Feb.9/ Went to a large outdoor market around 9am with Shelly and Eo. Shelly went to get fresh fruit and vegetables. I went to get a small clay pot to burn charcoal and inscense in. Picked up some Frankinscense rock crystals in Ethiopia. Eo went to translate, he speaks Bamana somewhat. The market is a thick, teeming mass of humanity doing business. All the vendors we dealt with, after the extended formal greetings - How are you? How is your family? How is your wife? How are things back in America? How did you sleep last night etc. etc. - ask for your name, first and last, and ask about our relationship to each other. Eo is Shelly's son, I am "mon ami." They also want to know where we're from. Unlike Ethiopia or Morocco, there was no haggling required. Everyone gave us a straight up price right away, maybe because Eo spoke the language.
The work today involved a couple of interviews. Mache, the djembe player in the early afternoon in the back of the courtyard at our house, and Madou Diabate in the evening outside on the upstairs balcony. They were both miced with the Sanken lavalier and a Rode shotgun mic on a boom stand with one of those big fluffy windscreens you always see with camera crews. Normally our street is quiet in the evening. On this particular night there was a great deal of noise, motorcycles roaring up and down, a whining dog,and people talking. Still, it seemed to work, just a different atmosphere than we expected.
The upstairs common room in our house has been turned into a Production room. Every night the day's footage is reviewed there. Three large sheets of butcher paper are taped to the wall with story ideas and an outline of the proposed structure for the documentary.
My assistant recently started blogging about this adventure has has uploaded some great photos.
Eo came in and spoke of a local belief that sitting on a camel cures all minor ailments. He had just sat on one and felt great. I suggested we get a camel for these curative properties but I don't think anyone took me seriously.
Early on this trip David mentioned a NY Times article that warned of an increasing Al Qaeda presence in Mali. Bamako was included in the warning without mentioning any real evidence. They (whoever "they" are) are saying it's more dangerous up North in the Timbuktu area. Apparently some French people were kidnapped in Niger and brought into Mali and haven't been heard from since.
Some educated local residents offer a different theory. France wants Mali to sign an extradition treaty so they can send undesireable Malians back. The President of Mali won't sign it so French progandaists cooked up Al Qaeda rumors to hurt the tourism industry in Timbuktu. It's working; normally thriving with visitors this time of year, Dogon country in North Mali and its main city, Timbuktu are getting no tourists this year according to reports I've heard.
Things, or coincidences, seem to manifest easily here sometimes. At the market I was looking for flip flops or sandals to wear around the house. Only saw one vendor and it was all woman's footwear. Later in the afternoon, a vendor showed up at our house with a cartful of sandals and flip flops. Door to door salesman, and tailors, are quite common.
The other day I made a joke about the Rolling Stones. The next cab we got had a couple of Rolling Stones logos affixed to it.
Tuesday, February 15, 2011
Monday, February 14, 2011
Madou Diabate
The Egyptian National Museum of Cairo, located at the center of the recent uprising in Tahrir (or Liberation) Square, contains a reading artifact known as the Stele of Revealing. An ancient Egyptian, funerary piece, it's a central transmission and altar piece in Aleister Crowley's cosmology of Thelema. T he 3rd chapter of the Book of the Law, the revelatory text of Thelema, seems more relevant now than ever before and seemed to forecast current events in Egypt.
I had a room on the 7th floor of the Interconintental Hotel, a hotel on the summit of a hill in Addis Ababa. The room had an adjoining open air balcony with a low railing that amplified the feeling of being very high up. Mornings were clear and crisp. The bright orb of the sun dramatically greeted each day from the East, so dramatic in the elevated open air as to indicate a higher order than the troubled strife of human politics down below.
The footage of the revolution in Egypt seemed everywhere. A flatscreen television prominently displayed Al Jazeera's constant broadcast in the center of the enormous hotel lobby. They even had it silently playing in our rehearsal space.
Still feeling feverish from getting overheated the day before, going through Military checkpoints, seeing soldiers on the street, a soldier checking our bags before entering the museum, a metal detector at the entrance of the hotel, getting stopped outside the U.S. Embassy by soldiers ( one of them with a Jesus Loves You rifle strap) and being questioned for suspected filming of the Embassy ( we weren't), left me with a strong impression that the world is on fire.
Even at the airport on my way out, my bag was thoroughly searched by a soldier in the parking lot before I reached the airport entrance. The soldier sniffed my Tea Tree essential oil to make sure I wasn't packing gasoline or nitroglycerine.
Riding to the airport with Giacomo Bruzzo, an Executive Producer of Method of Defiance, and his friend Carlo, I told him about the documentary we're shooting in Mali. Giacomo is one of the most intelligent, astute, and well-informed listeners of music I've personally encountered. As a point of reference, I asked if he'd heard of the world famous kora player Toumani Diabate and mentioned that we worked with his brother Madou Diabate, also an amazing kora player.
