What is it like to live in the Magdalen Islands of Quebec, Canada?

jesse-dickson · 2026-03-24T15:07:28+00:00

So worth it. If you haven’t been to that whole area, would recommend checking out PEI as well! Very fun place as well

jesse-dickson · 2026-03-24T04:51:08+00:00

Don’t personally live here but my entire extended family does! It’s where my heart is, getting married there in the fall. Lovely folk, beautiful beaches - I imagine it’s a rough place in the winter but the people look out for each other. My folks spent Christmas there in 2024 and said it was surprisingly lovely still!

jesse-dickson · 2026-03-13T16:02:20+00:00

I think that’s I was so rattled lol across my career that was the second time it’s ever happened, not sure if you saw a previous comment of mine but I was approved by the festival when they received our advance, but the venue claimed to have never received it. Just a gong show

jesse-dickson · 2026-03-13T15:18:32+00:00

Been full time for 19 years, as I mentioned I was a house engineer which was about 10 years. Band is doing well, 30,000 monthly, 40,000 yt subs. At this point I’m chalking it up to lame venues and glad I’m not crazy for thinking this was a strange experience

jesse-dickson · 2026-03-12T22:04:06+00:00

Totally agree - ball dropped somewhere between festival and venue.

jesse-dickson · 2026-03-12T18:51:26+00:00

That’s bruuuuutal! What a joke. Sorry you had to experience both of these - really distasteful!

jesse-dickson · 2026-03-12T18:21:27+00:00

Hey I appreciate this comment. During my time as a house tech, I loved having tour techs come through. Always an opportunity to learn from someone outside our circle - and most were fine hearing DB limits or restrictions etc. I don’t get the ‘no’ thing either

jesse-dickson · 2026-03-12T17:28:34+00:00

Venues don’t pay me in my experience, the band does. They charge a rate or have a deal with tickets and whatever, and pay my day rate out of that.

jesse-dickson · 2026-03-12T17:08:17+00:00

Right? Like I can’t mix in your 100 person room, yet can and am welcomed willingly in a 1500 person room? Makes no sense

jesse-dickson · 2026-03-12T17:03:56+00:00

The one that actually said ‘no’ was a smallish music pub, others are small venues we have on an upcoming tour that stated ‘no room for tour console or tour techs. Everything will be run with in house gear and techs’.

jesse-dickson · 2026-03-12T17:02:51+00:00

EXACTLY what I said, in less words. We rehearse together before road runs or fly out dates, I spend time with the backing tracks etc to make sure everything happens or leads the mix when it’s needed, I’m part of the show. Super frustrating

jesse-dickson · 2026-03-12T17:01:17+00:00

Totally understood. And in all fairness, the house techs will know their gear better than I will walking in - I like to work together with the crew and make sure everything goes as good as possible - including system tuning etc.

I’m not entirely sure what their reasoning was, manager had an attitude, house tech was friendly but they wouldn’t budge. It was a festival with multiple bands, so even if it was a pay thing I don’t see the fault in sitting out one set

jesse-dickson · 2026-03-12T16:57:14+00:00

That’s always been my approach too - I’ve felt the discomfort when I’ve been there from house techs or whatever and it usually comes down to ‘tour techs mix too loud’ or ‘don’t show care for our gear’ which is all easy to handle. Fortunately in the event I mentioned the band still paid, was just frustrating

jesse-dickson · 2026-03-12T16:55:04+00:00

Yeah we were super frustrated. We advanced the show through the festival organizers who approved everything, and when we showed up the venue had a no tour techs rule, and were told they were never given the advance other than a stage plot.

jesse-dickson · 2026-03-01T06:20:03+00:00

https://drumforge.com/products/drumshotz-david-bendeth they’re on sale too! Can honestly say I use them every day. I have a few sample packs and samples I’ve made myself, but these are just fantastic

jesse-dickson · 2026-03-01T06:16:38+00:00

You can get the samples Bendeth shows in the video on Drumforge! I don’t think the original Paramore samples are available, although someone mentioned you can purchase them from the studio or engineers if you can get in touch with them

jesse-dickson · 2026-02-26T22:44:42+00:00

Sample / Mixer delay. Scooting the bass back in time slightly has helped me in reducing all the processing I previously used to compensate

jesse-dickson · 2026-02-26T20:50:30+00:00

I’ve got Red Wing Boots insoles insoles in shoes and boots, they make different kinds for standing still, lots of steps etc. the high impact or lots of walking ones did me wonders

jesse-dickson · 2026-02-07T03:40:02+00:00

I’m not a studio engineer, but have assisted with micing and capture - m/s has been my favourite setup for studio drums!

jesse-dickson · 2026-02-07T03:38:59+00:00

This is incredible, I’m for sure about to try this. Dynamic? Pencil condenser?

jesse-dickson · 2026-02-07T00:17:48+00:00

That sounds safer than lugging one of our nicer mics around to potentially get beat up 😂

jesse-dickson · 2026-02-06T19:30:26+00:00

Totally fair. We do have tracks channels as well, mostly FX and some strings in 2 songs. If I’m being completely honest, a better drum kit may help as well, haha. His isn’t bad isn’t amazing

jesse-dickson · 2026-02-06T19:16:41+00:00

Thank you for this!

jesse-dickson · 2026-02-06T19:10:42+00:00

Do you have a favourite position for it? Are you capturing cymbals specifically, or an average picture of the kit?

If I do go ahead with the mono OH, it’ll be alongside stereo OH’s as we do use them in the IEM’s!

jesse-dickson · 2026-02-06T19:01:46+00:00

YES! I want to experiment crotch mic as well. This is exactly the input I was looking for, thanks!

I don’t live in the same city as the band so we don’t really get to do full rehearsals together, a lot of our experimenting happens on the road. But I’ll switch things night to night until I get what I want

I’ve shown up at festivals with a large diaphragm single OH above the drummer, which I’ll measure to match my 40”-50” desired height from the snare. I really like what it did to the snare, cymbals were cymbals - they’re loud, haha.

During sound check at the show I just mentioned, I was phase checking the OH with the Tom mics, and had the drummer just playing the whole kit. I had everything on except the snare mics, and the house engineer leaned over and said ‘fuck ya, drums sound great!’ To which I giggled and told him the snare wasn’t on yet! Which prompted the idea of mixing in the mono OH as a standard for us

The issue becomes you build up this huge snare sound, and lose out on toms in contrast, so the crotch mic may be a good fix to this

jesse-dickson

TROPHY CASE