Here's an example of what WE have to put up with sometimes ..............................
last Fri nite we played at our "city hall".... for a Australian Medical Association gig.
NOW - think.... 'city hall' = BIG stage, no probs about enough room OR volume-all going thru PA!!
We get there, the organisers in their "wisdom" had set up the big video screen right in the middle front of stage-leaving us................. a 2.5 yard strip along the front to play in!!!!!!!!
After stating how we needed more room than this-the organisers(orgnizr) stated "there's been a lot of thought go into this stage" HA HA!!!!
" yes but NOT from the point of a BAND obviously" I said.
To cut a long.... I set up my rig behind the curtain/screen set up & explained to the 'orgnisr' how it'd be(hopefully) OK set up like this.
They said sceptically-"it's up to the client"!!
Now- our band were the MAIN entertainment for this night- there were a cuppla acts B4 us-a comedy Duo & "3 tenors" type o' thang, - but these acts were 20 mins at most. We were on for 3 hrs-3 x 45 min sets-9pm-12am!!!
So I say " if the CLIENT wants us to play- I NEED this much room-a "huge" 4 feet!!!(as it was, I was standing 6" at most in front of my rig-!!)
" it's up to the client" they say!
To which I reply "well I assume the client WANTS the band to play!! & we cannot play with this much room" .
( they HAD been given our STAGE PLAN stating our needs & area requirements-minimum & optimum!)
In the end the orgnisr 'leader' comes up-apologises for being late- & says
"this screen set up is going to be moved RIGHT back before you guys start!!! Is that OK????" !!!!!
So apart from having to re-set up/mic up the drums, & move MY rig back as far as I WANTED- ALL that cr@p was un-needed!!!!
the HARD part -re the sound -was that the PA was set up ON the stage-which was wood & built probly over 100yrs ago- so the amount of bass reverberating thru this stage was amazing!!!!! And very hard to play with.
Cutting bass from MY amp was gonna make the FOH signal sound worse(on the V4BH the line out is POST EQ- if I play there again I'll probly take the SVT2-pre/post line out) but the sound comin outta MY rig was sweet..... just the amount of sound outta the FOH PA was HUGE!! & was echoing thru the hollow stage!!!!
Just to clarify- the Company doing the Audio/visual are a national co.-franchise- & MAYBE they're OK in other states... but NOT in ours!!
We REFUSE to use them for OUR sound & urge any clients we deal directly with, to go with another co. They ALWAYS stuff up live bands -positioning, set up AND sound!!!
eg. we're a 8 piece soul/funk disco outfit-we've 4 ppl singing, horns etc..... , once when we didn't know better & DID use them for a PRO corporate function, The PA they supplied consisted of ONE EP1500(1500w Behringer amp), a 8channel Behr.desk, one small sub & two 10" spkrs on poles! -No FX, lights etc.... AND ONE stage monitor!!
On our contract, we've the co. our sound engineer works for listed, a price for the gear & engineer provided-which is nearly 1/2 the price they'd pay IF they hired it themselves OR got it thru this other company. Basically listed on it is a VERY competitive price for the gear & engineer needed for providing quality sound & lighting for the quality of function they're trying to organize!
The gig went well, we got encores etc... event organisers were all impressed etc....
So I s'pose the $$$ we made, the fact that it's STILL fun playing etc makes it all worth while.....
But as we say to clients:-
" If you hire 'enter name of poor quality sound co. here' to do the sound, it WILL sound poor, unprofessional & if so, it WILL NOT be our bands fault, as we already informed you of this."
"It WILL make our band sound, look & therefore be percieved as being unprofessional, So we'd rather not do it at all in this manner. we WILL state during our show, that the PA is severely under par etc.., that it is NOT the bands fault that you-the audience that has paid good $$$$ to get your tables - are getting poor quality sound & lights" !!
USUALLY this works,
& although they might STILL get this particular co. to do the A/V. They USUALLY allow us to have the PA & our sound engineer from our sound co. USUALLY!!!!
There.... Hope I fixed up the "wall of text" prob. Had the text "Phil Spectors" wall of sound
