The awesomeness of Sass Jordan

I mentioned in an earlier post that I had an upcoming show with Sass Jordan at the theatre. Well that show has come and gone and I'm sad that it's over. Easily the highlight of my season for a number of reasons. Mostly because it's probably the only show in that particular series that I'll get to mix this year.

It seems as though more and more acts that are playing the theatre are bringing their own FOH tech. It's totally normal that many acts would want to have their own FOH tech for a variety of reasons, not the least of which being consistency. I myself work with a handful of bands on a regular basis and am starting a tour this week with one such act. But it is a little bit of a shift for the theatre, as the acts that have traditionally been booked into the room were up-and-coming artists who usually didn't already have their on FOH tech. This has been one of the best parts of the house gig for me, since it meant I got to mix a lot of great acts in a room that I know well and on a rig that I've pretty much built myself. I've also recorded the majority of these shows for the artists who have been happy to have a quality recording of a great show and have allowed me to keep a copy for my personal use. Over the past few years, this has turned into a great treasure of music for me.

But back to Sass. I must say, it's actually quite surprising that I haven't done a show with her previously. When you spend the amount of time that I have on the festival circuit each summer, you tend to run into a lot of Canadian artists. I really believe that people see Sass as a TV personality, or remember her fabled audition with Van Halen, but they seem to forget the most important thing; the woman can sing her ass off. It was the perfect setting for her to really shine too. Two acoustic guitars, some backing vocals and Sass front and centre without anything to distract from that voice. It's the voice of 1000 cigarettes and as many shots of whisky, a voice that's soft one minute and then shreds the air the next. On top of her amazing vocal talent, she is also completely at ease onstage and connects beautifully with her crowd. Not too much chatting between songs, but when she does talk she really draws you in.

During soundcheck and backstage before & after the show she is a complete sweetheart. I had worked with both her guitarists previously on the Canadian Idol Top 3 tour so we spent some time catching up. Sass weighed in very thoughtfully on our discussion of the pitfalls of the Idol machine and the rise & very quick fall of an Idol finalist I had worked with. She picked out my East Coast accent right away, though I didn't realize it until about the 5th time that she manipulated the conversation into having me say the word "car". My "R's" really stand out apparently and it's not the first time I'd been told this. It's not often that I meet an artist who is so down to earth, warm and welcoming to a random house tech that happens to be mixing their show.

If you have a chance to see her at any point, please do so. You will be thanking me after the show and you'll probably be hitting iTunes to download her catalog at the same time.

Song Of The Day

In honor of my encounter, I must make today's song one from Sass. I heard a ton of great songs during this show, so it was hard to choose one. But the tune that stood out the most for me was one from her 1994 release "Rats". The song is "High Road Easy" and it kicks major ass. I don't have a link for that song unfortunately, but just go and buy it. And then buy the rest of the album. And then buy all her albums.

Why I Love My Job (part one of many)

Well to be honest, there are tons of reasons why I love my job. There are also a number of reasons why I sometimes hate it, but the good far outweigh the bad. I generally find it strange to refer to what I do as a "job" so to speak. I've heard more than one FOH tech like myself say he'd mix the show for free if he got paid for all the other work that goes into making the show happen. I frequently agree with that statement; it's sometimes hard to think of mixing a great band as work. Mixing a live show (especially a good one) can be an amazing experience.

I've spent a large part of my life performing in bands and in that time I have played countless gigs. It's a very gratifying experience when you have a show where you really connect with your audience. This doesn't apply solely to musicians either, any type of performer can relate to the euphoric feeling of those "magical" gigs. There's a certain reciprocity happening in situations like that which is very hard to describe or explain.

As amazing of an experience it is to have a great gig as a performer, I can honestly say I find it even more rewarding to be mixing a great show. This is something that's very difficult for most people to relate to. I know when my wife would come watch me play a show, she'd talk about feeling a sense of pride sitting in the audience thinking, "that's my husband up there".

But it's a far different feeling to be at a show thinking, "that's my husband back there behind the console".

It's not associated with the same caliber of artistic skill that the musicians onstage are frequently viewed as possessing. But for me, it's an even more demanding and rewarding experience to be in the driver's seat. Sure, if the performance isn't great the show won't be. But even when the performers are playing a stellar gig, if the sound isn't great then the show will suffer. The audience will be distracted by the bad sound and the amazing performance won't translate to the audience at all. On the other hand, if the performance is great and the sound is also great, then you've got the making of a truly magical experience. So being in control of how the audience perceives a show can be a large responsibility and an amazing gift. You're being given the opportunity to help create a memory for the audience which will potentially last a lifetime.

I know a lot of people who say that what I do is purely technical with no artistic value. Just set up the gear, make it louder and don't screw anything up. But those who understand the inner workings of a live production realize how incredibly misinformed this statement is. Sure you need to have the technical pieces in place or all else fails, but in a truly great mix there's a lot more going on than just "making it louder". So many choices to make, so many different sonic "colors" as I like to think of it. There is literally an infinite number of different ways to mix a show.

