In Reply to: RE: F.....ingly Loud posted by musetap on November 9, 2014 at 12:41:31:
That is an awfully big brush you are painting with...
"As for LOUD concerts, most sound guys are nearly deaf, seemingly not too
bright and nobody wants to deal with them, so they can be sloppy and lame."
So I take it you know allot of "sound guys"??!!??
Time to drop some knowledge...
Small venue live sound volume is typically dictated by how loud the snare drum is in that venue...guitars/instruments stage volume is a factor of how loud the instruments need to be for the musicians' to hear themselves over the snare drum...If you have a Captain Cave Man behind the kit, it makes it that much more difficult...
I have on several occasions dampened the snare drum with a bandanna taped to the top drum head and tape on the bottom drum head...this helps, but not all the time...
The main reason a drum riser is used, is to get the cymbals above the ears of the on stage players...this is something they truly appreciated...it also helps keeping the cymbals out of the vocal mikes...
Vocals are typically the only thing I ran through the monitors, some bass guitar in the drummers monitor and bass drum in the bass players monitor...
NOTE: I would "try" and have the drummer, tune his bass drum to the E string on the bass...this helps to make the rhythm section sound tighter, than they may actually be...
I would turn everything down as much as I could, just to make sure the vocals were clear and heard...
I would use a Spectrum Analyzer into a 1/3 Octave EQ to ring out the room with Pink Noise...I would make sure all the mikes were at the gain level for the gig, monitors were at volume and all mikes were hot...this would tame many of room nodes and would eliminate feedback from the on stage mikes 95% of the time...ALWAYS rolled back Highs and the deep bass...
50% of the musicians' wore ear plugs, not one drummer that I can remember...well...they are drummers...(What do you call a drummer without a girlfriend???? Homeless...)
I have had my personal hearing checked a few times through the years, at age 51, I have lost little of my top end hearing, but nothing that is not typical for my age, as per Ear Doctor...
As a nearly deaf, not too bright, difficult to deal with, sloppy and lame sound guy...I agree with you whole heartily...your giant generalization is spot on...I am truly sorry you have had to deal with dumbass sound guys for decades...how can I make this better for you???
Thanks
Mark
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Follow Ups
- as a former "Live Sound Guy"..."not too bright"??? - Mark Man 11:20:15 11/10/14 (20)
- RE: as a former "Live Sound Guy"..."not too bright"??? - MaggiesAndCats 07:09:53 11/11/14 (3)
- True that brother...nt - Mark Man 09:05:31 11/11/14 (0)
- OTOH - MaggiesAndCats 07:14:29 11/11/14 (1)
- RE: OTOH - Inmate51 07:40:49 11/11/14 (0)
- Well, seems there's a mighty fine chance YOU weren't one of them... - musetap 20:24:41 11/10/14 (1)
- That is really funny...I love drummer jokes... - Mark Man 21:19:40 11/10/14 (0)
- RE: as a former "Live Sound Guy"..."not too bright"??? - Inmate51 14:18:52 11/10/14 (13)
- RE: as a former "Live Sound Guy"..."not too bright"??? - Mark Man 14:36:45 11/10/14 (12)
- RE: as a former "Live Sound Guy"..."not too bright"??? - Inmate51 14:45:46 11/10/14 (11)
- Cool... - Mark Man 14:56:48 11/10/14 (10)
- RE: Cool... - Inmate51 15:17:22 11/10/14 (9)
- RE: Cool... - Mark Man 15:35:37 11/10/14 (8)
- RE: Cool... - Kidomaha 16:05:04 11/10/14 (7)
- RE: Cool... - Mark Man 16:18:10 11/10/14 (6)
- It ain't you. Inmate has been known to follow people around to other forums to pick fights out-of-the-blue. I - tinear 18:41:22 11/10/14 (2)
- Thanks Tin... - Mark Man 18:54:08 11/10/14 (1)
- The discussion got wide of the real issue: concert goers DEMAND louder. It's all part of - tinear 19:22:54 11/10/14 (0)
- RE: Cool... - Kidomaha 16:36:01 11/10/14 (2)
- RE: Cool... - Inmate51 07:12:58 11/11/14 (1)
- Thank you for that.... - Mark Man 08:51:00 11/11/14 (0)