Singers asking the audience how things sound?

[Mantis Tobaggan]

That would annoy me too.

 

[buldog5151bass]

Don't just ask the audience. Assuming you don't have a sound person, if there are people out there whose ear you trust, quietly ask them, or have them signal you if something needs to be adjusted. Asking random people, or asking though the PA, is not professional.

 

[BurtMacklinFBI]

Yeah, your singer was being a ding dong. Time to have a chat with the guy, or just don’t ever do sound.

 

[eJake]

I've decided this year, absolutely positively no more double-duty gigs as bassist and sound-guy for me. Not even monitors if we have a FOH guy.

I'm sick and tired of being the target of some a$$hole's opinion about something as abstract as the mix. I'm a freakin' bass player these days. And I don't like the attitude from a fellow musician if I can't satisfy their needs ("so I can make Dimebag and Marco Mendoza happy with their monitors, but I can't get yours right? Sure....").

I still own the gear and I'll supply it, but ONLY if there's someone else there to set it up and run it.

Good on you!

 

[eJake]

I'm an audience member far more then I am a performer. While asking for mix opinions is silly and unlikely to result in anything other then the breakup of your band, I think asking for overall volume opinions should be done more often. Because 9 times out of 10 you (by you I mean all of us) are too effing loud. Your drummer should not be pounding like King Kong hitting an airplane. If you are the main focus of the event, like a concert at a festival, don't bother. Generally your volume is appropriate. If you're at a bar or restaurant, or providing background entertainment at an event for something else then by all means ask.

I respect this point of view but I would never ask a band (that I didn't know) to adjust levels. If I didn't like the way it sounded, I would probably just leave.

IME most people seem to dislike unsolicited advice from people they don't know.

 

[Bunk McNulty]

This is why it is really important to have a dedicated sound person. Ours is a full time member of the band, gets paid the same as we do. He's the one who walks around with his iPad controller, fine-tuning. He's the only one who comes up to us between songs and makes suggestions. In four years with this band, no audience member and no club owner has ever said anything about our sound except that they really like it. (Hint: They can hear the vocals clearly.)

 

[JimmyM]

I've found that audiences are very quick to let a band know if something's out of whack. "The music is too loud! We can't hear the vocals!" being the most common.

 

[DavC]

the only 'people' i ever wanna hear from are ;

ancient friends/musicians who know how I want things to sound ..

whomever might be paying the band ..

my wife ..

don't really care what others might hear ... decades of experience tells me they're just full of beans ..!!

 

[BassAndReeds]

I've done double duty as sound guy and bassist for our last two gigs, and the both had moments that irked me.

The first show, one of the singers said into the mic,"It sounds like the mandolin is loud. Is it loud to you (the audience)? Yeah, it's loud." I told him later that if that happens again, he should tell me instead of the entire audience.

Last night, we had a few audience members come up with sound suggestions (apparently the keyboard sounded "scratchy"?). So one of our other singers said, "How does everything sound? Too loud? Can you hear everything? If something needs to change, just come up and let us know." During our next break I told him in no uncertain terms to not do that again. He said that "people who know music" were suggesting changes. I said if "people who know music" want to come up that's one thing, but we don't need to make an open invitation for everyone to do it.

My 2 cents:
- When the band acknowledges to the audience that something isn't/might not be right, we lose some credibility with the audience and invite them to critique rather than enjoy.
- What sounds good to one person sounds horrible to another*, especially if alcohol is involved. I can't chase the mix all night since I'm also playing bass.

Any thoughts on getting feedback when doing sound and bass?

My plan is to talk to the band next practice and tell them to not solicit suggestions from the audience, especially from the stage. Instead, pick out one person you can trust (for me it's my wife who knows to be honest) and tell them you will be asking from for their feedback.

*During a debrief of the first show I did sound for, one of the band members said he talked to a few people who all said the mix could have been better. I talked to a few people, including my wife, who all said it sounded great, with one person comparing the sound to one of the better sounding venues in town.

