How I hate soundguys...Another show horror story

solacematt

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So last night was a pretty important show for my band Scattered Light. We got to play with one of the largest drawing hard rock bands down in the area (also a PRS endorsed band), you might have seen their holiday S2 video they did for PRS. They're a heavier band, but still radio friendly. Really an honor to get to play with a band you really love, and even more so that it was their farewell show. Our hopes were that we could turn some of their fans onto us when saw what a high turnout the even invite had. The day in general was going pretty bad for me, from an argument with one of my professors who I'm pretty sure has it in for me (not paranoid, I have proof), workday insanity, etc. Got to the venue at 7:20 and already it was tough to find parking. A good sign. Set up by 8, just wondering where the sound guy is. Finally he shows up with a power amp. Something blew but he said he had everything under control and just had to rewire something. We were supposed to go on at 9 but the sound guy was having issues with the drum mics and vocals with either barely anything coming out or all feedback. Finally at 10 he tells us to start. Feedback like crazy in a packed house of at least a hundred people at this point. Even during song I think of as 'obligatory ballad' where it just very soft vocals and a my guitar piezo enabled feedback like crazy out of the monitor to my right a few feet from my head. Stings like anything to see people walking out and giving you nasty looks because they don't know it's not your fault. We had a lot of people afterwards tell us we sounded great and super tight but the screeching from the pa and barely being able to hear any vocals made it tough to sit through us. There goes the idea of making new fans. One of my brothers friends who came out grilled the soundguy wanting to know why the second band all of a sudden sounded fine - he tells him that he forgot to plug something in and turn on a power amp that would have easily solved all the problems he had during our set... wow, thanks for train wrecking us man :/
 
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Every performer, in every performing art, has nights where external issues interfere with the performance. It's something that's really out of one's control, and you have to be able to let go of it and move on to the next performance. It's just part of the deal of being a performer that you put a lot of what counts to you into someone else's hands. And sometimes that's not so great.

Opening acts have it the worst, because the whole point of an opening act is to have all the cock-ups happen to them, so that when the headliner comes on stage, everything's sorted out.

Doing live sound is an art, just like being in a band. The best bands tour with their own sound people and eliminate that variable, but most bands simply can't afford the person or the equipment to make that happen.

In any case, building a following isn't about one night where the sound doesn't work. Let go of that and just keep performing.
 
That sucks, man, absolutely sucks. But hang in there and keep paying what we old guys say are "your dues"
 
In any case, building a following isn't about one night where the sound doesn't work. Let go of that and just keep performing.

No, it's not, but being in front of an audience that seems to like that style of music is definitely a great opportunity. You can't deny that.

Everything actually wasn't all sorted out for the headliner. The vocals were barely audible and one of the guitarists called out the sound guy on it a few times. He's running around the place with his iPad trying to run sound from an app, he probably should have stayed in the booth. It's very tough to build a following down here and seeing people walk out giving you nasty looks thinking you suck not knowing it's the sound guy who can't seem to fix an issue isn't exactly a great feeling.
 
No, it's not, but being in front of an audience that seems to like that style of music is definitely a great opportunity. You can't deny that.

Everything actually wasn't all sorted out for the headliner. The vocals were barely audible and one of the guitarists called out the sound guy on it a few times. He's running around the place with his iPad trying to run sound from an app, he probably should have stayed in the booth. It's very tough to build a following down here and seeing people walk out giving you nasty looks thinking you suck not knowing it's the sound guy who can't seem to fix an issue isn't exactly a great feeling.

How was my suggestion to forget about it and keep going somehow the wrong advice?
 
I was referring to the first sentence. Probably should have taken the last sentence off :p

I'm not unsympathetic to your plight, you know. Similar things happen to my work. A couple of months ago I did a track for the Geneva, Switzerland, Auto Show. I worked for about two weeks on it.

The client decided to add a bunch of sound effects done by the company that mixed the audio stems I created with the picture and other elements. So the finished product was out of my hands.

Naturally, I depend on getting the finished video to show my work to prospective clients in addition to wanting things to sound good at the venue. Whoever finished it did the opposite of what I'd have wanted to do. The result was not what I'd have wished. It's unusable for my website. I'd be regarded as unprofessional if I made an issue over it because my business is very collaborative.

The same kind of thing happens to an actor's performance when the film editor has a huge effect on the most carefully-crafted scenes; or when a fellow ensemble or cast member is difficult to work with or untalented. You rarely hear an actor complain about the editorial work.

The wisest thing to do is let it go and do great at what you can control.

I realize that you didn't ask for advice, and probably just wanted to vent. But since I'm old, I can't seem to help myself. ;)

.
 
Sound guys can make you or break you. In 1971 I was in a band out of Berkeley, CA, called The Sagebrush Brothers, and we got a gig opening for Hot Tuna at a place in the Santa Cruz mountains outside of Los Gatos, CA, called The Chateau Liberte'. They played there pretty regularly, this was our first (and as it turned out, our only) time to play there. We were doing country-rock at a time when that was just starting to happen, probably 50% originals and the rest covers ranging from Buck Owens and Merle Haggard to rockabilly and bluegrass. We took a page from Crosby, Stills, Nash, and Young's book and played pretty much acoustic for the first set--me and the rhythm guitarist on mic'ed acoustics, the bass player on Fender bass at low volume, and the drummer on snare only with brushes--the second set we went full-bore electric. We had to use our own sound system--I'm not sure why; I don't think the venue had one! I can't remember what Hot Tuna played through; I know they didn't use our system. The first set went without a hitch--most of our tunes had 3- or 4-part harmony, and with the acoustic instruments the balance was fine and we got a good reaction from the crowd. When we turned the volume up for the second set, people were saying they couldn't hear the vocals. At the end of the night, it turned out that our sound guy (who owned the PA) hadn't hooked up one of the power amps, so, at the highest-profile gig we ever did, we kind of fell flat. A friend of mine who was there claims that we wiped up the stage with Hot Tuna, but I don't think so! We never played with them again, and never played that venue again either. And it was OUR soundman...
A year after we broke up, I heard a song on the radio that sounded a lot like us--the intro sounded similar to an intro that I'd come up with for one of our originals...the song was "Take It Easy" by the Eagles! Great minds, and all that...
 
Every performer, in every performing art, has nights where external issues interfere with the performance. It's something that's really out of one's control, and you have to be able to let go of it and move on to the next performance. It's just part of the deal of being a performer that you put a lot of what counts to you into someone else's hands. And sometimes that's not so great.

Opening acts have it the worst, because the whole point of an opening act is to have all the cock-ups happen to them, so that when the headliner comes on stage, everything's sorted out.

Doing live sound is an art, just like being in a band. The best bands tour with their own sound people and eliminate that variable, but most bands simply can't afford the person or the equipment to make that happen.

In any case, building a following isn't about one night where the sound doesn't work. Let go of that and just keep performing.

Well put although the thread starters agitation is understandable. As both a musician and a soundguy myself im well versed with the horrors of being on either side. Neither is as easy as the other seems to think. Had that sound problem happen to me once I did audio and I had no idea what the venue people had done to the system. I just came in just as the band trying to perform and got to be the evenings noose neck, its not pleasant. And just to be clear, I know what im doing, some times theres just not enough time for either party, blame game is futile after the fact.
 
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