The Show was started by three individuals consisting of Jake Walker, Eric Welsh and Jim Coudal. Jake and Jim are stationed at the main Headquarters in Chicago while Eric operates in Boston at his recording studio located at www.chillhousestudios.com.
The Show started on just a few days notice when the Pixies (left) needed someone to take over recording their last 12 concerts of 2004. In that time, The Show has built a business selling limited edition, live CDs to fans, and has worked all over North America, Europe, and is quickly on its way to Japan as well. The Show focuses on providing high quality, limited edition collectable CDs to fans that are professionally mixed and mastered - providing them with CDs they will want to listen to over and over again.
Their website is located at www.theshowlive.com. Pixies CDs can be purchased at www.pixiesdiscs.com, and The Show's upcoming tour with Dead Can Dance can be pre-ordered at www.dcddiscs.com.
"For the Pixies North American and European Tours the setup was simple," says Eric. "The Pixies input list consists of 20 channels so 3 DigiMax 96k units which provide 24 MicPre's did the job. I patch into the DigiMax 96k's via XLR audio splits and then out Optical/ADAT into an Alesis HD24 unit.
I use the remaining 4 MicPre's for ambient Microphones, usually 2 on stage and 2 near Front of House. Lately I have been using Shure KSM32's for ambient/crowd microphones.
Positioning the Ambient/Crowd Microphones can be a challenge. I make it a point to place them in the best area I have available and to keep them in phase with each other when setting up a stereo pair. Simple things like wind and rain can ruin the recording if you are not careful. Also, putting a microphone next to that over zealous fan who can hand clap with the strength of Bigfoot or yell louder than your grandmother is not the best idea.
All the gear is connected to a backup battery system in case of power failure. You'd be surprised how often power can go out during these big festival dates where 10,000 generators are feeding power to everything.
Once the concert is recorded to the removable the Hard Drive, a backup copy is made. After the tour is over I take the removable Hard Drives to my studio, Chillhouse Studios in Boston and begin mixing.
The Digimax 96k's offers exactly what I need. Clean sounding Mic Pre's and limiters that I have found very useful. Once audio hits the Digimax 96k's, the audio path remains digital all the way to the final mastered and mixed CD.
I can record a nice hot signal and adjust the limiter so that it will only engage if the audio signal peaks and thus no matter how hard that Kick Drum is played, I will never clip into the Red on the Hard Disc Recorder. If I see that the limiter is getting hit too often, I simply turn the Gain down a little. Perfect for a band like the Pixies, who do not sound check, so after a good line check with the crew, I have my basic settings and after about a minute of the first song I'll have maximum levels eating up all those 24 bits."
"We're focused on finding new revenue streams for bands while providing their fans with a high quality recording they will want to listen to over and over again," states co-founder jake Walker. " We've never sold at retail, and have done all our sales through the web and at gigs. This allows us to give the lions share of the price of each disc set to the artist directly, when artists are in a position to release their material without encumbrance from a label. Or, it leaves enough on the table to please both a label and an artist. Acts that realize that their live content is already out there, but out of their control (whether through authorized or unauthorized tapers) get a chance to see some revenue, and provide their fans with something they can be proud of. Almost every single Pixies concert since their reunion has been captured in one way or another, and with The Show, we're capturing the highest quality recordings for fans to listen to over and over again and relive the night."