Perhaps too loud

[Ross Brown]

Gig this past Friday. In middle of second set the singer told me I was really thumpin' and his ears were feeling it. Shortly after that a guy (patron) asked me to turn my bass down a little. No one sat in the tables near the band and dancers didn't dance long until they vanished to the back.

 

Possibilities:

 

1) we suck

2) we were too loud.

 

Bar owner did not say anything but I am going to ask her about it.

 

How do you tell if you are too loud. Sounded OK where I was...

[DavidMPires]

We always get the singer to walk around during the first solo, to tell us if we need to quiet down.

[fingertalkin]

I am always asked to turn down....usually by the drummer, which has been well documented on this here forum. We don't have PA support so I have to have some volume.

 

There have been on occasion a time when a person, usually friends of the band, will tell me to turn down. I take into consideration where they are located in the room.

[Bottom End]

I hate to say it, but if everyone is asking you to turn down, you probably are too loud. It sounds like you need to place your amp where you can hear it, or better yet, place yourself where you can hear the bass amp, apparently the audience and the rest of the band already can hear you. Pushing the audience to the back of the dance floor is probably not the best response.

 

Are you too close to the drummers cymbals and toms, so you feel you can't hear yourself?

 

I've had similar problems, all I can say is I found a place where I could hear myself enough.

[Ross Brown]

Singers walks out front but I think only listens for his own volume. I am right next to cymbals and toms. Only started happening with new drummer. Maybe he is louder and we are going along. Something to work on.

[mondoray]

Been there.Last year I played a gig in a pub with the band,

none of us were familiar with the pub.We played too loud,and we

got the nod from 1 or 2 of our friends in the crowd.We turned down

when we could. Trouble is , when you aren't sure of the setup

other bands have , it can be difficult to get it right.

 

We wern't asked back, probably because of the volume.

If we were, I'm sure we would have made an improvement.

[TimR]

Ross, you suck.

 

 

Maybe you are locking in with the new drummer and the perception is that everything is a lot louder.

 

We send the singer out and she listens to all of us. Usually I get asked to turn up. We've been doing it for long enough to get the sound right just by looking at the size of the room.

 

Remember you are playing to the dance floor, not to the people sitting at the back. A good indication is whether people sitting near the front are smiling or tapping their feet.

[Phil W]

The audience is the audience so if they say it's too loud, it's too loud. However, sometimes with bass it can be other factors - reverberation from a hollow stage for example.

 

The needs and wants of each venue and audience vary a lot and it's tough to get right, you have to use the audience reaction (and common sense) that you can. I usually have the kind of relationship with the bar managers or sound people that they'd let me know if it was too loud or quiet.

[Ross Brown]

Ross, you suck.

 

 

Maybe you are locking in with the new drummer and the perception is that everything is a lot louder.

 

We send the singer out and she listens to all of us. Usually I get asked to turn up. We've been doing it for long enough to get the sound right just by looking at the size of the room.

 

Remember you are playing to the dance floor, not to the people sitting at the back. A good indication is whether people sitting near the front are smiling or tapping their feet.

 

I wanted to ask the guy why..? too loud or too much suck... I couldn't find him between sets....

 

Funny thing was that it felt like a good mix. I wonder why he asked me to turn down and not the whole band.... I do suck I suppose...

 

 

[b5pilot]

Never ask a patron if you suck. If you do suck someone is bound to tell you anyway. No need giving them a clear shot. Nobody sitting by the band pretty much means you were probably too loud. If you have a wireless rig laying around, and if it's possible to do so, take a walk out and listen to the mix. Then you will know. That's what we do when we can. We have no soundman so it's the only way to check the mix.

[TimR]

We played a pub once who didn't usually have live bands. The landlady repeatedly asked me to turn down. The bass frequencies travelled right through the pub floor and into all the other rooms and attached buildings. I wasn't loud in the room we were in, it was just loud everywhere else. As has been said in other threads, acoustics is a funny game. As long as you turned down when asked and they were happy after you turned down, no harm done.

[jeremy c]

WHAT?

[moot]

Did the singer say you were too loud? If he didn't I wouldn't worry about some schmuck from the audience. If it wasn't the person who hired you and it wasn't a band member you would have every right to tell the guy to get bent. In the interest of diplomacy you could do what I used to do - tell him to talk to the guitar player.

 

I have played a few places where people go outside when you play (except for the dancers) and come back in when you stop. Not everybody digs live music and rather than leaving the place altogether, that is their solution.

[jeremy c]

I have played a few places where people go outside when you play...

 

I've played those places, too. The people are usually filling their noses out in their cars.

[Chad Thorne]

I think you answered your own question, Ross.

 

How...you tell if you are too loud.... a patron [asks you] to turn [your] bass down a little. No one [sits] in the tables near the band and dancers [don't] dance long until they vanish[] to the back...

 

I myself always err on the side of caution; it's so much better to be asked to turn up than turn down. In the 90s I was in a pretty good blues band which nevertheless failed because the guitar player would NOT turn down, and we could, and often did, empty a bar inside of one set. Wonder why we didn't get asked back?

 

[yourlord]

Play metal.. Problem solved.. You can never be too loud in metal..

 

 

 

 

[Davo-London]

I usually get asked to turn up as well. I would hate to overpower the mix. Maybe.

 

Davo

[Paul K]

too loud.

 

 

No such thing. My armchair quarterbacking abilities tells me that you were just right for certain parts of the songs. Trouble is that you (and the band...) was the same loudness at all the other parts of the song. Don't turn down, just play softer for most of the song. But not all of the song. Of course, it only works if everybody does the same thing.

 

But while I'm on a rant, that used to just piss me off with the Big Band. I'd be too loud for eight bars of a tune (and ONLY 8 bars of a tune...), and instead of being told LIKE WITH THE REST OF THE BAND that, "hey, baby, you're a little too loud at letter G. Back off, let the sax soli thing take it", I'd always get, "Hey,baby, turn down a little. you're too loud." I never. Not once. got told where on the chart I was too loud.

 

Bastards. They're all bastards.

[davio]

People with ears suck. Like seriously.

[mondoray]

The best gig I ever played co-incided with a lot of plates falling

off the shelves around the pub. But, we were on for almost 3 hours

and the crowd still wanted more. Best version of 'tainted love' you'll

ever hear...

[Ross Brown]

My wife just listened to the recording of the gig and suggested that it was a combination of too much suck and too loud.... ain't she great?.... damn it....

 

Best sounding blues gig I was ever at was in California about a year ago. The bass player was obnoxiously (sp?) loud. Was still very cool and dancable. I suppose I had some of that thinking going on. I did not master that sound yet from what I gather.

 

I think I will go back to starting less loud and being asked to turn up. That has happened too before.

 

On a side note: Do certain note just sound louder than others? Some notes seem to drop out of the recording.