Mix Live Blog: Stone Knives and Bearskins
My, how times have changed. I’m advancing a show where we’ll be using an analog console at FOH and possibly one for monitors. Yikes.
Update your browser to view this website correctly. Update my browser now
My, how times have changed. I’m advancing a show where we’ll be using an analog console at FOH and possibly one for monitors. Yikes.
Mix blogger and longtime FOH engineer for Blue Öyster Cult Steve La Cerra considers how and why his input list has evolved over the...
FOH engineer/Mix blogger Steve La Cerra is on the road with Blue Öyster Cult, and has noticed that he's needed to ask questions that...
He’s a walking musical lexicon who’s toured with everyone from Cyndi Lauper, Ian Hunter, and John Mayer to Rufus and Loudon Wainwright. For most...
Ever on the road, live sound pro Steve La Cerra recounts a wretched rental counter encounter—and considers how other touring acts will be affected...
The Boss reopened on Broadway a few days ago and has announced plans for a 2022 tour, though the two types of performances are...
From artist management and event production to licensing, fashion design, and running a label, KC Mancebo’s career has been an eclectically diverse and winding...
With Foo Fighters playing next week at a sold-out, full-capacity, vaccination-required Madison Square Garden, the concert touring industry is seeing its first signs of...
Steve La Cerra is getting back into the rhythm of the road after setting up travel, backline and the FOH mix for two shows...
The ongoing, worldwide shortage in ICs is delaying product manufacturing across nearly every industry, and pro audio, it appears, will be taking a back...
We like loud, we like clarity and we like dynamics. That's what we do in live performance. But now is not the time to...
Steve La Cerra was back at FOH last weekend, and that proved to be the easy part following a 17-hour journey from New York...
After a long hiatus, Steve La Cerra settled in at FOH for his first gig of 2021 and, for a brief moment, found that...
While not a long-term solution, the move in Las Vegas to open venues at up to 50 percent capacity (or 250 people, whichever is...
Grammy Week and Music's Biggest Night will look a lot different this time around, but as Steve La Cerra points out, the performers are...
While the public cheered recent announcements of limited-capacity venue reopenings, Steve La Cerra looks at the economics and calls it a non-starter; meanwhile, he...
In teaching a lesson to a student about following the proper steps for a project, Steve La Cerra ends up following his own advice...
Steve La Cerra really wanted to go to Anaheim this year to find new products and catch up with some colleagues, but mostly he...
Steve La Cerra just had his second gig since the Covid outbreak, and while it went better in the house, the same could not...
In his first indoor gig of the Covid era, Steve La Cerra finds that while the crew and backstage areas followed protocol, it was...
Steve La Cerra recalls the human side of Bruce Swedien, how they met over a story about Neumann M49s and how he ended up...
With only a few weeks to go in the semester, Steve La Cerra is crossing his fingers that the classrooms at Mercy College stay...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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,...
Steve La Cerra looks at a couple of surveys taken during the pandemic and is crushed to learn of the value the average consumer...
The hunger for live music is real, and with very few outlets outside of looking at a screen, artists and fans are turning to...
When the 2020 concert season was canceled, it left a lot of supporting businesses throughout the country in a tight spot, including some favorite...
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...
Besides spending many weekends on the road at front of house, Steve La Cerra is an audio educator; over the the last month he...
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"...
“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...
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...
When a Rack Tom channel on a rented digital console started showing up across multiple scribble strips during soundcheck, Steve La Cerra did everything...
Steve La Cerra knows that after years on the road, gear can take a beating. So when possible, he likes to take out some...
Steve La Cerra mourns the loss of one of his real heroes, the drummer Neil Peart, who lived life with passion and grace, not...
The Ampex 351 was working, but relatively noisy, so Steve La Cerra started replacing tubes; he found that not all tubes are created equal.
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...