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 WILLY T calls on deadline to frantically dictate the last paragraph of his story to GEARED’s bemused publisher. He details his impromptu LIVE RECORDING of the HILLTOP HOODS last Friday.
Some days are just not at all predictable, and can finish up bordering on the surreal! At the beginning of the day I was catching up with the touring crew from the Hilltop Hoods Still Standing national tour. With the vibe starting to peak about the latest visit from the Adelaide trio, I was really looking forward to having a yarn with one of the nice guys of the music industry – Front-Of-House sound engineer Chris Thompson. But day’s end I had been booked to do a live recording of the big-top show, the next night! Phew…
I spoke to Chris in Melbourne mid-morning Thursday to organise an interview. Mid afternoon he rang me back and said he had to organise a live recording of the show and offered me the gig! “Hey you have a multi-track recording system don’t you? Can you do the Hilltop Hoods show in the big-top tomorrow night?” (The system is based around a Yamaha AW2400 Mixer/Recorder 16 input/24-track system.)
Thommo did not know what sort of mixing desk he would be using for the show, but assumed that it would be a big ‘name’ desk with Direct Outputs on each channel. We could just take a direct line from each channel of the mixing desk and patch it straight into the AW2400 recorder. By getting the signal into the recorder using the mixing desk’s direct-outs there was no need to split the signal to the recording system and to FFOH. Just perfect for a simple set-up like this!
When I arrived Chris was already in action at FOH and their foldback dude ‘Mugger’ McAllister was prowling the stage and making some noise. At this stage the three H-Hoods had not arrived so Chris was doing a ‘virtual soundcheck’ using a recording made from the mixing desk of a previous Hilltop’s show. To make it all a tad more realistic, with open mics and mega stage levels, Mugger chimed in, ‘workin-the-mics’ with some fine ‘oohs & arrs’!
I punted on the connectors being on ‘balanced’ TRS jacks and brought in two 8-way looms. When I walked in I was relieved to see that it was a MIDAS desk, which indeed have their direct-outs on TRS jacks!
In true hip hop style there was a bare minimum coming from the stage. Within minutes we had plumbed in the lines from the mixing desk to the AW2400 Recorder. Thommo even got out the white tape and sharpie and marked-up the inputs on the recorder for me … all eight of them! Four vocal mics – Suffa, Pressure and Debris’, plus guest vocals; DJ Left and DJ Right (turntables); and finally, being a live recording, 2x audience mics.
The final thing to sort-out was whether the direct-outs from the mixing desk were being sent out of the channel ‘Pre or Post-fader’. (So the signal levels did not go up and down as Chris was mixing ‘out front’ for the punters.) I watched my input meters to see if they went up when Thommo wiggled the faders on his desk. They didn’t move! So the direct outs were being sent pre-fade. Woo-hoo game on!
The Hoods arrived and the soundcheck got loud! A quick listen on cans (headphones), and a squizz at the 2400’s meters told me that plenty of level was hitting the recording desk. To quote CT, “DJ Debris’ two decks use custom mastered vinyl discs, so my levels at FOH are just beautiful!” My main concern was to leave a lot of extra headroom in the recording set-up because the levels during the show are guaranteed to be a lot hotter than the rehearsals!!
All went well during the show. A couple of times, as levels steadily increased, I had to attenuate (turn down) the recorders’ input channels, as they were in danger of overloading. But aside from that, all good! The Hilltops put on ‘wotta great night’ type of gig – the punters felt the vibe … and a great party was had by all!
MINI-HEART ATTACK
It was only after saying yes to the gig that I realised what sorta pressure I’d put myself under. (No pun intended!) I’d been asked to do a live recording of The Hilltop Hoods – arguably the biggest Aussie act going around at the moment – by Australia’s best known live-recording engineer. (Think virtually all major Australian bands, as well as Metallica, Sonic Youth, Nirvana and the Red Hot Chilli Peppers!)
When I got home after the show I was absolutely amped! I immediately went to listen, to ‘verify’ the recording. When I hit play … nothing happened! OMG, my heart sank! After taking a deep breath, and seeing the meters on the recorder bouncing away, I realised that in my haste I’d put the headphones into the wrong hole! When finally it was in the right one I hit play and was slapped with a boisterous “Make some noise Bris-bane ... We are the Hilltop Hoods!” And the world was good!
What a day! And the moral of the story is? Keep your mobile phone turned on. You might get ‘the call’ to record the Hilltop Hoods.
WillyT runs Performance Recording: providing 16-track Live-recording Services & fully-equipped 24-track Location Packages. Phone 0401 431 875 for more information or for more stories and pics visit www.myspace.com/willytslaw.
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