Sometimes the simplest gigs can be the most rewarding to mix. Since landing my house gig at a theatre, I've mixed a ton of acoustic shows with very few inputs that have offered me the greatest opportunity to shape the sound. When you strip away all the extras from a performance, you can quickly tell the difference between a mix from someone who has a sonic vision and a mix from someone who is just pushing faders and making things heard.

Those who truly apply themselves and make an artistic contribution to the final product have a giant influence on how those in the audience will perceive the show and therefore how they will remember it. Having the opportunity to touch people's lives in such a deep way, if only for a brief moment is a great honor and an incredibly rewarding experience.

Song of the day.

Today's song is one that I first heard while mixing a songwriter's circle with Dave Gunning, Matt Andersen and Mike Stevens. If you've never heard of these guys, please do yourself a favor and check them out. All incredibly talented musicians and songwriters, so having them all on the stage at once made for one hell of a memorable night. As a side note, I recorded that show for them and it's still one of my favorite shows to listen to. The song is titled "Hard Working Hands" and was co-written by Dave Gunning & Ron Hynes. It's a beautiful song that really hits home for me having grown up on the east coast with a family full of hard workers. I should also mention that pretty much all the songs I put up as song of the day are available for download legally on iTunes. I try to put up links to youtube videos as often as possible, but if you enjoy the music I would encourage you to go and purchase their work.

And so it begins....

OK, the last post laid out the ground rules and prepared you for the offensive insanity. This one will set the tone, so let's get to it. I'm sitting in a boring corporate meeting for a company that makes dog food. Of course, as is always the case in the business world, the company is owned by a much larger company. It never ceases to amaze me how they have "guest speakers" in that have accomplished amazing things to try and relate their experiences to a bunch of office employees in order to motivate them.

Now I know some of you out there are thinking to yourselves, "C'mon bro, I thought you were a big rock star?? What's up with you stooping down to corporate work?" Well first of all, shut-up asshole I've got a family to feed. Yeah maybe I do feel like a whore sometimes when I'm doing the corporate gigs, but if they've got the cash to spend, why shouldn't they get great sound?? Secondly, there's something to be said for taking the occasional corporate gig. One of the hardest things in the world to EQ is a lav mic on some low-talker presenter who will walk anywhere in the room. And that's just one of the many crazy demands that you run into in the corporate world. One of the best ways to challenge yourself is to work with people who have no concept of "the way things are done".

Now in stark contrast to the corporate gig I'm currently in, we have a show with Sass Jordan tonight. In the same room. With about 2 hours to turn it all over...... Yeah, fun. I've actually never worked with Sass previously, so it should be interesting. She at least has the sense to come in and do this show acoustic instead of trying to make a loud rock band work in this room.

Song of the day

OK, so now we're gonna start off a feature that I hope to keep on top of. I mentioned in the first post that I try to find a new song to love everyday, so I'm gonna try and share a new song I love with every post. It's really not that hard when you have such a crazy sense of music like myself. There are so many amazing artists out there and if have an open mind, it's easy to discover new music that you love on a daily basis.

So to kick it all off, I shall begin with one of my all time favorite artists; Derek Webb. For those of you who are unfamiliar with him, well it's not that surprising since he's not all that well known in the mainstream world. But there are probably a lot of you who have heard his music without realizing it. The song I'm picking for today is a song called "This Too Shall Be Made Right" off of his 2007 album "The Ringing Bell". The album was incredibly well-timed and not only was it's highly social-political content relevant at the time, I believe it to be relevant all the time. Sometime, when I have more time I'll get into the endless amount of reasons why I love Derek Webb.

Content Disclaimer

OK, so you're here. You probably haven't the foggiest clue as to why you're here. Your brain is probably telling you to forget this crap and get back to whatever porn you were surfing. You probably don't know who I am. If you do, then you probably know me quite well and most of what I write won't surprise you.

Some things you should know about me....

• I'm a bit of an odd duck.
• I consider myself to be a bit of an asshole, but maybe I'm just too self-critical.
• I have a fairly unconventional job.
• I have what most would call an odd marriage.
• I have a lot of very strange relationships.
• I have several tattoos & piercings. I enjoy both and have plans for more.
• I have a major obsession with proper spelling & grammar.
• I have serious OCD over some very specific things, which are almost all work related.
• I hate loud music, but I love music loud.
• I'm extremely proud to be Canadian.
• I'm frequently politically incorrect & offensive and I have very strong opinions.
• I realize I say the word "Fuck" a lot and I'd apologize for that, but I don't give a shit.
• I was straight-edge before it was cool.
• My taste in music is completely insane.
• I like to discover one new song to love everyday, which actually isn't all that hard.
• I have deep spiritual beliefs, most of which I'm very poor at applying to my life.
• I live with physical pain everyday. Though this does affect parts of my life, I don't generally talk about it, ever complain about it , or let it affect how I treat others.
• I consider myself incredibly fortunate to have the life that I do.

So welcome to my twisted little world. The title should be clear within the first half dozen posts or so. If any of the above offends you at all, it's gonna get a lot worse so you probably shouldn't keep reading my blog!!