BBSound - The Sound Professionals

WelcomeTo our almanac where you'll find amusing anecdotes, information on new equipment, stories and useful tips on live sound and recording.Hear how 'Tim' turned up uninvited, so 'Neil' asked for a mic and DI for him (guess who we're talking about), hear about our latest investments in digital technology for live sound and recording, and how we can run a sound system off an iPad. We'll talk about why we have 11 different vocal microphones in our collection and why we only reluctantly use the so-called industry standard SM58. We'll rattle on about our successes, name drop here and there and boast about our equipment inventory, but hopefully you'll enjoy the read, and perhaps you'll agree we're the sound professionals.Enjoy

Bob Bickerton

James Morrison and Emma Pask When legendary international jazz musician James Morrison played in the Woollaston Nelson Jazz Festival, he specified an acoustic mix on stage and I knew we were in for a great night. The Theatre Royal's acoustics are particularly well suited for amplified music and with low monitor levels on stage I could use very open, sensitive microphones on the instrument sources. In fact we had over $10,000 worth of mics on stage that night. The result was a beautifully produced sound worthy of any CD recording.James is not one to mess around in sound check, in fact after a few minutes he said it was starting to feel like a rehearsal, so that was that! Fortunately I had pretty much decided which mics

would go where. I used a couple of Neumann KM183s as underheads on Ron Samson's drum kit along with Sennheiser e602 on kick, a Shure SM7 on my 'Jeff Berlin' Markbass amp for bassist Olivier Holland, a Sennheiser e906 on Lance Sua's guitar, Neumann TLM193's on Roger Mannin's saxophone and James' trumpet, Microtech Gefell M300s on piano and Emma used her own Shure Beta87 on vocals.With a little Lexicon 480 emulation reverb we were in sonic heaven for an hour or two. I loved the way James kept the band on edge, throwing lead breaks at band members to be learnt aurally before the show, starting 'mystery' songs where the band had no idea what was coming and even presenting a lead break to Roger on an iPad - now that's jazz!

James Morrison

Green Fire IslandsWhen I offered to be involved in the Green Fire Islands project, little did I know I'd be mixing front of house, working with Ireland's and New Zealand's top musicians, and touring the show through top venues and festivals. The show was a collaboration between Maori and Irish traditional musicians and the process of rehearsing and performing the show was filmed by Alun Bollinger. It had a preview performance in Raglan and then took to the road including a performance at the International Festival in Wellington in the Michael Fowler Centre, two performances at WOMAD and a final performance in The Edge (Aotea Centre) in Auckland which included many special guests. Having over 30 open microphones on stage and having to record 48 tracks at a time proved challenging, but the recording quality and performances received critical acclaim.

Probably the hardest moment was the WOMAD festival where groups have a strict 45 minutes to set the stage and with such a complex show this was almost impossible. We were still finishing line checks in the ten second count down to starting the set!The Auckland show happened to fall on St. Patrick's Day, so director Donal Lunny invited a number of special guests to join in the encores, including Neil Finn. Neil was just about to go on when we had a call to say Tim had turned up too, so could we find an extra mic and DI, it was a magic moment - oh and a good show!

Tim and Neil Finn - Photo - Kathrin Simon

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Recording the Ultimate InstrumentIf I was asked 'what is the ultimate instrument to record?' I would have to answer the symphony orchestra. For several years now I have recorded the Nelson Symphony Orchestra concerts in the beautiful acoustics of the main auditorium at the Nelson School Of Music.

The technique used is fairly standard for orchestral recording, an ORTF pair of Neumann TLM193 microphones with omnidirectional Neumann KM183s as outriggers and the occasional spot mic for soloists. It's always a pleasure to record these concerts and we release a 'best of' double album at the end of each year.