I requested a window seat to look out upon Africa as we made the 7 hour flight over the broadest part of the continent. When I checked, most of it looked brown and flat, no signs of water, vegetation or habitation.
As soon as I got out of the airport in Bamako, the Capital of Mali, I was told that the day's planned shoot, if I was up for it, was with none other than the aforementioned Madou Diabate. I agreed despite a concern that the sunstroke would get reactivated by the unrelenting afternoon sun.
Eo, who met me at the airport, also mentioned that Aja had been called by a well known English musician, Damon Albarn, the former lead singer of Blur, enquiring if Madou was available to play a festival with his band at a festival in Manchester later in the summer.
The shoot took place at an abandoned and unkept complex that had once been a Presidential Palace from the time of Independance in 1961 until the early 1990s. It wasn't the Prez's main residence but a retreat spot on the edge of the city. A beauriful cool spring ran through the grounds; a factory bottling fresh spring water had established itself nearby.
Aja said that kora music reminds a lot of people of water so he positioned Madou in front of the spring to make sure the water was in the frame.
The idea was to have the shoot as natural looking as possible which meant no visible mics in the frame. I tried setting the Audio Technica lavalier mics, one near the sound hole and one on the bridge of the kora. Neither could handle the sound pressure level and were unusable.
While I was away, a new member had joined the crew. Jim was serving as a Producer and additional cameraman. He had with him a very nice Sanken lavalier mic which we placed on the bridge. It didn't overload but had a thin sound. I repositioned it on the body of the kora and it sounded much better. Fortunately, Madou also had a pick-up that we ran through a DI which helped a lot. Still wasn't completetly satisfied with the sound of the kora.
We had set-up a U87 for ambience outside the visual frame. Listening to it soloed revealed that this position was virtually useless for the kora's sound. We ended up transferring the U87 to a small stand and placed it near the sound hole. This became our best and main sound source for the kora. True, it now was in the frame, but looked rather elegant, I thought, and made the kora sound good.
The delicate, liquid sound of the kora played by a master like Madou does remind one one of water flowing.
Healthwise, my physical organism felt good by the end of the shoot and survived the debilitating rush hour air pollutution on the ride back. My trick to combat that is to wear one of those blue germ protection masks you can buy in pharmacies.
The sunstroke did not reactivate, on the contrary, I had gotten past it. The atmosphere of cool water at the Presidential Palace must have tempered and offset the oppressive fire in my body. I enjoyed a delicious meal upon returning home, my first since getting sick.
I had a room on the 7th floor of the Interconintental Hotel, a hotel on the summit of a hill in Addis Ababa. The room had an adjoining open air balcony with a low railing that amplified the feeling of being very high up. Mornings were clear and crisp. The bright orb of the sun dramatically greeted each day from the East, so dramatic in the elevated open air as to indicate a higher order than the troubled strife of human politics down below.
The footage of the revolution in Egypt seemed everywhere. A flatscreen television prominently displayed Al Jazeera's constant broadcast in the center of the enormous hotel lobby. They even had it silently playing in our rehearsal space.
Still feeling feverish from getting overheated the day before, going through Military checkpoints, seeing soldiers on the street, a soldier checking our bags before entering the museum, a metal detector at the entrance of the hotel, getting stopped outside the U.S. Embassy by soldiers ( one of them with a Jesus Loves You rifle strap) and being questioned for suspected filming of the Embassy ( we weren't), left me with a strong impression that the world is on fire.
Even at the airport on my way out, my bag was thoroughly searched by a soldier in the parking lot before I reached the airport entrance. The soldier sniffed my Tea Tree essential oil to make sure I wasn't packing gasoline or nitroglycerine.
Riding to the airport with Giacomo Bruzzo, an Executive Producer of Method of Defiance, and his friend Carlo, I told him about the documentary we're shooting in Mali. Giacomo is one of the most intelligent, astute, and well-informed listeners of music I've personally encountered. As a point of reference, I asked if he'd heard of the world famous kora player Toumani Diabate and mentioned that we worked with his brother Madou Diabate, also an amazing kora player.
I requested a window seat to look out upon Africa as we made the 7 hour flight over the broadest part of the continent. When I checked, most of it looked brown and flat, no signs of water, vegetation or habitation.
As soon as I got out of the airport in Bamako, the Capital of Mali, I was told that the day's planned shoot, if I was up for it, was with none other than the aforementioned Madou Diabate. I agreed despite a concern that the sunstroke would get reactivated by the unrelenting afternoon sun.
