The poor bassists on the soul2soul tour!

threshar · #1 07-06-2007, 07:06 AM

My wife and I went to the Faith Hill / Tim McGraw show in Boston last night at the garden.

I must say, the mix was most horrible. During Faith's set they had her vocals set to 11 (to the point where they were distorting frequently) and hte band at like 6. Not only was the band at 6 but I think they forgot to turn up the bass' fader! The only bass was the massive kick drum! The poor guy probably sounded great in his IEM's and he appeared to be having a great time. I hope someone has the heart to tell him they didn't turn him up in the mix

It was a bit better during Tim's set - I actually heard his bassist a couple times, he opened with steve miller's the joker. You might say to yourself "Great! A bass driven song!" Yeah, it isn't the way he played it. There was definately some bass, but I think they rolled off everything above 100hz so it was just "Moooomm mooooom moooom" (It was changed enough where the iconic riff didn't even appear!)

I must say though, Tim put on a much better show than his wife, and got a much larger crowd response. And unlike his wife, he frequently praised his band. (I suppose part of that may be he's had nearly the same band for 20 years, but still).

The best part of the show? By far the best part? After their opener and right before their show started, they played Karn Evil 9, Movement II by Emerson, Lake & Palmer for about 6 minutes! ("Welcome back my friends to the show that never ends!") Kind of sad that was my favorite part. Ahh well, Wifey loved it. (and oddly enough, she was able to completely relate to my eq/mix woes. I'm getting her trained

)

Lazylion · #2 07-07-2007, 07:51 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by threshar

The poor guy probably sounded great in his IEM's and he appeared to be having a great time.

He had no clue how the FOH sounded. And even if he did, he couldn't do anything about it!
Let's see... playing on a huge country tour, presumably making good money, getting to see Faith Hill up close on a regular basis... yeah, I think I could stand having that "poor guy's" gig!

Steve · #3 07-07-2007, 05:33 PM

What a crime. Both of those road bands are world class at what they do.

TheSuzie · #4 07-07-2007, 05:35 PM

Sounds like the person doing the mix has high frequency hearing loss. 8(

threshar · #5 07-07-2007, 05:54 PM

oh yeah, my heart isn't really bleeding for them, but I like to hear bass in the mix. Man.. I got the "cheap" $92 + ticketmaster tax(es) tickets. There is a point where the costs of these concerts is just going to become stupid. I especially loved I had the $92 ticket, $15 "convienence fee" *AND* a $2 "facility fee".

God bless ticketmaster. Gotta hand it to them, they've done a hell of a thing! I think one of the best moves ever is charging $2 to print your own tickets. Such a stroke of pure genius!

TheSuzie · #6 07-07-2007, 06:07 PM

Jeez, talk about expensive. For that change they should have delivered top notch sound. Do you know if that gig was promoted through Clear Channel or one of their subsidiaries. They are one reason why tickets are so high.. parking too because they get a piece of the parking action on concerts they promote. Yeah Ticketmaster was a brilliant idea from a business perspective. Multiply $2 times a zillion....

Peace,
S

JimmyM · #7 07-08-2007, 02:44 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lazylion

He had no clue how the FOH sounded. And even if he did, he couldn't do anything about it!
Let's see... playing on a huge country tour, presumably making good money,

Don't count on that. I know a guy who played with Faith Hill and he made $400 a show. This was about 5 years ago, but still, that isn't much.

Lazylion · #8 07-08-2007, 04:02 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JimmyM

Don't count on that. I know a guy who played with Faith Hill and he made $400 a show. This was about 5 years ago, but still, that isn't much.

Sounds good to me!

The Lurker · #9 07-08-2007, 04:11 PM

$400/show plus probably a per diem, multiplied by number of shows.... that can add up to some quite good money there.

JimmyM · #10 07-08-2007, 04:27 PM

If you're doing 5 shows a week for a year, it's $100,000 a year, yes, but I'd be shocked if they did that many shows. And when you're grossng $50,000 a show or over, it's chump change.

threshar · #11 07-08-2007, 04:30 PM

heh.. .my opinion of faith has been tainted by her reaction at the cma's - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eXRm8zL52-s

and at the show I went to, she didn't wear anything good.. a very baggy pant suit (which actually made her look like she was on stilts) and a dress that was the wrong length and caused her to move very awkwardly and uneasy. but thats my opinion

Eric Moesle · #12 07-08-2007, 10:27 PM

A good friend and former band mate of mine, Tom Bukovac, is playing guitar for Faith Hill on this tour. Tom is playing on just about every major recording coming out of Nashville these days, including Keith Urban, Shania Twain, Joe Dee Messina, Toby Keith, and a ton of others. He's been recording about 6 days a week until he left on this tour.

