Ross Wilson Winter-Spring highlights...

Ross Wilson highlights from winter-spring 2013.

Ross make s a brief appearance to vibe the VIPs in the Olympic Room @ MCG prior to 2013 AFL Grand Final with guest including Tony Abbott - tough room!
Ross & The Peaceniks entertain the yachties @ Hamilton Island during the AUDI Race Week.
Other gigs include, Flying Saucer Club, Lakeside Twilight Concert @ Ballarat, a set at the RSPCA Ball @ Grand Hyatt.








 

SUPERBAND

Featuring the best from the Oz music biz - the Superband gigs continue through 2013. Performances include The Harvey Norman Awards @ Crown in August, a private party to celebrate Midfield meats  aniversary in Warnambool in Aug, 2 sell out shows in Palms @ Crown in Sept and 2 massive nights  at the centre Square stage for the AFL Grand Final.

Joe & Haydn @ Palms

Superband @ Palms

Daryl get the AFL Final spirit @ after-party

Jim, Russell, Leo & Brian



Harvey Norman Awards 2013 @ Crown

 

A NIGHT @ THE OPERA HOUSE

ROSS WILSON helps DILMAH TEA celebrate 25 years @ Sydney Opera House. 






19th June Ross Wilson performed for Dilmah Tea as they celebrate 25 years of quality tea production. 







A reminder of what an iconic piece of architecture it really is, and so presented itself as an ideal photo opportunity in the green room before showtime.



Ross Wilson silhouette
Eric McCusker silhouette






 

APIA Time Of My Life Tour 2013

APIA Time Of My Life tour 2013

Smash'n'Sound had the pleasure being on the FOH crew for the Time Fo My Life tour, 17 shows over 5 weeks around Oz.
The principle stars needed no introduction, Ross Wilson, Joe Camilleri, James Reyne & Daryl Braithwaite and the backing band was a force of high level musical power. Haydn Meggitt on drums, Chris Beck on bass, Mark Amato on Keys, Geoff Wells & Brett Kingman on guitars and David Cambell on acoustic/harp/vocals.


After a couple of full production rehearsals in the very cool Bakehouse studios and a quick pre-game super-medly @ the MCG on ANZAC Day,  the show was ready to wind around Oz. 

Hitting each capital city and then some regional in VIC, audio production by Howard Sound and LD by Alex Saad, some venues offered in-house production whilst others allowed our truck to be emptied of contents. 




FOH & monitors where based on AVID SC48 consoles allowing easy, reliable show file recall and show advancing to the distant Perth and Darwin venues.

One point-of-difference with this tour was the hot-swapping of FOH desk duties with Ross & Joe getting mixed my me then after an intermission Grant "tosh" Walsh mixed James then Brad Parker-Black mixed Daryl. This allowed each of us to deliver the familiar mix to our regular artists and offered a bit of difference to the punter experience as we all had our style and approach to the mixes
.

Highlights of the tour included the very new, very impressive Star City Events Room in Sydney's Darling Harbour. A considerable d&b J series installation that sounded amazing and was installed into a space that was designed around the sound system requirements - this is the best room of its type in this country and rumour has it has been voted #3 in the world.

It was great to see these performers on stage together with the nightly all-in set  a highlight punchuated by the encore performance of All the Boys In Town, a tribute to the recently passed Christie Amphlett.

I captured a 32tk recording of most shows via the in-built firewire IO from SC48 to Pro Tools on my MacBook Pro, easy plug & play connectivity.

System alignment and tuning was aided by my Studio Six interface and Smaart tools running via my iPad2. Though a cut down version of the full Rational Acoustics software, it prooved to be capable and accurate for getting the system set to some acoustically  challenged rooms. 

Cheers to the other crew special mention to Chris CR Rogers for handling stage and tech duties for this large line-up with a no-fuss, can-do attitude. 

Onwards



 

1955 78RPM

1955
An interesting job passed through Smash'n'Sound this week - a transfer from a 78RPM vinyl pressing. 
Recorded in London in 1955 for Recorded Sound Ltd in Marble Arch, it featured the first recording by Al Solly, a singer/guitarist who whilst based in Australia was a member of the band for Graham Kennedy's, In Melbourne Tonight legendary TV show. 
Transfer was completed with a SPDIF direct digital copy via a Stanton T80 turntable with a Shure M87xE Audiophile Cartridge into Pro Tools. Options of original and also de-noised copies where prepared for client.
Original 78RPM transfer
Restored attempt 78RPM



 

AVA (At the End of the World)


Easter weekend was a true highlight for Smash'n'Sound - providing the audio mix for AVA (at the end of the world) in the world famous Spiegeltent.

Set in Melbourne in 1959, “Ava (At the End of the World)” shows Ava Gardner letting her hair down with Frank Sinatra and a gang of local jazz musicians while filming “On The Beach”.

Eric McCusker (“Come Said the Boy”) whom I have worked with for the past 6 years in Ross Wilson's band - presented a work-in-progress version of his new musical. Joining Eric was a stellar big band and guest vocalists performing this new work with scripts-in-hand.  
Feat: Hetty Kate (Ava) , Dave Bowers (Frank Sinatra) and Josh Kyle (Joe Lane).

With a full stage featuring band and vocal performers accompanied by a narration delivered by Wilbur Wilde - this show offers much promise and I look forward to working on AVA again as it grows and travels.
World premier of "AVA (at the end of the world)" @ Spiegeltent - Easter 2013

AVA rehearsal @ Speigeltent

AVA mix on DigiCo SD9