"In a feast of authentic Afro-Cuban music and dance, light and images, El Viaje (The Journey) tells the story of forced emigration from Africa to the New World, and how spiritual and cultural resilience enabled slaves to adapt and re-establish themselves there with dignity."

The PERFORMANCE

Two performances of El Viaje took place on June 25th and 26th of 2016 at the University of Temples Performing Arts Center in Philadelphia Pa. David Ivory took on the project of recording both performances for Pablo Batista and hired me to assist him in the task. The hour long performances were full of musical history and raw emotion. As the band and the dancers took turns sharing the spotlight, they told their story of “forced emigration from Africa to the New World” through their music.

Pablo Batista was at the front of the stage with his worldly collection of percussive instruments. The dancers on the floor in front of him, the band locked in time behind him, and the music of his ancestors pouring through him delivered a truly incredible performance. It was captivating, moving, and brought years of musical history and Afro-Cuban roots to the present day audience.

Setting up, anD PREPARATION

Preparing for the show was exciting, nerve-wracking, and daunting all at once. I had recorded numerous shows with David in the past, but never anything this large. He approached me about the project roughly 6 months in advance to see if I would be interested, and of course I was. I had the recording gear, he had all the mics, and together we made a pretty good team.

The band consisted of a drummer, percussionist (Pablo), strings, woodwinds and brass sections, Pianist, bassist, guitar, backup vocals, and room mics, all amounting to 48 inputs. The biggest problem we faced was the fact that my recording interface was (at that time) only capable of recording 16 simultaneous inputs, so we had to get innovative. The interface was an Allen & Heath ZED R16. It had 16 inputs on board and 8 additional inputs via ADAT. We started to address this problem by expanding the channel count to 24 using an external 8 channel preamp with ADAT outputs to the ZED. This still left us with half of the inputs unaccounted for, so we set up a Yamaha LS9 console to do some sub mixing. Dave mixed instruments like horns, strings, bongos, and other miscellaneous percussion into sub groups while I manned the ZED and monitored input levels and the Pro Tools session. With this setup, were were able to effectively record 48 channels of inputs into just 24 tracks.

In the photo to the right, Dave is sub mixing on the LS9 while I manage the ZED and all of the input levels on the MacBook Pro.

post production

For several weeks after the show Dave, Pablo and I worked on polishing what would be the final recorded performance of El Viaje. This project was not your typically recorded live show, and there was a lot of editing, mixing and overdubbing that still had to be done. With this in mind, we booked time at Dylanava Studios, Davids studio in Lower Gwynedd Pennsylvania.

Pablo wanted to take this post-performance opportunity to build a sonic landscape of sound effects that could further support the story being told. This meant several hours of sound design work where he would describe what sounds he was imagining and where they fit; I would search through sound effects libraries for specific sounds that I could edit and mix appropriately with the music. We also had several musicians come in to overdub performances and make them absolutely perfect (Some of which Pablo played himself, as shown to the left). After several studio sessions, and many hours of mixing, El Viaje was then mastered at David’s studio.

For copyright reasons I cannot upload the entire track here, but I have assembled several short clips together highlighting the show.

Enjoy!