C.K. : As the harp can have a wide dynamic range, do you ever use compression?

S.V. : No, I seek a theatrical sound with maximum dynamic range and transparency. The secret is having acres of headroom by having a more than adequate gain structure and plenty of reserve in the amps and speakers. When I am at my best I can hear Alison's breath at the back of the venue and yet have to struggle to hear the "amplification".

Rooms have a natural resonance where everything sounds natural and yet is easily audible but any volume above that level sounds amplified and a little forced. I do use an Ashly compressor as a system limiter against unspeakable horrors and monitor its gain levels orheadroom LEDs assiduously. I actually monitor the mains grounds, voltage levels, the amperage draw, all system gain levels as a matter of course.

C.K. : What about effects? It seems that you are mostly after a pure and natural sound, while the artist I worked with at times wanted me to create a highly impressionistic world of echoes and delays. I also sampled phrases in the studio, to be improvised over.

S.V. : I keep it simple. Lexicon chorus outdoors and reverb indoors. I use the MPX100 simply for its ease of use and it has enough algorithms for most of my needs. It is very fast to calibrate which is important with our short lead-in times at shows and receptions etc. A really underrated unit.. It has rotary analogue dials that are very intuitive to me and usually most of my reverb is then dialed back to the point of inaudibilty. Can I or can I not hear it?? No Loreena McKennitt style tails of reverb around here!

One day Alison will have a solid body electric harp and then we will really experiment with Fx and "the sound".

C.K. : You mention on the website the Electrosound Workhorse speakers you use for Alison's concerts, how and when did you first run into them?

S.V. : These are a real dark horse. I like breaking the "rules" everyone says we should and have to live by. These speakers are real renegades. They are small, light, have lots of base, a very wide dispersion, use a piezo tweeter (no less) for increased efficiency, 96db @ 200W program and are warm, warm, warm. A lot of our work is background and the secret is getting a wide dispersion of sound over people's heads. Requires a lot less horsepower. Anything over 40lbs that falls from 7 feet is potentially lethal. At 24 lbs these speakers are a dream. I intend to do sound until I am an octagenarian. As a consequence nothing in our outfit weighs more than 35-40lbs.

The only catch is I had the Workhorses airfreighted from NZ where I first encountered them.

C.K. : What type of portable console do you use?

I use a Spirit Folio SX 16 channel. It has a clean sparkly sound, a great EQ and I find it very intuitive to use. Ease of use is always important to me as we are often under time stress. I am quietly slobbering about replacing it with an A&H MixWizard, the next level up, for use in live recording etc.

C.K. : Having worked with many classical musicians, I got a kick out of your
mentioning harp technophobes and anti-amplification snobbery. Truly, this can be a huge hurdle to cross. It is not always easy to convince a performer that you wish to bring their sound to the audience transparently, rather than somehow make them a pop act. Please tell us about some times that this syndrome confronted you, and how you neutralized it.

S.V. : Amplification is a tool, a lever. It extends a musician's audience range. A city may have only 1-3 good acoustic "classical" venues. In a business sense this is very limiting, as a musician needs many venues and audiences to thrive. Amplification creates opportunity. I consider myself to be more of a soundscape artist. I create the the bedrock, the mountains, valleys, and subsoils of a sound landscape. Alison comes along with her harps and adds her tapestry of sound, colour, movement, organics, musical flora and fauna.

The stuff of dreams can be made in almost any space.

Too often sound engineers and musicians equate amplification with "loud", an assault on the senses. Most audiences are used to hitting the remote at home and are not satisfied listening with any form of ear strain at really low volumes. It is all about educating people of how we can serve their needs better with discrete/sensitive amplification and thusly, create more opportunity and joy for them. I find once clients and technophobe musicians hear our more sensitive rendition of sound and hear how a room comes alive under amplification, our opportunities blossom.

C.K. : I am curious what you are referring to when, in another communication we had, you mentioned that "engineering outfits can make a living by undercutting." Many of our visitors on the Live Audio Board have problems in their markets with underqualified companies putting in the low bids, and temporarily ruining life for the more experienced ones. It takes time for the promoters to learn that they are inviting catastrophe by not continuing to deal with pro companies.

S.V. : They asked the musician who won the lottery what are you going to do with all the money? And the response was... "I'll keep playing until it is all gone!" Then guess what? "I've got some gear sittng here, I guess I will become a sound engineer" No one makes a living for long by undercutting.

Business principles apply. Musicians and sound businesses need capital, they need to keep books, they need to understand they are carrying operational expenses and depreciation overheads, they need to know that every time they light up their gear dials there is a substantial financial cost to them. Too many people run by cannibalizing their fixed assets until they wake up one day unable to renew their business. I am cognizant that quality rental outfits need to get a 5-10% return on investment for a rental if they are going to be efficient and reliable over the long term.

C.K. : I am certain you are not supporting lowball practices, since you also
mentioned that "a positive professional attitude and no holds barred service can create a living." You seem to be a competitive guy, in that you see this business as "a race to the top," so please tell us more about how you personally choose to run that race, and why.

S.V. : Actually we do not "compete" in the classical sense. We lead the pricing in our market for rates and services and offer them for all to see on our website. We encourage others to become more professional and follow our lead upwards. We share, we network. We believe in creating more sophisticated and knowledgeable clients, fellow musicians and other sound providers to generate more momentum and opportunity amongst the general populace for all of our businesses to flourish.

In the musician's world there is always someone who will play for less than you. Even if you play for free, somewhere there is some musician who will pay for the priviledge. So competing on price and being paid cash is a slippery slope to oblivion. My simple advice is get out of the cash economy as fast as you can. Invoice, collect sales tax, ooze professionalism. Offer service, service and more service as well as the best of presentation, reliability, versatility and quality. All the attributes that are usually lacking in lowball outfits. The big spenders are surprised and impressed when approached on a business to business basis with all the values up front and centre that successfull people understand.

Harps in the wild,

Deal only with people who treat you with dignity and respect and offer the same in return. It takes nerve to turn down an "opportunity" from a bottom feeder who is trolling for a deal. Think laterally, sow opportunity by taking a risk in virgin territory instead of taking a low ball price that leads nowhere.

Networking with the top feeders, our peers and people who treat us with dignity is what creates our business. Referrals flow, opportunities breed, new ideas percolate and boy do we have fun!

http://www.alisonvardy.com/contact.htm

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Thank you very much, for taking the time to answer these questions, and tell our community about your work. – C.K.