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Mix Blog Live: It Ain’t The Gig, It’s the Commute
Steve La Cerra just had his second gig since the Covid outbreak, and while it went better in the house, the same could not...
Live Sound
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Mix Blog Live: Sending Out an SOS
Steve La Cerra reports in on the latest from Congress in Covid relief to help venue operators and those involved in live sound and...
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Mix Blog Live: My First Indoor Gig, Front to Back
In his first indoor gig of the Covid era, Steve La Cerra finds that while the crew and backstage areas followed protocol, it was...
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Mix Blog Live: Memories of Bruce Swedien
Steve La Cerra recalls the human side of Bruce Swedien, how they met over a story about Neumann M49s and how he ended up...
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Mix Blog Live: Holding My Breath
With only a few weeks to go in the semester, Steve La Cerra is crossing his fingers that the classrooms at Mercy College stay...
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Mix Blog Live: The Weirdest AES Show Ever
Steve La Cerra went online instead of driving into Manhattan this year for the AES Show Fall 2020, and he found a wealth of...
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Mix Blog Live: Business as Unusual
Steve La Cerra jumped on a plane last week, headed for Pittsburgh on his first fly-date since the shutdown in March. The airports, he...
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Mix Blog Live: A Steep Climb
With The Met canceling its entire Fall Season, along with others across the country, it's looking more and more like mid- to late-2021 for...
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Mix Blog Live: Which Group Am I In?
Steve La Cerra returned to school last week, and everything you've been reading about education during the pandemic is true; but he's making it...
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Mix Blog Live: Surviving Sturgis
To find out what concert one-offs are actually like these days, Steve La Cerra called a friend who mixed front of house in mid-August...
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Mix Blog Live: We Need the Good Kind of PR
With uncertainty growing ever greater in the concert touring industry, Steve La Cerra finds that cluster parties and pop-up live events can be damaging...
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Mix Blog Live: Check Your Wireless Inventory
As of July, time's up on the 600 MHz band for wireless system users, and Steve La Cerra looks at options out there as...
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Mix Blog Live: Flash Your Headlights
Steve La Cerra worked last weekend! And he found that while the logistics of prepping for a live "drive-in concert" were a bit nerve-racking,...
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Mix Blog Live: The Real Numbers
Steve La Cerra looks at a couple of surveys taken during the pandemic and is crushed to learn of the value the average consumer...
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Mix Blog Live: Meet Me at the Drive-In
The hunger for live music is real, and with very few outlets outside of looking at a screen, artists and fans are turning to...
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Mix Blog Live: A Slice and a Coke
When the 2020 concert season was canceled, it left a lot of supporting businesses throughout the country in a tight spot, including some favorite...
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Mix Blog Live: Hello, Boston!
This Friday’s live streaming concert by local favorites Dropkick Murphys, in a baseball stadium with no fans, will raise money for Boston-area nonprofits.
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Mix Blog Live: Rise Up, New York!
The city of New York sure knows how to rally in times of adversity, from supporting front-line workers to helping the poor when they...
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Mix Blog Live: The Quietest of Moments
You know that moment at a concert when the band is killing it, the emotions and movement winding along in sync, and the entire...
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Mix Blog Live: Zooming High(er)-Quality Audio
Besides spending many weekends on the road at front of house, Steve La Cerra is an audio educator; over the the last month he...
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Mix Blog Live: A Concert in Your Living Room?
The coronavirus COVID-19 has essentially shut down the 2020 summer touring season—and cost Steve La Cerra his usual weekend gig. So are stay-at-home, "intimate"...
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Mix Blog Live: Coronavirus Fallout
“All New York City Public Schools are closed.” When I hear those words, it usually means there’s a significant snowfall in the area and...
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Mix Blog Live: What’s With the Tape on the C#?
Frustration with a show’s backline provider led to a couple trips back to the warehouse, an angry phone call and, ultimately, resolution. A normal...
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Mix Blog Live: Rack Toms for Everyone
When a Rack Tom channel on a rented digital console started showing up across multiple scribble strips during soundcheck, Steve La Cerra did everything...
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Mix Blog Live: TLC for an XK-1c
Steve La Cerra knows that after years on the road, gear can take a beating. So when possible, he likes to take out some...
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Mix Blog Live: Lessons From The Professor
Steve La Cerra mourns the loss of one of his real heroes, the drummer Neil Peart, who lived life with passion and grace, not...
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Mix Blog Live: Resurrecting an Audio Dinosaur, The Final Chapter
The Ampex 351 was working, but relatively noisy, so Steve La Cerra started replacing tubes; he found that not all tubes are created equal.
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Mix Blog Live: Music for the Holiday Mood
Having a tough time staying in the holiday spirit? Here’s some music to lighten your mood, in no particular order… The Christmas Song, The...
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Mix Blog Live: The Zombie Zone
What do you do when you show up to a gig and the mix position is, uh, less than desirable, and a bunch of...
Live Sound
Mix Blog Live: A Legal Mess
The recent kerfuffle surrounding Taylor Swift singing her songs at the AMAs goes beyond a simple one-night performance, and the rights aren't as simple...
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Mix Blog Live: Why Does An Advance Have to Be So Difficult?
Voice on the phone: Is this Steve? Me: Yes. Hey I’m Curly Joe (not his real name). I’m doing sound for you on (date...
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