[LAU] Who or What is the Mixer (and why titles matter)

[Patrick Shirkey]

On 05/06/2010 02:08 AM, J bz wrote:
> Hey List,
>
> I'm presenting a paper about the role of the mixer in live performance.
>
> If you will indulge me for a moment, here is the abstract:
>
> As a Laptop musician working within Contemporary Music my skills span 
> many areas including programming, composition, improvisation and 
> performance: in sum, these could be described as music production.  
> None are possible without some rudimentary experience and knowledge of 
> sound engineering.  But what would be the appropriate term in a score 
> for the individual whose instrument is the mixing desk?  Sound 
> engineers are the bottom of the the musical strata for recordings and 
> performances, yet their job can involve as much creative and 
> improvisational input as either composers or performers.
>
> In this presentation, I will examine the possibility that a new term 
> is needed and a clear distinction required between those skilled in 
> technical setup for recordings and concerts and those whose  more 
> creative input goes beyond pushing occasional faders from the back of 
> the room during concerts.  Drawing on the past work of artists such as 
> King Tubby and performances by modern producers (Adrian Sherwood) I 
> will argue that it is time for a general reappraisal and 
> acknowledgement of parity for those who 'play' the mixing desk.
>


I have found that most dub engineers who play live refer to themselves 
first and foremost as Technicians and occasionally as MC's (as in Mass 
Controllers the original meaning of the word).

You will also hear the term Sound Engineer a lot. I have yet to meet any 
professional dubster who refers to themselves as a musician when they 
are behind the desk. Dub and the creation of a dub soundscape is a 
matter for the technical minded and while the outcome is a musical 
format the skills required are very much of a technical nature.

You don't play the mixing desk. You control or drive it.

Patrick Shirkey
Boost Hardware Ltd





> This is from a recent Guardian article,'rock'n'roll jobs explained':
>
> The Sound Engineer
> "Audiences only notice the sound man when something bad happens"
> http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2010/apr/15/rock-n-roll-jobs-explained
>
> Which I think is fair enough for a sound engineer in a standard pop 
> context.
>
> I would like to contrast this with my own personal experience of one 
> of the best live shows I have ever heard:  Tackhead in the late 1980's 
> with Adrian Sherwood playing the mixing desk (there's no other word to 
> describe it).  Most of the audience spent half of the time looking at 
> him, and I have a wonderful memory of how, during the encores, the 
> whole band apart from the drummer were craning their necks over the 
> front of the stage, because the wonderful sound that was coming out of 
> the front of house speakers bore very little relation to the sound on 
> stage coming from the band on stage.
>
> I have also found several contemporary music scores that contain 
> performance parts for the mixing desk but none of them contain a term 
> for the individual performer, it's always mixing console or desk.  
> This has also come up in discussion within the music dept at 
> Huddersfield Uni where I am currently based.  A composer has written a 
> duo for sax and mixer and the conversation got banded around for a few 
> hours with no satisfactory term being discovered as to what the 
> performer could be credited as; saxophonist and .........  We agreed 
> that mixer would be the obvious one but that is already taken by the 
> box(mixing desk) itself.
>
> It strikes me that with mixing consoles becoming more and more 
> powerful tools surely there is a gap for artists to get more creative 
> with them.  As a method of signposting this a decent term would be 
> helpful I think.
>
> Any ideas people?
>
> All mine are dodgy:
> Mixer Player (bland)
> Desk Jockey (too similar to something else)
> Mixologist (pretentious)
> Live Sound Producer (vague).
>
> Any and all feedback welcome.
>
> Many thanks for your time,
>
> Julian Brooks
>
>
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