LIVE SOUND
Paul Klimson brings 20 highly-credited years of technical experience to the details of audio, staging, video, and lighting arrangement in
the areas of television broadcasts, arena performances, international music festivals, and top-tier special events production. In 2008,
Paul auditioned for what was to become Late Night with Jimmy Fallon. Over the course of six years and 965+ episodes, he worked in
every music production element of the NBC nightly broadcast. In 2013, Paul designed and built the monitor package for the famous
Studio 6B set at 30 Rockefeller Plaza in NYC and saw the show through its transition into The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon.
www.theoryoneproductions.com.
By Paul Klimson
Prime Time-Ready IEMs:
Part 2: Show Time
O
k, we have a host, we have an au-
dience, and we have a band. Let’s
make the magic happen!
The audience just witnessed a dancing
panda bear in act four, but now it’s act fi ve
– time for your band to make your big TV
debut. While you’re backstage getting your
“last looks” from makeup, the stage crew is
setting the risers and moving all the ele-
ments back to the fl oor exactly where they
were from rehearsal some hours ago.
You emerge from a small back room
into what seems like the market of a bus-
tling metropolis. Stay focused, young Jedi.
Acknowledge the host with a slight wave
and smile, but then get right to work. Start
doing checks as quickly as possible; tune
your instrument, start checking in with your
bandmates, run a vocal lick or two. Most
importantly, turn on your IEM pack and get
your molds comfortably situated. It will be a
bit cacophonous, but as things settle in and
everyone is making their systems work, start
to form a decorum.
Get everyone to focus. The house band
will be playing through the break. You have
eye contact and the world inside your IEMs to
fi nd that place of comfort. Look at your band
mates, and when it feels like the machine is
ready to fi re, do a false start on the tracks.
Make sure you can hear the intro and count
off . I usually run clicks and counts on a TV
show just a bit louder than normal in the IEM
mix while being mindful of hearing safety.
Check Your Levels
What’s not present during camera block is
a studio audience cheering. This can throw
60 CANADIAN MUSICIAN
off the intro of the song and your faces
will show it up until the fi rst chorus, and
there is nothing worse for a monitor engi-
neer than the obvious “pack reach” during
an on-air performance. My heart still drops
a little even if I’m watching from home.
I fi nd it ok to actually play along with the
fi rst few bars during the track false start ex-
ercise. You’ll know immediately if your IEM
pack is at the right level for this situation.
Besides all of the musical things that are
in your IEM mix, there will be an additional
channel mixed in. This is the “program” chan-
nel. Most TV monitor mixers will add in this
channel in order for the performers to follow
along with what’s happening in the show
right before and right after the performance
segment. There is nothing better than hear-
ing the intro for your band read by the host
in your IEMs. “And here they are…”
This feed is generated from the A1 mixer.
The A1 mixer combines all inputs except the
individual musical inputs on their console.
That console is the fi nal stop before it is
married with the video program and sent
to air. Further down the line is the TV mu-
sic mixer. This mixer is in control of all the
musical inputs on the show that day. They
create a typical mix that would appear on a
commercial musical release. This mix is sent
to the A1’s console for them to mix in with
the rest of the audio program material.
That’s A Wrap
Following your performance, the lights will
come up and the host will usually cross
to the performance area and throw to a
commercial. The audience will applaud
and the program feed on the in-studio
TV monitors will fade to black. At this
point, if it’s a taped performance, the
stage manager will cross to you and ask if
you’re good with the performance. There
is sometimes, but not always, a chance to
retake the song and the corrected take
can be stitched into the show between
the intro and the outro given by the host.
The time to decide whether or not to
rerun the segment is fl eeting.
This brings me to another important or-
ganizational element. There needs to be an
advocate for the band, either management
or a FOH engineer, in the music mix booth.
This is where all decisions of how you will
be presented to the public are made. If it’s
good in that booth, then it’s the best it can
be going to air. Have someone who was
at the rehearsals and knows your vision in
the booth. The stage manager is waiting
for an okay from you on the fl oor and an
okay from the music mixer before moving
on to the next piece of the show. Some
technical issues can be fi xed by fl ying in
elements from rehearsal takes, especially if
a click track is used, so make sure to choose
your battles carefully. If it feels great on the
fl oor and the mixer says it’s good for them
and everyone in the booth is excited, then
let the rest fall under the idea that it’s a
real band playing real music in front of a
real audience.
At the end of the day, have fun. Having
the opportunity to perform on a TV show
for the fi rst time is very powerful. It cements
a moment in time for your band that will
live on for a very long time.