Soundgah 'justed mah amp an I 'justed his face. Mext sounguh tha jus muh ump is gonna catch a derp.
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Have you seen that sound guy that only has one finger (his pinky) on his left hand? I met him once. He had all of his fingers back then, until he started adjusting my amp...
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- Oct 7, 2000
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I'm kind of surprised at the responses here.
I've played lots of different places, with lots of different sound people... and this is pretty much the norm. Sound person asks me to play, does some stuff in the FOH, then comes on stage and starts tweaking my amp so he/she can get the best sound possible. I never had any issues with that. They know what they're doing, and know how to get the best sound, so I trust them. Completely.
I've played lots of different places, with lots of different sound people... and this is pretty much the norm. Sound person asks me to play, does some stuff in the FOH, then comes on stage and starts tweaking my amp so he/she can get the best sound possible. I never had any issues with that. They know what they're doing, and know how to get the best sound, so I trust them. Completely.
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Yup... same occurred to me. How could anyone know what needed to be adjusted without hearing it first???
MDBass
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That's actually not what happened here though.
The amp wasn't even on yet, and the guy was already looking to start turning knobs; that's not a sound engineer, that's someone who doesn't know what they're doing.
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I was joking, but I had a feeling people weren't going to catch that
. I'm pretty laid back about my sound (and my gear), but if a sound person touched my amp I'd be pissed.
Not exactly the same, but I was once in a band and the sound guy recorded a demo tape and proudly presented the finished article.
On listening he'd completely killed my bass sound, so that my Ric sounded like a tea chest.
I told him I never wanted to hear that tape again.
I never did.
On listening he'd completely killed my bass sound, so that my Ric sounded like a tea chest.
I told him I never wanted to hear that tape again.
I never did.
MDBass
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I was joking, but I had a feeling people weren't going to catch that
I'm pretty laid back about my sound (and my gear), but if a sound person touched my amp I'd be pissed.
Ah! Yeah, that definitely needed sarcasm font or a winky face
A few months ago I was loading in to a place we hadn't been to before, and the sound guy said something sorta huffy along the lines of "great, 3 guitars and a bass... I'm sure you guys are great at managing your stage volume" and kind of rolled his eyes with a half smile. He wasn't being malicious, just kinda making a joke, so I joked back with a wink "if you don't like our stage volume, there's not a damn thing you're gonna do about it" and he kinda stepped back, sorta stunned. We almost immediately got our instruments out and began tuning up, and he put it together pretty quick that we had already finished loading in, and we were all set up to go direct to FOH. No amps. We made eye contact and he just smiled and gave me a nod like "alright, you got me" and he did a great job that night mixing our in ears. It's refreshing when you have a nice moment to build a relationship with the sound engineer.
Sorry to hear you had a bad experience. I think we've all dealt with instances where bad vibes threatened to ruin the night, whether it's related to sound guys, promoters, other bands, or even our own bands. I try to find a way to squash any problems as early as I can, but I do appreciate that it's not always possible to do.
Kudos to all you guys who have abstained from hurting people for touching your gear. I still own and rehearse with a Peavey DeltaBass head that a "helpful" drunk after a show in 2008 sent tumbling down a short flight of concrete stairs. If it had been a more delicate amp, I may have found a utility closet to strangle him in, but after a long, thoroughly impressive history with Peavey gear, I had a suspicion it would be just fine. And like I said, 9 years later the amp is still a tank, thankfully.
Sorry to hear you had a bad experience. I think we've all dealt with instances where bad vibes threatened to ruin the night, whether it's related to sound guys, promoters, other bands, or even our own bands. I try to find a way to squash any problems as early as I can, but I do appreciate that it's not always possible to do.
Kudos to all you guys who have abstained from hurting people for touching your gear. I still own and rehearse with a Peavey DeltaBass head that a "helpful" drunk after a show in 2008 sent tumbling down a short flight of concrete stairs. If it had been a more delicate amp, I may have found a utility closet to strangle him in, but after a long, thoroughly impressive history with Peavey gear, I had a suspicion it would be just fine. And like I said, 9 years later the amp is still a tank, thankfully.
I trust sound guy so it's ok for him to do what he knows the best because I'm on the stage and I do not know how it sounds like outside of the stage.
But if he does not say to me anything, just come up to the stage and adjust my amp, I'll feel no good.
If he asks to touch my gear first, that's fine.
But if he does not say to me anything, just come up to the stage and adjust my amp, I'll feel no good.
If he asks to touch my gear first, that's fine.
wmhill
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+1. A HPF is often what's needed, or repositioning my amp/cab.
Simple. There's plenty of mics bleeding bass thru the FOH. A bad stage/room can give intolerable sound even before you get to a normal bass rig volume or band volume.
I had a sound guy do the "Do you mind" thing - I asked him what he wanted, I dialed it in the way he liked (which was something trivial) and that was that. And I thought THAT was strange.
I get your point, but some players really don't seem to get that their tone doesn't work for the audience. I've repeatedly had to tell my guitarist that his tone is way too piercing and loud. After numerous requests (probably 10 -- I'm patient ) for him to soften his tone and turn down, I asked him if I could adjust his tone to show what I'm talking about. He was accommodating, but next time we played, he was right back to his crappy sound. This has happened more times than I can recall at this point. Part of the problem is that he uses foam earplugs when he plays, and he puts his amp on the ground (not elevated). So, he isn't hearing the grating sound that the band and audience is hearing.
Point is, some players are perfectly capable players, but they just don't understand or care that their tone doesn't work for anyone except themselves.