Nelson Symphony Orchestra

Adam Chamber Music FestivalThe Dominion Post described the Adam Chamber Music Festival as New Zealand's only truly international music festival. It features top chamber musicians from around the world and attracts audiences from all around New Zealand and overseas.I've enjoyed stage managing the last three festivals and whilst this may seem like a simple task, it requires precision and focus to provide a supportive and positive workspace for the musicians.I recall one concert by (an unnamed) trio, who were so relaxed they were still eating fish and chips outside the takeaway store ten minutes before the concert was due to start. Needless to say they went on stage precisely on time and gave a fantastic concert, which I suppose says a lot for sustenance!All concerts are recorded for archives and some are recorded for broadcast by Radio New Zealand. It's been fascinating working alongside the Radio New Zealand engineers and discovering that we use similar techniques and equipment for chamber music recording.I constantly feel privileged to work with professional musicians and the Adam Chamber Music Festival is a case in point. My philosophy of creating a positive environment in which to work always seems most welcome.

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Peter Nagy & Rolf Gjelsten

Presonus StudioLive Digital Mixing ConsoleWe're thrilled to have invested in a new Presonus StudioLive digital mixing desk. It's both flexible and powerful affording 24 inputs, 10 auxillary monitor sends, 2 onboard effects units, compression, limiter, gate, parametric EQ on every input channel and with the addition of graphic EQ on eight output channels. Multiple sound checks can be saved and recalled making it ideal for variety concerts. Most important is that the pre-amp and conversion quality is extremely high giving a sound quality you would expect from top analogue desk.Now it may seem totally over the top, but the StudioLive can be run off an iPad and this is a very useful facility for EQing stage monitors from the monitor position, tweaking EQ in the room from any point in the theatre space and even mixing over wireless in certain scenarios. In fact one group was so impressed by being able to EQ monitors from the stage that they said 'you wouldn't even find that in Auckland'.Without question this is a significant development in live sound infrastructure for Nelson. There's lots more information on the StudioLive on line at www.bickerton.co.nz.

StudioLive is a fully fledged 24 channel recording interfaceThe flexibility of digital audio starts to become apparent when you realize the StudioLive is also a 24 channel firewire based recording interface. This amazing device enables us to record 24 tracks of audio direct into a computer with no other hardware required. It will also allow 24 track playback. Multi-track recording of live concerts can now be done with ease straight into our preferred recording software Logic Pro. But this can also facilitate concert preparation by recording and playing back sound checks, fine tuning EQ without musicians being present, etc.Recording of full bands now becomes a breeze with 24 inputs available. Plus with 10 analogue outputs available all band members can receive their own headphone mix. Pre-amps and converters on the StudioLive are superb quality giving excellent results.

Mixing By WirelessIt seems remarkable but it's quite possible to mix an entire concert on the StudioLive from an iPad, but would you really want to? The answer is sometimes, yes!Imagine for example a performance which is playback intensive, like the Arts Festival's Red Square or Race Unity Day. Why not have playback at side of stage where monitor levels can be set with ease and communication with performers is more direct and mix out front wirelessly. No gazeebos, no snakes, just a flash new iPad - and a sun hat of course. With luck it would work from the nearest coffee cart, now we're talking!

Nelson School Of MusicThe Nelson School Of Music is Nelson's leading music venue featuring a wide range of music genres in concert each year. The acoustics in the main auditorium are acclaimed as being the best in the Southern Hemisphere for chamber music, however, this creates issues for amplified music which is better suited to dryer acoustics. Many years experience (Bob was Director of the School for seven years) have shown that excellent results can be

achieved for sound re-enforcement in the School by careful placement of quality speakers.BBSound have permanently installed a sound system which works 'with' the natural acoustics of the room to provide excellent sound. At the heart of the system are a pair of QSC three way HPR153i speakers which are critically acclaimed for their reproduction of acoustic music. In addition are a delayed pair of QSC HD-282 speakers which are positioned half way down the auditorium to give definition in the rear of the room. These are then enhanced by Peavey Q118 subs to give a full range system suitable for all music genres from subtle acoustic to serious rock.When supplemented by our range of esoteric microphones, our StudioLive mixing desk and quality monitoring, the sound system reflects the quality lineage of the school's musical history.A major event in the school calendar is the Nelson School Of Music's

Winter Festival where BBSound are the preferred supplier of sound reinforcement services. In recent years we have technically produced concerts at the school for such performers as Hollie Smith, Roger Fox, Tim Beveridge, Tom Sharplin and the Cadillacs, Graham Wardrop, OneVibe, Tina Cross, Taisha, Caitlin Smith, Luger Boa, Iva Lamkum, David Goldthorpe, Strike, dDub to name but a few.The open acoustics of the auditorium make for excellent live recordings, in fact the recording made of Peggy Seeger's fundraising concert for the Nelson Women's House was considered to be as good as a BBC recording made of her concert in London a few years previously.

