Co-op Overview

Throughout my co-op, the litmus test for every improvement was the Symphony Undgerground (SUGr). Every friday night at around 9:30, my friends and I went down into the Symphony T-Station and played a concert. We faced many challenges such as finding power, balancing sound, eliminating feedback, and having a quality mix in a subways station with drums (which are very loud if not played carefeully-which musicians rarely play carefully when trying to rock out). We overcame these in various ways, improving every week-yet finding new things to fix every time. I have come to the realization that perfection is impossible-but that's exactly why it's so fun to chase. People appreciated these concerts more than I understand and I was happy to do whatever I could to make sure the show did go on.

In january, our first attempt at a SUGr failed because we did not have a power chord long enough to make it to the performance area. It was going to be the 6th show. At the 4th, we were moved away from an area that was close to the power plug by an MBTA official. The 5th show worked because there was an extension chord plugged into a locked room for us. That chord was pushed back beyond our reach and the MBTA did not come down to unlock the door for us. I was able to buy a 75' extension chord and later bought another 50' cable to give added freedom. At this point, I was using Daedalus, the suitcase studio in a cello case. I was using equiptment that was failing because it was getting to be 6 years old. I found that Behringer does not make analog mixers that last. My sound card is still functional, I will be using that in a future prototype that is for smaller operations. As for the attempted 6th show, we just played with the instruments that made sound and left around 10:30.

The next week we pulled off a show that had an acoustic guitar, a cello, some trumpet, electric bass, electric guitar, and vocals.

The 7th show was a lot of fun. We did a lot of a capella songs. These sounded amazing with the acoustics of the train station. We only had 2 mics set up in a V pattern and the singers gathered around them. This signal was sent through an acoustic amp. It worked very well with an acoustic guitar plugged into the amp as well. I made due with the failing equiptment for one last time. The recording came out really crappy and it's taken a lot for me to get something that is remotely pleasant to the ear. There was a Northeastern News reporter there. His report was very flattering about the whole operation, so i don't think the recording is accurate to the sound at the performance. Major problems were the wind generated by the trains, the overloading of the signal before the computer made the recording distorted, and the lack of adjustments to make it sound good the whole time.

The 8th show was a breakthrough with the sound because Brian Dixon had fashioned his own suitcase studio and did the sound for us while we played. It was really relieving. We soon took his help for granted (as we found out in the 13th and 14th SUGrs-more on that later). He has a mixing board that sends each channel to the computer through a firewire. We used his mixer in my cello case at the 4th show, which has a really clean recording. He was able to give me the raw wav files of the entire concert (these folders are about 1.5 gigabytes). I have been editing them on my computer when it is working properly. This show was open-mic esk. We didn't have much of an ensemble, but it sounded really good because Brian was at the board the whole time. Problems were: setting up (space wise), feedback.

The 9th show was exhausting. I was working fulltime at crazy dough's by this time and it was starting to wear on me. I didn't have any time to prepare for this show and the theme was kind of half ass. We did songs that we wanted to do earlier but they didn't work out. A lot of them didn't work out too well that night either, but we nailed a couple. Andy Goldschmidt came down with us for the first time. He plays keyboards and he has a 88-key fully weighted board that has 1/4" plugs. We ran this through the acoustic amp which had a monitor plugged into it that faced the musicians. This made it easy to hear ourselves while we played. This also brought on more feedback. We learned over the next few weeks how to mix it right so it didn't do that.

The 10th show was planned by Sam Beebe. We brought down the drums for the first time since the 4th show. The mix was really good because we had a seperate amp for the electric guitar and the bass guitar. The vocals, piano, and acoustic guitar came out of the acoustic amp and a monitor. The drummers (including myself) used brushes instead of sticks which greatly reduced the volume, making it easier to have a balanced mix without blowing peoples ears off. We set up the stage in a way that really reduced feedback and made a tighter sound. The recording came out a little bit rough on some of the vocal tracks. I believe this was because Brian only had control of certain instruments (vocals, acoustic guitar, and keyboard) he also did not have the option to turn up the amplifier. this caused him to raise the levels of these tracks to beyond their threshold in order to be heard. the whole process made an interesting effect in the subway but it did not work on the recording. in the set up i have now, i believe i have solved that problem. every instrument can be plugged into the suitcase studio. the computer will record a file that is before any faders or adjustments are made to it. this is called a pre-fader level. i would do a sound check so that no matter how loud the person might get, it won't get distorted. then the computer program can add delays, reverbs, eqs, change the panning and the volume levels and send each signal out seperate paths. We now have two acoustic guitar/vocal amps, an electric guitar amp and a bass amp. this means all effects and volume levels can be controlled by one person and still have a different destination so the sounds are localized. There are still some repairs that are necissary. I need to get the electric amp checked out because it has been troublesome lately. Also, i'm waiting for a power conditioner that will get rid of the buzz i get because i have so many things plugged into one plug. that should arrive in a few days. i'm somewhat afriad to use this equiptment in such an old city because the power grid is taxed and unreliable. this conditioner is like a super surge protector. not only does it prevent the possiblilty of a surge damaging any equiptment, but it also gives the equiptment a clean, consistant power flow so everything can work optimally. It's like with cars-if you have a nice car, you'd put good gas in it (if you can afford it)-this makes the engine run cleaner so your baby will run for a long time. if you have cheaper gas, you get more knocking which makes the car run less efficiently and it gets damaged over time. the suitcase studio is a rolls royce of electronics. i need to be giving it premium at all times or it will buzz and blip and crackle now and then. and in this business, you need it to run quiet and smooth 100% of the time in order to be good.

