KJ Singh uses Venue for Harris Jayaraj at Festival City
Published: MEA
UAE: Indian sound engineer KJ Singh was using an Avid Venue console for the recent open air Harris Jayaraj concert at Dubai’s Festival City. Mr Singh is an intensive Venue user and has found a number of the features beneficial for his work.
‘Harris Jayaraj travels with a large contingent of musicians and singers taking the input count to almost 90, hence I like to mix out of groups and DCA’s,’ explained Mr Singh. ‘It gives me more control to mix the band with fewer faders and I can reach across and “SPILL” stuff for finer control of the DCA channels,’ said the sound engineer.
‘On some shows I do a full 96-track recording and having venue link is a huge time saver when one has to name 96 tracks!’ added Mr Singh. ‘I think the integration post Venue Link is getting better and better.
One of the features the sound engineer is particularly impressed by is the Virtual Soundcheck. ‘Virtual Soundcheck is the most powerful, under-rated feature of Venue and Pro Tools integration,’ he stated. ‘The attention to detail that I can manage is just not possible when doing a live soundcheck. There are so many creative ways to use effects and tighten up instruments and vocals. I love it!
‘With most Indian artists and events it is not possible to get enough time to do a proper soundcheck or balance the band for FOH and monitors. But the few times that I have managed to record a band and done Virtual Soundcheck, it has helped a lot in doing that balance without the band,’ he continued. ‘Also, having access to showfiles along with snapshots makes the setup time much shorter and feels like you are catching it from mid-stream rather than from the start. Library of processing like EQ/Comp/Gate/Reverb are also great starting point and I have managed to store my own favourite setups that I now carry. This all speeds up the band setup time,’ explained Mr Singh.
‘I cannot say enough good things about Snapshots,’ enthused the sound engineer. ‘So much power lies beneath the hood of this single feature. I have been building snapshots with each consecutive show, and it just does its job beautifully every time. The thing to watch out here is knowing what to scope and propagate,’ he advised.
Following his experiences using Venue consoles, Mr Singh does offer some advice to other engineers about the desks. ‘Get rid of the fear that the console might not open up the way you saved it, whether it is a showfile or a snapshot,’ he stated. ‘Get to learn the various shortcuts that are available on the console to reach a certain feature. Always check the console when starting off to see if it is set up the way you would want to, in terms of the DSP engines, Aux sends, metering and pick-off points. Keep your workflow simple and easy to trouble-shoot, in case the need arises. And during a concert stay in Show mode!’