For engineers who are not yet familiar with the the engineers on your team. For smaller venues throughout the recorded virtual tracks that are
console or in cases where a different worship or spaces where there is a lot of stage volume similar to those surprise changes you may
band or choir is coming into the venue, these bleeding out into the house, you may want to encounter in real life and maybe pepper in a
offline editor apps can save a lot of time record a couple ambient mics into the mix to few really extreme bits just for fun.
and allow for the necessary fine-tuning and better replicate the experience with the virtual designing and adjusting layouts well in advance soundcheck. The goal for this exercise is to With these changes made, invite your engineers
of the first rehearsal. stand at the console and have the virtual track to react to the changes on the fly and start to
playback sound as close as possible to the real build their ears and their console dexterity and
thing. muscle memory as they are forced to hunt
But how do we train engineers to respond
quickly to the bassist who decides to kick in
down the problem tracks and navigate their
their new octave pedal and fill the stage with If we stopped here, we’d have a great tool way quickly to the most appropriate solution to
ultra-low frequency energy that wasn’t there to train new engineers and to try out new the various problems. Perhaps you could award
in soundcheck? Or the keyboardist who plugins or outboard gear or play with EQs, points for catching the wacky bits quickly and
decides to move the kick drum mic so they etc. and twiddle knobs and faders to your create a bit of a friendly virtual soundcheck
have a better spot for their Starbucks coffee heart’s content without having to assemble the competition with your team? Have fun and get
to sit while they play? What about the guitarist worship band. But why stop there? We can get creative!
who somehow always manages to have just a a bit sneaky and have tons of fun by editing few more decibels packed away as each solo those recorded tracks in a DAW (like Logic or With these two free tools, offline editor apps
comes along? Enter the Virtual Soundcheck Pro Tools) and challenging the engineers to and virtual soundcheck, engineers can do the
Challenge! react to the changes — creating a sort of live careful advance work and become more adept
sound sight-reading practice session. at reacting to sudden and unexpected changes
GAME ON! THE VIRTUAL SOUNDCHECK CHALLENGE:
that will inevitably occur during a worship
Just as all major digital console manufacturers Emulate the bass player’s secret octave pedal service. Now if only we had an app for remotely
offer an offline app for console management, by inserting an extreme low-end boost on the disabling guitar amp gain knobs…
they also offer a means of recording and recorded bass track. Abruptly shave a few playing back tracks through the console and dB and some low-end frequency off of the PA system as a ‘virtual soundcheck’. Have your kick drum track to replicate the Starbucks- worship band perform a few go-to praise tunes addled keyboardist shifting the mic position. and record them into your console or recording Exaggerate the guitar solo levels on your software to use as reference training tracks for tracks here and there. Basically, make changes
Free Offline Editor software from Avid, DiGiCo and Allen & Heath
August 2019
Jeff Hawley
a 20-year music industry veteran—equally at ease
behind the console, playing bass guitar, leading
marketing teams or designing award-winning
audio products. He currently heads up the
marketing for Allen & Heath in the US.
Allen & Heath’s dLive MixPad and dLive Director apps
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