Tag: music

A (Brief) History of Sound Reinforcement

I’ve had to teach about live sound in so many ways to various audiences over the years. I have always felt that an understanding, however cursory, of the past and development of the tools we currently have is key in understanding how and why we use them. Like graphic design and desktop publishing (a field …

Changing audio levels of multiple cues in Qlab

TL;DR: Change the audio levels of multiple cues in Qlab with a single command. The Story: As you get deeper into the design process, you may find that once you get into the space, you designed a set of cues too loud or too quiet. Perhaps you would like to change a number of audio …

Silence on stage: In-ear monitors and modeling guitar rigs

TL;DR: Modern technology offers more and more musicians more and more options…with some new unforeseen issues, and a chance to re-use those monitor wedges. The Story: Years ago, my band Talking to Walls made a huge leap to what felt like the next level. We spent a lot of money to work with people bigger …

A Brush-up on Basics – some helpful posts on Qlab and workflow

I work with a lot of students, across a few schools. I count myself lucky to be able to share with them what I know – as well as learn a lot from them. Many have become just “younger peers” because I like to work collaboratively, even if I am driving the design. Last month …

Using Qlab to control Spotify and house music

TL;DR: If you’re using Spotify for house music, here is how to control it using Qlab. Especially helpful for random little shows & presentations. The Story: Spotify has become a dominant player in how we discover and consume music.  With almost 150 million active users and almost 20% of Americans using it every month, it’s …

Using Qlab to control iTunes and house music

TL;DR: If you are using iTunes to play your house music, here is how to control it using Qlab. The Story: Ah, iTunes. That old workhorse of a music player that has bloated with responsibility for all kinds of media and syncing. Consumer music listening habits may have moved on from local libraries, but iTunes …

Designing house music – Qlab, CD, iTunes, or Spotify?

TL;DR: Putting together house music, with the case made that you use Qlab for its level of control. The Story: When designing sound for a show. house music is much more than just an afterthought, whereby you just put on some random music and hit play. Properly done, house music – preshow, intermission, and postshow …

August is House Music Month!

Readers of this blog know how much we at Rocktzar love the odd, esoteric parts of live production – every tutorial even has a section named as such. Our love for Qlab is also pretty obvious. Which is why we are able to share a month’s worth of posts about house music – because there …

July was Live Mixing Month! New blog themes are coming

As our blog here on Rocktzar.com grows, we are happy to announce that we will start organizing our content into monthly themes, as appropriate. We don’t foresee every month being thematic, but as we get more content we will try to organize it to make sharing – and learning – more convenient, and help the flow …

Qlab organization – Multiple Cue Lists and House Music

TL;DR: Work smarter and cleaner with multiple Cue Lists – re-use your work, and get all of that house music out of your main design. The Story: Design is a messy process. There are so many elements to consider and plan, and the brain often jumps about, tackling one part and then another, possibly in …