WILLY T talks to ESKIMO JOE’s FOH sound engineer, GAV TEMPANY.

This week I slipped out to The Riverstage to catch up with Eskimo Joe’s front-of-house sound engineer, Gav Tempany. When I first met Gav a few years back he was doing sound for Little Birdie. He got the Eskimo Joe gig when fellow ‘Sandgroper’ Jim Scott, the Eskie’s (and The Living End’s) regular sound guy, was unavailable. (At the time JS was in the US doing Lollapalooza with LE.) Nowadays Mr T’s abbreviated touring resume includes – Michael Franti, DropKick Murphys, Hothouse Flowers, Eskimo Joe, Little Birdy, Missy Higgins, Motor Ace, and Evermore. When not touring the land of Aus, Gav is OS, sharing his skills with the UK’s Britannia Row. (One of the legendary production companies.)

Eskimo Joe have been sponsored by Digidesign for quite a few years now so it was no real surprise to see a D-Show digital mixing desk looking after FOH duties. Being digital, all the mixers settings are stored in a snapshot. So all a hard working sound-samurai has to do is rock up to the gig, turn the rig on, bung in the USB stick and … voila! All their gain, EQ, and assignments etcetera are all in place a ready to go. "I’ve got the great onboard stuff plus all my favourite plug-ins. And as tonight we are recording to Pro-tools, I’ve got my Oxford plug-ins onboard, ready to go!" says Gav.

One of the main benefits of a Digidesign mixing system is that once the sound has been digitised and turned into one and zeros, they use a digital protocol called M.A.D.I. to send it to the mixing desk. The great advantage of this protocol is that it is relatively simple, using ‘hubs’ to split the signal so we can send it not only to FOH, but also to Foldback; as well as Media/TV/Recording rigs, Outside Broadcast Vans etc. And as this mixing desk is made by Digidesign – the makers of Pro-Tools, the worlds most commonly used audio recording and production platform – you can guarantee that it will seamlessly integrate with recording and ProTools … and it does! Multi-track recordings are able to be taken straight from the desk.

This built in integration with ProTools really came through for this gig! With just 48 hours notice, Gav was asked to organise a live recording of the gig. What that entailed was a simple little 48-track live recording system!

(On his GavyT site he lists one of his skills as ‘Digidesign Venue Sound Desk Specialist.’ After seeing him put that together and test it during The Eskies’ soundcheck, I can safely say he’s got every right to claim that title!)

One of the more spectacular uses of this desk is the wireless control function. Using a computer - PC or Mac – the operator is able to remotely control all the functions of the mixing desk. In the short range the PC synchs to the desk using Bluetooth technology. For the larger arenas and outdoors they use Wireless Internet to talk to each other. Over the years I have seen Gav use a lap-top, then a Palm Pilot and now he has installed an app that lets him control the desk from his iPhone as well!

In an outdoor show like the Riverstage it is important that all the punters gets good sound. Fair enough … there are no cheap seats! So one of the major jobs of the touring Systems Engineer is to make sure that the sound coverage is fairly even across the majority of the venue. (The systems engineer is the person who is responsible for setting-up, rigging and testing the PA. The front-of-house sound dude operates it during the gig. Goddit?)

It was funny to see Gav with systems-dude James Leydon, walking around the venue listening for any ‘dead spots’ or ‘lumpy’ sound. Unlike the old days of yelling and walking ‘to & from’ the mixing desk, Gav was controlling the desk, using Channel EQ and FX, and firing up the D-Show’s built in 31-Band graphic EQs, ‘tuning’ the PA … all via his Mac. Standing next to him on the grassy knoll of the RiverStage, I could see him adjusting his lappie, and hear the reaction of the PA. Cool!

"It is a Nexo … so it’s a great PA. It’s one of those PA systems that you shouldn’t really EQ, because it sounds good straight out of the box; and once you do start you’ve got to go really hard.

"It’s a pretty standard type of ‘80s rock tune’ if you like. The band has a lot of 4kHz in them, and they play so loud on stage, that it all gets smashed down the vocal mics. (Sennheiser E9350s) Plus, Kav has a ridiculous amount of 630Hz in his voice, it’s full-on. He’s also pretty hot at 2kHz and at 9kHz so I also put some De-essers on him to try squish that.

"So the PA tune and the mix is kinda tuned to that. And I can really carve some out, and he’ll sit-in-that-groove."

When using a rig such as this is on a long tour, it is very common for lazy bands to record one of their early gigs, and then use it for the remainder of the tour as a ‘virtual soundcheck’, and then skip soundcheck for the rest of the tour. I was pleased to see that Eskimo Joe did a full-on, rockin’ five song soundcheck. The PA was loud, the bottom-end was pumping, and all was good in the land of live sound! Well done GavT!

WILLY T runs Giraffe Media. Providing Words, Pics and Live-Audio Recording Services to the entertainment industry. Email for more information.

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