6 May
2010
6 May
'10
3:58 a.m.
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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