Ann Wilson at Maryland Hall

[Em7]

My girl and I went to see Ann Wilson at Maryland Hall this evening. We like Maryland Hall because it is a smaller venue. However, someone forgot to tell the FoH staff that Maryland Hall is a smaller venue. To say that the mix was too loud is an understatement. The mix would have been too loud at half of the sound pressure level. The instruments and vocals were smearing together with quite a bit of phase cancellation. The room was beyond saturated. What could have been a great small venue concert turned out be no, just no due to a FoH staff that appeared to insensitive to the audience, many of whom were plugging their ears. We left at intermission because we could not take it anymore.

 

[Deleted member 5962]

Sad... and not the first time I’ve heard this, or experienced it, at a concert. I mean, I’m an amateur sound man. I know I stood right by the sound board at an outdoor show once, a big one, and couldn’t even hear Petrucci or the vocals. Portnoy completely dominated the mix. I walked up to a soundman and said “does that sound Ok to you guys?” He said “what’s the problem?” I said you can’t hear vocals well enough to make out the worlds, can’t hardly hear the guitar at all and the drums are louder than everyone else in the band put together.” He rolled his eyes and turned away from me and started watching the band again. Within the next 15 minutes, I witness at least 5 other people leave their spot close to the stage, to come back to the sound man to complain, and all said the same thing. “All I can hear is drums and bass” can’t even hear the guitar”. “Can’t hear vocals or guitar at all” etc... and he never touched one thing. Either completely toned deaf, or ear burned out musician, getting paid to do a job he clearly couldn’t do and didn’t care.

 

[Frank McNerney]

I wish I had a buck for every time I. couldn't hear anything except drums. I always thought the idea was make it so you can hear everything. It must be harder than it looks

 

[Em7]

The band was actually pretty good and Ann still has a set of pipes on her. The sound pressure level was just too physically painful to endure. This performance should be a case study for aspiring FoH staff. The mix is too loud when the audience is plugging their ears, louder does not equal better.

 

[Ovibos]

The band was actually pretty good and Ann still has a set of pipes on her. The sound pressure level was just too physically painful to endure. This performance should be a case study for aspiring FoH staff. The mix is too loud when the audience is plugging their ears, louder does not equal better.

I never see a show without earplugs. Custom molded with 15db filters.

 

[Tom Bradovich]

Back in the late 90's I had the good fortune to see Santana in Ohio. During the opening act (Rusted Root) all you could hear were the drums and base. The SPL just from the drums was such that you could feel it all the way inside your chest. It was actually beyond uncomfortable. My friend and I went up to the FOH engineer to offer a friendly suggestion, but the same response - like "what do you guys know." Thank God things got adjusted when Carlos took the stage.

 

[László]

There are venues in Detroit that could sound great, but don't because the FOH staff is horrible. I don't know what they're thinking. Too loud, and all you hear is the kick drum.

The bigger acts take their own FOH mixers on tour, for good reason!

A few years ago, my son's band opened for 30 Seconds to Mars in Detroit, another band followed, and then Mars came out. Because it was my son's home town, the Mars guys let their FOH mixer do that part of the show as well as theirs. The second band got the house mixer.

Well, my son's band got a great mix, and I was stoked. The poor second band! The mix sounded horrible, as this venue usually does. Then Mars came out, and it sounded great again.

However, even though the mix was excellent for Jamie and for Mars, it was still a bit too loud, and I used earplugs to protect my hearing. I fail to understand why mixers need to have concert levels over 110 db. Just makes no sense.

 

[alantig]

A few years ago, we went to see John 5 at the local Hard Rock. We ended up standing behind the soundboard, which in this place is up a couple steps from the main floor (there are tables up there as well). Several times during the show, one guy got up from a table near the board and yelled at the sound guy to turn it up. Finally the sound guy said, "Why would I turn it up when it sounds perfect?" And it was - at that point, it was one of the best mixes I'd heard at a John 5 show. Loud enough for ear plugs but not so loud it turned muddy and indistinct. I went up to the sound guy after the show and said, "You were right - that mix didn't need to be touched at all." He said, "I know, right? Why would I screw that up?" I try to make it a point to say something to the sound guy if the mix is good - I figure they should know someone appreciates their work.

And I wear ear plugs for almost every show. I'll toss on my db meter on my phone at the beginning of the show to see how loud it is. If it's low enough, I'll take the plugs out, but the last time I think that happened was at - ironically enough - a Who show. Otherwise, they're out for maybe three songs a night.

 

[Dirty_Boogie]

Sad... and not the first time I’ve heard this, or experienced it, at a concert. I mean, I’m an amateur sound man. I know I stood right by the sound board at an outdoor show once, a big one, and couldn’t even hear Petrucci or the vocals. Portnoy completely dominated the mix. I walked up to a soundman and said “does that sound Ok to you guys?” He said “what’s the problem?” I said you can’t hear vocals well enough to make out the worlds, can’t hardly hear the guitar at all and the drums are louder than everyone else in the band put together.” He rolled his eyes and turned away from me and started watching the band again. Within the next 15 minutes, I witness at least 5 other people leave their spot close to the stage, to come back to the sound man to complain, and all said the same thing. “All I can hear is drums and bass” can’t even hear the guitar”. “Can’t hear vocals or guitar at all” etc... and he never touched one thing. Either completely toned deaf, or ear burned out musician, getting paid to do a job he clearly couldn’t do and didn’t care.

