[Dixielandjazz] Too loud!

[TBW504 at aol.com]

As a protest against deafening over-amplification several friends and I have 
started to boycott our local jazz venue. Protests have met with indifference. 
In one case the response was, "It's supposed to sound like that!" As a 
one-time BBC recording engineer I am not unaware of the problems of making oneself 
heard properly but the venue concerned is just an average sized British pub. Yet 
each week bands struggle in with their amplifiers, cables, microphones and 
speakers. One week the power circuit failed and the band was obliged to perform 
acoustically: absolute bliss! Rare is the band that doesn't have separate 
amplification for both string bass and banjo yet neither is a "quiet" instrument. 
The consequence is that the rest of the band blow lustily to restore the 
status quo. I attend many jazz festivals. Few are the groups which attempt any 
light and shade or dynamic range. The game is to play triple forte all night long 
with occasional forays into the horrendous. The expected cries from 
bandleaders of "Not me guv!" will be treated with a degree of cynicism I'm afraid. It 
seems to me to be a real problem in all but the largest auditoria, and it seems 
to be getting worse. Notice that I have refrained from mentioning alleged 
"sound engineers" who spend the entire session playing with their equipment. 
Forgive the intended double entendre!
Brian Wood