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Theatre RoyalNelson's Theatre Royal was built in 1878 and reopened last June after a major refurbishment. The opening festival included a variety concert featuring around 25 local acts each night and included anything from CD playback to 20 radio mics on stage! There was no time for a dress rehearsal and sound checks had to take place during the week, so it quickly became apparent our new digital mixing desk would be required. We programmed the desk and saved each sound check during the week so that we could recall settings on the night.It also became apparent it would be impossible to set monitor levels from the front of house position, so Brendyn Montgomery hooked up his MacBook Pro to the system and ran monitors from side of stage.

The Theatre Royal is a leading performance venue in Nelson and it was clear that the Theatre would need a permanent in-house system of exceptional quality for concert and playback uses and so BBSound have installed a system purchased specifically for the Theatre. It comprises four QSC K12 self powered speakers with Peavey Q118 subs and front fill using EAW VR62 speakers all managed from a Driverack 260. This provides excellent coverage throughout the venue. This superb system can be supplemented by BBSound's esoteric microphone inventory and range of mixing desks and processors to provide excellent sound for any event.

Vocal MicrophonesFor many years the standard stage vocal mic was the Shure SM58 and its legacy still lives on today with many band riders specifying SM58 or Beta58 models, probably because this is all most sound companies have on offer.However these mics are from an era when sound systems benefited from a large degree of 'cut' from microphones, but these mics can sound grainy and hard on the better concert systems like those used at the Nelson School Of Music and the Theatre Royal.

Add to that the fact that each voice is unique and different performers work with different monitor levels in variable stage configurations and you'll perhaps understand why we have eleven different stage vocal microphones available for performers at BBSound, most of which sound better than an SM58!One of finest stage vocal mics available today is the Neumann KMS105. We used it for Cairde when they played support at Opera In The Park and both Dame Kiri Te Kanawa's sound engineer and one of Oceania's leading engineer's commented on how good this microphone sounded. However, on loud and smaller stages, feedback and spill from drums can be a real problem for vocal mics and that is where a mic like the Audix OM7 comes in. It has incredible feedback rejection, but still sounds very open, almost like a condenser. An example of this was a recent Arts Festival concert featuring a leading vocalist where her engineer spent some considerable time EQing her monitor to avoid feedback when using his preferred Beta57 vocal mic. When the same vocalist played at the Nelson School Of Music we were able to run monitors at a similarly high level using the OM7 with minimal EQ, plus is sounded better on her voice!One of my favourite mics is the Electrovoice RE510 which we imported direct from America. It is a condenser mic with reasonable feedback rejection and a neutral sound and we've used these for live recordings of concerts, some of which have been released commercially.But the old SM58 still has a place as a real rock and roll type mic, so when Tom Sharplin of Cadillacs fame came to town we threw a 58 on the stand for him. I was pleased as Tom's stage routine involves swinging the mic in the end of its cable I'm pleased he wasn't using my Neumann!

Derek Browne

Peggy SeegerBorn in 1935, Peggy's family connections are well-known in folk and classical music circles. She is Pete Seeger's half-sister, Ruth Crawford Seeger's daughter; partner to Ewan MacColl who wrote First Time Ever I Saw Your Face for her and to whom she bore three children. Peggy has made 22 solo recordings and taken part in more than 100 more with other performers. A singer and multi-instrumentalist, she is considered to be one of North America's finest female folksingers.Peggy often visits New Zealand for a few months every summer and when she heard about the arson attack on the Nelson Women's House offered to perform a fundraising concert at the Nelson School Of Music. We donated sound services and set up as usual and when I asked Peggy if she'd like me to record the concert, she enthusiastically said 'Yes'. Anyway I decided to multi-track record the concert, with the assistance of JR Richardson. It was one of those magic nights, with guests including Irene Pyper-Scott, Nathan Torvick and Cairde, all beautifully performed and presented by Peggy and with a very warm reception from the audience, who were in full support of proceedings!

