Re: Why Do Festivals Hire The Wrong Sound Guys?
Originally Posted by
banjoboy
These guys were hired to run the summer concert series, which included several rock groups. The sound men really didn't seem to have any experience running acoustic instruments.
That's the problem....
Last year we did a very large "mixed genre" type concert. One act was an excruciatingly loud rock band. They messed around for over an hour trying to get "their sound". They spent longer just fiddling around with the drum sub-mix than we did to get our entire setup and sound check done. They still sounded really bad and were complaining about not being able to hear each other in the monitors. The guys doing the live radio feed were in despair.
We arrived. Refused flat out to use their system (they had been told this in advance, but 'forgot'). Set up two SA220 towers, a little Soundcraft EFX8 mixer, some AKG D5's, Shure SM94's and Rode M3's and had the whole thing running nicely inside 20 minutes. No monitors to worry about, we could hear each other perfectly, we did not deafen the audience (many of whom later walked out during the rock part), and the radio feed guys said we had by far the best sound they'd heard all day. Many compliments from the audience too, who appreciated being able to hear everything clearly, and without suffering hearing damage.
A couple of other people did use their system, including a singer-songwriter with just an acoustic guitar. They could not get a decent level at all for him without diabolical feedback ruining his set. They had not got a clue.
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