Eo, who met me at the airport, also mentioned that Aja had been called by a well known English musician, Damon Albarn, the former lead singer of Blur, enquiring if Madou was available to play a festival with his band at a festival in Manchester later in the summer.
The shoot took place at an abandoned and unkept complex that had once been a Presidential Palace from the time of Independance in 1961 until the early 1990s. It wasn't the Prez's main residence but a retreat spot on the edge of the city. A beauriful cool spring ran through the grounds; a factory bottling fresh spring water had established itself nearby.
Aja said that kora music reminds a lot of people of water so he positioned Madou in front of the spring to make sure the water was in the frame.
The idea was to have the shoot as natural looking as possible which meant no visible mics in the frame. I tried setting the Audio Technica lavalier mics, one near the sound hole and one on the bridge of the kora. Neither could handle the sound pressure level and were unusable.
While I was away, a new member had joined the crew. Jim was serving as a Producer and additional cameraman. He had with him a very nice Sanken lavalier mic which we placed on the bridge. It didn't overload but had a thin sound. I repositioned it on the body of the kora and it sounded much better. Fortunately, Madou also had a pick-up that we ran through a DI which helped a lot. Still wasn't completetly satisfied with the sound of the kora.
We had set-up a U87 for ambience outside the visual frame. Listening to it soloed revealed that this position was virtually useless for the kora's sound. We ended up transferring the U87 to a small stand and placed it near the sound hole. This became our best and main sound source for the kora. True, it now was in the frame, but looked rather elegant, I thought, and made the kora sound good.
The delicate, liquid sound of the kora played by a master like Madou does remind one one of water flowing.
Healthwise, my physical organism felt good by the end of the shoot and survived the debilitating rush hour air pollutution on the ride back. My trick to combat that is to wear one of those blue germ protection masks you can buy in pharmacies.
The sunstroke did not reactivate, on the contrary, I had gotten past it. The atmosphere of cool water at the Presidential Palace must have tempered and offset the oppressive fire in my body. I enjoyed a delicious meal upon returning home, my first since getting sick.
Friday, February 11, 2011
Addis Ababa part 4 - A Night in Hell
Tried posting this yesterday but the local power went out. That seemed quite appropriate for the subject matter.
My approach to recording or mixing audio is always done in the nature of a scientific experiment. In these experiments one may be looking for desired or expected results but nothing is guaranteed. Even when multiplying a number of possibilites to create probabilities designed to work.
As we approached the venue for the evening's concert you could hear music blasting from the PA to the point where Skiz, our videographer, wondered if the opening band had gone on already. It was a DJ turned up about as loud as he could go, or so I thought. Turned him down when I got back to the board; he proceeded to turn himself up. This went on a couple more times until we arrived at an uneasy compromise.
If I had my druthers, there wouldn't have been a DJ in the first place. Blasting club volume sound pressure levels at the back of a 10,000 seat ampitheater isn't my idea of how to warm up the ears of a crowd attending a World Music concert. Later, I found out that Bill had requested no DJ but the promoters didn't agree.
Everything started smoothly enough. The opening act began with an instrumental; everything sounded as it should. When the singer came on her mic sounded too low at first . Was able to get it up to a decent level without feeding back but it still didn't sound quite right, to me. She was using a wireless Beta 58. I'd seen a wireless Beta 58 fall on the concrete earlier in the day and suspected it was the one she had. I asked Sisay to swap her mic with one of the wireless mics the background singers were using and the lead singer sounded much better. At one point Brook Girma gave me a thumb's up.
About halfway through the opening act I started to hear a loud crackling distortion on the left side of the PA. Told Sisay, who had also heard it. He said that a cable connecting the flown line array on the left side had been disconnected which he reconnected. The PA seemed stable for the opening act's last song.
After positioning the mics for Material during the change-over, I headed back to the mix position. I immediately noticed that the DJ, still playing at an excessive level, sounded completely bassy with no discernable treble. I was hoping it was just the DJ.
As soon as Gigi and Material started it was obvious that no high frequencies were coming through the flown line arrays. At first I thought it to be just the left side but later it became clear that both sides were affected. I thought the line arrays weren't on at all but if you went to the front and stuck your head in front of one you could hear midrange at a moderate to low level. I was devastated.
The horns on the cabinets that were not flown still worked so the sound for about half of the crowd nearest to the stage was alright. Back at the mixing board, you could still hear everything but it sounded a million miles away. I went on stage in the middle of a song and told Bill what was happening and suggested we stop the show to fix the problem.
Despite the technical malfunction, the crowd response to Gigi was overwhelmingly positive. People knew the words to her songs and were singing along even at the back. From this, and from the crowd's response to Gigi's banter between songs, I could tell that the crowd at the back could at least understand what she was saying.