The recording turned out to be superb, really capturing the mood of the evening, giving a live representation of Peggy on stage. The BBC recorded Peggy's 70th birthday concert in London, which was released on CD, but it was felt the Nelson recording was more intimate and easily on a par technically with the London recording. So we mixed the album and it is now due for international release.Had we known we were recording for commercial release, I probably would have used more studio mics on stage, however, it's a testimony to the live mics we use that the standard was totally professional.Peggy, and her producer Pyper, were a delight to work with and we were thrilled we were able to commit the concert to CD and add another recording to Peggy's long list of achievements.

Peggy Seeger

Hayley WestenraHayley is New Zealand's biggest selling recording artist and I've been fortunate to work with London based engineer and producer Ian Tilley who has produced several of her albums. Hayley released an album of Japanese songs in 2008 and whilst most of the tracks were recorded in London, she wanted two tracks recorded in New Zealand.Ian asked me to assist in the process, so I took my studio equipment down to the Jazz School in Christchurch where we set up to record the band.Ian was his usual professional self having prepared arrangements in advance and we set the band up in a fairly standard configuration.Drums were miked up using Electrovoice N/D468 on snare top, Audix D2 and D4 mics on toms, Sennheiser e602 on kick, an e614 on High Hat and AKG C451's as overheads. I used a VR88 ribbon mic on the bass cabinet, Microtech Gefell M300 mics on acoustic guitar and a Neumann TLM193 on Violin.All went well and we recorded both tracks in one day. But then we struck a problem. The London tracks featured a Steinway piano recorded with top mics in a studio there and there was no similar piano available at the jazz school. We solved the problem by using a very special plug-in I bought for this very purpose, a sampled Steinway piano by Garritan. In fact this is the only sampled Steinway plug-in that is authorized and endorsed by Steinway. The resulting sound, as part of the mix, was up there with the London recording, which really shows how well the piano was sampled.The album went on to be released to critical acclaim.

Hayley Westenra

Fiona PearsI first met Fiona Pears at the Woollaston Nelson Jazz Festival in 2007 where she was performing in the fantastic cellar at Woollaston Estates. This largely concrete and glass venue is somewhat challenging sound wise, but everyone was impressed and I've since gone on to engineer many concerts and also albums with Fiona and her band.However one of the most formidable challenges working with Fiona occurred when she asked me to provide sound and record a concert in Christchurch Cathedral for a DVD. The Cathedral in Christchurch is large and very reverberant, so I decided to use three pairs of speakers on delay lines down the nave, tilted down into the audience. We packed in that morning and spent a very busy day setting the stage and front of house up only to find we had to break everything down again for a choir rehearsal at 4pm! This put immense pressure on resetting the stage before the concert and we'd just finished line checking when doors opened.Incredibly everything went smoothly and we ended up with an excellent recording.Fiona and the band are a pleasure to work with. Her stunning music is difficult to describe, a fusion of classical, gypsy and jazz, but I really enjoy working with music which is of such a high standard and which can be professionally produced in a live setting.

Fiona Pears

UAD Plug InsDid you hear that California's Ocean Way and London's Abbey Road studios have opened a branch in Nelson? Well not literally, but we're pleased to announce we have a comprehensive range of classic equipment emulations, as found in those studios, in Nelson, thanks to U.S. company Universal Audio.UAD are the leading developers of software emulation plug ins and carefully reproduce the sound of classic pieces of gear worth hundreds of thousands of dollars. The result is access to equipment that simply would not be affordable otherwise.But does it make a difference? Absolutely!Even the valve tone and circuitry have been recreated in these plug-ins, so by simply patching it in, you get the benefit of the tone from the original device.Some of my favourite applications are using the:

Teletronix LA-2A compressor on vocalsFairchild 670 compressor for masteringManley Massive Passive EQ for masteringCambridge EQ for incisive EQNeve 1081 Classic Console EQ on instrumentsEMT 140 Classic Plate Reverberator on Vocals and Instruments

Professional recording has been revolutionized in recent years with the advent of computer based recording. Having invested in esoteric studio microphones and pre-amps, the source material we record is as good as you would find anywhere. Add to this mixing with plug-ins of the UAD calibre and we are able to produce recordings suitable for international release.All we need now is a zebra crossing outside the studio........

