What Makes the Perfect Live Music Venue?

[lat]

The title says it. Here's my 2 cents, in no particular order...

Room Acoustics - lively without being too echoey. Enough breaks in the room to break up standing waves, dead spots, boomy corners, etc... Shoebox dimensions with the stage on a short wall.

Sound - High end gear with a great, attentive and friendly sound guy. All you have to do is show up with your personal rig. But, what PA would be perfect for a 300 seat room?

Stage - About 12-18" off the floor, so you're close to the crowd, but not too close. Not too deep and with open sides, so it isn't a boom box on stage.

Power - Lots of accessible outlets/circuits with clean power and good ground.

Lighting - Nice mid intensity warm white lights for the front. Colour wash for the sides and back. Enough to give some ambience without distracting from the band. Or maybe some sharks with lasers.

Sightlines - Everyone can see the whole stage from where they are sitting. No pillars in the way!

Dance floor - Big enough to handle a good crowd of people, but not so big that you feel you're disconnected from the crowd when there's no one on the floor.

Room size - IMHO, 200 - 300. Enough to give it a real energy, without it getting hairy, if you know what I mean. Some may like it bigger, especially if the pay can be better!

Room decor - Funky/gritty, not fancy, but CLEAN. Cool stuff on the walls. Gives off a vibe where you can just be yourself and really get into your set.

Location - Easy to get to, lots of parking, easy load in/out access, not a bad neighbourhood.

Owner / Manager - Professional, friendly, music lover, willing to accomodate band requests.

Pay - Without getting greedy, lol... Well above the standard 100 bucks a player... say, double that? OK, maybe triple...

Staff - Friendly, professional, experienced staff who know what it takes to create the right vibe for a fun, safe night.

Food / Drinks - All your favourite comestibles / beverages comped for the band!

I'm sure I'm forgetting a bunch of stuff... What else?

 

[lat]

Got any examples of a venue that comes close? Around here, it's Shakers for me. No affiliation to it.

 

[Wasnex]

Mods, if this is in the wrong spot, my apologies. Figured it was more closely related to live sound than any other category.

The title says it. Here's my 2 cents, in no particular order...

Room Acoustics - lively without being too echoey. Enough breaks in the room to break up standing waves, dead spots, boomy corners, etc...

Sound - High end gear with a great, attentive and friendly sound guy. All you have to do is show up with your personal rig.

Stage - About 12-18" off the floor, so you're close to the crowd, but not too close. Not too deep and with open sides, so it isn't a boom box on stage.

Power - Lots of accessible outlets/circuits with clean power and good ground.

Lighting - Nice mid intensity warm white lights for the front. Colour wash for the sides and back. Enough to give some ambience without distracting from the band.

Sightlines - Everyone can see the whole stage from where they are sitting. No pillars in the way!

Dance floor - Big enough to handle a good crowd of people, but not so big that you feel you're disconnected from the crowd when there's no one on the floor.

Room size - 200 - 300. Enough to give it a real energy, without it getting hairy, if you know what I mean.

Room decor - Funky/gritty, not fancy, but CLEAN. Cool stuff on the walls. Gives off a vibe where you can just be yourself and really get into your set.

Location - Easy to get to, lots of parking, easy load in/out access, not a bad neighbourhood.

Owner / Manager - Professional, friendly, music lover, willing to accomodate band requests.

Pay - Without getting greedy, lol... Well above the standard 100 bucks a player... say, double that? OK, maybe triple...

Staff - Friendly, professional, experienced staff who know what it takes to create the right vibe for a fun, safe night.

Drinks - All your favourite drinks at a reasonable price!

I'm sure I'm forgetting a bunch of stuff... What else?

I would think this goes in band management as very little of it has to do with sound...and the aspects that do relate to sound are really more related to booking decisions and management decisions than anything else.

IMHO for amplifed music you want the acoustics to be as dead as possible. Reverb and delay will be added electronically. Natural room reflections tend to cause a variety of problems and degrade the sound.

For acoustic music, of course you want a nice space with desirable reverberant qualities. There are lot's of highly reverberant rooms that sound awful with acoustic music though. Specific qualities are required, and these qualities tend to vary a bit depending upon the music and ensemble. For example, liturgical pipe organ sounds great in a huge cathedral...many other forms of music tend to just mush together and become incoherent.

These factors relate to band management because you should assess the acoustic qualities of venue when you are weighing the merits of working there.

 

[Michedelic]

I was going to be a smartass and say ‘one that pays’, but in all seriousness, how about one that provides an adequate amount of space for the band, especially if there’s no house PA and you have to bring your own. It doesn’t matter(at least to me)if there’s a stage or not, but there should be room to stash cases, bags, etc, and have at least an implied band ‘territory’ were everyone in band isn’t crowded together subway style. Add to that a copious amount of properly wired electrical. Most joints I’ve been in usually have the band set up to the rear of the place, with access to a rear door/parking area; that’s crucial in my book for load-in. There’s nothing worse than hustling gear in thru the front, past patrons and the owner/manager’s stink-eye. Some sort of acoustic treatment for the room is always appreciated, but most bar owner don’t know, don’t care, and it’s an expense for them. A civil bar staff is always helpful for your own attitude. And turn those damned sports channel TVs off.