Most people didn't seem to realize there was a problem though one tall Britsh non-gentleman berated me quite loudly about the poor sound. I yelled back that the PA was broken. Needless to say, nothing changed from this pointless exchange of amplified hominid grunts and squawks.
Fortunately, they didn't stop the show. That probably would have broken the flow and made people aware of a problem they didn't know about which, more than likely, didn't have an easy solution. I was actually worried that a sizeable portion of the crowd would leave and demand their money back but their love and enthusiasm for Gigi and the excellent musicianship from Material won out over the poor sound.
I did the best I could with a broken PA and ended up turning up the high frequencies on the BSS EQ all the way - something I never do as I prefer to use the House EQ to cut frequencies when needed, never to boost.
At one point, Brook Girma told Bill that the problem had been solved, so I guess it wasn't the end of the world as I knew it.
All in all the concert was considered a total success by everyone. The backstage tent was jam packed with people, trying to meet and have their picture taken with Gigi. The musicians were completely cool about the situation, taking it in stride. "These things happen," was Dominic's response. They had a great show.
I decided to take a lesson in not being overly attached to my work. The frustrating things for me that I was working on not being attached to were: 1) It would have sounded great if the PA hadn't broke down. 2) Despite the loud distortion and the PA cutting out for the opening act, I couldn't get Sisay or Brook to believe me when I said the PA wasn't working. For Brook this is understandable because he's not a technician.
When I got back to my room, my body felt feverish and incredibly sore all over. The climate in Addis is very similar to Northern California, temperature was in the mid 70s in the day and quite cool at night. I didn't think I needed sunscreen and wasn't constantly drinking water like I do in the hot sun of Mali. However, Addis is even closer to the equator than Bamako (our base of operation in Mali) and I'd gotten sun stroked. Had a restless night's sleep and couldn't eat the next day.
I still felt well enough the next day to go to Abegasu's new studio site in Addis with James, our stage tech, and give Abegasu some advice for studio design. My final words to Abegasu were that he should choose a good name for it; James' final words were to make sure to have a good parking lot.
After that, we met up with most everyone else at the Ethiopian National Museum. Saw some human teeth dated at over 10 million years old and saw Lucy, the oldest human skeleton. The old girl wasn't looking too bad for her age. A sign in the display case indicated that Lucy was named after the popular Beatles song, Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds. Quite the foresight her parents must have had!
Following the museum we drove up a hill overlooking Addis, quite a spectactular view. We checked out an Ethiopian Orthodox Church and a smaller museum connected to it. Skiz grilled the attendent about the Arc of the Covenant which he thinks is in the area. The fellow said that a replica of the Arc is in every local church - by that he means a copy of the tablets containing the 10 Commandents which the Arc is supposed to contain. The attendant wouldn't directly answer Skiz's question if he'd seen the real one.
Vultures flying overhead underscored the fragility of life.
My approach to recording or mixing audio is always done in the nature of a scientific experiment. In these experiments one may be looking for desired or expected results but nothing is guaranteed. Even when multiplying a number of possibilites to create probabilities designed to work.
As we approached the venue for the evening's concert you could hear music blasting from the PA to the point where Skiz, our videographer, wondered if the opening band had gone on already. It was a DJ turned up about as loud as he could go, or so I thought. Turned him down when I got back to the board; he proceeded to turn himself up. This went on a couple more times until we arrived at an uneasy compromise.
If I had my druthers, there wouldn't have been a DJ in the first place. Blasting club volume sound pressure levels at the back of a 10,000 seat ampitheater isn't my idea of how to warm up the ears of a crowd attending a World Music concert. Later, I found out that Bill had requested no DJ but the promoters didn't agree.
Everything started smoothly enough. The opening act began with an instrumental; everything sounded as it should. When the singer came on her mic sounded too low at first . Was able to get it up to a decent level without feeding back but it still didn't sound quite right, to me. She was using a wireless Beta 58. I'd seen a wireless Beta 58 fall on the concrete earlier in the day and suspected it was the one she had. I asked Sisay to swap her mic with one of the wireless mics the background singers were using and the lead singer sounded much better. At one point Brook Girma gave me a thumb's up.
About halfway through the opening act I started to hear a loud crackling distortion on the left side of the PA. Told Sisay, who had also heard it. He said that a cable connecting the flown line array on the left side had been disconnected which he reconnected. The PA seemed stable for the opening act's last song.
After positioning the mics for Material during the change-over, I headed back to the mix position. I immediately noticed that the DJ, still playing at an excessive level, sounded completely bassy with no discernable treble. I was hoping it was just the DJ.
As soon as Gigi and Material started it was obvious that no high frequencies were coming through the flown line arrays. At first I thought it to be just the left side but later it became clear that both sides were affected. I thought the line arrays weren't on at all but if you went to the front and stuck your head in front of one you could hear midrange at a moderate to low level. I was devastated.
