Category Archives: archive

Krannert Audio

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Team Krannert Audio

Krannert's Audio Team for Ellnora '09 - The Guitar Festival

I work and study at the Krannert Center for the Performing Arts at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. My activities include providing live sound reinforcement, recording and sound design for many of the performances at the center, as part of the audio team.

Krannert Center for the Performing Arts

Krannert Center for the Performing Arts

Recently, the graduate students, Andy (Krumeich, the Krannert Audio Events supervisor) and I have been doing major upgrades to the facilities and equipment.

Current Audio Facilities:
Audio Offices
Great Hall Recording Studio
The Kitchen (storage)
The Vault (maintenance, testing and storage)

Current Audio Facilities being renovated:
Post Production Studio (currently in use)
Graduate Audio Lab (being renovated in to Sound Design Studio)

New Audio Facilities (coming Summer 2010):
Audio Archive
Video/Surround Studio
Festival Theatre Multi-track Studio

Here are some photos of the facilities as they are right now:

This is the Krannert Audio graduate student office. Yes, that\'s Vegas on the wall

KCPA Audio Office

Cable storage in the Audio Office

Great Hall Studio

This is the Great Hall Recording Studio

Great Hall Studio
This is the monitoring position for the Great Hall recording studio. This studio is equipped with 8 Channels of Buzz Audio preamps (True Systems, Yamaha, other pres available for more channels), an Alesis HD24 hard disk recorder and Meyer HD-1 monitors. The Midas console is used for live to 2-track (CD) mixing and monitoring.
Post Production Studio

This is the new Post Production Studio. It is not done, but has been forced into action by the many projects I have going on. Soon to come are: A rack, a small console, a couch and further acoustic treatment. It's actually a pretty good sounding small control room.

Post Production Studio

Visible here are the acoustic treatment panels on the ceiling. This design was developed by Andy and I.

Archive Room

This is the room that is becoming the archive room. A WORK IN PROGRESS!

The Vault

The Vault, the KCPA Audio Department's newly renovated maintenance shop/electronics lab.

The Vault cable storage

The Vault also has storage for less frequently used cable and equipment.

Entering The Kitchen

The view as you enter The Kitchen, the main equipment storage room.

The kitchen

Gear in the Kitchen

Gear in the Kitchen

More gear in the Kitchen

Cable storage in the Kitchen

Cable storage in the Kitchen

What It Is! featuring Mavis Staples, Booker T. and JJ Grey

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On Tuesday, March 30, 2010, Krannert Audio had a great time setting up the system and running the show for R&B/gospel legend Mavis Staples and Hammond B3 master Booker T. It was a ton of fun – one of the best shows I’ve worked on or seen.

Booker T's Band

Booker T's Band

Mic and Organ

Darien Gray's Drums

Darien Gray's Drums

"Super Boom"

Darien's kit again. Notice the "Super Boom" for his vocal mic!

Contemplating monitor placement

Contemplating monitor placement...

Hammond B3 from Analog Outfitters

Beautiful Hammond B3 from Analog Outfitters (http://analogoutfitters.com/)

Andy at the console

Andy mixing at FOH

The view from front of house

The view from the FOH mix position

Aaron mixing monitors at soundcheck

Aaron mixing monitors at soundcheck

Stacks

Nexo array and Bag End 4X18in subs

2010 ACDFA Regional Conference

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I had a great experience playing for the American College Dance Festival Association!  It was the first time I’d gotten to play music with my longtime friend and mentor in percussion Owen Rockwell, Minnesota dance musician Jeremy Anderson and John Toenjes.

Playing with Owen, JT and Jeremy

Jeff Zahos playing with John Toenjes and Jeremy Anderson during at contact improvisation jam at the 2010 ACDFA Regional Conference Photos: Daniel R. James

 

Backyard Shark

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Backyard Shark at Bentley’s 7/25/09 Photo by Taylor Thornton

I play in a couple bands based in Champaign, IL.  One of them – definitely the most domestic-aquatic themed one – is called  Backyard Shark.  I love playing with Ed, Tony and Tommy B – we’ve been together for several years now, which not many bands that have members in 3 cities (4 from Aug. ’08-May’09) can say.  We’re kinda loud, and we play a lot of chuck-a-chuck-as.  We have a lot of fun, and we like to think our audiences do, too!  Check us out at:

  • Facebook! A book with pictures of our Shark-face
  • MySpace! OurSpace
  • Flickr! Awesome pics, mostly taken by the awesome Taylor “Hawkins, drummer from the Foo Fighters” Thornton
  • Purevolume! LOUD!
  • Twitter! Does this have something to do with texting?  I don’t text – I don’t have anything to do with this one…

SHARKIFY!

Faster Forward

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I play drums in a rock band called Faster Forward.

 

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Charlotte Mattax, Harpsichord – Suites of Pierre Fevrier

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Harpsichord Session, Follinger Great Hall, Krannert Center for the Performing Arts

John Phillips Harpsichord in Follinger Great Hall, Krannert Center for the Performing Arts

On 01.04.10 and 01.04.10, I had the wonderful opportunity to assist engineer Jon Schoenoff in recording harpsichordist Charlotte Mattax performing several suites of baroque comoser Pierre Fevrier for an upcoming release on Centaur Records.  The session took place in the Foellinger Great Hall of the Krannert Center for the Performing Arts, my favorite space (for sentimental reasons in addition to sonic ones).  Keyboardist/Choral Conductor Kerry Heimann was present as producer.  Added to all that, Mattax performed on a beautiful new instrument by John Phillips of Berkeley, CA, which belongs to the University of Illinois School of Music.  Phillips was present to assist with production and with keeping the instrument in tune – a challenge given the extremely cold and dry weather (the instrument had to be moved in on the first day of recording).

Mics used:

  • 3 Schoeps CMC6
  • 1 Neumann U87

Techniques:

Two CMC6s were placed L and R, on high (~12′) Atlas iron-based stands.  A single CMC6 (wide cardioid) and the U87 were placed next to each other (giving two options for “main” mics) about 4′ high and about 5′ or 6′ in front of the instrument.

“Little Puppets’ Symphony” by Girolamo Deraco

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During the Spring 2009 semester, Italian composer Girolamo Deraco was in residence at Truman State University.  I had the great privilege of performing on the premiere of two of his pieces (Nebula Picta for four players on one marimba and Little Puppets’ Symphony) and commissioning him to write a work for solo timpani (Thou for solo timpano).

Below you will see video of the premiere performance of his Little Puppets’ Symphony, a chamber work involving collaboration between music, dance and theatre, a feature of many of Deraco’s works.

The piece offers a peak in to the mysterious (and sometimes absurd!) process of creative invention, and is a bit of a wink of the eye in self-acknowledgement  of the composer’s own eccentricity.

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