[Dixielandjazz] Too loud!

[Norrie Thomson]

I agree with Brian.  As the organiser of a jazz club I am also frustrated by
the volume of some bands and especially bass players who have 'promoted'
this instrument to the front line.  On one occasion a band leader asked me
to record his session.  At the first interval he asked me how it was going.
I told him the bass was too loud.  On mentioning this, the bass player said
that it was the bass drum and not the bass.

In most pub situations all that is really needed is a voice mike.

Norrie

Norrie Thomson
Edinburgh
Scotland
----- Original Message ----- 
From: <TBW504 at aol.com>
To: <dixielandjazz at ml.islandnet.com>
Sent: Thursday, November 20, 2003 6:58 PM
Subject: [Dixielandjazz] Too loud!


> 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
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