The horns on the cabinets that were not flown still worked so the sound for about half of the crowd nearest to the stage was alright. Back at the mixing board, you could still hear everything but it sounded a million miles away. I went on stage in the middle of a song and told Bill what was happening and suggested we stop the show to fix the problem.
Despite the technical malfunction, the crowd response to Gigi was overwhelmingly positive. People knew the words to her songs and were singing along even at the back. From this, and from the crowd's response to Gigi's banter between songs, I could tell that the crowd at the back could at least understand what she was saying.
Most people didn't seem to realize there was a problem though one tall Britsh non-gentleman berated me quite loudly about the poor sound. I yelled back that the PA was broken. Needless to say, nothing changed from this pointless exchange of amplified hominid grunts and squawks.
Fortunately, they didn't stop the show. That probably would have broken the flow and made people aware of a problem they didn't know about which, more than likely, didn't have an easy solution. I was actually worried that a sizeable portion of the crowd would leave and demand their money back but their love and enthusiasm for Gigi and the excellent musicianship from Material won out over the poor sound.
I did the best I could with a broken PA and ended up turning up the high frequencies on the BSS EQ all the way - something I never do as I prefer to use the House EQ to cut frequencies when needed, never to boost.
At one point, Brook Girma told Bill that the problem had been solved, so I guess it wasn't the end of the world as I knew it.
All in all the concert was considered a total success by everyone. The backstage tent was jam packed with people, trying to meet and have their picture taken with Gigi. The musicians were completely cool about the situation, taking it in stride. "These things happen," was Dominic's response. They had a great show.
I decided to take a lesson in not being overly attached to my work. The frustrating things for me that I was working on not being attached to were: 1) It would have sounded great if the PA hadn't broke down. 2) Despite the loud distortion and the PA cutting out for the opening act, I couldn't get Sisay or Brook to believe me when I said the PA wasn't working. For Brook this is understandable because he's not a technician.
When I got back to my room, my body felt feverish and incredibly sore all over. The climate in Addis is very similar to Northern California, temperature was in the mid 70s in the day and quite cool at night. I didn't think I needed sunscreen and wasn't constantly drinking water like I do in the hot sun of Mali. However, Addis is even closer to the equator than Bamako (our base of operation in Mali) and I'd gotten sun stroked. Had a restless night's sleep and couldn't eat the next day.
I still felt well enough the next day to go to Abegasu's new studio site in Addis with James, our stage tech, and give Abegasu some advice for studio design. My final words to Abegasu were that he should choose a good name for it; James' final words were to make sure to have a good parking lot.
After that, we met up with most everyone else at the Ethiopian National Museum. Saw some human teeth dated at over 10 million years old and saw Lucy, the oldest human skeleton. The old girl wasn't looking too bad for her age. A sign in the display case indicated that Lucy was named after the popular Beatles song, Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds. Quite the foresight her parents must have had!
Following the museum we drove up a hill overlooking Addis, quite a spectactular view. We checked out an Ethiopian Orthodox Church and a smaller museum connected to it. Skiz grilled the attendent about the Arc of the Covenant which he thinks is in the area. The fellow said that a replica of the Arc is in every local church - by that he means a copy of the tablets containing the 10 Commandents which the Arc is supposed to contain. The attendant wouldn't directly answer Skiz's question if he'd seen the real one.
Vultures flying overhead underscored the fragility of life.
Thursday, February 10, 2011
Addis Ababa part 3
Setting up the LCS was relatively easy. The sound company didn't have an RTA mic but after some trial and error we found one that the LCS would read. Playing a cd through the system sounded a thousand times better after the LCS was calibrated even with the BSS House EQ set flat.
Material's soundcheck was smooth and easy in the House with more work needed to get the stage monitors set. Turning up the sax mic, or any other instrument sounded good immediately with minimal eq needed. For the first time, the vocals sounded as they should. Everything seemed in place.
Back at the hotel, with a four hour break, some of us opted to go down to the main market and see the life of Addis outside a luxury hotel. We requisitioned a van and a driver who was known as Six because he had six fingers on one or both of his hands. We called him Deep Six.
The market held a seemingly endless variety of beautiful Ethiopian handicrafts. We picked up souvenirs and gifts for our loved ones back home. Outside the market Six warned us against ever present pick-pockets. He also told us to be careful with our cameras as desperate people will snatch them out of your hands. We kept our visit to the market short and sweet to ensure enough time to eat and rest before the evening's performance.
Back in my hotel room after the day's activities, my body ached more than usual and was somewhat exhausted. A little yoga and some light food brought it back to life.
Material's soundcheck was smooth and easy in the House with more work needed to get the stage monitors set. Turning up the sax mic, or any other instrument sounded good immediately with minimal eq needed. For the first time, the vocals sounded as they should. Everything seemed in place.
