You say that now because you're on the internet but I would LOVE to see you act on it in "real life".
Grow up pal, and learn to read. The guy said the rig wasn't even his, so the sound guy had all the right to touch it.
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Sound guy walked on stage and turned me down...
- Thread starter Tbirdbassist
- Start date
You say that now because you're on the internet but I would LOVE to see you act on it in "real life".
Grow up pal, and learn to read. The guy said the rig wasn't even his, so the sound guy had all the right to touch it.
Ric5
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- Jan 29, 2008
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Many sound men are just idiots behind a board turing knobs.
I had one of them come on stage and try to change the settings while I played. I told him no way he was going to touch my eq settings. That particular sound man had a real talent of finding the suck knob on a board and turing it way up. Some sound men are good but some cannot be trusted.
Sound issues should be worked out in a sound check!
A lot of the soundmen that I know take offense when musicians try to go out on to the floor to see how they sound during a pre-gig soundcheck. They also will assume from then till doomsday that you don't know squat about sound, since you're listening to an empty room. When you stepped on the floor, you tried to do his job. When you didn't follow his instructions, and ignored him signalling you to turn his amp down, you failed to do your own job. So he did it for you, and it was probably for the best. Grow up. Now if it was your amp, and he hadn't signalled you and been ignored before he tried to fix the situation, maybe then you would have a valid complaint.
This is true but you should consider that fact that in some venues the sound engineer is mixing sound for a hip hop group one night, a Nu metal group the next etc. Sometimes it is helpful to let the soundman know during sound check what you are looking for insofar as your tone. Tact and professionalism is king in these situations because he is the one with his fingers on the knobs during the gig not you.
I do a lot of rock concerts as a soundman in my home town. Usually between 3-6 bands play, so not everyone has a chance to soundcheck. And very often there's no check at all because of time, and I have to use the first band as the soundcheck.
I also play a lot of shows like that as a bassist, so I'm familar with both sides of the situation.
Usually if a scenario like the one in this thread comes up, I have to choices:
1. Say to myself "crap in, crap out" and just let the band sound like ****.
2. Do something about it.
I usually use my mic (I ALWAYS make sure I have a mic sent to the monitors, so I can easily communicate with the bands on stage during the show) to try to tell them if there's anything wrong. But sometimes it's actually a lot easier to just get hands on. Because if they play on rented/lent equipment (especially if it's from the company I work for) chances are, I know a bit more about it than them.
Like we have one of those Warwick Quad amps which I HATE
And I know from past experiences that if you've never touched one before, you need some time to figure out all the buttons and that weird matrix thingie.
Hmm. Now I'm just ranting
My point is:
Maybe the soundman was rude, and he could have handled it differently, but still. He's just trying to make you sound good, and you turned up after being told NOT to. Those Ampeg 8x10's is pretty powerful, and can easily carry the bass in a club without any PA support.
Did you ask for more bass in the monitor? And you could have tried to eq in a bit more high mid so you'd get more attack and at least heard that. Because if you turn up the master, you also turn up the mud.
I also play a lot of shows like that as a bassist, so I'm familar with both sides of the situation.
Usually if a scenario like the one in this thread comes up, I have to choices:
1. Say to myself "crap in, crap out" and just let the band sound like ****.
2. Do something about it.
I usually use my mic (I ALWAYS make sure I have a mic sent to the monitors, so I can easily communicate with the bands on stage during the show) to try to tell them if there's anything wrong. But sometimes it's actually a lot easier to just get hands on. Because if they play on rented/lent equipment (especially if it's from the company I work for) chances are, I know a bit more about it than them.
Like we have one of those Warwick Quad amps which I HATE
And I know from past experiences that if you've never touched one before, you need some time to figure out all the buttons and that weird matrix thingie.
Hmm. Now I'm just ranting
My point is:
Maybe the soundman was rude, and he could have handled it differently, but still. He's just trying to make you sound good, and you turned up after being told NOT to. Those Ampeg 8x10's is pretty powerful, and can easily carry the bass in a club without any PA support.
Did you ask for more bass in the monitor? And you could have tried to eq in a bit more high mid so you'd get more attack and at least heard that. Because if you turn up the master, you also turn up the mud.
MikeBass
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His job is to make you sound good.
And part of that is working WITH you.
