Members stratotastic Posted April 7, 2011 Members Share Posted April 7, 2011 So we're sort of a newer band, and booked a gig at this place--sort of a divey hole in the wall, but holds maybe a couple hundred people. Between the booking and showing up we had heard they might have a sound guy that shows up once in a while. One of those things we weren't really counting on, so we loaded up our {censored}-on-a-stick PA and headed over. We get there and there's probably a $15k sound system fired up and ready to go. Huge tower mains on giant subs, 15" monitors for everyone, mics for everything including all drums, DI for bass and keys, etc. We thought this was too good to be true and was waiting for the other shoe to drop. It never did. The guy sat at the board making adjustments all night, boosting solos, dropping voc mics not in use, monitors set perfectly, etc. The sound was phenomenal. We're used to bringing our own junky rig, setting it up ourselves, then just leaving it during gigs. There's usually balance issues, people not hearing each other, feedback, someone too loud, etc. Not this time. And I'm positive because of it we played looser and let it all hang out, which translated into an amazing show. The bar was packed due to an event that night, and gave us a 20% bonus and booked us again. As an even extra bonus, the board guy recorded us which I mixed with my audience (Zoom H4N) recording, getting us a new audio demo out of it (link below). It was like the perfect storm of win. Now some of us are talking about booking a sound guy all the time. We have the talent, but are likely bottlenecking with our PA (we almost got booted once for the vocals feeding back and sounding like {censored}--we fixed it but it was close). It seems like a wise investment to sacrifice some of our earnings to put on a monster gig with great sound, perhaps propelling us up a notch or two. Anyway, feel free to judge--here are some of the tunes (some warts, but we're more about having fun than executing flawlessly). Edit: Oh yeah, there were lights provided too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members RoadRanger Posted April 7, 2011 Members Share Posted April 7, 2011 It seems like a wise investment to sacrifice some of our earnings to put on a monster gig with great sound, perhaps propelling us up a notch or two.Yah think ? Congrats on the good luck and having a band where one cheap !@#$ doesn't talk you into having crappy sound and never having a chance to be somethin' . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members tim_7string Posted April 7, 2011 Members Share Posted April 7, 2011 I like the panning of the guitars left and right. The sound is halfway decent on the recording and it sounds like you guys have some good energy going on. The vibrato on the lady singer kind of gets on my nerves like fingernails on a chalkboard, but less vibrato is a personal preference of mine. It might cost a bit to rent a good system like what you were dealing with, but the audience usually doesn't know nor do they care who is footing the bill for what. The only thing they will know and remember is if you were a good band, they had fun watching/dancing to you and that it sounded good (or even great). If you can always keep that in mind, you'll go far. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members modulusman Posted April 7, 2011 Members Share Posted April 7, 2011 Good sound can make or break a band. A good PA with someone who really knows what there doing running it is worth the extra money. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members snoggin Posted April 7, 2011 Members Share Posted April 7, 2011 maybe go up half step on teenage douchebag .. your girl was bottoming out.. Sounds fun.. I just got in a band where we have some great harmonies and I wanna give some duran duran a shot too.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Austincowbell Posted April 7, 2011 Members Share Posted April 7, 2011 Good sound can make or break a band. A good PA with someone who really knows what there doing running it is worth the extra money.This... A gigging musician knows if the soundguy is making a band sound {censored}ty. A bar patron just thinks the band IS {censored}ty. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members formula428 Posted April 7, 2011 Members Share Posted April 7, 2011 IMO -- A "good" and professional band cannot be professional without having quality sound. It's like buying a sports car without wheels...sure the potential is there, but it still can't go anywhere and therefore cannot impress. And, I cannot ever recall saying to myself, "Wow, this band is amazing but their sound is terrible!" Instead, I'd probably just walk away after 5 minutes... Also, I think that quality of sound doesn't rest solely on the gear or FOH engineer. It's largely due to the band -- quality of instruments, quality of playing, knowledge of how to use, tune and obtain good tones from their gear, etc. But, we already knew that... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members TrickyBoy Posted April 7, 2011 Members Share Posted April 7, 2011 It's amazing how much a good sound system and light show can elevate the experience that the bar patron has when watching a band. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members StratGuy22 Posted April 7, 2011 Members Share Posted April 7, 2011 It's amazing how much a good sound system and light show can elevate the experience that the bar patron has when watching a band. +1 Good on you OP for seeing the value in a sound guy. As I've said, they will have a full rig, and know how to run it. Much better than just getting by with an SOS setup run from the stage. It makes you sound better, you can do your thing better, it just ups the quality of the whole show, which will up your game, ultimately your drawing power (wow what an awesome fun great sounding band) and hopefully you can move up the food chain to bigger and better gigs!!! While running sound for bands, I can't even remember the last time I had feedback, and this is doing sound from everything from bluegrass to death metal, complete with TERRIBLE mic technique. But that's one of the benefits of me knowing my system inside and out, and it makes you look and sound that much better... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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