Back at the hotel, with a four hour break, some of us opted to go down to the main market and see the life of Addis outside a luxury hotel. We requisitioned a van and a driver who was known as Six because he had six fingers on one or both of his hands. We called him Deep Six.
The market held a seemingly endless variety of beautiful Ethiopian handicrafts. We picked up souvenirs and gifts for our loved ones back home. Outside the market Six warned us against ever present pick-pockets. He also told us to be careful with our cameras as desperate people will snatch them out of your hands. We kept our visit to the market short and sweet to ensure enough time to eat and rest before the evening's performance.
Back in my hotel room after the day's activities, my body ached more than usual and was somewhat exhausted. A little yoga and some light food brought it back to life.
Tuesday, February 8, 2011
Addis Ababa part 2
Had a soundcheck in the evening after the 2nd day's rehearsal. The venue was outdoors behind the Ghion Hotel, a huge hotel owned by Emporer Haille Selassie's grandson. The PA was brand new, Chinese speakers and cabinets bought and shipped over from Dubai. Mixing was also a brand new 24 mono channel, 4 stereo channel Soundcraft. 4 large subwoofer cabinets per side were set-up on the ground with a couple of mid/high cabinets on top for front fill. An array of about 10 mid/high cabinets were flown on each side. The outboard consisted of 4 consumer grade dbx compressors, a lower end Lexicon multi-processor and a very nice BSS 32 band graphic equalizer for the house.
As soon as I played a cd through the system ( brought a portable cd player and cable) I could tell something wsan't right. For one thing, the left and right sides were radically out of balance with the left side at least 6 dB hotter in level. The crossover was a high end dbx Loud Speaker Control System that had been plugged in but not set up.
This evening's soundcheck didn't have the full band, just the rhythm section and the singers. A full 3hour soundcheck was scheduled for the following day.
Two local female background singers were added to Material's line-up which included Bill Laswell on bass, Hamid Drake - drums, Aiyb Djieng - percussion, Dominic Kanza - guitar, ( Dominic's regular gig these days is with Angelique Kidjo), Abegasu Shiota - keys, Bernie Worrell - keys, and a horn section of Steven Bernstein - trumpet & slide trumpet, and Peter Apfelbaum - tenor sax & flute. Lead singer and star of this show, of course, is Ejigaghu ¨Gigi¨ Shibababow. Another local musician playing a mesinko ( a one-string African lute sounding something like a thick, coarse violin) was slated to sit in for one song.
For this first soundcheck I was able to get the rhythm section sounding fairly decent, however the vocal sound was nasally and abrasive, lots of mid and upper mid frequencies. After Material finished, I stayed and did a soundcheck for the opening act, whose name I didn't get. I had promised to mix their set. This artist currently has a hit song on the local radio stations. 6 songs from her album were produced by Abegasu, a resident of and well-known Producer in Addis.
As I was chcking the local band, I started to get some advice and direction form someone who actually had a good ear and knew what he was talking about. Everything he suggested made sense. Because I did what he suggested, everyone but me was happy with their sound.
The vocals still didn't sound right, so I asked Sisay, the designated system tech, for the Loudspeaker Control System manuel which I planned to study in order to set it up properly the following day. Got back to the hotel at about 11:30 pm and looked at the manuel for about 1/2 hour before retiring.
The Loud Speaker Control System is basically a mini audio computer. They're supposed to come wit a RTA ( Real Time Analyzer) mic that's set-up about 25 feet in front of the speakers and connects to the unit. The LCS generates pink noise, balances the levels between the left and right speaker stacks, and then sets a House EQ curve. It also has an Advanced Feedback Suppressor function, which, from what I can tell, is basically a series of notch filters to eliminate feedback. The way it works is that you turn all your mics on and slowly raise the level until it starts feeding back whereupon the unit detremines the likely feedback frequencies.
I arranged to get to the venue an hour early the next day to set up the LCS. On the way ove I asked Brook Girma, one of the promoters, if anyhting like the uprising going on in Egypt had happened here in Addis. He said there was one in 2005 that lasted 2 or 3 days before the miltary stepped in and ended it.
On the way, we passed Haille Sellassie's former palace. I noticed a number of white U.N. SUV's. Soçme, but not all of them had the international symbol for no automatic weapons - a picture of a black machine gun inside a red circle with a red X over the gun. This made me wonder if the U.N. vehicles without that symbol carried automatic weapons.
A military checkpoint was in full operation set-up just before the entrance to the venue. Soldiers were making a visual search and in some cases getting people to open their trunks. Traffic was backed up, so a number of street vendors and beggars approached our sedan. One child tried to sell me a pack of Venus chewing gum.
