Tag Archive - fishman aura

Performing with Zen Soundscapes for the CHI 2011 Conference on Human Factors in Computing System

May 9, 2011 in Behind the scene at the Gigs with 0 Comments

Outside the ballroom at CHI 2011

The Vancouver Convention Center West

Today I’ll be performing at the new Vancouver convention center with Gabriel Mark Hasselbach’s Zen Soundscapes.

We now have two Vancouver Convention Centers right beside each other so we now label them as VCC West and VCC East to be sure we all show up at the right venue. So for

The Zen Soundscapes Trio setup - Check out the view behind us!

Our trio set up at CHI 2011

this gig I’ll plan on arriving at the loading dock of VCC West no later than 4:30 pm.

For this gig we’re not permitted to enter through the main doors. It makes perfect sense as it’s really tacky to have everyone carting all their gear into the venue during a high profile event.

The view from my chair before the gig

My guitar rig - guitar to GE7 to Aura 16 to T1 to PA

Once again with Zen Soundscapes there are no charts and we just make it up as we go. This is the kind of gig they don’t teach in college. “The art of playing Zen music” What is that? I’m still not exactly sure what we’re playing however it always sounds great and I have a blast every time I play with these guys!

Most of the time somebody starts playing something and we all join in to see where it takes us. Once in a while we may call out a key. Sometimes we may even play a jazz standard or Ottmar Liebert style tune. It’s all very zen???

The view of Stanley Park behind us

People arriving to the conference ballroom

The nice part about this gig is I don’t have to bring a sound system. Just my guitar and amp. I’ll use my flamenco guitar however this gig would be just as cool with my strat. (Fender electric).

Once again I have no idea who we are performing to however upon arrival I discovered that we will be playing the CHI 2011 Conference on Human Factors in Computing System.

I arrived at the venue’s loading dock at 4:45 pm and was escorted to the ballroom were I met up with Gabriel M. Hasselbach and Tilden Webb (keyboards). They were already set up and ready to go. Five minutes later I was also set up and ready to play. Being a sideman can be wonderful as there is no sound system to set up.

We're back there performing against the glass surrounded by a sea of people!

For this gig I’m using my flamenco guitar plugged into my boss GE7 eq pedal (for a volume boost and eq). From there I’m plugged into my Fishman Aura 16 then to the bose T1 digital mixer. I use the bose T1 as a preamp for my guitar. The T1 also gives me delay, reverb and compression. From there I’m plugged into a DI (direct box) then to a D212 powered monitor and the Zen Soundscapes sound system.

Even Google was there, How Cool was That!

We began our performance at 5:30pm and I played until 6:30pm. At that time I took a 15 minute break. This was a massive conference, I couldn’t believe all the people that were here! Also here were all the internet players such as Google, Paypal, Ebay, etc… Very interesting!

I went back to the band stand at 6:45pm and we continued performing to 7:30pm. Once I was done it was time to pack up my guitar rig and hit the road home.

Check back Wednesday as I’ll be performing with guitarist Andre Stepanian out at Simon Fraser University (SFU) for their noon hour concert series.

Stay tuned…

Performing a Fiery Guitar Concert with Ben Woods – March 12, 2011

March 10, 2011 in Behind the scene at the Gigs with 0 Comments

This Behind the scene gig post began with three previous posts. The first I talked about the initial stages I took to create our March 12th performance. Creating a Local Concert – Step 1 Finding the venue & Creating a Local Concert – Step 2 – Tickets & Marketing the Show

The third post was a press release and video that was released to the press You can read it here…

Today is Thursday, two days before the big performance. All the press and marketing has been done. It’s now time to focus on the show itself. I’ve been rehearsing all the material over the past month. The set lists have been created and now it’s time to get down to a couple of serious rehearsals.

Ben arrives today and we’ll begin rehearsing together tonight at my rehearsal studio. This will be a band only rehearsal. We’ll be incorporating dance in Friday’s rehearsals.

Once Ben arrives we’ll rehearse the show as a duo then tonight at 7:30pm we’ll rehearse as a quartet. Again running the entire performance. Also joining us will be Geoff Duecka our concert sound engineer.

