1 March 2025 - Saturday Night At The Movies!
Behind the Scenes: Crafting an Unforgettable Musical Experience
Recently, Troubadour had the opportunity to help on an incredible live show featuring three talented singers performing well-known songs from various movie soundtracks. Bringing this production to life involved an intricate blend of audio engineering, technical expertise, and creative problem-solving. Here’s a behind-the-scenes look at what went into making the show an unforgettable experience for both the performers and the audience. Please have a read, and feel free to play the videos - it will give you an idea of some of the services Troubadour Audio Production can offer!
Elevating the Sound: From Raw Tracks to Radio-Ready
One of the biggest challenges of this project was enhancing the quality of the backing tracks, so that they all sounded like they belonged together. Neither the show nor the performers deserved tracks that stood out in a not-so-favourable way, and some of the tracks that we were given were of fairly low quality. These tracks were split into stems, individual instruments were resampled, and new instrument layers were added to create a polished, radio-ready sound. This ensured that each song retained its authenticity while delivering the clarity and depth expected in a professional production.
Seamless Transitions & Consistent Quality
To maintain a high level of consistency throughout the evening, all backing tracks were remastered, ensuring they matched tonally and dynamically. Additionally, the show called for some medleys, which involved combining up to four songs at a time. This required precise rebalancing, drum resampling, and time-matching to retain each song’s character while creating a fluid, engaging experience for the audience. Check the video below for an example...
Crafting the Setlist & Performance Flow
A well-structured setlist can elevate a live show from good to great. Taking the director's and performers' wishes on board, we carefully curated the evening’s musical journey and designed a setlist that allowed the energy to build progressively. Performers were also provided with printed setlists that detailed song order, performance times, and other key details to ensure a smooth show.
Designing the Live Audio & Visual Experience
To enhance the production value, a virtual ‘console’ was designed that provided easy access to essential audio functions such as EQ, levels and effects, streamlining the live mix. Additionally, the playback of all audio recordings was automated, eliminating gaps between tracks and creating a seamless performance. Vocal effects were also automated which lent a level of authenticity to the audio and helped the singers make the most of their considerable vocal talents.
Hardware, Setup & Execution
From providing all essential hardware—including compressors, audio interfaces, PA speakers and lights—to physically setting up the backdrop, the stage and running the show, every technical aspect was accounted for. The singers used their own radio mics. Throughout the evening, we managed the live mix, audio cues, and any additional lighting transitions, ensuring the production ran as smoothly as possible from start to finish.
We also felt that it was important to have plans B and C in case anything went wrong during the show - the tracks were stored on a thumb drive in case of file failure, we also had a spare laptop with us in case of laptop or hard drive failure. Both of these could be brought into play at a moment's notice. We also had an analog desk with us in case of hardware failure anywhere else in the signal chain.
Conclusion
This project was a fantastic example of how planning, technical expertise, and creative vision come together to create a more atmospheric live music experience. Seeing the audience’s engagement and the performers’ confidence on stage made all the behind-the-scenes work worthwhile.
If you're looking to create a high-quality live music event with seamless audio, lighting, and production, we’d love to collaborate and bring your vision to life!
Initial Vision
From our initial discussions with the show's director, we suggested erecting a gantry supporting some lights and a backdrop, providing not only a focal point for the show, but a stage for the performers as well as a well-needed 'backstage' area, away from public view where they could relax a little between songs.
The visual component was just as important as the audio, so an automated light show tailored to each song, setting the mood dynamically. This synchronization between audio and lighting added depth and emotion, transforming each individual performance into an experience in its own right.
To enhance the effect further, we erected a gantry in an area of the venue to provide a visual backdrop to the show and giving the performers a 'stage' to perform on as well as a focal point for the audience.
Grabbing Attention
You can put a concert on in any venue, but unless people know about it, they won't turn up! So the first task, and arguably one of the most important ones, was to create an attention-grabbing poster to put on social media, send to the venue, etc. With the design that was used, there really wasn't much doubt what the evening was about! It also included all the relevant information that any concert-goer would need.
