too late because they live way out near Cherrydale, so we had drive back to Southside to pick up my car and then come home. Lucy has been a little hyper tonight because she didn't have any company today. I am not sure if she chewed up her rope or ate it, but I am thinking she is going to be in trouble if she ate it. Hopefully this won't cause any delay in leaving for school tomorrow morning...
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