New Acoustic Treatment and Monitors For Studio

It's all very well using top microphones and pre-amps to record music, but unless this is mixed on excellent speakers in an acoustically treated environment, the engineer is working blind (or should that be deaf).When I recently upgraded my studio monitors to English manufacturer PMC's TB2-As, I started to become aware that all was not right with my control room acoustics. I had a discussion with Larry Elliot of Marshall Day who are professional acousticians and we commenced a process of measuring the room and designing suitable treatment for installation.Fortunately, once the design is formulated, acoustic panels can be manufactured locally out of materials readily available, but the manufacturing tolerance of some of the acoustic panels was down to a single millimeter so precision was the key.

Certain panels were designed to absorb specific frequencies in the room and it was something of a challenge to fit the required square coverage of panels, some of which ended up on doors!However, the end result is a very neutral and balanced monitoring environment which is essential for professional mixing and mastering.Every nuance can be heard in the mix and the PMC speakers are particularly suited to acoustic music genres presenting a beautifully expansive sound stage.

Location RecordingHaving portable recording equipment enables us to record pretty much anywhere. In recent years we've recorded live concerts, natural history, voice overs, aural history projects, sound to picture, in fact pretty much all aspects of location recording.Obviously if power is available we'll use our very fine Focusrite and DAV pre-amps, going into Logic Audio on a MacBook via a MOTU interface but if no power is available we now have interesting alternatives at our disposal.For straight stereo recording we use a Tascam HD-P2, a professional standard flash drive recorder, which has good pre-amps and excellent conversion. For more complex portable work we have an Azden FMX 42a, a four channel mixer which can feed both a camera and flash drive recorder at the same time. These combined with a range of dedicated equipment such as shotgun mics and a boom pole makes for very flexible location recording solutions.We're used to recording in various locations and recently set up for a band recording in the old Radio New Zealand studios in Selwyn Place. These studios are largely under utilized these days, but are well treated acoustically and fully sound proof, making them ideal for working with larger bands. The recording session of a local Rockabilly band Krazy Katz went very smoothly and this space is available to us for future recording projects.Each venue has its own acoustic signature and most large spaces are generally workable for location recording. A couple of recent examples involved brass groups, but recorded in very different venues. We recorded the Tasman Brass Ensemble in Nelson Cathedral, with it's lush reverb, over several evenings. The musicians are experts in their fields and we achieved a very high standard of production. Also involving brass was the National Secondary Schools Brass Band Of New Zealand concert at the Theatre Royal. The Theatre has a very different acoustic to the Cathedral, but was actually better suited to a larger band. We were very pleased with the technical production of this recording which used a standard ORTF pair of Neumann TLM193 mics with Neumann KM183 outriggers and TLM193 and M300 spot mics.

Richard Nunns - Taonga PuoroRichard Nunns is the leading player of Taonga Puora (traditional Maori instruments) and is sought after around the world for concerts and lectures. I have been honored to have worked with him on several recording and performance projects. There are no books written on how to record Taonga Puoro and the process is one of sonic exploration, reflecting Richard's own approach to the instruments. From subtle edge tones to powerful horn calls the dynamic range and diversity of sound is huge. Working with such unique and expressive instruments at the hands of a master has been a highlight of my technical career.During the last few years we have produced music sound tracks for four documentaries by Christchurch based Director Kathleen Gallagher, with Aroha Yates-Smith on vocals, Richard on Taonga Puoro and myself on traditional Celtic instruments. This journey has been powerful and humbling and the outcomes have been very positive with the music being an integral part of the films' message.In recent years we have developed an Arts Festival piece featuring a suite of poems by Glen Colquhoun called North South. The poems weave together Maori and Celtic mythologies and Richard and I support Glen's energetic delivery with taonga puoro and Irish instruments. You'd think Glen's radio mic would be the least of our technical worries except that he starts the show with his head in a bucket of water - not something radio mics particularly warm to!

