Day 1 - Saturday. Quench cafe - Elaine Delmar. The first day of a festival is always stressfull. There is always the nagging fear that it will all go wrong. My role in the festival is to sort out the sound. Unlike the rest of the team, I do nothing till the week of the festival, then have the ultimate responsibility for the success or failure of the evening. We started the festival with a new venue, a 17 piece band and a new PA rig - no pressure then.
Having 30 years worth of experience helps me a lot. The Quench Cafe is a challenging venue. A glass wall, a huge echo. Probably the worst accoustics for a 17 piece Jazz band to play to our target audience. The upside was a talented group of players and a great, highly experienced singer. I've done the sound for many Jazz bands and the challenge is always the same. It is the complete opposite of rock bands, who know that getting a good sound is your job. Jazz bands always think they are marvellous and don't need a sound guy.
As such, whilst rock bands treasure a sound check, some jazzers treat it with disdain. This isn't really a problem, as I understand the genre & the dynamics, it just means that often the first set is a bit of a "live soundcheck". Time and again we get the same comment "Why did the first set sound worse than the second" - Because you didn't do a proper sound check and we had to get the levels sorted out.
Luckily for me, my co-conspiritor Gerry Keane, knows the way I work. We made a few adjustments in the interval, repositioned a few microphones, when the beady eyes were looking the other way and hey presto - it all went swimmingly. Elaine Delmar is a great singer, so it was a pleasure to see her in action. The Double bass player and the drummer in the backing band "The Alan Ganley experience" were also very good. Personal highlight was Elaine's rendition of "Smoke gets in your eyes".
As with all gigs, the sound guys are the last to go home. I just made it into the Mill Hill Tandoori before they put the lights off. Chef had gone, but they gave me a pint. That was bliss. Onto the Good old Boys at the Adam and Eve tomorrow.
By the way, it was nice to say hello to the Barnet Eye readers who introduced themselves to me. Especially the guy who asked me three times which one was Rog T. After the third go at saying "That's me", he replied "Oh, you don't really look like I imagined". I replied "Oh, so you were expecting someone older, fatter and balder". He diplomatically responded "I don't really know what I was expecting.." Then he smiled and said "Keep it going, I really think that you are sayings thing which need saying".
As I was working I had to crack on. I really appreciate people saying hi, please just remember I'm working doing the sound at the gigs, so I can't chat too much, I reall hope I don't come across as rude, if you catch me when I'm really busy, I just have to focus on making the band sound great for the paying public.
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