Sound

[Drroogh]

I realize this may have an extremely small audience, but since I spent half my holiday weekend focused on it, thought it worth talking about.

However, I know the enjoyment of music is high on everybody's list, and thought it worth talking about! First, to try and keep it broad, think in terms of what music you really enjoy, and comment from there! (do you like thumping music, soulful music, American Bandstand "has a good beat music"?) What is it about the SOUND that makes you enjoy it?

Soo, we just purchased a Yamaha TF5 mixing board, and being the sound guy, as stated I spent half the weekend watching videos and reading manuals! So much fun! To be honest there is about 100 times available what we had on the old analog board! All of the troubles of Humm, feedback, what we call muddy sound should be sooo much easier to deal with!!! (still have to deal with timid amateur talent 😫, Professionals without attitude are so much easier to mix) and worse (my failing old ears!) I could bore you with details about gates, compressors and such but my question really lie's in what are your experiences in live music? What events were like WOW! What event's were let downs from what you expected? People just don't understand how much sound mixing influences what is heard! Go ahead and bash the sound engineer (me), because I know I expect so much more from the sound I have experienced in so many venues!

Have at it HSN!

[Drroogh]

Before and after!

[tdhoosier]

I appreciate the sound engineers @Drroogh. But I listen to a ton of music so I can be a nerd about this stuff. I love when an artist/band makes it big and hearing that jump in sound quality from one album (probably made in Garage Band) to the next album when they can afford a professional. I’m sure more albums will come to me later to me later but an example of that is Alabama Shakes - Sound and Color or John Mayer - Continuum. 

And one of my favorites from a pure sound quality standpoint is Brian Wilson’s re-release of Smile.  

But all of that said sometimes I love albums that aren’t done professionally. Something about Bon Iver’s For Emma, Forever Ago just kills me. The production sounds as broken as I imagine he felt when writing the song - if that makes sense. It just adds to the overall feeling. 

[Drroogh]

On 5/30/2019 at 10:24 PM, tdhoosier said:

I appreciate the sound engineers @Drroogh. But I listen to a ton of music so I can be a nerd about this stuff. I love when an artist/band makes it big and hearing that jump in sound quality from one album (probably made in Garage Band) to the next album when they can afford a professional. I’m sure more albums will come to me later to me later but an example of that is Alabama Shakes - Sound and Color or John Mayer - Continuum. 

And one of my favorites from a pure sound quality standpoint is Brian Wilson’s re-release of Smile.  

But all of that said sometimes I love albums that aren’t done professionally. Something about Bon Iver’s For Emma, Forever Ago just kills me. The production sounds as broken as I imagine he felt when writing the song - if that makes sense. It just adds to the overall feeling. 

Love this post TD, thanks! We made it through our first GIG! Unfortunately after spending some 20 hours trying to hook up and learn this board, we had no auxiliary subs😫, all of the EQ's looked like a ski slope trying to compensate!!! Thankfully, the AWESOME Bose main system with their own subs were adequate!! Did I say BOSE is AWESOME!! Starting to think the problem with the SUBS is just a broken cable issue? Or maybe I just accidentally pressed the wrong ON/OFF button on the new board. I'm SOO confused! At least learning new technology helps to keep an ancient mind youngish! Thanks HSN for putting up with me!!! 

[tdhoosier]

On 6/2/2019 at 1:54 PM, Drroogh said:

Love this post TD, thanks! We made it through our first GIG! Unfortunately after spending some 20 hours trying to hook up and learn this board, we had no auxiliary subs😫, all of the EQ's looked like a ski slope trying to compensate!!! Thankfully, the AWESOME Bose main system with their own subs were adequate!! Did I say BOSE is AWESOME!! Starting to think the problem with the SUBS is just a broken cable issue? Or maybe I just accidentally pressed the wrong ON/OFF button on the new board. I'm SOO confused! At least learning new technology helps to keep an ancient mind youngish! Thanks HSN for putting up with me!!! 

Wish I could help you, but that stuff goes right over my head. As advanced as I get is the 4 cable method into my amp and that even takes an hour to re-learn whenever I have to disconnect everything. Throw a broken cable into the mix and I'd want to through my stuff through the window. What kind of band are you in and what do you play? 

And as I re-read your OP, I didn't really answer your question regarding LIVE sound. I'm one of those people who only notices the sound when it's bad. That said, I never know if it's the venue, where I'm sitting/standing, if it's the band, the PA, the board, etc. There are just so many factors. All I can tell you is the thing that annoys me the most is when the vocals are drowned out, but again that happens usually when it's a loud (heavy) band playing in a smaller venue - so I don't know who's responsible. If I was pressed to name a performance where the sound stood out in a good way it'd be when I last saw The War On Drugs, but mainly because they quickened up the tempo turned up the bass (so you could feel it) - it just made their songs more conducive to a live environment. I know most medium tempoed bands do this but it wasn't over the top and didn't detract too much from their 'album sound'. Subtly is good sometimes.  

[Drroogh]

1 hour ago, tdhoosier said:

Wish I could help you, but that stuff goes right over my head. As advanced as I get is the 4 cable method into my amp and that even takes an hour to re-learn whenever I have to disconnect everything. Throw a broken cable into the mix and I'd want to through my stuff through the window. What kind of band are you in and what do you play? 

And as I re-read your OP, I didn't really answer your question regarding LIVE sound. I'm one of those people who only notices the sound when it's bad. That said, I never know if it's the venue, where I'm sitting/standing, if it's the band, the PA, the board, etc. There are just so many factors. All I can tell you is the thing that annoys me the most is when the vocals are drowned out, but again that happens usually when it's a loud (heavy) band playing in a smaller venue - so I don't know who's responsible. If I was pressed to name a performance where the sound stood out in a good way it'd be when I last saw The War On Drugs, but mainly because they quickened up the tempo turned up the bass (so you could feel it) - it just made their songs more conducive to a live environment. I know most medium tempoed bands do this but it wasn't over the top and didn't detract too much from their 'album sound'. Subtly is good sometimes.  

TD I'm just the sound guy, pressed into service years ago because no one else wanted to tackle all of the knobs and buttons. No artistic talent!😃 Actually, most of my sound work has been at church, contemporary, never done an organ! 🙂 Done a few outdoor concerts and have even mixed a handful of minor recorded artists on the road in my neck of the woods. Yeah I was ready to through something too this last week, I know the feeling. Going to try tackling the subs again tomorrow and start with different cables. Wish me luck. And thanks for your responses. I also agree that bad sound is much more noticeable than good and would say that all of the above listed reasons come into play. I think a lot comes from people thrown in to it for kind of the same reason I was and got in over their heads. I know when I have done recorded artists I'm just praying I don't screw it up!