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Sir Alice @ Fondation Cartier |
July 21st 2005 This was probably the most interesting Sir Alice show to date. Pictures from the show |
Sir Alice @ Fondation Cartier
July 21st 2005
Soirées Nomades, Fondation Cartier, ParisThis was probably the most interesting Sir Alice show to date.
The conditions were very good, scenography was well-rehearsed, the show included a video track, and there was more freedom than usual when it came to the sound aspect.Pictures from the show
( courtesy of Cédric Sartore )
1. SETUP
Sir Alice concerts are, from a traditional point of view, very simple to handle, since there is only one person on stage : Alice.
Thus, the conditions are ideal to try unusual methods, especially when it comes to vocal processing.
Here is the stage setup.One vocal mike, two additional mikes for sound effects - pickups, musical spinning tops, and several other unusual gimmicks. Here is the technical setup.
Alice (vocals + guitar), plus playback (from a CD player).
Playback could have been done from the computer, but there is always the risk ProTools stops playing due to buffer underrun.
Playback from a separate device is safer, and enables heavier processing.
2. PLAYBACK
Playback here is derived from the record tracks, using this process :
1. we start from the original ProTools session, the one from which the final studio version was mixed
2. when there are two or more vocal tracks, we select the one that will be performed onstage - it is removed from the session
3. same things for the guitar tracks, when applicable
4. the title is completely remixed - this way, the concert sound is totally original
5. a particular master is made from this "re-mix"No attempt is made to get a particularly subtle master, as shown in the picture below :
In fact, level variations are "re created" live using the console faders.
3. PROCESSING ISSUES
The processing was made in ProTools. No particular reason for it, since there is no playback from the computer anyway.
- Guitar ----
The guitar was fed into the amp's head (the speaker was unplugged), then the signal went to the 1960 compressor, and then to the MBox and ProTools.
In ProTools, the guitar sound was processed with Amplitube, Altiverb, and a 1 band Digidesign EQ, but not for the EQ part, which was not used - just for the phase reverse part of it.The use of Amplitube is obvious : when there is no actual amp speaker, it makes the sound much more natural.
Altiverb was used as a bizarre EQ, not as reverb - it was the "glass 1cm based" IR, see "reverb works" below.
The phase reversion was useful : it made differentiation between live guitars and pre recorded guitars more easy.
- Vocals ----
Five stages, or "aspects", of processing.
1. Drawmer 1960 compressor
2. Altiverb - this is the main processing stage
3. EQs from the Mackie : "last minute" corrections during the show
4. Additional reverb from the M2000
5. Additional multi tap delay from the SPX990Actually, some songs didn't require all this stuff - during the most "normal" songs, stage 2 was bypassed, and only stage 4 was used.
But the most "sophisticated" songs required at least stages 1-2-3, with additional colouring from stages 4 and 5 - for instance at the end of sentences, to "enlarge" space as a punctuation mark.For those songs, stage 2 was the most important : the Altiverb was used both as an EQ and as a reverb, with custom built - and often drastic - Impulse Responses.
4. REVERB WORKS
Special care was given to the vocal reverbs.
If several vocal parts were processed in a very "normal" way - meaning a standard large hall with a reasonably high pre-delay from the M2000, a lot of other parts needed special processing.This was made possible with an extensive use of the Altiverb.
The Altiverb was actually used both as a reverb and as an EQ.Custom impulse responses (IRs) were built specifically for the concert - if you happen to use Altiverb, you can even download some of those IRs here.
More details about those IRs on the same page.
All those reverbs were used 100% wet : when you do something, don't pretend, do it all the way...
Actually, for several reasons, a preset that sounds very wet in the studio sounds rather natural live, so the whole thing doesnt sound as 'tragically' colored as it seems.I am aware that from most engineers' point of view, using, live, a cascade of three 100% wet reverbs on the main vocals is not only impossible, but also totally loony.
But, from a musical and technical point of view, it is actually feasible, though feedback is really difficult to avoid with such "extreme" processing.
That's the reason why no vocals go into the monitors - then again, not all musicians may agree with having no vocals in the monitors.Also, most reverbs used here were not really reverbs, but "sophisticated" EQs, which makes everything more understandable.
5. CONVOLUTIONS FOR "PRINCESS"
Another use of the Altiverb was attempted for one of the songs, called "Princess" - a litteral "convolution" use.
Tracks of the songs (specifically a vibraphone and a cello track) were used as IRs - one was convoluted with the vocals, the other with the guitar.
And those, along with the actual song playback.This creates an interesting atmosphere, in fact fragile and hazy, which suits the song very well, this song being already quite fragile and "far away".
