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Live Sound Quality


MKAP

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After reading the article on the Tedeschi Trucks band in GP and being a fan of Susan Tedeshi and the Allman Brothers, I went to see them last night. You could tell the band was good, but from a sound quality perspective the mix was terrible.

 

So my question is, what is it with the people running the boards lately? Other than a couple of show over the past few years (J. Bonamassa, Ziggy Marley, Dave Matthews, who's live sound balance was great) it seems that rage now is overpowering bass and bass drum. At the Tedeschi Truck event, the balance was so bad that a 3 piece horn section could not be heard, Trucks was too loud, bass was booming way out of balance, and on occasion you could hear Susan, but forget the lyrics.

 

Is this the new standard for live sound? If so, forget it. I'll download the album.

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After reading the article on the Tedeschi Trucks band in GP and being a fan of Susan Tedeshi and the Allman Brothers, I went to see them last night. You could tell the band was good, but from a sound quality perspective the mix was terrible.

So my question is, what is it with the people running the boards lately? Other than a couple of show over the past few years (J. Bonamassa, Ziggy Marley, Dave Matthews, who's live sound balance was great) it seems that rage now is overpowering bass and bass drum. At the Tedeschi Truck event, the balance was so bad that a 3 piece horn section could not be heard, Trucks was too loud, bass was booming way out of balance, and on occasion you could hear Susan, but forget the lyrics.

Is this the new standard for live sound? If so, forget it. I'll download the album.

 

Don't even get me started. The standards & aesthetic conventions have deteriorated to such an execrable degree I'm almost embarrassed to say that I mix live sound for a living. The overwhelming majority of live sound engineers are incompetent, musically illiterate idiots who do enormous damage to the music foolishly entrusted to pass through their hands.

Scott Fraser
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That's too bad!

 

FWIW, when I saw DTB a few years ago, the sound quality was excellent. I'm sorry to read that it's been otherwise for some TTB shows!

Ask yourself- What Would Ren and Stimpy Do?

 

~ Caevan James-Michael Miller-O'Shite ~

_ ___ _ Leprechaun, Esquire _ ___ _

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Well for one thing,it would be instructive and interesting if the so called "Sound Engineers" where actually Engineers!

 

No. It would help if they were musicians. It's not about engineering anything, it's about making music.

 

+1000 cubed

On top of what you just said about these A holes... the other aspect is these pompous fools get RESPECT, in some cases MORE respect than the musicians. That is with OTHERS, seldom from me- I give them ice or indifference.

 

You don't have ideas, ideas have you

We see the world, not as it is, but as we are. "One mans food is another mans poison". I defend your right to speak hate. Tolerance to a point, not agreement

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A band of Tedeschi/Trucks' means should travel with their own sound guy, and they should be pleased with his abilities and performance. It's not that hard to find an F.O.H. mixer with a decent ear. If they are entrusting their reputations to whatever local dude the venue provides, someone needs to sit them down and talk with them.

Always remember that you are unique. Just like everyone else.

 

 

 

 

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A band of Tedeschi/Trucks' means should travel with their own sound guy, and they should be pleased with his abilities and performance. It's not that hard to find an F.O.H. mixer with a decent ear. If they are entrusting their reputations to whatever local dude the venue provides, someone needs to sit them down and talk with them.

 

Carrying your own engineer doesn't guarantee a good mix. I was the house engineer at a major performing arts center in LA for nearly 20 years, & most touring acts travel with their own engineer. I can recall one, maybe two guys who did an exemplary mix. A handful were pretty good, almost all others were between mediocre & awful.

Scott Fraser
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Well for one thing,it would be instructive and interesting if the so called "Sound Engineers" where actually Engineers!

 

No. It would help if they were musicians. It's not about engineering anything, it's about making music.

 

YES!

 

I don't know when/how this became a vocation for so many non-musicians (consequence of the dj era) but most of the bad ones I encounter are non-players who think they're messing with a living stereo ( with a bass boost button). The remaining bad live engineers who are actually musicians are called drunks.

 

That said, I wouldn't think you'd get a gig with Trucks without being qualified, so I'd tend to think this experience might be un-winnable venue acoustics?

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I was at a gig the other night and was thinking that I should cut down on the amount I go to, as more and more often I come away unsatisfied, due to the sound. UK bands are notorious for having a flabby, muddy, bassy sound.

 

The best sound I heard in years was Band Of Horses earlier this year in London, it was fantastic. I saw Noel Gallagher the other night at the Roundhouse in London and the sound was dire. I'll be seeing My Morning Jacket at the same venue tomorrow and I bet they'll sound excellent. US bands sound so much better.

Need real drum tracks for your songs? Visit http://www.drumtracksdirect.co.uk
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I was at a gig the other night and was thinking that I should cut down on the amount I go to, as more and more often I come away unsatisfied, due to the sound. UK bands are notorious for having a flabby, muddy, bassy sound.

 

The best sound I heard in years was Band Of Horses earlier this year in London, it was fantastic. I saw Noel Gallagher the other night at the Roundhouse in London and the sound was dire. I'll be seeing My Morning Jacket at the same venue tomorrow and I bet they'll sound excellent. US bands sound so much better.

 

Hey Will... what's up mate!! :)

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