Janky, but killer FOH experience?

[Snowglo]

A couple weeks ago my new band played our first show at a pretty popular club in Portland. Never been there previously, but heard it has always been a cool venue. During load in, I immediately noticed the four old school folded cabinets laying horizontally on the floor in front of the stage. They appeared to be left over from some 70's rummage sale and beat up pretty badly. On stage, the monitors which were in worse shape than the folded subs. Absolutely beat to hell, and I didn't want to go anywhere near them as they appeared to be covered in human feces and barf. The mains were hung from the ceiling above the stage. At least they were safe from the drunks and bodily fluids.

I did not get a look at the board because it was situated on a loft above and off to the side of the stage. I assumed it was in the same company as the subs and monitors. I thought this is going to be real fun, and wished we brought our own system.

Sound check, and I was first. I took the tuner off mute and noodled around in the lower register. Holy cow! Absolutely insane tone pumping out of the barf factory. The type that punches you in the chest and leaves you breathless. Our first show was nearly flawless and I was grinning ear to ear over our sound, especially mine.

Lesson learned. I will never again judge a book by its cover as far as live sound is concerned.

Anyone else have similar experiences?

 

[carl h.]

As they say, it's the indian, not the arrow.

 

[Geri O]

...or, the driver, not the car.

...or, the ear, not the gear...

...or, well, you get the idea...

 

[jimfist]

ROCK AND ROLL! That's it, baby! True enough, it doesn't need to look pretty to kick some ass. I've mixed many a show on some cobbled together, beat to crap systems that somehow managed to put out some serious sound. Not always the case though, and recently did a show that had some pretty old, big, dusty cabinets, and lots of them. This time, they actually sounded worse than they looked, and were either malfunctioning or under-powered. You never know.

 

[two fingers]

There used to be a club here that was the same. The PA had been installed in the early 80s. The front 4 feet of stage was actually subs. The stage had been built the exact same height. There was just enough gap to keep from coupling so as not to rattle vocal mics. The whole place looked like several grenades had gone off in it 20 years earlier. But some of the biggest bands in history played there on their way up or down and whenever I got to play there it felt amazing. The bass just wrapped around you but it wasn't muddy at all. And, yes, the wedges looked like they had been pulled from a vat of Luke and allowed to dry I'm the sun. But they sounded incredible too. 2-10 wedges with a square horn in the middle. Unbelievable vocals and bass from those things.

 

[JRA]

I will never again judge a book by its cover as far as live sound is concerned.

As they say, it's the indian, not the arrow.

yep!

OP: you obviously had an experienced sound man/crew (indian!). glad your experience was a good one!

 

[Snowglo]

yep!

OP: you obviously had an experienced sound man/crew (indian!). glad your experience was a good one!

One would think experienced. I didn't want to ruin story by explaining the BS we encountered with "the best sound person to walk the earth". She would be the first to tell everyone that. Obviously she knew what she was doing, and I will not say otherwise. But, holy cow if we didn't have to put up with humiliation just before our sound check in front of 25-30 customers. She sure made us look like chumps. From what I hear that is her MO no matter the band.

Smile and drive on is what I say!

 

[JRA]

"the best sound person to walk the earth"

it helps to have one of that caliber! ha! i've been in pro audio for over 3 decades and i thought i was the G.O.A.T. --- oh well, easy come, easy go!

but glad your experience worked out!

 

[1Drop]

I played a new venue once that was fairly small, maybe 200 capacity. They had a couple newer powered 18" subs centered in front of the stage. All seemed pretty standard. After I set up my stuff i noticed what i thought was a subwoofer graveyard off to the side of the stage, a handful on old school folded horn subs just kind of stacked up in the corner, seemed like there was at least six or so. . We played our set and I stuck around for the headliner, Michael Rose of Black Uhuru. OMG! The FOH sound was incredible. I was blown away. Walking around the room looking for the ultra sweet spot I realized all those old subs were hooked up and providing incredibly tight low end everywhere in the room. It was the strangest orientation of a sub cluster I'd ever seen but man it worked so well, and from the stage I had no idea they were even part of the system.

 

[LiquidMidnight]

My experience has been that while modern PA enclosures are generally more efficient and have greater studio-like fidelity, a lot of the older boxes, particularly EAW, JBL, and Community, are often more musical. I've been impressed with a lot of that old stuff. Of course, I usually only ever get to play through those types of cabinets when it's part of an installed house system, because no production company is moving that heavy stuff around anymore in 2016.

