The Dude Behind The Board!

[jesserides2005]

I had the pleasure for the first time in a very long time to work with a professional FOH soundtech that was also a guitarist and all I can say is WOW! I don't know about the rest of you, but for the last many years, most tech's I've ended up working with are not only "Not guitarists'", but are not even musicians! They're usually ex- DJ's or electronics junkies that found their way into the business somehow, and every mix I've heard whether it be my band or another, or even a bigtime national act, sounds like the kids that pull up next to me at stoplights with their hip-hop blaring. All muddy bass & kick-drum with a wisp of thin sounding guitar and inaudible vocals.

All I can say is it was heaven having a "True Pro" behind the console again! When I went out front with my wireless and when I listened to the band that played opposite ours, the guitar's sounded georgeous! I can only hope that there are still more of the old-school tech's out there like that!

peace,
-d

 

[Eric]

Yeah it sucks when you pull of a really great gig and find out the sound man was a bonehead and had a crappy mix going

 

[HipKitty]

jesserides2005, this is what got me into building effects...I was a player at the time with pretty regular gigs going on, but getting sh***y foh guys who wouldn't turn up for the solos, so I designed and built our Java Distortion pedal to boost me way above the drummer. It worked!

Needless to say, I've progressed into the professional world and have seen first hand that there are foh guys at the pro level that just don't get it! It's not just the guitars either....it's whatever instrument(s) that need to be brought up in the mix to stand out. Oh well, we all know eventually they're going to be lighting directors after the foh gig ends :shock:

 

[Restless Rocks]

Don't get me started on this topic. I've played way too many gigs where the foh "guy" eq'd the whole system for 1st the kik drum 2nd the rest of the drum kit and everything else was an after thought. Recently played a couple shows where the foh "guy" also was responsible for the onstage monitor mix. OM f*****g G. This was a thousand seat room. The "dude" boasted of his "sound engineering certification". Why the f**k is it all these guys now try to make a rock band sound like a hip-hop CD.
I'm gonna shut up my rant now but this is a subject of great passion for me. When I walk off stage just thinking I had played and sang pretty darn well and sombody comes up to me and says "man you should turn your guitar up. And we can't hear the vocals" Well need I say more?

 

[Southernhell]

I am just waiting for someone to teach monitor soundmen that a good monitor mix does not mean boost all frequencies above 8k and cut everything else.

 

[Johnson]

Don't get me started on this topic. I've played way too many gigs where the foh "guy" eq'd the whole system for 1st the kik drum 2nd the rest of the drum kit and everything else was an after thought. Recently played a couple shows where the foh "guy" also was responsible for the onstage monitor mix. OM f*****g G. This was a thousand seat room. The "dude" boasted of his "sound engineering certification". Why the f**k is it all these guys now try to make a rock band sound like a hip-hop CD.
I'm gonna shut up my rant now but this is a subject of great passion for me. When I walk off stage just thinking I had played and sang pretty darn well and sombody comes up to me and says "man you should turn your guitar up. And we can't hear the vocals" Well need I say more?

Yeah man, I can definately relate to what your saying. I always get the "we can't hear the vocals...you gotta turn up your guitar." The last show I played I took the guitar volume into my own hands and cranked it to the sweet spot and I got pretty good feedback ie. "wow I could actually hear your guitar for once!" Vocals still got lost in the mix though :?

 

[noodles]

I saw Symphony X last week, and their FOH guy was so bad that the local FOH guy pushed him away from the board and took over. He looked like he was about to complain, but the local guy, Eddie, is built like a tank.

I run into three types of sound guys around here:

1) Ex-DJ, all bass and drums.
2) Ex-80s hair metal dude, all midrange and reverb.
3) Someone without his head up his ass, very rare breed now on the endangered list.

If you can run monitors, that DOESN'T mean that you know how to run FOH. Study up a bit first, ok?

 

[Almost Human Guitarist]

No wonder you guys never sound any good

 

[Restless Rocks]

Me and my Boogie sound great! So don't make me come over there!!!!! :?

 

[73h Nils]

Haha, worst sound mixing ever was at our high school "rock show". God, I pretty much died it was so bad... Doesn't help that all the bands sucked, anyway :roll:

My friend, who's a (n amazing) bass player, is going into sound engineering/recording/mastering or something. He really knows how to do the EQ'ing! 8)