Playing Jazz Over Network
Introduction
For our third telematic performance we had the pleasure of teaming up with students from Edvard Munch High School. They brought a varied repertoire and a very talented group of musicians who were great to work with! This post will give you an insight into the work we did as technicians in Salen which was the front of house in this concert.
Technical Setup
For setting up the connection between two locations, we relied on our previous experiences and used Lola Software and two NMP kits which were proven to provide low latency connection.
One NMP kit was set up in Salen, our main performance space located at the University of Oslo (UiO) while the other one was set up at RITMO, the Centre for Interdisciplinary Studies in Rhythm, Time and Motion at UiO. In Salen, behind the audience, we set up a technical area for the Lola computer, live streaming monitors and mixer so that all the team was positioned in a way to see everything and act when needed. Our field-tested technical setup approach worked again well this time.
Audio and Monitoring
All audio in Salen was run through the Midas M32 mixer which also received the network audio directly from the Behringer ADAT card. By simply routing the incoming audio in TotalMix to output five to eight we avoided unplugging fixed cables in the NMP kit. We used wedge monitors instead of headphones to preserve a realistic ‘concert look’ in Salen where the audience was located. This worked well and we encountered no feedback issues, although we had to connect the two vocal monitors together due to connection shortage on the stagebox.
Video
For the video setup, we chose Salen as the main location, as the audience were invited and expected in Salen. For a natural look, we used a projector and positioned the video of the RITMO performers in the middle of the Salen stage on a black curtain. The video was positioned in a way that every performer was visible with their expressions.
We knew from the previous experiences that the performers also need to communicate through the video, so we placed one high speed monitor, with the other performers’ video, on the stage towards the performers so that especially the drummer and singers could see RITMO performers and be able to communicate. This is beneficial for the performers’ musical cues and visual communication.
There was also one monitor connected to the NPM for us to monitor the Lola connection and the video from our stage.
We promoted the concert by distributing posters around the university before the event and live-streamed it on YouTube from the Salen streaming station. Watch the full performance on the MCT YouTube channel here:
Feedback from the Musicians
We conducted short interviews with the performers after the concert since all of our team members were technicians this time and feedback on the setup is always helpful. In short, the musicians at Salen gave us positive feedback. They really enjoyed playing in this kind of setup and appreciated the novelty and smoothness (since we had ideal latency conditions this day) of it. They said not being physically together in one room was a challenge, but a good one. The monitor setup also gave them a natural feeling and added to immersion. The pianist said she sometimes forgot that it was a network setup. The only issue that came up was with communication between musicians. They had to rely on more obvious and stronger gestural cues to signal transitions which was, in hindsight for them, no hindrance for playing correctly. They also mentioned that the canvas and monitor setup felt quite natural since they normally have to look back or to the side to communicate with their fellow musicians in a traditional setup.
The idea to separate the rhythm section (drum kit and bass guitar) luckily did not backfire. The drummer mentioned that he felt sufficiently connected with the bassist which makes rhythm section separation a valid alternative setup.