No way he left the recording schedule to play live for $400 a show. No way, no how.

SteveC · #13 07-09-2007, 09:46 AM

I used to like Faith Hill. Her first few CD's were good. She was the cute girl next door. Now she's all glammed up and can't seem to do anything without her hubby.

It's the same for most artists I guess. I like the first couple CD's, then the executives get their paws on them and make them do what they think we want. Just let them do their thing.

JimmyM · #14 07-09-2007, 01:03 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Eric Moesle

A good friend and former band mate of mine, Tom Bukovac, is playing guitar for Faith Hill on this tour. Tom is playing on just about every major recording coming out of Nashville these days, including Keith Urban, Shania Twain, Joe Dee Messina, Toby Keith, and a ton of others. He's been recording about 6 days a week until he left on this tour.

No way he left the recording schedule to play live for $400 a show. No way, no how.

Again, this was 5 years ago. And I should mention that the guy had no previous experience in Nashville before her. So maybe if you're a hot studio guy you get more. I don't know, really. But $400 is what that guy said he made, and I believe him.

rduckwor · #15 07-09-2007, 01:12 PM

Saw Sugarland recently and their mix was awful as well. Same stage the night before, Vince Gill was a stone cold killer. Perfect mix, great sound, all instruments easy to hear. Some folks just don't get it I suppose. After all, their collecting the $$ not shelling it out.

As for pay scale, no well known Nashville picker if going to live on tour for $400 a show. You can sleep at home in your own bed for that kind of daily rate.

JimmyM · #16 07-09-2007, 05:46 PM

The well-known pickers make what they make, but don't think for a second that some unknown drummer who's doing his first big-time country gig is going to make what Tom Bukovac is making.

Eric Moesle · #17 07-09-2007, 09:14 PM

I don't buy for a single minute that an artist on Faith Hill's scale would take a drummer on tour who was on his first-time country tour. It simply doesn't work that way.

Smaller, relatively unknown first-album artists, or artists way past their prime (like Tanya Tucker, for example) get the good musicians out for their first stint of touring. The current big names get the big talent.

I can't explain what the deal is with her sound engineer or what he's being paid, but her musicians are top notch, experienced, and are paid extemely well.

Frankly, I can't stand large-arena acoustics. I haven't heard a good arena mix in years. I about puked when I saw Eric Clapton a few years ago, couldn't hear a single note Nathan East played. But I certainly wouldn't blame him or his pay.

JimmyM · #18 07-10-2007, 12:25 AM

I don't really care if you buy it or not. That's what the guy told me, so take it up with him.

But on a related subject, if a big country act wouldn't give a break to a talented first-timer just because they were a first-timer and no other reason, then it's a sad day for the music business and it makes me glad the country music scene isn't doing so hot.

tsolo · #19 07-10-2007, 06:20 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by The Lurker

$400/show plus probably a per diem, multiplied by number of shows.... that can add up to some quite good money there.

my brother played fiddle for Reba McEntire. She paid flat rate during the season when the most gigs were played. Then went to a per show rate during the off months. He made a living playing music, but still had a vending business to pad the wallet.

Eric Moesle · #20 07-10-2007, 07:20 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JimmyM

...if a big country act wouldn't give a break to a talented first-timer just because they were a first-timer and no other reason, then it's a sad day for the music business and it makes me glad the country music scene isn't doing so hot.

Jimmy, I just don't understand why you say different things in different threads. First you take Sting to task for using cheap, unknow talent for his solo act, now you claim its unfair for first-timers not to usually get the big name gig.

Listen, I'm not a country fan but the country music industry is hot right now. Very hot, and doing much better than the pop/rock industry, for sure.

Your "facts" are bogus. You posted in another thread that Sting used no-name backing musicians so he didn't have to pay them much - apparently oblivious that Sting always used top-shelf famous session musicians. You asserted that only famous songs have their copyrights infringed, plenty of history to prove that isn't true. You also stated that body and neck woods are "irrelevant" - apparently your ear has the same ability to discern finer details as your brain does the difference between facts and conjecture.

If you have any basis for asserting "the country music scene isn't doing so hot", we would all be amused to see it.

Its NOT a "sad day" for the music biz to have good paying jobs available for the top talent. There's always gigs for first-timers to cut their teeth on, that pay reasonably well. Its pretty easy to get a decent paying road gig in Nashville if you have your act together.

You apparently have no clue how things work in the real world, perhaps you could explain to me why a big-name artist would want to take a risk on a first-timer when there are ten proven session cats available who are top shelf players who have proven themselves to be reliable and professional. They know the ropes, know how to handle life on the road with no personal meltdowns, and don't have to be taught the process and have their hands held along the way. That's what playing for the smaller up and coming acts is for.