• Go to the AMP Sound Systems Facebook page.
• Find the review you would like to vote for. It should look something like this:

• Click the link to view the entry. Or visit the post here to read them all. Click “Like” to vote for this person’s review.

NOTE: Only posts containing “NAME’s gig review for our Electric Picnic Competition” can be used to vote on.

If you would like to enter our competition to win a pair of Electric Picnic tickets, then visit this post!

We happen to have a few too many tickets for Electric Picnic, and we would love you to have a pair!

We want our dedicated readers to write a blog post for us! Actually, even if this is your first visit to the blog, you still can enter! Anyway, all you need to do is write a short review of a gig you were at recently. This winning review will be posted as our next blog post, and the lucky author will get a pair of tickets to Electric Picnic 2010!

All you have to do is write your review in a comment below. Tell us if you enjoyed the gig or not, and why. It could be a mainstream famous band, or a small local artist you saw in your local pub. Mention the name of the band, the venue, the type of music etc.

Your review will be linked to from our Facebook page. People can vote for your review by clicking “Like” on your review which will look like this:

Tell all your friends that you are in the competition, and they might just vote for you! Send them this link: http://www.facebook.com/AMPSoundSystems and tell them to “like” their favourite review! They might have to click the “Wall” tab to get to the review.

The user with the most “likes” by midnight on the 31st of August will get their review published and will have a pair of tickets to Electric Picnic waiting for them at the gate!

We may email the winner to request photo’s of the gig to improve the blog post, but if you didn’t take any, don’t worry – a press photo or band logo will do! A mention of the sound quality at the gig may impress the techie subscribers we have on board and may gain you a vote!

Get writing your review, and we wish you the best of luck!

NOTE:

The review must be entirely your own work. We will take this very seriously and check up on all entries.

2 guest judges will apply a weight of 20 “likes” each to the review that they deem to be the best.

Only posts on the Facebook page containing “NAME’s gig review for our Electric Picnic Competition” can be used to vote on.

On a side note – thanks for all that support. Visitors have been piling on board. And it puts a smile on my face to know that you enjoyed the stuff I write so much that you even clicked the “Like” button! Thank you!

Anyway, back to that horrible stuff that usually pierces ears and damages speakers. Feedback.

It would be greatly appreciated if you could leave a few comments below with idea’s of what you would like to see on the blog in the future. More technical? Less technical? Big tours? Little gigs? Tell me and I shall do my very best to deliver it to you!

Also, tell me what you like and dislike about the site. What could be done better. And I promise that I will not pull your frequency out of the graph to get rid of the feedback! Shit, I think I just went too technical again…..

Thanks in advance folks! Look forward to hearing your opinions!

Guess what I am going to say now… Yep – lets use an example!!!!

First you select your desk...

I was booked for a gig with the Dublin Glee Choir. The spec was 9 choir mics, one solo mic, keyboard, guitar and drum machine. 3 monitor mixes. The LS9 was the perfect choice for this gig. Due to venue restrictions, I was aware that it would be a tight get-in. I needed to get as much done as I possibly could before the gig. But the LS9 wasn’t going to be back untill Saturday morning – the day of the gig. In comes Studio Manager – the offline editing software for the family of Yamaha digital mixing consoles.

...then start working on your show...

All you need to do is download the specific editor for whatever type of desk you have. I frequently use the 01V, the LS9, the M7CL and the PM5D, so I have these editors installed. As I was going to be using the LS9, I just selected that. You then arrive at an overview page showing the mixer on your screen. Here you can click rather than hunt through pages on the actual board. Silly things like turning on phantom power can be achieved in seconds on all the channels that need it.

A blank show file also starts with all the dynamics turned off. I like to have the compressors on, but with the threshold at -8dB so I can bring the compressor in when I need it, without having to flick over to the ON button, so I just click DYN2 on all the channels and this is done for me!

It is also very easy to set your mute groups and channel links. I wanted the choir on one mute group, the band on another, and the effects on a different group. This is achieved very easily and quickly on the “Mute Group” page. It would take considerable time to do this on the console, and if under a lot of pressure, you may just not have time to do it.

Input Patch List

Input and Output routing is much easier in Studio Manager rather than on the desk. You get a visual view of it in Studio Manager and can change your patch with a few clicks.

And aside from all the wonders it can do before the show, it also comes in very handy during the gig. You can leave any screen open in studio manager, while you work on a separate screen on the desk. For example, you could have the EQ screen open on the console, while monitoring all the input meters on the computer screen!

