DEADMAUS @HARRAH'S POOL ATLANTIC CITY NJ OCTOBER 5

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                                                                          Not Deadmau5

This show was pretty interesting. Deadmau5 is a producer who makes some really great tracks. He headlined a party at Harrah's pool in Atlantic City. It's a cool venue with Cabanas and lots of little mini pools all over the place.

Because of the crazy acoustics we had to bring in 8 zones of PA. Another challenge was that we could only set up the system from 4pm-8pm and then only listen to it from 1am-5am. Essentially we had to set up an 8 zone pa 3 times for one show. Which is no big deal it happens all the time. The lighting and video were pretty minimal just that rearprojection screen and a few very wet plasmas downstage.

My gig on this was patching the dj's into the system as they come up. We  have 12 or 24 channels of audio that go to the control area then into the amps.So the dj tells me how many channels they need and I get them set up. I then communicate with the FOH mixer and he turns on the channels as I cue him.   there was probably 10 dj's that day or something like that. We only use 3 dj mixers for that though. 2 for the openers and 1 for the headline dj.
Deadmau5 uses one channel. I won't go into how he mixes his set. I will say that his style of mixing is fantastic. He is getting the best quality sound out of his track by using wav files and he blows the other dj's off the stage. I am a bedroom dj pretty much jungle and d and b. But i totally respected his sound and he dropped some dubstep tracks that were fantastic. He was pretty cool as well. Getting him onstage was nervewracking though because he flew in and landed an hour before his set which he was late for...

 Best pic I got of him. Since I'm working I try not to take too many pics of the artist...

 Crowd for Deadmaus. Shit got so wild that the pool overflowed  underneath the entire stage and blew the power for some lighting and video. Of course See Factor's audio was flawless. And if it had been See Factor lighting that would have been flawless as well.

 This was a fun party but loading out afterwards really sucked. The party ended at 3:30 and we had everything in the truck by 8am or so... Some party pics follow...

Ahh the truck... I love watching the doors close...

ALL TOMORROW'S PARTIES Monticello NY 2010

ATP 2010 was one of the best events I have ever been a part of. For someone of my age ( and any age really) this festival was the best collection of acts in many years. And the best part is you get to stay with them all  in a crusty old resort called Kutsher's. Kutsher's is not exactly equipped for a rock festival so it took a lot of preproduction to get to the point of where we could have a successful show. I will take you through the process a bit. My bit was I was in charge of building the stages the bands played on and then during the show I was the FOH mixer for the B stage. A lot of the pics are crap so please forgive...

 We replaced the preexisting stage with a 40'x 24' stage with a wing off of stage right to store band gear that was 8'x 12'

This venue was state of the art when it was built. Unfortunately that was in the 1930's so it's not exactly technically state of the art. However the room was designed with fantastic acoustics and sight lines. Not a bad seat in the house. The company I work for brought in outdoor festival style sound and lighting as well as the staging. This was the main room where most of the big acts played. Here's what we looked like full rock mode.

I believe this was during Sleep. They totally rocked. I had never heard them before but they were sick. If anyone wants tech specs let me know. 

The B stage was a much easier stage to put together. That room was empty so we just built a 40' x 24' stage. The challenge for me personally was to build a handicapped stage to ADA standards. Most staging techs just throw up a ramp or something but I used to work with the handicapped and I made sure it was perfect.

Before.

After. This is my position for this gig I was the Front of House mixer for this stage which means I mixed any band that came through without a sound guy. I had a blast and the best part was mixing one of the WuTang members the GZA. I loved his first record and a lot of early Wu so it was really fun for me.  His Dj was really drunk though and it kinda sucked. But I had fun.

That's me doing my thing...

The best thing about this festival to me was the fact that the artists hungout on the resort with the fans. Total interactive music experience and definitely is the future of the music scene. Thurston Moore,Jim Jarmusch and many others were hanging out all day and night...

Some pics from the resort hang out. This place was nuts. Chipmunks running around. 50's lounge singers who had been singing there since the 50's performing in the lounge at 11 am. I went to a stairwell party that I found out about on a sign hung in the elevator. There is no way to really describe it so I will post some pics...

 Unisex bathroom? Maybe? I was afraid to look.

 Spooky ass smelly hallway that had flickering lights and bugs all over the place...

 Random poker game we found at 4 am in the morning. Supposedly the games were being hosted by steve albini the famous producer... I was totally out of it by the time I found this place...

 Just one of the landmarks I used to get around Kutsher's. It never moved in the 6 days i was there

Another random landmark

A chipmunk that was running around the hotel all weekend. We almost caught it!

So all in all it was a fantastic weekend. A lot of work and a lot of partying but we carried on... I will post a few more pics...

 Jay and Alban. Jay is Lamb of God's lighting designer/tour manager. The room looked and sounded fantastic.

 My good friend Harvey and the guitarist from Mastodon. I don't know his name so we will call him Masto. He especially enjoyed the Kutsher's experience and went totally fucking wild. At 6am he kicked the adjoining door of   my coworker Drew's room and tried to pee in his sink. His girl came flying through the door after him and managed to get him to pee in the garbage can. He crawled into bed with Drew and Drew said he felt wet. I think Drew got a cot to sleep on.

 Co worker Drew.

 Sonic Youth Guitar amp

 Stagehand with a  cool tattoo

Yes Ron Jeremy lurked in the hallways until the wee hours. I harassed him a little bit.

 Two of the other stagehands drinking in my room until 5am...

My FOH area for the weekend. My uncle died that weekend so I had a little shrine going for him... Midas heritage 3k with Klark dn370's driving a lake processed 4 vdoscv.1 +4 sb218's per side. I got tons of compliments and overall the sound got great reviews...

Random weirdness in the elevator

 Monitor position stage b

 Recordists for stage b

 Stage b Random look

 Sonic Youth main stage

Jay after two really long days for the lighting crew. They put a lot of effort into this one and it paid off...

http://www.npr.org/blogs/allsongs/2010/09/07/129707926/all-tomorrow-s-parties
much better pics.

http://www.atpfestival.com/newsview/1101260100.php
The official site. About ATP. They are an organization strictly about the music. They aren't getting rich as a matter of fact I'm pretty sure the main promoters lose money on a lot of these festivals. So I highly recommend going to one before they are broke! Good things don't last forever!

Good gigs of 2010 part 1

 Marlon and Alex. 2 more of my colleagues. Both brilliant.

 More Spoon. I don't know much about them.

 Spoon at Radio City Feb. 2010

 Rahzel checking his mic while Jared inspects the rigging.

 Jared and Joel. Two of the best sound guys in NYC and my colleagues.

 Best pic I got of the madness that is Mike Patton

 Faith No More in Brooklyn

 Mike Patton in Brooklyn 7.2.10

 Faith No More Philly 7.3.10

Faith No More Philadelphia 7.3.10. Mike Patton climbed a truss ladder stage right and got stuck there. Not exactly a smart move on his part because there is a lot of technique involved...I feel blessed having worked with those guys on their reunion. I saw them in 1990 opening for Billy Idol. They blew him off the stage.