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Immersive Sound Environment
Oct. 1st, 2019 05:20 pmPut on a good ol' MC show last night up at the Lamplighter. It was a really good show, actually. We had Stupid Lepton (Karl's debut), Pas Moi, Zizia, and Mike Honeycutt. I got there pretty early 'cuz Zizia said they were going to be needing to get there especially early 'cuz they take a long time to set up so I got there a bit early 'cuz I had stuff to set up as well (a few weeks ago happened to run into Chuck, the owner of the Lamplighter, at Otherlands and Jacques was chatting with him and he mentioned how he prefers electronic musicians to bring their own set up and not use the pa...so I enlisted Jaacques's help and set something up with our matching Roland keyboard amps and a mixer for stereo). So they have this sprawling setup with four amps and also non-amplified things, especially cassette players, spread about. It was my first time in the new room at the Lamplighter. It has a nice aesthetic with a cool 70s design-pattern sheet hanging on the wall as a backdrop and homemade bafflers with burlap sacks on the wall (and just a generally dingy, decrepit, Lamplighter vibe). The biggest negative is that there's no ac in that room. There is in the main bar but not there and it was pretty hot. Ah well. It was good we found out about the pa preferences as it kinda woulda been a situation more than a preference anyway. I set it up to run the main sound out through the amps but had a little extra going through the pa for some added spatiality, not a lot of volume. Well, after not too long one of the pa speakers started popping so I had to turn it down even more. So yeah, the pa was just definitely not even usable for our music. Good thing we came prepared! And the dual amps were surprisingly effective and loud. I mean, it's actually a not-bad-at-all show amplification situation. And with the two amps we were able to keep a stereo spread for those that used stereo!
So, the show! Stupid Lepton was first. It was Karl's first show as such and he was really good. Did the modular thing. Even had the biofeedback hookup to a plant that he brought. He brought a bunch of coworkers too and that was the biggest hunk of the audience (so the turnout was relatively good too, the touring band got a pretty decent sum from the door, at least by Monday night experimental music show in Memphis standards). Pas Moi was next and did his thing. We sound checked with just his synth and then he plays his vocal samples and that part was mixed like three times louder than the synth so it ended up being super loud, but loud is good for noise, I guess! Zizia was next and they were absolutely phenomenal. I mentioned the setup with the four amps and stuff all around. Also a bunch of different instruments (harp, guitar, electronics). They had several setups of tape loops going through a pair of cassette players (at least three pairs) and several varispeed cassette players. They even brought in leaves from outside and crumpled them unamplified as part of it. So there was a lot of quiet atmospherics but it wasn't all quiet. But they'd move from station to station. It was one of the most immersive sound environments I've ever experienced. With the spread of sound sources and the range of dynamics, it really brought you into something. Mostly they kept the lights off but they occasionally had a overhead projector that they had like insect wings on projected to the ceiling. And each time they turned it back on, they'd added more wings. And they had a really good ambient, lowercase, concrète sound. Mike Honeycutt was good as always too! And he got loud. I picked up a dual-cassette thing from Zizia afterwards. It went on scheduled and wasn't over super late (started relatively early for a show). Though I got some comments about how dark the underside of my eyes were this morning at work! But it was as pretty easy day today.
Couple notes from the trip I should have mentioned before! I think I noticed the milky way for the first time (or that I can remember?). We were enjoying the dark and the plurality of stars so we turned the lights off inside while we got a better look at the sky from the back deck. And I was looking for it and definitely saw the faint cloud-like trace in a line across the sky. It was pretty rad! Also, there was a small cliff behind the place leading down to the lake. Well, I'd thought there was a trail going down there but not really. But I did climb down and have to do a little bit of "mountaineering" to get back up (very little) but it was still fun! Uh, yeah! Oh, I don't think I ever said that my proposal for the concert at Crosstown was not accepted. Not surprised, but ah well!
So, the show! Stupid Lepton was first. It was Karl's first show as such and he was really good. Did the modular thing. Even had the biofeedback hookup to a plant that he brought. He brought a bunch of coworkers too and that was the biggest hunk of the audience (so the turnout was relatively good too, the touring band got a pretty decent sum from the door, at least by Monday night experimental music show in Memphis standards). Pas Moi was next and did his thing. We sound checked with just his synth and then he plays his vocal samples and that part was mixed like three times louder than the synth so it ended up being super loud, but loud is good for noise, I guess! Zizia was next and they were absolutely phenomenal. I mentioned the setup with the four amps and stuff all around. Also a bunch of different instruments (harp, guitar, electronics). They had several setups of tape loops going through a pair of cassette players (at least three pairs) and several varispeed cassette players. They even brought in leaves from outside and crumpled them unamplified as part of it. So there was a lot of quiet atmospherics but it wasn't all quiet. But they'd move from station to station. It was one of the most immersive sound environments I've ever experienced. With the spread of sound sources and the range of dynamics, it really brought you into something. Mostly they kept the lights off but they occasionally had a overhead projector that they had like insect wings on projected to the ceiling. And each time they turned it back on, they'd added more wings. And they had a really good ambient, lowercase, concrète sound. Mike Honeycutt was good as always too! And he got loud. I picked up a dual-cassette thing from Zizia afterwards. It went on scheduled and wasn't over super late (started relatively early for a show). Though I got some comments about how dark the underside of my eyes were this morning at work! But it was as pretty easy day today.
Couple notes from the trip I should have mentioned before! I think I noticed the milky way for the first time (or that I can remember?). We were enjoying the dark and the plurality of stars so we turned the lights off inside while we got a better look at the sky from the back deck. And I was looking for it and definitely saw the faint cloud-like trace in a line across the sky. It was pretty rad! Also, there was a small cliff behind the place leading down to the lake. Well, I'd thought there was a trail going down there but not really. But I did climb down and have to do a little bit of "mountaineering" to get back up (very little) but it was still fun! Uh, yeah! Oh, I don't think I ever said that my proposal for the concert at Crosstown was not accepted. Not surprised, but ah well!