TO BE CONTINUED...
As soon as I played a cd through the system ( brought a portable cd player and cable) I could tell something wsan't right. For one thing, the left and right sides were radically out of balance with the left side at least 6 dB hotter in level. The crossover was a high end dbx Loud Speaker Control System that had been plugged in but not set up.
This evening's soundcheck didn't have the full band, just the rhythm section and the singers. A full 3hour soundcheck was scheduled for the following day.
Two local female background singers were added to Material's line-up which included Bill Laswell on bass, Hamid Drake - drums, Aiyb Djieng - percussion, Dominic Kanza - guitar, ( Dominic's regular gig these days is with Angelique Kidjo), Abegasu Shiota - keys, Bernie Worrell - keys, and a horn section of Steven Bernstein - trumpet & slide trumpet, and Peter Apfelbaum - tenor sax & flute. Lead singer and star of this show, of course, is Ejigaghu ¨Gigi¨ Shibababow. Another local musician playing a mesinko ( a one-string African lute sounding something like a thick, coarse violin) was slated to sit in for one song.
For this first soundcheck I was able to get the rhythm section sounding fairly decent, however the vocal sound was nasally and abrasive, lots of mid and upper mid frequencies. After Material finished, I stayed and did a soundcheck for the opening act, whose name I didn't get. I had promised to mix their set. This artist currently has a hit song on the local radio stations. 6 songs from her album were produced by Abegasu, a resident of and well-known Producer in Addis.
As I was chcking the local band, I started to get some advice and direction form someone who actually had a good ear and knew what he was talking about. Everything he suggested made sense. Because I did what he suggested, everyone but me was happy with their sound.
The vocals still didn't sound right, so I asked Sisay, the designated system tech, for the Loudspeaker Control System manuel which I planned to study in order to set it up properly the following day. Got back to the hotel at about 11:30 pm and looked at the manuel for about 1/2 hour before retiring.
The Loud Speaker Control System is basically a mini audio computer. They're supposed to come wit a RTA ( Real Time Analyzer) mic that's set-up about 25 feet in front of the speakers and connects to the unit. The LCS generates pink noise, balances the levels between the left and right speaker stacks, and then sets a House EQ curve. It also has an Advanced Feedback Suppressor function, which, from what I can tell, is basically a series of notch filters to eliminate feedback. The way it works is that you turn all your mics on and slowly raise the level until it starts feeding back whereupon the unit detremines the likely feedback frequencies.
I arranged to get to the venue an hour early the next day to set up the LCS. On the way ove I asked Brook Girma, one of the promoters, if anyhting like the uprising going on in Egypt had happened here in Addis. He said there was one in 2005 that lasted 2 or 3 days before the miltary stepped in and ended it.
On the way, we passed Haille Sellassie's former palace. I noticed a number of white U.N. SUV's. Soçme, but not all of them had the international symbol for no automatic weapons - a picture of a black machine gun inside a red circle with a red X over the gun. This made me wonder if the U.N. vehicles without that symbol carried automatic weapons.
A military checkpoint was in full operation set-up just before the entrance to the venue. Soldiers were making a visual search and in some cases getting people to open their trunks. Traffic was backed up, so a number of street vendors and beggars approached our sedan. One child tried to sell me a pack of Venus chewing gum.
TO BE CONTINUED...
Friday, February 4, 2011
Addis Ababa
Trying to get anything done in Africa always meets with much resistance as the people trying for a regime change in Egypt will tell you.
At the moment of our first rehearsal it was announced that the location of the rehearsal was no longer available even though this was supposedly set up months in advance. Some scrambling ensued while the promoter found another spot which, conveniently enough, was in a club in the basement of the hotel we're staying at. All in all, the rehearsal started 3 hours late and had to end when the nightclub, Club Voltage, ended. On a positive note, they had a good amp and cabinets for Bill to use - a Peavy Max 700 with a Hartke 4x10, a Hartke 15, and a Peavy 8 x 10 with a brand new Marshall 200 watt head for back-up. Dominic, the guitar player, also got the amp he prefers, a Roland JC12.
Even though we are a a 5 star International Hotel, there are still periodic power blackouts though they only last a few minutes. This stopped our rehearsal a couple of times.
Lots of Ethiopian English language newspapers - thought there would be much coverage of the Egyptian situation but barely a word - mostly reporting on local and national issues. Wondered if this was some kind of news blackout, but doesn't seem so. Much coverage on TV, they have CNN, BBC and Al Jazeera broadcasting it in the rooms. Yesterday they had the coverage broadcasting with sound in the lobby as I was going for breakfast. Noticed an interesting juxtaposition getting ready to leave for soundcheck. A synth and sax player played Arabic muzak - very soft and mellow - as images of the uprising, revolution, military coup - whatever it is, were shown on television behind them. Some people are oblivious to the world burning behind them.
