[Dixielandjazz] A sound-man sounds-off

Sun Sep 9 22:00:30 PDT 2007

Too often the only qualification that the sound guy has is that he owns the 
equipment.

Everyone who has played for any length of time has been the victim of a 
sound guy at some time or another.  The biggest problem seems that, at least 
around here, there just isn't enough bucks to get a sound guy in.  They 
start at $300 here.

Most of the time I have to run sound myself and since I'm behind the 
speakers it's hard to know exactly what it sounds like out there.  I do have 
monitors but prefer to not use a real large set up if I can help it since I 
am the one who gets to do all the jerking and fetching.

I have a sound guy that I recommend but too many of these gigs are low 
budget things.  I have a hard enough time paying the musicians what they 
should be getting much less paying a sound guy too.

What everyone said about sound reinforcement vs. just plain loud is right 
on.  It seems like a lot of these guys don't seem to know the difference.

I play a park concert or two each year for the county with other bands.  I 
shudder when they put 7 mikes along the front of  an 18 piece band and there 
are no monitors.
Larry
StL

----- Original Message ----- 
From: <GWW174 at aol.com>
To: "Larry Walton" <larrys.bands at charter.net>
Cc: "Dixieland Jazz Mailing List" <dixielandjazz at ml.islandnet.com>
Sent: Friday, September 07, 2007 11:07 PM
Subject: [Dixielandjazz] A sound-man sounds-off

> Sound techs are often the 'whipping boys' in the festival music  scene -
> often times rightly so.  But musicians should try and place themselves in 
> the
> shoes of the sound tech and use a little common sense.  I have been 
> responsible
> for the sound for the Sweet and Hot and LA CLassic for many years and have
> recently started to keep some notes of how musicians can pitch in and make 
> our
> collective lives and their sound much better.  Will occassionally post a 
> few ideas
> of 'stupid things' musicians sometimes do...
>
> Open to some other contributions to this thread so feel free to send ideas
> to _gww174 at aol_ (mailto:gww174 at aol) .
>
> Here's an example.which happened several times at this year's S&H.
>
> After the first number in the set, a musician approaches the microphone 
> and
> says "can we have a little more of this mike in the monitor system" 
> Certainly
> a reasonable request but that's all we hear from the musician.... not 
> another
> word.... dead silence.  So the poor inexperienced sound tech is looking at 
> a
> mass of a zillion knobs to turn and trying to figure out which one and how 
> much
> to turn it up and pray that the musician is now happy or that the system 
> does
> not go into feedback.
>
> So, musicians, LISTEN UP ..Solving that particular request means we need 
> to
> identify the specific microphone and how much to raise it in a particular
> monitor channel on the board without starting feed back.  ..  After making 
> the
> request keep talking until you get enough volume in your monitor 
> speaker.... if
> you are bashful, as an alternative scratch the microphone wind screen with 
> your
> fingernails... or snap your fingers....tell s joke but PROVIDE some kind 
> of
> input noise into the microphone while the sound tech trys to raise the 
> level in
> your monitor speaker.  DO NOT BLOW INTO ANY MICROPHONE EVER NEVER...EVER
> NEVER...
>
> And PLEASE follow through with your request.... give the sound person a
> little 'feedback/response' that the adjustment is either good or bad... 
> you need
> more or less of such and such in your monitors, etc etc etc..but DON'T 
> MAKE A
> REQUEST followed by silence - hoping the sound person can solve the 
> problem.
>
> Gordon of Northridge
>
>
>
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