Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/1543098
38 PRODUCTION SOUND & VIDEO – Spring 2026 Why "looks," you might ask? Well, even though we can all agree that people don't go home humming the lights, video content and lighting are a HUGE part of the show, and we play an integral role in making sure that light cues and video rolls happen perfectly in sync with the music. We do this through the use of LTC (linear timecode). Weeks before there is even a single soundcheck on stage, I receive temp tracks from the artist camps and assign LTC addresses based on the performance order. So, performance 1 gets LTC 01:00:00:00, performance two gets LTC 02:00:00:00, etc., etc. I import the temp tracks into a session and line up the start of the music with the top of the hour. The challenge with this is that as we get closer to the event, I receive final stems from the artist camps that, more often than not, don't exactly line up with the temp tracks they originally sent. I'm then forced to re-sync the stems with the TC and re-export split tracks with a music reference on the left channel and LTC on the right, then send them over to our lighting and video friends who line up their programming and video/screen content. Using Pro Tools doesn't mean an artist is cheating. It's a powerful production tool used to make sure the show not only sounds good, but looks good too. For this gig, I was asked to bring twelve channels of analog playback and four channels of Auto-Tune. We never know exactly which camps will request this, so we have it in our back pocket, ready to use if necessary. The "normal" stem output assignments from my rig are: I try my hardest to keep the outputs consistently laid out like this so that there is no confusion for the mixers downstream from me. That being said, some acts don't have all of these elements in their playback, so I send out specific assignments for every act detailing what they should expect coming from me. My outputs hit split world, handled by Steve Anderson and his crew of A2's—and some of my dearest friends (Damon Andres, Steve Crane, Craig Rovello, Brandon Gilbert, Jason Sears, JP Elmore, Erik Bender, and Kim Petty). Here, all the signals hitting the stage get sent to all the different mix positions: FOH Production (Dan Gerhard), FOH Music (Robert Scovill), Monitors (Michael Bové), Music Mix in the M3 truck (Carl Glanville and Bob Clearmountain—yes, THE LEGENDARY BOB CLEARMOUNTAIN), and Broadcast Audio (Larry Reed). Once I have actual stems ingested for playback, I assign them to their respective outputs and level-match them to a consistent level that will hit relatively consistently from act to act. This is key to the success of the show. Mixers shouldn't be "fishing" for levels. The challenge is to keep the general balance that the artists are used to rehearsing with while still providing a consistent average broadcast level that everyone is comfortable with. I accomplish this mostly by automating levels, clip gain, and the occasional use of "gentle" compression. My playback rig for this gig consisted of two MacBook Pros running Pro Tools 11 HD, two RME Fireface UFX units, two Ferrofish A16 MK2 AD/DA converters (for additional outputs), a Gearworks custom analog switch, a Digidesign Sync IO, and a Brainstorm SR-26 for TC distribution. TRACK SOURCE 1 DRUMS 2 3 MUSIC 4 5 PROGRAMING 6 7 BGVS 8 9 LEAD VOX (REF ONLY) 10 CLIX 11 SLATE 12 Artist Slate 13 AT 1 14 AT 2 15 16 TC