The day a sound guy walks up and touches my rig (or the rig I'm playing through if it's a backline) he instantly stopped doing his job, and I'll simply put things back to where they were before his grubby little fingers touched the amp.
Sure, start with the crap about how he's in control and can make you sound bad blah blah blah...........the circles I run in he wouldn't last until his next gig if he did that sort of thing.
Now, if he comes up in between songs or the like and asks me to turn down, and I couldn't hear myself prior to my turning up, then a small conversation would take place to see what can be done to make it work for both of us.
If I'm met with a blanket "You gotta turn down" and nothing else will be done to give me a little room, I can't do my job and HE needs to help ME.
Because a great sounding band that's playing like crap because they can't hear each other is just as bad as a bad sounding band playing great.
It is the sounds mans responsibility to do everything he can to help you do your best and to give the audience the best.
One SHOULD NOT have to suffer for the other.
I never had that happen, and hope I don't, but I have had some sound guys do some crazy crap before.
Everything you said is true but most of us and most soundmen don;t travel in your circles. I believe the soundman was wrong to mess with his settings without his permission and I think he was derelict in his duties to not work "with" the OP in getting a better overall sound. I have never had anything remotely like this happen to me but I have my share of soundman horror stories just like everyone else. In the world of the average weekend warrior the soundman can do whatever the heck he wants and if you make too much noise about you are out the door. I'm not saying this is right but it is reality much of the time.
You have a point. But, we have no choice but to trust them for the FOH mix. Attitude toward them is sure to get you a bad mix.
In my experience, I've seen more decent sound guys than bad ones. Some are very good at what they do, will know the room and the gear and be best qualified to make you sound good. Listen to them and learn to deal with different stages and mixes. It's just part of the deal. I've played a lot of different stages. I don't remember sounding exactly the same on any of them.
MikeBass
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I sounded pretty arrogant huh?!??
Sorry about that!
I agree, most club sound men can make it tough for you to gig.
I gig a lot in clubs/bars, but I know most of them pretty good, so I usually don't have any major issues.
And plus, I usually only bring a single 12 or a pair to most club dates anyway!
You didn't sound arrogant at all, I think the defense response springs up when we hear a story like that. Much like you I have a good relationship with the soundman where I gig and I usually bring a 1/12 cabinet and send my signal to the house. I figure he has bigger and better speakers than me so I can give my poor rig a break.
I am also fortunate to play in bands that hate extremely high volume.So you turned down after the sound check? Is that right? Or it sounded fine with the sound check but the sound guy asked you to turn it down anyways?
Either one doesn't make sense.
I think what he means is that when they did the sound check his volume seemed fine but when they actually started playing he realized he was not loud enough and was inaudible.
And get one with his own equipment. He may cost more, but he'll make you sound good.
Maybe the OP could have told the sound guy what was happening on stage and asked for help in changing the volume so it wouldn't ruin the FOH?
Possibly not practical in the middle of the set but the sound guy came on stage anyways.
Wow. Some of you guys, with your "soundman doesn't touch my $h!+ or he gets it" crap need to rethink this. Ultimately, how good you sound out front, where the audience is hearing you, is completely up to the soundman. Telling him off, or proving that you're right to him is on par with being rude to your waiter/waitress and/or kitchen staff. Don't expect your food to come saliva-free. (And that's if they limit themselves to spitting in your food. Imagine if they have no qualms about dropping their pants in the kitchen...)
Seriously. Don't piss off your soundman.
Seriously. Don't piss off your soundman.
Bass Mule is rather correct.
As an occasional soundman myself, I would have no problem with turning your awesome tone into an awesome pos.
But, the job of Soundman is really thankless. We get no thanks, no credit, nothing.
As an occasional soundman myself, I would have no problem with turning your awesome tone into an awesome pos.
But, the job of Soundman is really thankless. We get no thanks, no credit, nothing.
I think you're right; once they started playing their set he realized it was too late to straighten out his sound with the soundman so he turned himself up, the rest of the story is history. If he was too close to his amp or if the other players got excited and started cranking up their volume I can see this happening.
If the OP is still reading this, why were the onstage monitors non-operational. Seams pretty stupid to me ,how was anybody suppose to hear themselves sing. Maybe the soundman was an idiot.
