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Alembic Club » Miscellaneous » Archive through February 11, 2015 » Be nice to your sound engineer and pay him/her well. « Previous Next »

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jazzyvee
Senior Member
Username: jazzyvee

Post Number: 4270
Registered: 6-2002
Posted on Thursday, October 23, 2014 - 12:04 pm:   Edit Post

http://trendinghot.net/courtney-loves-sound-engineer-didnt-get-paid-isolated-vocals-guitar-holy-cow-hear-awful/
lbpesq
Senior Member
Username: lbpesq

Post Number: 5854
Registered: 7-2004
Posted on Thursday, October 23, 2014 - 2:51 pm:   Edit Post

I don't get it. Isn't this what she's supposed to sound like? It's certainly what I have always assumed she sounded like (though, admittedly, I've never seen Hole in concert).

Bill, tgo
peoplechipper
Senior Member
Username: peoplechipper

Post Number: 492
Registered: 2-2009
Posted on Thursday, October 23, 2014 - 11:00 pm:   Edit Post

Yeah, be nice to your sound man, he's more important than you think...I saw Hole and the Lemonheads play Vancouver play Vancouver about a year before Cobain checked out...Courtney and Evan Dando were doing the junk, so the show was variable in quality; she was especially annoying at times; the opening band Walt Mink were awesome though...check'em out; they have sadly broken up years ago...Tony
cozmik_cowboy
Senior Member
Username: cozmik_cowboy

Post Number: 1784
Registered: 10-2006
Posted on Friday, October 24, 2014 - 10:01 am:   Edit Post

Yes, I think treating soundmen well & paying them extravagantly is one of the most important things a musician can do!
Oh, did I ever mention what I used to for a livng & still do on occasion?

Peter (who has sometimes been treated well, but only paid extravagantly one night)
mike1762
Senior Member
Username: mike1762

Post Number: 1042
Registered: 1-2008
Posted on Friday, October 24, 2014 - 12:19 pm:   Edit Post

I take our rack to every gig and run everything thru our board. I give the sound man a single mic cable from the mono output. I have an in-ear monitor containg the FOH mix and I set-up the mix. I've had MUCH better luck with that approach than using an unknown soundman with unknown skills. Most of you guys are probably playing higher profile venues with "real" soundmen, but that isn't my reality.
jcdlc72
Advanced Member
Username: jcdlc72

Post Number: 387
Registered: 11-2009
Posted on Friday, October 24, 2014 - 5:59 pm:   Edit Post

I might have said this before, I strongly support Mike´s point of view, and I have been applying myself, in a greater or lesser extent, over the past 20 years whenever I can. Currently I play in a trio where we carry our own (small) mixing board, and run an in-ear monitor system where all of us hear exactly the same as the FOH mix (in fact, the FOH output -for which most soundmen love us, we only ask for a couple lines, panned discrete, gain at 0 db, eq´d flat, no mons, no efx. They amaze at first on that they simply have NO WORK on us, then they enjoy the show with a drink and a smile- is fed through the Control Room / Phones output, and the in-ear is fed from the Main output. This way, we can "open signal" on the in-ears WITHOUT "opening" the FOH feed, "fix" the mix completely, and when we´re ready we feed the FOH with exactly the same thing we are hearing on our in-ears. All of us are accustomed to hear ourselves within context, so there´s no "more me", no need for separate mixes,no nothing. Show in stereo on your ears, with attention to detail, and in your hands to control anything that may arise.

Whenever I play "higher profile" venues (whatever that might be in this country...) i have a lesser quality audio performance, no matter who is behind the board, mostly because everything ends up sounding as THEY want, instead of how I want to sound like, no matter the king of gig or music I´m playing. FOr an instance, SO MANY techs seem not to understand that I DO NOT WANT my bass to be run directly to the board from a DI box, or that I want control over my Bass EQ, or my bass rack for that instance (Which sense would it make to bring a preamp, eq and comps rack onstage for the bass of you´re going to hook my bass directty to the DI box and then send the "thru" to the rack and then the amp?) Well, most soundguys around here seem not to have any idea about this -and therefore I try to teach my students at the Audio and Acoustics school I teach at to take care on details such as these...- . By carrying on the mix on ourselves, we save a lot of time and fighting over such issues, and if we´re lucky enough, can find the proper equipment to carry and yet be able to handle the entire band. Well, at least sometimes.
cozmik_cowboy
Senior Member
Username: cozmik_cowboy

Post Number: 1785
Registered: 10-2006
Posted on Friday, October 24, 2014 - 9:32 pm:   Edit Post

Sorry to harsh your mellow, Juan Carlos, but what you hear in your in-ears is not really related to what the room sounds like, nor is what you hear from your rig what it sounds like out front. Find a real soundman who you can trust with your sound, then trust him; you'll sound better out front, I promise, and you can tell him what you want in your ears.

Peter (who would offer to show you, but the commute would be a killer)
jcdlc72
Advanced Member
Username: jcdlc72

Post Number: 389
Registered: 11-2009
Posted on Friday, October 24, 2014 - 9:37 pm:   Edit Post

A killer indeed, Peter! ;). Well, I know the room acoustics will definitely differ from what we have in our in-ears (And I forgot to mention that on that group we use no onstage amplifiers, everything goes line-in to the mixing board, but still...). Unfortunately, is the closest we could get to a somewhat decent sounding. Believe me, soundmen around here are terrible, really terrible, and even those of us who do work teaching future soundmen have a HARD time trying to make them understands certain things that not even some musicians seem to get ahold of... (big sigh!).
peoplechipper
Senior Member
Username: peoplechipper

Post Number: 495
Registered: 2-2009
Posted on Friday, October 24, 2014 - 10:52 pm:   Edit Post

I guess if you're beyond the beer leagues (meaning that you make more than the beer tab and costs) then your own monitors, etc. might be the way to go, but most sound guys I've met would be weirded out by that and probably still find a way to mess it up on purpose for you; just get on their good side, it usually only takes a beer or two...and not being an asshole...Tony.
elzie
Senior Member
Username: elzie

Post Number: 406
Registered: 8-2002
Posted on Friday, November 28, 2014 - 5:20 pm:   Edit Post

I used to pick up our Sound Engineer and drive him to and from all the shows. He was a true professional and made the band sound great!

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