Am I Blue?

As promised a quick review for the new Blue Man Group show in Orlando. My wife and I attended opening night and had a great time. The show was very well done. The audio, which included a full rhythm section live as well as the BMG and all their toys was mixed top notch. Several parts of the show were in full surround sound and created a wonderfully wide sound scape. I was pleasantly surprised at the solid volume of the show. It was loud when it needed to be but never overwhelming. The mix was warm and smooth all the way around. I didn't notice one bit of harshness or boominess the entire night, even in some of the very rockin' parts. BMG continues to impress me with the wide variety of their performances. I have seen several shows on TV over the years and this show takes parts from many of the previous shows and adds in a few new elements that I have not seen before. This was to be expected since the audience for this show will be a little different than what might attend in Vegas or on their road tour. I'm sure they want to take the best elements and use them here. Video and lighting were very effective in carrying the show along. Never assaulting you, but enhancing the experience. Toward the end there was a major stobe light effect going over the whole room as the audience participates in the show. For some this could be the only place where the lighting may have been a bit much, but for most, myself included, it fit well with the environment. Bottom line, GO SEE BMG. Take a trip somewhere they are playing, catch them on tour, some how go see this show!
I totally love they way that BMG creates an interactive experience. The audience is part of the show. At times it may just be an individual they bring on stage to the all out finale' with the enitre audience involved. It makes me think about how a church experience could be enhanced. I'm glad we do encourage people to worship. I think people just need the freedom to know its ok and it makes God happy to see his people praising him. Hmmm.. more to this line of thought I'm sure.

(Begin geek speak)
Well, being the geek that I am and since this is supposed to be about production stuff I'll share what I discovered at BMG.

FOH was the good ole' (can you say that already?) Yamaha PM1D. All effects and processing were handled in the console.

Meet Roger. Roger is the house engineer for the show. He has been with BMG for 2 years and previously mixed the Toronto show. He gave me the skinny on the system. No outboard gear other than a couple of sound effect generators. There were 94 channels used for the show. The system was all d&b, including the new Q1 d&b line array. In the main array each side had 3 of the Q-subs on top of 6 of the Q1's all flown. There were some other smaller boxes for delay's toward the back. I couldn't tell which series they were from. I've been a big fan of the d&b stuff for a long time now, this show just reinforced my already preceived quality with their products. As I mentioned above the sound was outstanding. The warmth and intelligibility of the system was impressive. The bottom end (and its all about the low end, more on that another time) was solid and never overwhelming, but LOUD, the way we all like it. I want some of these boxes! All the system processors were Lake (drool) and the system was tuned as well as if not better than any system I have heard anywhere. I just can't say enough good things about production quality of this show. I would love to know who the system designer was for it. If anyone knows please tell me.
I guess the only blue I am is blue with envy. :)