Biggest time I was pleasantly surprised by FOH was a multi-band bill I saw my friend play a few years ago. The sound company pulled in some self-powered Behringer mains. I wasn't expecting much, because, ya know, Behringer! But I was blown away by how clean and full the PA was, and despite being a small system, it threw really well in a medium-sized room.

 

[BAG]

I worked as a roadie in Australia in the late 80's for some big Aussie acts and this is the kind of stuff we were dragging in and out of venues. "Dragon" in particular were a good loud Oz rock band with the singer having three wedges for himself. The sound was BIG!!! But so were the load ins and outs. Some of the venues in those days were 6 flights of stairs and the FOH desk weighed 500kg with a lid big enough for me to sleep in. I'm 6'3" and I could stretch out in the lid diagonally. I was actually the lighting rigger and the foldback guy for the first week of gigs would wait until I was running cable at the front of the stage and, just as I was kneeling right in the middle of the three main vox wedges, would suddenly blast some of "The Cult" through them. It didn't take too long to learn to see where he was before running cables anywhere near the wedges.

 

[BAG]

One would think experienced. I didn't want to ruin story by explaining the BS we encountered with "the best sound person to walk the earth". She would be the first to tell everyone that. Obviously she knew what she was doing, and I will not say otherwise. But, holy cow if we didn't have to put up with humiliation just before our sound check in front of 25-30 customers. She sure made us look like chumps. From what I hear that is her MO no matter the band.

Smile and drive on is what I say!

There's never really any need to treat the band like crap no matter how good you are. In saying that, i'm sure she's dealt with some real wankers in her time and has cultivated that attitude to deal with it.

How did you get on with here during the breaks or after the gig?

 

[Snowglo]

How did you get on with here during the breaks or after the gig?

We were the opening band in a 3 band bill, and played a 45 minute set (original band with only 45 minutes in tunes currently), so no breaks. She was all compliments when it was said and done, and we were invited to play there again as soon as possible.

I have to figure out a way to capture a recording of the FOH next time. We only have a few segments via cell phone footage which, obviously, doesn't do any justice to the actual sound. Maybe a decent external mic for my video camera?

Next time we will be prepared for the unmatched skills of the house's sound engineer

 

[BAG]

We were the opening band in a 3 band bill, and played a 45 minute set (original band with only 45 minutes in tunes currently), so no breaks. She was all compliments when it was said and done, and we were invited to play there again as soon as possible.

I have to figure out a way to capture a recording of the FOH next time. We only have a few segments via cell phone footage which, obviously, doesn't do any justice to the actual sound. Maybe a decent external mic for my video camera?

Next time we will be prepared for the unmatched skills of the house's sound engineer

Sounds like it went well and she obviously liked what she heard.

To get even a semblance of a decent sound you'll need to use a recorder that doesn't automatically adjust gain. Nearly all phones, digi-cams, video cameras etc do auto gain which is why when the drums kick in everything else gets quieter and sometimes disappears to a certain extent.

If the sound chick is as good as you say she might be nice enough to hook up a FOH mic and record the feed from the desk.

 

[4Mal]

big biker looking chick ? If so, she's a vet... I saw her do Pigs On The Wing and she killed it with a nominal system... Also at Blues Fest a couple of years back. Not a light weight nor someone to be trifled with. Tough environment and tougher yet for a gal...

Depending on the desk, direct from it via firewire or usb to a daw or barring that a couple of decent condenser mics out in the house and a field recorder. Or... An old Zoom H4 up high on a tripod can sound pretty damned good...

 

[dreamadream99]

Absolutely insane tone pumping out of the barf factory.

There's something you don't hear every day.

 

[Ulf_Hansson]

I have played some house systems like that, and it makes sense that if you found a PA that works in (or is tuned to) the room you don't replace it. And of course an experienced engineer helps a lot.

As for old and beat up touring system though... That is usually a sign that no one cares about the sound or the roadies backs.

 

[Snowglo]

big biker looking chick ? If so, she's a vet... I saw her do Pigs On The Wing and she killed it with a nominal system... Also at Blues Fest a couple of years back. Not a light weight nor someone to be trifled with. Tough environment and tougher yet for a gal...

Depending on the desk, direct from it via firewire or usb to a daw or barring that a couple of decent condenser mics out in the house and a field recorder. Or... An old Zoom H4 up high on a tripod can sound pretty damned good...

I doubt it's the same person 4mal. The chic I'm referring to has worked at this club for many, many years. I don't believe she is a sound tech by trade, or works shows outside this club. just an employee.