This exact this just happened to me last gig. Except it wasn’t on the mic, but the drummer definitely polled a few audience members, as well as the bar owner.

But we may be on different ends of the sound spectrum. I tend to mix on the softer side, cause louder isn’t better. And unfortunately the guitar player doesn’t have the same mindset.

The result of the poll is me being “too uptight” (in so many words) and the guotar player thinking he’s right, so I’m not gonna mix the band anymore, even if they ask me to.

Mixing a band isn’t a fun gig, is wholly thankless if done right, wholly blameworthy it done wrong, nobody is ever happy with it, everyone like buttholes has an opinion on it, and if I’m gonna be undermined, well, they can find someone else to undermine.

So good luck. If you’re not getting paid extra I’d resign as sound designer, which is exactly what I’m doing.

 

[two fingers]

I'm an audience member far more then I am a performer. While asking for mix opinions is silly and unlikely to result in anything other then the breakup of your band, I think asking for overall volume opinions should be done more often. Because 9 times out of 10 you (by you I mean all of us) are too effing loud. Your drummer should not be pounding like King Kong hitting an airplane. If you are the main focus of the event, like a concert at a festival, don't bother. Generally your volume is appropriate. If you're at a bar or restaurant, or providing background entertainment at an event for something else then by all means ask.

Ask SOMEBODY. But it's still silly to ask the entire audience! As @LBS-bass said, there will be as many opinions as there are audience members. For every wet blanket saying "turn it down" there will be a party hard guy saying "Crank it up, man!!!!!".

Asking the audience ANYTHING over the mic, other than "You guys having a good time?", is a recipe for disaster.

 

[two fingers]

So what exactly would be the harm asking if you see these things occurring? Do you think the audience will be appalled and leave?

What if half the audience wants it quieter, and half the audience came to party and wants it louder? What do you do then?

Asking the entire audience for input regarding volume is silly.

 

[RustyAxe]

So what exactly would be the harm asking if you see these things occurring?

I don't understand your question.

Do you think the audience will be appalled and leave?

No, but the person running the sound just might, whether it's a "sound guy" or someone in the band. In my band someone will say, off mic of course, "we're too loud". There's no argument and we turn down. We don't need to ask or be asked.

 

[RichardW]

The only question you should ask the audience is "How's everyone doin' tonight?"

When my band started gigging, it was the first time a number of us had ever played live (including me). One of the things we discussed was the fact that we will hit clams, have screw ups, and make other mistakes performing. And under no circumstances were we ever to acknowledge those screw ups to the audience. No stopping, no faces, no apologies afterward. We've stuck to that and learned pretty quickly that audiences rarely hear a mistake and 99.99 percent of them don't care if they do.

 

[dBChad]

I like the buddy system method:
your band and another band who do shows together a lot, or are at least musicians you trust, pick someone competent to sit in the audience for your set. If the mix requires any adjustments, they come up at a break and subtly let you know. Some visual clues can be worked out as well. Your band does the same for them.

 

[Allan Allan]

Somebody thought these guys sounded great!

I don't hear anything offensive in their mix... I only listened for about a minute though

 

[AndyPanda]

In my experience, guitar players in the audience always think the guitar is too low in the mix. Horn players always say the horns are too low in the mix and so on.

 

[Hahaha]

I saw a band that had a scrolling sign that said: If you have any suggestions or advice for the band, keep it to yourself.

I learned a long time ago that if you give your power away to the audience, they will abuse it.

 

[moogieotter]

We usually only open up mix suggestions to the hot chicks in the audience, when we actually have more than one.

 

[gln1955]

In my experience, guitar players in the audience always think the guitar is too low in the mix. Horn players always say the horns are too low in the mix and so on.

One time my buddy was playing and asked at break how the mix was. I had to be honest and say there was too much bass. He gave me a weird look like he was not expecting that.

 

[s0c9]

I don't hear anything offensive in their mix... I only listened for about a minute though

Vocals???