It’s now 9am and it’s time for me to get the rehearsal studio ready. I’ll need on stage sound reinforcement for both Ben and I, chairs and music stands. Brent will have his on stage bass amp and Lyndon will bring the drums and percussion instruments. I’ll be using my flamenco guitar into the fishman aura 16 then into my bose t1 preamp. I’ll also use my RC50 loop station. On stage I’ll use a behringer B212 D powered monitor. Ben’s flamenco guitar will be plugged into my 16 channel monitor mix board. From the board Ben can dial in his guitar sound, add reverb and send it to his own powered on stage monitor. The monitor mix board will also supply Brent (bass) and Lyndon (drums) their own monitor mix for the concert.

What a great time everyone  had performing at the show. It’s now Sunday morning and the event is over. I’d like to thank everyone for coming out and all the volunteers for their support!

We arrived at the theatre at 4pm to load in. Upon arrive I met with the theatre manager to finalize the contract. I also met the theater crew. This was a great group of people to have working for us. They all worked extremely hard to have us set up, lit and sound check by 7pm, ready to perform.

At 8:10 we hit the stage and aside from a bad cable and a fog machine on steroids the performance went extremely well. During the first set I really enjoyed performing an authentic flamenco Sevillanas with Ben and Stephanie.

After at short intermission it was time to play our second set. At the end of our performance we wrapped up the night with an encore performance of Caravan.

Solo rumba flamenco guitar performance at a birthday!

March 5, 2011 in Behind the scene at the Gigs with 0 Comments

It’s been a nice relaxing day after a very busy week! I managed to upload a bunch of new youtube video’s. Rehearsed a little guitar, walked the dogs and now it’s time to get ready for this evenings gig.

Tonight I’ll be performing solo rumba flamenco guitar for a clients birthday party at a private residence in Vancouver.
I’ll arrive at the venue at 6:30pm to set up as guests will be arriving at 7:30pm. My performance will begin at 8pmish and end around 10pmish. Basically a 2 hour call time from the time I begin.

I arrived at 6:30pm, what a nice place and really great people. I was set up by 7pm then relaxed for awhile. I began playing at 8pm as everyone had arrived.

I finished my performance at 10pm and had a bite to eat. The food was fantastic!

(btw… as a rule I never eat unless I’m invited. I’m hired to work and not paid to join the party. I think too many musicians overlook this and it can lead to a bad reputation as a corporate, guitarist for hire, working musician.)

Once I finished my break I then played for an extra half hour before packing up at 11.

For this performance I used my bose T1 mixer and 2 yamaha small pa speakers with my fender pa7500 power amp. I was the perfect sized sound system for the event.

Once again I used my Fishman Aura 16 for my guitar sound. I really love the way it’s working out with my bose t1 acting as a guitar preamp. With med compression and eq my guitar sounds fantastic! No problems with feedback.

Next up it’s time to prepare for Saturday’s big concert March 12th at the Chief Sepass Theatre with Ben Woods and the band!

Playing guitar at the Terminal City Club for Read Jones Christoffersen

February 25, 2011 in Behind the scene at the Gigs with 0 Comments

Last night I performed with my rumba flamenco guitar trio for Read Jones Christoffersen at the Vancouver Terminal City Club. With me on the gig was bass guitarist Brent Gubbels and percussionist Lyndon dewitt.

Setting up the stage in the ballroom at the Terminal City Club

Setting up the stage in the ballroom at the Terminal City Club

Unfortunately I haven’t been using my RC50 lately so this was the perfect gig to bring it back. I’ve also really improved on my guitar sound. I’m now plugging into my fishman aura 16 and then into my bose T1 digital mixer to use as my guitar preamp. Within the mixer I apply a compression, reverb, eq and a slight doubling with delay. I’ll create a detailed post soon with all the details. I’m now happier than ever with my guitar sound.

Also, we now have a band member (Lyndon tonight), walk the room while I’m performing to adjust the bands volume once the room fills up. The toughest part of this gig in getting the bands volume right. We have to be heard at a nice quiet ambient volume were the guest can enjoy us and still easily talk with each other.

It's a full house!

It's a full house!

This was a very loud room! I’ve done this gig many times before and thought it would be interesting to check the volume of the room with it full of people networking. I used a db meter for this and to my surprise the chatter was 82db! That’s louder than your alarm clock.

Packing up at the end of the night

Packing up at the end of the night

In order for us to be heard at a nice ambient level I use my larger sound system with 4 pa speakers across the longest wall in the room. We also use monitors on stage to fill the stage area.

The gig for us began at 5pm and we performed until 9pm. We had a great time playing especially because we all use in ear monitors in one ear to hear our instruments above all the chatter. We also had a lot of great feedback from our client.

Today it’s off to the Rocky Mountaineer Station for a gig with TM Events. Stay tuned…

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