Richard Nunns, Glen Colquhoun & Bob Bickerton

Arts Festival - Red SquareAn important community feature of recent Arts Festivals in Nelson has been the Westpac Red Square street venue where many of the region's schools perform.It has now become a significant event in schools' calendars and each year we are surprised and delighted at the innovation and skills presented.Our philosophy, in terms of this event, is to provide excellent sound whilst providing a very supportive and safe environment for the students in which to perform.Groups can feature anything from massed mono cycles, choirs, rock bands to kapa haka and jump jam!Fast changeovers are essential, so we tend to use ambient miking techniques where possible and the core of these are Rode NTG-1000 shotgun mics and Electrovoice RE510 condenser mics. These mics can be placed strategically around the stage to reinforce choirs, orchestras and bands.All in all it's a fantastic celebration of youth performing arts which all bodes very well for the future.

Arts Festival - ConcertsAs well as our involvement with Red Square, we also provide sound services and support for critical concert work in the Nelson Arts Festival. In recent years this has included the Montreal Guitar Trio, Hollie Smith, Antal Szalai and his Hungarian Gypsy Orchestra, Baker Suite, Don McGlashan with The Bellbirds, Micheline van Hautem, Jonathan Besser to name but a few.Whilst the emphasis is always on producing professional sound, the nature of performing arts is such that amusing incidents are not uncommon! I recall Antal Szalai arriving with his band for sound check at Woollaston Estates, taking one look at the room, declaring that he'd only need one mic, checking it was working and then declaring an end to the sound check. It was all over in two minutes! The band then made straight for the green room to try out some of the local product! It was, of course, a great night of wild gypsy music. I very much enjoyed Belgian chanteuse Micheline van Hautem's concert at Woollaston Estates where she was accompanied by the fantastic guitarist Erwin van Ligten, who ended up playing my 30 year old Maton guitar the whole evening. I hadn't done sound for my own guitar before and was somewhat surprised that it was the best sounding guitar I'd ever heard! Something to do with the Fishman Rare-Earth Blend pickup combined with the LR Baggs ParaDI as well as the brilliant guitar playing. Erwin offered to buy it on the spot - not for sale sorry!

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Micheline van Hautem

Student DiscountsBBSound continues to offer a 33% discount to students who wish to record, making professional recording accessible.Often students will take advantage of this offer when preparing audition CDs for competitions or courses. Having a high quality recording can really make a difference and enables adjudicators to audition material without having to struggle with poor recording quality.The process is not particularly daunting as we can record in the student's preferred environment with our portable recording equipment.It's a good idea to have a teacher present who can comment on takes, this way you'll get the most out of the recording session.A highlight in the year for students is the Nelson Symphony Orchestra's concerto concert where students can audition to play a movement from a concerto with the orchestra. This is a wonderful opportunity and makes for a varied and most enjoyable concert. These concerts are recorded and CDs made available to students with highlights being included in the NSO's end of year double CD.

Front Of House:

QSC HPR153i - 600w powered speakers (x2)QSC K12 - 1000w powered speakers (x4)JBL Eon G2 - 400w powered speakers (x4)JBL Eon G1 - powered speakers (x2)Peavey QW118 - subs (x4) powered by QSE RMX2450 - 1200w/ch amplifierJBL JRX118S - subs (x2) powered by Samson SR3200 - 1100w/ch amplifierJBL MR825 - speakers powered by QSC GX5 - 700w/ch amplifierYamaha Stagepass 300 - sound system

Monitoring:

Yamaha BR15M - 15" monitor wedges (x6)Pyle 12" - monitor wedges (x2)QSC GX5 - 700w/ch amplifiers (x3)

Speaker Processing:

TC Electronic XO24 - speaker processingDBX Driverack 260 - speaker processing (x2)DBX 2231 - 32 band stereo graphic equalizerDBX 215 - 15 band stereo graphic equalizers (x2)Rane DEQ 60 Graphic EqualizerAlesis DEQ830 - 32 band 8-way graphic equalizerDBX 223 - crossover

Mixing Desks:

Presonus StudioLive 24 channel deskAllen and Heath ZED 420 - 16 channel deskAllen and Heath ZED 14 - 14 channel deskMackie ProFX12 - 6 channel deskSoundcraft F1 - 8 channel desk

