I’ve wired up some new technology for the live rig.
Risky business, that, given we have a whopping week until our next show. I’ll be keeping the backup in the car just in case.
A few bits are quite cool. Aside from the homemade laptop shelf I built by bolting a 1-U rack shelf to a keyboard stand mount, I’m actually using a laptop and Logic Pro to control live tracks. I’ve got separate wet and dry mixes for the vocals, auto-program switching for the keyboard parts, we’ve now got a decent keys/backing submix so I no longer have to deal with soundguys messing that up, vocal effect automation – when I need that tape delay effect, it’s right there! – and I’ve managed to pretty much pre-wire up all the DI connections I need. No more crazy cable patching during setup!
The downside is that…well, we’ve got a week to go, and I’ve got a lot of levels to tweak in that time. And I’ve got to make sure Jill is up to speed on the start/stop/advance keystrokes. Rehearsal was a little bit funky because of that, and there’s the additional problem that when I would start twiddling settings on the laptop it would shut off the record-arm for the synth tracks. Not a real issue, as I won’t be trying to re-edit tracks during a live gig, but it did disturb the flow. And caused Chuck to make fun of me.
My next attempt will be to try and get a cup-holder built into Jill’s keybaord stand. That’d be awesome.