Tour #1, Day #1, Post #1

So, after a few people have suggested (and I myself was planning on doing so) I've decided to attempt to keep a blog for the entirety of tour.

Unlikely, but we'll see how far I make it. I'm notoriously awful with blogs. Writing for a few days, then giving up...picking up months later only to leave them a few measly posts later.


So, with that small disclaimer...we begin!

There have been a few weeks of paperwork prior to this first post. The show has been in planning stages, so the Sound Designer, Walter, and his Associate, Drew, have spent the past few weeks putting together plans and ideas for what kinds of speakers and gear to use and how it would all work together towards keeping 4,000 screaming kids, per show, happy.

My job is the A1. A1 means, in a literal translation, the first audio. I am in charge, mostly, of the audio department for the show. I run load-in, along with my A2, Squeege, and then I "mix" the show - I control the levels of the actors' mics and the levels of the band (which have been recorded and are played back via computer)

The itnerary is available online (http://www.nicklivetour.com/tickets.html) and as you can see, we're almost never in a city for more than 3 days. This means we load-in, have a show or two, get some dinner/see the city/sleep...then wake up, 3 shows, dinner/city/sleep....wake up, 3 shows, then load-out, climb on the bus at 1a and wake up (at 8a or earlier...) in some other city. Rinse and repeat.

This shall be my life for the next...5 months? 6? 9? 12? Who knows. We'll see how I take to it.


For the next two weeks, though, we're in shop prep. Shop prep, in this case, occurs at Masque Sound, out in East Rutherford, NJ. It's the rental shop from which we're procuring all of our speakers, equipment, and cable. We will spend a total of 9 days there putting together racks of gear and labeling everything. There are also bagels, and a fantastic italian deli nearby that makes it's own mozzarella (known at Anna Bella's as "Mutz")

There will be more (hopefully) posts to follow. And pictures (hopefully) too!

For now, it's late. Have to be up at 7. More tomorrow.