Jaen-Pierre-Dowling
Hey everyone!
Friday the 11th of September we went to a show in the Strand area with a few big-name bands on the bill, but the sound pretty much ruined the experience for everyone attending. Firstly it sounded as if the opening band literally just plugged in and then sped into their set with a roaring cacophony of a (way) overpowering bass drum and screaming guitars without any kind of definition from any of the instruments whatsoever. Vocals could also just have been removed because you couldn't hear anything at all, and the difference when the bass guitarist stopped playing when his strap fell of was absolutely inaudible. And then when the main act took to the stage, there had been a significant difference in sound quality, but vocals had still been a problem.
What I couldn't understand though, was that the company doing the sound had really good equipment including a JBL line-array driver setup, 2x Twin 18' JBL woofers on each side and a really expensive-looking boutique Allen & Heath console. The hall itself hosted pretty decent-sounding shows before, and the company doing the sound really where on top of their game at all the shows they normally do (which is a lot seeing that they are one of the most famous audio-providers in the Western Cape).
What I wanted to know is, is there a certain code of conduct that the engineers follow that stated that everyone except the main band should sound bad, and that we as the audience have to waste ridiculous amounts of entrance-fee money paying them to make sure that the above-mentioned is implemented?
I really don't want to sound like someone always complaining and I really don't want to put anyone in a bad light, but it's really getting frustrating to go out to see someone only to have the experience ruined by some arrogant engineer. Am I just overly picky, or is this a normal problem?
TomCat
Sorry to hear about your bad experience.
This is a pretty general problem. Good engineers here and anywhere else are rare.
Having said that we don't know what transpired before the event started. There could have been a whole host of situations that took place compromising the gig that resulted in the end result you experienced.
From what you are saying here it seems the engineer messed up and it does happen. Regarding your comment about supporting and main acts there is no "Code of Conduct". any good engineer should be giving 100% to every band he mixes. There could also have been two different engineers and one was better than the other. The bad engineer could also have messed up the mix for the main act engineer as well, something hard to fix on the fly if you're running and analogue mixing console.
The fact that the kit was top notch does not guarantee good sound. Mixing on a high spec system is often more difficult as mistakes in the mix are more obvious for everyone to hear.
To those paying good hard earned money to attend gigs it is your right to complain when the sound is bad etc.