I am very impressed with Studio Manager, and am looking forward to using software from other manufacturers for their boards!

The video below shows the terrible effects of a bored sound engineer:

The band graced the Circus Tent with a completely new and improved set list, which also included some stunning new tracks. But of course didn’t neglect to open the set with their ever powerful “Howrya Folk” and slip in “Be Easy” somewhere in the middle!

Music by The Eskies has the creativity, musical talent and catchyness that will see them sneaking into the charts very soon.

Unfortunately, I had to reset my “time without analogue desk” counter, as the Front of House mixer was the Midas Venice 320. A fine console, but an analogue console! However I don’t mind this time, as I would have done anything to mix the gig anyway!

Keep your eye on The Eskies. Get to one of their gigs if you can!

http://www.theeskies.com/

Listen to “The Eskies – Be Easy“

I replaced the audio on this video, as I have not yet got permission from the bands to use it, but the video should give you a quick overview of the buzz at the festival this year.

Monitors were D&B Max 12′s and the console was the Yamaha M7CL.

The rig consisted of a Funktion One PA for FoH, a M7CL-32 at mix, and EV sxA250′s for wedges.

View the video below to see the place from our perspective!

Enjoy! And don’t forget to click the Share button below if you know others who underestimate the work involved!!

On the 5th of May 2010, AMP Sound Systems was booked to provide the PA system and crew for a show by the Dublin Glee Choir in The Bank, Newry. I knew this would be a great gig, so decided to engineer it myself. My day went like this:

It all starts the night before at the warehouse...

...cases are picked and loaded...

...the D&B Max12's will be used as monitors...

17:22 – All the equipment is pushed into the venue

17:46 - Speakers are positioned

17:52 - The backbone of the wiring is installed

18:21 - A rough layout of the stage is created

18:21 - Mic stands placed on stage

18:22 - Stage coming together

18:28 - Mix position is set up

18:33 - Things start to get patched in

18:50 - Studio Manager is connected...

...and the show is loaded

20:15 - Wiring on the stage is complete

20:15 - Connected. Now to start tidying up.

21:20 - Leads tidied up and taped where required

21:20 - The band arrives...

21:25 - ...and sort out their positions

21:29 - Souncheck starts

21:41 - Rough levels are set and a song is run

21:56 - Final adjustments before the doors are opened

22:22 - Mix position tidied

22:23 - And show is saved as a backup

22:23 - Then lots of muted channels as we wait...

23:13 - Time to check out the controls of those rather cool screens!!!

23:13 - And say hello to the DJ who was playing music dangerously loud

00:23 - Quick check that I am receiving signal on all channels

00:25 - And the place starts filling up

01:05 - The choir arrives on stage

02:17 - Starting to get loud now!

The last photo of the stage, as we were too busy packing up the gear to take photo's!

04:03 - Yes, that does say I will be home at 5:59 AM!

04:17 - On the A1 just about to leave the North of Ireland

04:18 - How depressing - the sat nav says turn left in 92.1 km!

04:41 - The fact that the sun is coming up just makes you realise that it is in fact the next day...

...so its Red Bull time!!!

05:47 - The sun is fully up now, so I just want to go to bed!

06:16 - Does this really need an explanation???

A good friend of mine, Pat Nolan (Barry in Fair City) is joining a team of over 100 (motorcyclists, pillion passengers & support) to tackle the infamous / historic “mother of all roads” – ROUTE 66.

2,448 miles of unforgiving highway crossing Illinois, Missouri, Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas, New Mexico, Arizona and California.

The gig was to help them raise funds for Temple Street Children’s University Hospital in Dublin. It was held in The Mill Theatre, Dundrum and it was a night of music, magic, comedy, acting, and much more! Phil Cauly was the MC, and welcomed guests such as Pat Fallon, Dana Davis, Brendan Burke, Dave Duffy and many more! Was a fantastic show.

Unfortunately though, the theatre only had an analogue mixing desk – the Allen & Heath GL2400. Nice desk, but an analogue desk! Although it is like riding a bike, I would obviously never forget how to mix on one of these bad boys. But I did miss the features. I missed having everything I could possibly need at my finger tips. I missed having a screen telling me exactly what is going on with my system. I missed having an EQ section that would do what I wanted it to do, rather than be confined to the bandwidth and frequencies that the EQ on the board had.

The show still sounded great, but it made me realize that investing so much in digital consoles was worth every penny.

If you made it along to the show, thank you very much for your support. However, if you could not make it – you can still support Pat by donating to this very good cause at http://www.mycharity.ie/event/patnolansevent/