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So the "soundman" say to me.....

#61
ggunn said:
Whose fault is that? If you roll into a club with a house system and engineer, with no one along to advise him as to what you want, and he's never heard of you, much less knows your music, what do you expect? He's going to throw what works best for him most of the time at your sound.
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The last gig I did I was part of an opening act for some country artists. The gig was semi unplugged with no amps on stage. I was running out of a Radial jdi. I asked the monitor guy if I could have a little more bass in my wedge. ( an eaw 212 with horn) The first response I got was "Hey....those aren't double 18's ya know!" I immediately know what kind of toolbag I'm dealing with. I just shut up and say......"thats fine." He then tells our guitar player how he should ditch his current setup of pedals and go with a floorpod. I know we're just the opener but give me a frickin break. We're not some young inexperienced band. I'm trying to say that my idea of a decent sound guy is someone who's trying to work WITH someone.....not dictating his/her idea. What usually happens with this situation is you get through the gig........you hope the foh guys have you dialed and move on.
I've also had similar gigs that were a pleasure. No attitude, a willing ear, smiles all around. NOBODY needs to be ugly. I'm just sayin by virtue of the power a sound guy has, it sure would be nice if it was more collaberative. If the performer is an ass..........then he/she just sealed their own fate. If the sound guy is an ass...........oh well.:hmm:
 
#63
lowstrung5 said:
Wow.........a courtesy? Alot of acts have their own FOH guys that they trust to get the sound the artist wants. That's why these guys get hired in the first place.
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Of course.

If you read my post again, you'll see that I said "If the soundman wasn't hired by the band..."

Obviously if he was hired by the band, then it would be his job to make the band sound how they want to sound.
 
#65
lowstrung5 said:
So in other words, If you have'nt hired the sound company you get what you get. You need to just follow their input and do as told. Got it............:rollno:
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Didn't say the band had to do anything. But yeah, if you didn't hire the sound company it's really a crap shoot and if you get someone good you should be thankful. You don't have to do what the sound guy says, but it'll probably make things easier, even if you don't get the sound or monitor you want.

Am I saying that's not frustrating? Absolutely not. I know I wouldn't be happy if I couldn't hear myself on stage because the sound guy wouldn't listen when I told him I need more or less of something in my monitor or whatever.

But I don't know why anyone would expect the sound man to do anything except mix the way the person paying him tells him to.
 
#66
Never hire a camera crew to film a gig without having control of the sound and lights or at least know what you're expecting from them and plan accordingly. You went in with an unfamiliar soundman, and unfortunately stuff like that happens. Expensive lesson, but next time you'll know ;)
 
#67
HolmeBass said:
Ah, the sound guy problem. A good sound engineer vs a bad one is like night and day. I find more and more that the good ones let you do your thing, fill in the gaps, and make you sound great. They listen to us and make us sound the same, only a tad louder and mixed together through the mains. The good ones make it look easy, and they usually have a good time doing it.

The bad ones are demanding, asking everyone to turn down ridiculously low (such that the drums completely drown you out while your standing right next to your rig), and it still sounds like poo in the venue. The super-impose their image of what a band should sound like, or worse, just turn up the instrument they play. This leads to those ridiculous DRUMS (and the rest of the band) kind of mixes, where each tom is louder than the bass or the vocals; or a LEAD GUITAR (and the rest of the band) mix, etc. Seems like bass players who do sound are usually not prone to this, and engineers who don't play music are often the best of all.
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True.

If you find a good soundguy, court him and dine him. Remember him, and try to seek him for other venues, other shows. They are in short supply and make a BIG difference.
Bad ones, unfortunately, are not uncommon. In that case, not much you can do that time. But make sure you remember him and avoid him.
One reason some bad soundguys are still around is we people don't give feedback. Give feedback.

I love it when we have our own sound guy with us. He knows what we are supposed to sound like, and you can relax, follow his indications safe in the knowledge that he knows exactly what to do. Happy days.
 
#68
JimmyM said:
Never hire a camera crew to film a gig without having control of the sound and lights or at least know what you're expecting from them and plan accordingly. You went in with an unfamiliar soundman, and unfortunately stuff like that happens. Expensive lesson, but next time you'll know ;)
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That's true but he butchered our live sound for the show anyway.
I just found out from my guitarist that he admitted he was intimidated by our stacks & racks. I guess he told him after the show but then complimented us on keeping our volumes low so he could do his thing. Which was butcher the FOH sound I guess....lol. The audio we have clearly has him pulling extreme knob fiddling for 3 songs into it... Idk whatever.

Yes next time we will either bring a guy or just not play there again.
End of story
 
#69
TraceOnBass said:
That's true but he butchered our live sound for the show anyway.
I just found out from my guitarist that he admitted he was intimidated by our stacks & racks. I guess he told him after the show but then complimented us on keeping our volumes low so he could do his thing. Which was butcher the FOH sound I guess....lol. The audio we have clearly has him pulling extreme knob fiddling for 3 songs into it... Idk whatever.

Yes next time we will either bring a guy or just not play there again.
End of story
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Perhaps not. If you're going into a new venue, especially one with mixed purposes and new equipment (either the house gear or your gear or both), then a reliable sound guy isn't the only thing you'll need. Why not do a 3-4 song pre-show set to give the sound guy time to get things tuned up? That would minimize the messing he/she has to do during the gig.

If you're going to video, you're likely to need more time because the sound and video techs will need time to review the test video and tweak.
 
#70
Keithwah said:
But really, let's say, you're the house guy at a club running three bands in a nite...and the second band wants to let you know they appreciate the hard work and how great the first band sounded. And they slide you a $50 and tell you, "thanks in advance for doing us proud". Are you going to sleep through effect vocal cues...heck no! Are you going to go and yak with a few buddies by the bar...heck no! Are you gonna get drums that sound like cannons and miss the lead guitar solos...heck no! You're on them!
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I can only speak for myself, but I have been that guy, and I'm going to do all that regardless of whether you tip me or not. As a matter of fact, I won't take your money until after the gig. If you liked what I did and still want to tip me, then great, but I don't need to be bribed to do my job. I take pride in my work and I do it the best I can, even when I'm doing a freebie.
 
#71
ggunn said:
I can only speak for myself, but I have been that guy, and I'm going to do all that regardless of whether you tip me or not. As a matter of fact, I won't take your money until after the gig. If you liked what I did and still want to tip me, then great, but I don't need to be bribed to do my job. I take pride in my work and I do it the best I can, even when I'm doing a freebie.
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Gordon, you would be a rare enough bird then. I have met many guys that do put their heart into it, but they are so very far and few. Always nice to hear there are some guys who are old skool enough to still be sincere enough to care about the band sounding as good as they possibly could.
 
#72
Keithwah said:
Gordon, you would be a rare enough bird then. I have met many guys that do put their heart into it, but they are so very far and few. Always nice to hear there are some guys who are old skool enough to still be sincere enough to care about the band sounding as good as they possibly could.
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Thanks, but that doesn't mean I can know everything about how a band sounds best if I'm not familiar with their music. If a band has a rep out front, whether he's a sound man or not, to clue me, in I always appreciate it.

CAVEAT: I don't mean "the guitarist's girlfriend" stereotype who is only an advocate for one member, but someone whom the whole band trusts to be their ears out front. If they know their way around the desk they can mix, or if not they can just clue me in on who is singing and who takes a solo.
 

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