This area of the world is very "hot" right now. Egypt, Yemen, Tunisia and Jordan, all of them experiencing unrest, are in the neighborhood. The people in Addis appear very friendly and relaxed so it seems unlikely that would happen here although there was a nearly sucessful assasination attempt on Mubarak in Addis Ababa in the 1980s.
Gotta go - more later.
At the moment of our first rehearsal it was announced that the location of the rehearsal was no longer available even though this was supposedly set up months in advance. Some scrambling ensued while the promoter found another spot which, conveniently enough, was in a club in the basement of the hotel we're staying at. All in all, the rehearsal started 3 hours late and had to end when the nightclub, Club Voltage, ended. On a positive note, they had a good amp and cabinets for Bill to use - a Peavy Max 700 with a Hartke 4x10, a Hartke 15, and a Peavy 8 x 10 with a brand new Marshall 200 watt head for back-up. Dominic, the guitar player, also got the amp he prefers, a Roland JC12.
Even though we are a a 5 star International Hotel, there are still periodic power blackouts though they only last a few minutes. This stopped our rehearsal a couple of times.
Lots of Ethiopian English language newspapers - thought there would be much coverage of the Egyptian situation but barely a word - mostly reporting on local and national issues. Wondered if this was some kind of news blackout, but doesn't seem so. Much coverage on TV, they have CNN, BBC and Al Jazeera broadcasting it in the rooms. Yesterday they had the coverage broadcasting with sound in the lobby as I was going for breakfast. Noticed an interesting juxtaposition getting ready to leave for soundcheck. A synth and sax player played Arabic muzak - very soft and mellow - as images of the uprising, revolution, military coup - whatever it is, were shown on television behind them. Some people are oblivious to the world burning behind them.
This area of the world is very "hot" right now. Egypt, Yemen, Tunisia and Jordan, all of them experiencing unrest, are in the neighborhood. The people in Addis appear very friendly and relaxed so it seems unlikely that would happen here although there was a nearly sucessful assasination attempt on Mubarak in Addis Ababa in the 1980s.
Gotta go - more later.
Thursday, February 3, 2011
Update
Recorded a master djembe player named Mache and his ensemble by the banks of the Niger on the outskirts of Bamako a couple of days ago. We were in a small field surrounded by a stone wall normally used for livestock. Set-up the computer and Pro Tools 03 under a mango tree with the musicians under another mango tree about 75 feet away.
Th ensemble consisted of a dun dun player ( like a bass drum) two djembe soloists, two djembe accompianists, and a kokanee ( a drum played with a mallet whose pitch is midway between a djembe and a dun dun. The dun dun is also played with a mallet and is set up on it's side with another smaller drum on top of it and a bell on top of that. Double miced the drums as much as possible. Used all dynamic mics, 57s and D112s except for a km184 on the bell and a u87 for ambience. Got some great ambient bounce off of the stone wall.
Had a problem powering up our Presonus mic pres. Powered everything else down then turned on the Presonus and it powered up and stayed on after everything else was turned back on.
The drumming was consciously trance inducing and uplifting. Had to deliberately maintain part of my attention on the recording process. After they got the pieces they had planned for the recording, they tried some newer ones with some quite complicated polyrhythms. Hopefully we'll be able to put those on the cd.
Flew to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia very early the next morning which was quite the adventure. My luggage is still on the adventure, I'm hoping it will turn up today. Staying and writing this from the Intercontinental Hotel. Distressing news out of Egypt ( seen on CNN) but very little mention of it in the local newspapers which I though odd.
Th ensemble consisted of a dun dun player ( like a bass drum) two djembe soloists, two djembe accompianists, and a kokanee ( a drum played with a mallet whose pitch is midway between a djembe and a dun dun. The dun dun is also played with a mallet and is set up on it's side with another smaller drum on top of it and a bell on top of that. Double miced the drums as much as possible. Used all dynamic mics, 57s and D112s except for a km184 on the bell and a u87 for ambience. Got some great ambient bounce off of the stone wall.
Had a problem powering up our Presonus mic pres. Powered everything else down then turned on the Presonus and it powered up and stayed on after everything else was turned back on.
The drumming was consciously trance inducing and uplifting. Had to deliberately maintain part of my attention on the recording process. After they got the pieces they had planned for the recording, they tried some newer ones with some quite complicated polyrhythms. Hopefully we'll be able to put those on the cd.
Flew to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia very early the next morning which was quite the adventure. My luggage is still on the adventure, I'm hoping it will turn up today. Staying and writing this from the Intercontinental Hotel. Distressing news out of Egypt ( seen on CNN) but very little mention of it in the local newspapers which I though odd.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)