My take on the NIN show last night
Posted: Tue Mar 14, 2006 4:46 pm
Last night marked the third time I have seen NIN. The first 2 times were in 1994 during the downward Spiral tour. The first difference I noticed about the modern Trent compared to the Trent of 12 years ago is that he is buffed out. It's obvious that he's been working out. His arms are just plain big. The next obvious difference was his attitude. Gone is the ego driven, crew abusing, microphone stand throwing of the past and in it's place was a humble artist who was grateful for his fans sticking with him through the ups and downs over the years.
One thing that has not changed is his voice. He has has managed to avoid the bane that seems to grip many veteran rockers in that he has lost none of his vocal ability. He still sounds exactly like you remember Trent sounding. His presence is just as intense if not more intense than I remembered and you can still feel every bit of the emotion that made his earlier works the anthems of my generation.
That being said, I have some definite opinions about the new band. Don't read the following section if you don't want to know how the magic happens back stage. The over all impression I had was that they were hired with the intent of simply augmenting and giving faces to the Pro Tools rig that was running the backing tracks and A/V timing code. With the exception of the drummer, who is no Chris Verenna but did a fairly decent job of playing the live parts along with the pre-recorded material, the over all live musicianship seemed average and lacked the intensity that I associate with all of the previous musicians Trent has worked with as NIN with over the years.
The light show was good but again lacked the punch that I have come to expect from a NIN show. That's not to say that it wasn't on par with most modern rock shows it's just that I have come to expect NIN to set the pace in A/V and lighting in a live setting and with this show, it looked very standard. I do have to say though that the LED effect lighting was cool but I think they could have been used more creatively.
The PA was a line array system that delivered crisp, clear, and even sound all the way around the arena. It didn't' matter where you were sitting, you heard everything the Front of House Engineer intended you to hear. Of course, this is pretty standard these days with concerts on this level. One of the many benefits of this level of quality in a PA is that it really allows you to hear the work being done at FOH.
That being said, to the untrained this show likely sounded great but to me it came off as thin sounding in many places and improperly mixed in other places. To begin with, the kick drum and the bass guitar tones were mostly high end attack and lacked the punch and clarity that certainly could have been there given the size and quality of the PA. I imagine this was to allow room for the low end keyboard parts and backing tracks but I believe the engineer was too conservative in this area. There were also several times where the mix just wasn't right to my ears. It was as if the engineer wasn't absolutely familiar with NIN's material and the intricacies of the dynamics involved. Wish is a good example of what I am referring too. When the chorus kicked in, it should have pinned me against the wall but instead the music was not mixed up to the vocal level appropriately and thus left Trent's voice too out front in the mix. This is appropriate in some live music situations, but this was not one of them.
Am I nit-picking here? Yeah, probably. But you have to understand that I have been a NIN fan since '89 when Pretty Hate Machine came out and have since been working as an audio engineer professionally for several years. In fact, I owe Trent a debt of gratitude for teaching me the art of the mix with his work. To say I have studied his studio styling in depth is an understatement so, it's a given that I hear things most people would never notice in a mix.
All in all though, despite my all my nit-picking, I really enjoyed the show. Was it as good as the Downward Spiral tour? No, not to me but that's ok. It was still far and away better than any other modern rock show I've attended. I give it a 7 out of 10.
One thing that has not changed is his voice. He has has managed to avoid the bane that seems to grip many veteran rockers in that he has lost none of his vocal ability. He still sounds exactly like you remember Trent sounding. His presence is just as intense if not more intense than I remembered and you can still feel every bit of the emotion that made his earlier works the anthems of my generation.
That being said, I have some definite opinions about the new band. Don't read the following section if you don't want to know how the magic happens back stage. The over all impression I had was that they were hired with the intent of simply augmenting and giving faces to the Pro Tools rig that was running the backing tracks and A/V timing code. With the exception of the drummer, who is no Chris Verenna but did a fairly decent job of playing the live parts along with the pre-recorded material, the over all live musicianship seemed average and lacked the intensity that I associate with all of the previous musicians Trent has worked with as NIN with over the years.
The light show was good but again lacked the punch that I have come to expect from a NIN show. That's not to say that it wasn't on par with most modern rock shows it's just that I have come to expect NIN to set the pace in A/V and lighting in a live setting and with this show, it looked very standard. I do have to say though that the LED effect lighting was cool but I think they could have been used more creatively.
The PA was a line array system that delivered crisp, clear, and even sound all the way around the arena. It didn't' matter where you were sitting, you heard everything the Front of House Engineer intended you to hear. Of course, this is pretty standard these days with concerts on this level. One of the many benefits of this level of quality in a PA is that it really allows you to hear the work being done at FOH.
That being said, to the untrained this show likely sounded great but to me it came off as thin sounding in many places and improperly mixed in other places. To begin with, the kick drum and the bass guitar tones were mostly high end attack and lacked the punch and clarity that certainly could have been there given the size and quality of the PA. I imagine this was to allow room for the low end keyboard parts and backing tracks but I believe the engineer was too conservative in this area. There were also several times where the mix just wasn't right to my ears. It was as if the engineer wasn't absolutely familiar with NIN's material and the intricacies of the dynamics involved. Wish is a good example of what I am referring too. When the chorus kicked in, it should have pinned me against the wall but instead the music was not mixed up to the vocal level appropriately and thus left Trent's voice too out front in the mix. This is appropriate in some live music situations, but this was not one of them.
Am I nit-picking here? Yeah, probably. But you have to understand that I have been a NIN fan since '89 when Pretty Hate Machine came out and have since been working as an audio engineer professionally for several years. In fact, I owe Trent a debt of gratitude for teaching me the art of the mix with his work. To say I have studied his studio styling in depth is an understatement so, it's a given that I hear things most people would never notice in a mix.
All in all though, despite my all my nit-picking, I really enjoyed the show. Was it as good as the Downward Spiral tour? No, not to me but that's ok. It was still far and away better than any other modern rock show I've attended. I give it a 7 out of 10.