The 11th show was a party. It was called The Eminem SUGr, it consisted of hip-hop songs such as crossroads by bone thugs and harmony, my dad's gone crazy by eminem, and gangsta's paradise by coolio. We had 3 vocal mics, bass, piano, guitars, and drums. the recordings came out great and were easy to mix down. i think this was because we were loud enough for the room mics to pick up a really good sound and the setup was very good. there wasn't much (if any) feedback to deal with.

the 12th show was hosted by Emily Kimball. It was called Beach Boys and Belles. Mostly beach boys songs and a couple by belle and sebastian. my brother came in with his djembe which was a nice ambience addition to the night, but we did not mic it so it did not come out in the recording. the recording came out very good overall. the drums sounded particularly good that night. The musicians were more prepared this time because Emily did very well learning the songs and teaching them to everyone else. she brought tabs over for people to read and everyone was getting more comfortable working with each other.

The 13th show was attempted but it didn't work out because Brian left for spring break and my equiptment had shit the bed. We'll try again someday when the theme will work out. It was a mix of songs that i made to explain why i was going on a cross country trip to vegas, i was planning on going for spring break but it didn't work out. so when i go, we'll try again.

the 14th show went well. it was called the Roots because we just went down and played music. there was no attempt to make a recording because the tape player i used at the first show didn't work.

The 15th show was st. Patricks day themed. We were all a little tipsy so the performance was interesting at best. zthe recording came out well. this week proved that we knew what we were doing because we barely needed to discuss any logistics, we just did everything we needed to do. intoxicated too.

the 16th show was similar to the 9th in it's theme. it came out a little better because there were more people there to jump up and play something. we just did whatever could happen. the setup was the same and worked well.

the 17th show was mostly original songs. this week it became a little more obvious that we should practice more. this is something we always wished we could do but never found the time to do. we tried doing something where brian controlled how loud the guitars were but that just turned out to be a battle between who was turning the nobs and made it difficult for the musicians to hear or be heard. i hope simplifying the entire process will help making the concept work. i think part of the problem was also how loud it was in the recording. i think that it was getting to the computer really loud but coming out of the amp softly. all and all, the control was not in one place-so it wasn't exactly what we were going for. it was like making a boat out of sticks. there were gaps in places so it didn't float. i think the improvements i've made on my suitcase studio will make it easy to control these elements well.

the 18th sugr was the 80s night show. it was a blast, everyone loved the songs and they were easy to jam out to. it sounded really good. the recording came out great. the mics were placed well and we were in a nice corner of the station.

the 19th show was the So Full of Soul SUGr. i got the mac at this point and the work flow of a mac made it rediculously easy to get the chords and tabs for everything into one easy format. people learned the songs well and in very little time. i had all of the songs in order on a playlist on the computer. this was hooked up to speakers that were loud enough so we could play along with the tracks. no one showed up to the show at first, which was very appropriate. there were skateboarders in the station with us. you could hear them in the recording even with drums, sax, trumpet, acoustic guitar and electric guitar. this shows that we could control our volume and still have every part heard. the recording came out really well and was easy to do the levels. i went through every song and adjusted the volume with the behringer as it played back. th omputer recorded the movements i made and rendered a wave file with the adjustments.

the 20th show was skipped for now. the 21st was a party at my place where i just set up a couple mics and we jammed when we felt like it.

I really got to run with this suitcase studio idea. there was always and opportunity to test out possible fixes and to push the limits of what can be done with such a simple process. We're planning on starting Season 2 in july. once people get back for summer 2.