Outboard:

TC Electronic M350 - multi-effects units (x2)Lexicon MPX100 - multi-effects unitAlesis Microverb 4 - multi-effects unitDrawmer MX30 - 2 channel compressorDBX 1046 - 4 channel compressorPresonus EQ3B - parametric equalizerTascam CD-01UPro - CD playerDenon DN-C615 - CD playerSony MDS-E12 - minidisk player

Microphones:

AKG C414 TLII (condenser) (x1)AKG C416 (condenser) (x3)AKG C409 (condenser) (x1)AKG C411 (condenser) (x2)AKG C415 (condenser) (x2)AKG C420 (condenser) (x2)AKG D409 (x1)Audix D2 (x2)Audix D4 (x1)Audix D6 (x1)Audix i5 (x2)Audix OM7 (x2)Audio Technica ATM350 (condenser) (x2)CAD M9 (valve) (x1)Crowley & Tripp Naked Eye (ribbon) (x1)Electrovoice 635a (x2)Electrovoice RE510 (condenser) (x4)Electrovoice RE410 (condenser) x1Electrovoice N/D468 (x2)Electrovoice N/D967 (x1)Nady CM420 (condenser) (x1)Microtech Gefell M300 (condenser) (x2)Neumann KMS105 (condenser) (x1)Neumann KM183 (omni condenser) (x2)Neumann TLM103 (condenser) (x1)Neumann TLM 193 (condenser) (x4)Rode NT5 (omni/cardioid condenser) (x2)Rode NT1 (condenser) (x2)Rode NTG-1 (condenser) (x2)Samson VR88 (ribbon) (x1)Sennheiser b604 (x1)Sennheiser e602 (x1)Sennheiser e614 (condenser) (x6)Sennheiser e840 (x4)Sennheiser e845 (x2)Sennheiser e906 (x2)Sennheiser e935 (x1)Sennheiser MKE2 (x2)Sennheiser Ear Set MKE1 (x2)Sennheiser MK4 (x1)

Shure SM57 (x2) Shure SM58 (x4)Shure SM7 (x1)Shure 55SH Series II (x1)Shure SM63

Radio Microphones:

Sennheiser G3 System (x4)AKG WMS System (x1)

DI Boxes:

Radial Pro D1 (x4)Radial Pro D2 (x1)Radial J48 (x1)Radial ProAV (x1)ProCo (x4)

Backline:

Yamaha P70 KeyboardAlesis Nanopiano (via above keyboard)Markbass Bass Rig

Live Theatre Playback:

QLab on Macbook

Recording:

Logic Studio on Macbook and MacPro computersUAD and Melodyne plug-insMOTU 8pre - audio interfaceMOTU 828 - audio interfaceFocusrite ISA428 - pre-amps/convertersDAV Broadhurst Gardens No. 2 - pre-ampsPMC TB-2A - monitor speakersSony MDR 7509 - headphonesSony MDR 7506 - headphonesBeyerdynamic DT250 - headphonesRane HC 4S - headphone amplifierSamson S Monitor - headphone amplifiers (x4)Whirlwind PA1 - headphone amplifierTascam HD-P2 - flash drive stereo recorderOlympus LS-10 - flash drive stereo recorderSony DAT RecorderAzden FMX 42a Field Mixer

Gear List

The 'A' TeamI feel privileged to be working with such a positive, skilled group of technicians at BBSound. Brendyn Montgomery is a consummate performer in his own right and has a Masters Degree in

performance from Limerick University. He has performed in concert and at major festivals in New Zealand and Australia and has an amazing set of ears (an engineer's best tool) for critical listening as well as excellent technical problem solving skills. 'JR' Richardson has a Bachelor of Audio Engineering degree from the Southern Institute of Technology where his three year degree course focussed on Studio Recording, Live Reinforcement and Applied Acoustics. His in depth technical knowledge, problem solving skills and sound engineering abilities are a real asset in our company. Bob Bickerton has worked in professional performing arts for almost 40 years as a manager, producer, promoter and live sound and recording engineer. He has engineered concerts in major venues and festivals around New Zealand and has produced recordings for international release, film and television.