 

[lat]

For acoustic music, of course you want a nice space with desirable reverberant qualities. There are lot's of highly reverberant rooms that sound awful with acoustic music though. Specific qualities are required, and these qualities tend to vary a bit depending upon the music and ensemble. For example, liturgical pipe organ sounds great in a huge cathedral...many other forms of music tend to just mush together and become incoherent.

The style of music does dictate the room's acoustical properties, for sure. For the classic rock stuff I do, just a bit of reverb is nice...

And turn those damned sports channel TVs off.

Yes! Those TV's behind the stage have to be off and preferably hidden!

 

[tshapiro]

A place that is popular that has its own crowd and is not totally dependent on your following

A place that has its own sound guy who is good

Easy load in access

 

[friskinator]

A green room/band room close to the stage. One with some comfortable couches and chairs, and a private bathroom. I can't even count the amount of times I've had to change clothes in the bar owner's office or kitchen/supply closet/etc.

 

[lat]

That reminds me. Nice bathrooms that you don't need a tetanus shot before entering.

 

[tshapiro]

A green room/band room close to the stage. One with some comfortable couches and chairs, and a private bathroom. I can't even count the amount of times I've had to change clothes in the bar owner's office or kitchen/supply closet/etc.

Good one. I can't tell you how many weddings we've put our suits on in the venue bathrooms

 

[soulman969]

Can I start with a decent paycheck and an owner or club manager whose not a complete dikhead?

Then I can work forward from that.

 

[TheReceder]

A stage that has a good looking girl front and center. This place also has tractor hoods hanging from the ceiling… that immediately means the place will be fun for me as long as we don't suck.

 

[JGbassman]

This. Foh and engineer dialed in and ready to go when supplied by in house, a nice roll on stage for back inline on wheels, and stagehands that know what they are doing. Indoor stages, not too boomy or hard to move around on. Dressing rooms close to the stage.

Outdoor stages. a good crew, (working with a gracious opening act) adequate shade and a killer foh set up. A nice green room trailer never hurts either.

Of course a nice entergetic crowd never hurts either.

 

[Jborg]

Thousands of adoring fans would be nice....not that I’ve ever had that experience...

 

[soulman969]

Got any examples of a venue that comes close? Around here, it's Shakers for me. No affiliation to it.
View attachment 3272446

But that is a top flight looking venue Larry and I though your original post was quite good.

 

[fdeck]

I don't need any amenities myself. The perfect venue is one that makes the audience comfortable and happy. Something I've observed is that in any crowd, there are people who have come in groups of 2, 3, 4, etc. Maybe only one of the people is a music fan, or interested in the kind of music that my band plays. The rest are there for the social hang. So, to attract that one person, you have to serve the other three.

Another thing is that people have different preferences for volume, so a good venue has seating in areas where most of the sound has been absorbed, so they can enjoy at their preferred volume. This is even when I play with relatively quiet bands. A venue where everybody is crowded as far away from the band as possible, is a bad venue or a bad band.

 

[lat]

But that is a top flight looking venue Larry and I though your original post was quite good.

Yeah, it is a great venue, but not perfect. Don't think that even exists. Of course, one man's gold is another man's garbage... which is kind of the whole point of the thread!

 

[lat]

A stage that has a good looking girl front and center. This place also has tractor hoods hanging from the ceiling… that immediately means the place will be fun for me as long as we don't suck.
View attachment 3274434

Yeah, she is cute, but she's blocking my view of the bass! lol

 

[bwildt]

All the above remarks are good. Lately my wish has been for a decent place to put the truck and trailer for load in and out. I have become tired of seeing that the ONLY decent place to load is taken up and blocked by the venue manager's car because he is very important and can't be bothered to walk a short distance and make other people's life a little easier.

 

[lat]

I don't need any amenities myself. The perfect venue is one that makes the audience comfortable and happy. Something I've observed is that in any crowd, there are people who have come in groups of 2, 3, 4, etc. Maybe only one of the people is a music fan, or interested in the kind of music that my band plays. The rest are there for the social hang. So, to attract that one person, you have to serve the other three.

Another thing is that people have different preferences for volume, so a good venue has seating in areas where most of the sound has been absorbed, so they can enjoy at their preferred volume. This is even when I play with relatively quiet bands. A venue where everybody is crowded as far away from the band as possible, is a bad venue or a bad band.

Yeah, a lot of folks like to go listen to music in a quieter part of the venue to play some pool or just talk to their friends while the band is playing. Breaking up the space so that part of it is quieter can also help with the room acoustics.

 

[fhm555]

Here’s a couple local examples of top drawer music venues. Both feature multiple stages, world class sound systems, and can even be booked for private events.

Iron City
Bob Dylan liked it so much he slipped in to town and spent the day shooting live performance video there.
Music Venue, Wedding Venue, Event Venue, Local Food

Workplay
The brainchild of former MTV jock and hometown boy Alan Hunter. While not as big as Iron City, it’s been around longer and features multiple stages for anything from a big band to a solo acoustic act.
WorkPlay