Gert the engineer speaks to Soundcraft
Current Deep Purple’s front of the house soundman Gert Sanner gave a brief interview published by soundcraft.com. Among fairly technical things, he shares his memories of the recent Japanese tour:
Purple don’t use a set list, so I have to be on my toes all the time ready to make adjustments in a split second, the Vi allows me to do that.
Of course, the “don’t use a set list” bit is, ahem, a stretch of imagination as many here have witnessed the “not used” set list first hand.
There was a special moment in the 2nd Tokyo gig, when I had the biggest surprise, we’d just started ‘Perfect Strangers ’ and, unannounced, Jon Lord walked on stage and started playing keyboards, it all seemed a bit Spinal Tap mixed with Still Crazy, I certainly had to react fast to that!
Read more at soundcraft.com.
i am sure they have it memorized by now….
July 31st, 2009 at 02:38Yes, they don’t use set list indeed… because they are playing the same list for years already!
July 31st, 2009 at 07:51dont use a set list…….dont make me laugh
July 31st, 2009 at 08:22Intresting translation. I did actually say that I dont use a setlist because I can store in my desk.
July 31st, 2009 at 12:02It is interesteting how an interview from a technical Website as the manufactor of the Mixing desk is appearing on this site.
It is totally out of context and should not be here.
I would prefer if you could delete it from here.
Sound engineers, instrument techs, roadies… You usually don’t see much of them but you certainly see the result of their work.
It used to be that live mixing was a bit of a performance in itself. Every venue is different and I’m sure many people have experienced the “sound wasn’t quite right at first but it got better…” thing.
While I’m sure technology has made this easier, there is still a sound guy that runs things. Good sound does not happen by accident.
The point Gert was making is that when the unexpected happens, you have to scramble to keep things going.
August 3rd, 2009 at 01:31I still don’t think most understand. This isn’t about a “set list”. This sounds like a misinterpretation.
I believe Gert is saying you don’t need a “set list” because the mix settings can be stored and downloaded into the panel. Therefore, there is no “set list” (i.e., a piece of paper with a list of songs) because it is all stored in the machine.
The point was that this particular board is still capable of “on the fly” manipulation whenever the band happens to deviate from the norm–such as when a guest comes out or someone goes off on a tangent–or some other unexpected event occurs.
Crazy how a simple comment can create such controversy!
August 4th, 2009 at 03:27T is correct and Gert himself was nice to clarify above. I don’t think we get much further on this subject so I’ll close comments on this.
August 4th, 2009 at 20:17