Through live sound, recording, production, performance and promotion we have worked with:Adam International Chamber Music Festival, WOMAD, Wellington International Festival Of The Arts, Nelson Jazz Festival, Nelson Arts Festival, Nelson School Of Music Winter Festival, Haley Westenra, Fiona Pears, Neil Finn, Tim Finn, Moana and the Moa Hunters, Peggy Seeger, Richard Nunns, Glen Colquhoun, Lunasa, Michael Houstoun, Dierdre Irons, New Zealand String Quartet, Michelangelo Quartet, New Zealand Trio, Peter Nagy, James Campbell, Cairde, Mosaic, Duo Jackson, Jane Pujji, Paul Bond, Alex and Duncan Davidson, Te Tau Ihu Kapahaka Groups, Nelson Symphony Orchestra, Gaelynne Pound, Dunedin Sinfonia, Saddlers Wells Royal Ballet, New Zealand Symphony Orchestra, Michael Fowler Centre, Aotea Centre, Green Fire Islands project, Donal Lunny, Kevin Burke, Jim Murray, Kevin Field, Kevin Haynes, Carolina Moon, Tim Beveridge, Graham Wardrop, Anna Coddinton, Dave Swarbrick (Fairport Convention), Martin Carthy (Steeleye Span), Roger Mannins, Ron Samson, Joe Robinson, Prazak Quartet, Piers Lane, Mamaku Project, Midge Marsden, Tom Sharplin, Cheryl Grice-Watterson, Jonathan Besser, Cats, Sound Of Music, Oliver, Chicago, Torch Songs, Hot Club Sandwich, Anika Moa, King Kapisi, dDub, Jez Lowe, Elina, Musical Island Boys, Saxcess, Bonanza, Jan Preston, Nick Granville, Sideshow Bob, Swing 42, Gahu, Dougie McLean, Jazz Divas, Tomato Kiss, Rainbow Bridge, Whirimako Black, Summer Shakespeare, Departure Lounge, Suzanne Prentice, Pacific Curls, Nairobi Trio, Jan Tawroszewicz, Malcolm McNeil, Gypsy Pickers, Janet Roddick, Sam Manzanza, Thomas Oliver band, Dame Malvina Major, Marg Layton, Jennifer Ward-Lealand, Rodger Fox Big Band, Akasa, Mark Hadlow, Grease, Annie, Snow White, Mike Nock, Grant Winterburn, Harry Harrison, Mimi Fox, Mojave, Te Radar, Sacha V, Mojo Funk, Mosaic, Mundi, Peruquios, John Carty, John Hopkins, Matthew Marshall, Brilleaux, Zamba Flam, Impressions, Billy TK, Mike Garner, Emma Pask, Kevin Hunt, Black Sand Diva, Declan Masterson (Riverdance), Brendan Power (Riverdance), Michele van Heutem, The Immigrants, OneVibe, Tina Cross, Taisha, Caitlin Smith, Funkey Monkeys, Luger Boa, Iva Lamkum, La La Luna, David Goldthorpe, Strike, Montreal Guitar Trio, Hollie Smith, Baker Street, Diane Ponzio, James Morrison, Blood Brothers, The Hermitage Trio, Jason Chasland, The Laughing Samoans, and many more.................

Brendyn Montgomery

Bob Bickerton

JR Richardson

Company ProfileBBSound is a trading name for Bob Bickerton Limited. We provide professional concert sound reinforcement, recording and stage management services to the Nelson region and beyond. Our philosophy is to create positive, professional sonic workspaces in which performers can maximize their creative output to thrill audiences through exceptional technical production.

Contact DetailsCompany Bob Bickerton LimitedAddress 48 Todd Bush Road, RD1, Nelson, 7071, New ZealandPhone +(64) 3 545-0125Fax +(64) 3 545-2030Mobile +(64) 274 384 048Email mail@bickerton.co.nzWebsite www.bickerton.co.nzDirector Bob BickertonEngineers Bob Bickerton, Brendyn Montgomery, JR Richardson

All material copyright Bob Bickerton Limited 2011

© Bob Bickerton Limited 2011

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