“…couldn’t hear the vocals” - isn’t that a good thing with LaBrie these days? (ducks head)

 

[Deleted member 5962]

“…couldn’t hear the vocals” - isn’t that a good thing with LaBrie these days? (ducks head)

Hey now, ever since Portnoy left and they are writing stuff lower for him, he's WORLDS better live than before. I think you had to catch him the first month or so of a tour in the past or his voice was shot. Now that everything is not written so high, I saw them at the tail end of one tour (last show or next too last) and his voice was better than ever.

 

[Wakester]

I had that happen at a Tim McGraw / Faith Hill show in an arena. It was so loud even earplugs would not help. It was actually making me physically sick. I walked out 3 songs in and sat out in the concourse until my wife came out.

 

[Deleted member 5962]

I mean, I'd take some pain for Faith Hill, but I'm pretty tough like that.

 

[Wakester]

I mean, I'd take some pain for Faith Hill, but I'm pretty tough like that.

I couldn't even see her we were so high up. The only person higher was the spot light operator smokin a blunt. And he was 2 rows below us.

 

[HANGAR18]

Sad... and not the first time I’ve heard this, or experienced it, at a concert. I mean, I’m an amateur sound man. I know I stood right by the sound board at an outdoor show once, a big one, and couldn’t even hear Petrucci or the vocals. Portnoy completely dominated the mix. I walked up to a soundman and said “does that sound Ok to you guys?” He said “what’s the problem?” I said you can’t hear vocals well enough to make out the worlds, can’t hardly hear the guitar at all and the drums are louder than everyone else in the band put together.” He rolled his eyes and turned away from me and started watching the band again. Within the next 15 minutes, I witness at least 5 other people leave their spot close to the stage, to come back to the sound man to complain, and all said the same thing. “All I can hear is drums and bass” can’t even hear the guitar”. “Can’t hear vocals or guitar at all” etc... and he never touched one thing. Either completely toned deaf, or ear burned out musician, getting paid to do a job he clearly couldn’t do and didn’t care.

Must have been JAXX in Springfield.

 

[Dusty Chalk]

Reminds me of that time I went and saw Oh Land open for OMD, and her sound was set to BLACK SABBATH.

 

[aphantomvaper]

A clean sounding mix is always better than a blaring loud mix that compresses the ear drums. Its not the 70's any more...we have line array PA systems now.

Get it together sound people!!! You are not operating a LRAD and the audience is not the enemy.

And...Ann Wilson! Oh man I would have been disappointed too. Sorry to hear that.

 

[Aahzz]

A couple years backI saw a triple bill that I expected to be loud - Sixx:A.M., Shinedown, and Five Finger Death Punch. Sixx:A.M. sounded great as the first band. Before Shinedown even came out, the guitar tech played one chord, and I was suddenly afraid because that one chord was one of the loudest things I'd ever heard in my life. I had been looking forward to Shinedown, but it was indeed one of those cases where they were cranked so loud that it was nauseating. We stayed through, but only because I wanted to see Five Finger at least a bit, and because Shinedown was the main reason we went to the show. FFDP came out and I had a moment of fear, but they were at a good rock blasting level - loud as it should be, but not painful. Not only was Shinedown the loudest by a major margin, they were also using a ton of backing tracks. I went to see Shinedown, not really caring about the other 2 bands as much, and left a bigger fan of FFDP and Sixx:A.M.

 

[Going Modal]

My girl and I went to see Ann Wilson at Maryland Hall this evening. We like Maryland Hall because it is a smaller venue. However, someone forgot to tell the FoH staff that Maryland Hall is a smaller venue. To say that the mix was too loud is an understatement. The mix would have been too loud at half of the sound pressure level. The instruments and vocals were smearing together with quite a bit of phase cancellation. The room was beyond saturated. What could have been a great small venue concert turned out be no, just no due to a FoH staff that appeared to insensitive to the audience, many of whom were plugging their ears. We left at intermission because we could not take it anymore.

I'm curious if that was one of the shows that Tom Bukovac's been playing with Ann? Would be curious to check into his Homeskoolin' channel on YT (I try to keep up on his episodes, but not immediately; so I'm a few days behind) to see if there's any comments about it over there.

 

[Alnus Rubra]

These stories remind me of taking my son, Scott, to see Twenty-one Pilots in 2019 at the Leeds/Reading Festival, if you stood in the “mosh pit” or whatever the young folk call it now, all you could hear was kick drum and bass.



I checked out for a bit a stood about 300 yards back, voila! The mix was as it should be. I’m assuming that all the mid/top end was in the speaker suspended about 50-75ft up.

The park slopes down hill from back to front, which is fine if you want to watch the acts on the TV screen to get a good mix!

 

[Em7]

I'm curious if that was one of the shows that Tom Bukovac's been playing with Ann? Would be curious to check into his Homeskoolin' channel on YT (I try to keep up on his episodes, but not immediately; so I'm a few days behind) to see if there's any comments about it over there.

He looks like the guitarist that was to the right of Ann on stage. He played the solo when they performed "Magic Man." The guitarist to the left of Ann was also the utility player.