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My freindly advice to Soundtechs

stonewall

stonewall

Jun 14, 2010
915
323
ontario,Canada
#1
Dear Mr Soundguy if you want to make all the musicians on stage happy and feel at ease try this...while the musicians are messing with there final personal stage sound show some interest.Walk up on stage while they are finalizing their sound and give an honest listen up close.Say something like this hey pal thats real nice tones you got going on there im gonna do my very best to reproduce your exact sound for you OK....Most players will really respect that approach.
 
#2
stonewall said:
Dear Mr Soundguy if you want to make all the musicians on stage happy and feel at ease try this...while the musicians are messing with there final personal stage sound show some interest.Walk up on stage while they are finalizing their sound and give an honest listen up close.Say something like this hey pal thats real nice tones you got going on there im gonna do my very best to reproduce your exact sound for you OK....Most players will really respect that approach.
Click to expand...

What if he thinks your "tones" sound like crap. Do you want him to tell you that also.
 
#5
stonewall said:
If he does i know he sucks cause my basses are a good soundman dream.Im just sayin ! Stingray set flat Jazz set flat... take your pick it doesnt get much better for a soundman then that.....PS this post is meant for Bass players with good tone
.
Click to expand...

well I hate to break it to you but at most multi band gigs the soundman is too busy trying to get the show on the road to take the time to tell you how great your bass tone is. In my experience if I see the FOH guy heading towards the stage it usually means there is a problem.
 
#6
Hi.

stonewall said:
Say something like this hey pal thats real nice tones you got going on there im gonna do my very best to reproduce your exact sound for you OK....Most players will really respect that approach.
Click to expand...

Back in the late 90's when I was doing pro/semi-pro sound as a house sound person, talking BS during the soundcheck wasn't what got You respect.

Doing Your job well did.

BS during the soundcheck got You less or no gigs.

It was the band-managers job to provide us with the bands material for listening before the gig, but even if it was an act out of the blue, we did our best that the audience got their monies worth.
With some material, that was a chore and a half :).


Regards
Sam
 
#8
modulusman said:
well I hate to break it to you but at most multi band gigs the soundman is too busy trying to get the show on the road to take the time to tell you how great your bass tone is. In my experience if I see the FOH guy heading towards the stage it usually means there is a problem.
Click to expand...

This

I run the sound in a church, audience is 400-500 people, not much time for sound check , I can tell you by experience that bass players are the only ones that complain about ''their tone''..funny thing is that even they have problems to find their tone on stage. You can see them tweaking knobs until the last minute of the service. 90% of the time I walk to the stage is to tell the bass player to turn the volume down.

I wonder if ''my tone '' is a bass player thing only, I have never heard a guitar, keyboard, singer, drummer, sax etc saying: I need my tone in FOH
 
#10
I would think the soundtech would be more concerned with getting a good sound all around for the entire band than individual instrument tones.

The sound you provide to the soundtech is up to you, and hopefully they'll try to retain as much of it as they can, but ultimately, they should be tweaking eqs and compressors and so forth to make sure the whole band comes across loud and clear, in a room that they should know very well. That could mean a big dip around 80hz (for example) in your bass, which might take away from "your tone", but might clear up the mix in the low end and make the bottom end sound less washy.
 
#11
As long as the soundman asks me what I like to hear in my monitor, I'm happy. Not all do, but it's important to me that I can hear everyone in the band, because I want to be able to intereract with everyone in the band. That usually means, (in addition to the vox, including my backing vox), some keys and possibly horns. I'm usually close enough to the drummer that I don't need much through the wedge.

I might tell them briefly that I'll be using different tones/effects, but otherwise I try to stay out of their way and let them do their job.
 
#12
modulusman said:
In my experience if I see the FOH guy heading towards the stage it usually means there is a problem.
Click to expand...

This. As a bassist I have been blamed enough times for things that weren't my fault that I go immediately on the defensive anytime a soundman approaches my area of the stage.

I even used to have a situation in my church where the sound guy would come up and tweak the knobs on the bass rig while I was playing. If that had been my personal rig he would have been mixing with broken fingers but since it was the house rig I just figured best to let it ride.
 
#13
stonewall said:
Dear Mr Soundguy if you want to make all the musicians on stage happy and feel at ease try this...while the musicians are messing with there final personal stage sound show some interest.Walk up on stage while they are finalizing their sound and give an honest listen up close.Say something like this hey pal thats real nice tones you got going on there im gonna do my very best to reproduce your exact sound for you OK....Most players will really respect that approach.
Click to expand...

FWIW: A good monitor soundman will work with you to give you whatever and however you want it in your monitor - but if you’re working dives or uncertain, I highly recommend covering your @$$ by hiring a real soundman.
 
#14
stonewall said:
If he does i know he sucks cause my basses are a good soundman dream.Im just sayin ! Stingray set flat Jazz set flat... take your pick it doesnt get much better for a soundman then that.....PS this post is meant for Bass players with good tone
.
Click to expand...

i'm glad you like your tone, but make no mistake that not everyone will feel that way. there are many tones out there and even more opinions on whats constitutes as a "good" one.

as long as the sound quality is good they have earned my respect. i dont need a hug or anything :)
 
#15
Or, from the other angle:

Dear Mr Musician, if you want to make the sound guys happy and motivate them to do their best to help you and your band sound great, try this;
While you are dialing in your personal stage sound try to avoid telling us how to do our jobs. We will ask you what you want to hear in your monitors and might even suggest you bass players dial back the bottom end a bit to help you cut thru the FOH mix with better clarity. If you feel the need, say something like this, you guys are doing an amazing job. Thank you. But please don't use the word "Pal".
 
#16
Biggbass said:
Or, from the other angle:

Dear Mr Musician, if you want to make the sound guys happy and motivate them to do their best to help you and your band sound great, try this;
While you are dialing in your personal stage sound try to avoid telling us how to do our jobs. We will ask you what you want to hear in your monitors and might even suggest you bass players dial back the bottom end a bit to help you cut thru the FOH mix with better clarity. If you feel the need, say something like this, you guys are doing an amazing job. Thank you. But please don't use the word "Pal".
Click to expand...

+1.
 
#17
What I read there was "Dear Soundman: please stroke my ego and make me feel more confident. I'm surr you've worked with much better bands. A card and flowers would be nice too. Thanks, your pal, Guy With Bass."
 
#18
There are a lot of soundmen who would be doing a lot of bands a favor by not accurately reproducing their crap tones.

I take the garbage in/garbage out view that if your tone sucks on its own, it should just suck louder through the system, but if you work for the venue and not the individual bands, your job is to give the audience the best sound you can with what you're given as a source.

Some of those guys end up working miracles every night.
 
#19
pedroims said:
This

I run the sound in a church, audience is 400-500 people, not much time for sound check , I can tell you by experience that bass players are the only ones that complain about ''their tone''..funny thing is that even they have problems to find their tone on stage. You can see them tweaking knobs until the last minute of the service. 90% of the time I walk to the stage is to tell the bass player to turn the volume down.

I wonder if ''my tone '' is a bass player thing only, I have never heard a guitar, keyboard, singer, drummer, sax etc saying: I need my tone in FOH
Click to expand...

Perhaps because they are not mixed so that they are an inarticulate thud similar to the bass drum. I think there is a generation of soundmen who believe the bass note is only struck at the same time as the bass drum. The bass is mixed as a low end rumble suitable only for 1/4 or 1/8 notes.

While I don't expect to get my tone, I would at least like to occupy the space in the mix where I normally reside. The last few shows I have attended locally have destroyed the bass player. Some of these guys were good players and it was a shame they were buried in a horrible mix.
 

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