LOUDER Does Not Mean Better

Ok, I just can’t hold my tongue any longer…we need to talk about the sound at live shows. Now sure, I’m an aging techie who still remembers running sound for both indoor and outdoor shows on a reel-to-reel and a sound board that looked like something from the 1970s…largely because it was, right down to the faux wood sides. It had a whopping total of about 12 channels, many of which almost worked.  So guess what…instead of relying on a highly sophisticated, pre-programmed board that lit up like Manhattan at Christmas, board ops had to rely on (gasp!) the most old-fashioned of sound machines…OUR EARS.  We had to have our eyes glued to the stage, our ears glued to the sound coming from the performers’ mics, the stage monitors, and the house…There were actual humans whose only job was to “walk the house,” making sure that speakers were working, mics were functioning, and ~ most importantly ~ the sound was GOOD.  “Good” meant that the audience could hear that there were instruments AND vocals and that the sound coming from the speakers wasn’t something akin to having a 747 landing on your head (Notice that a popular description of the power of a band’s sound is “face melting”, not “ear melting”.).

Nowadays, sound boards and all the various components involved in rigging a venue for sound are absurdly, gloriously, almost decadently sophisticated…And most sound guys know the shows and their boards so well that they could practically call it in…and A-HA!  Therein lies the problem!  I can’t count how many shows I’ve been to ~ from small venues to the biggest arenas around ~ where the sound guys simply check out, relying on their pre-programmed machines to make the sound right…and that’s when things…bad things…happen.  The vocals get lost…the lead guitars swallow the bass…the drums drop out completely…or, worst of all, all the levels are so maxed out that the result is an insanely loud, painful, and utterly non-artistic wall of noise indistinguishable from a monster truck show turned up to 11.

So sound techs, board ops, backstage crew…I implore you…LISTEN to what’s happening onstage, ride those mics, use your ears, and don’t rely solely on your fancy equipment to produce a well-balanced show…jump on in there when necessary and add what no machine can ~ the human touch.  Even the audiences who think that all they want is decibel levels that could crumble buildings actually do want to hear the band(s) they paid to see ~ vocals, instruments, and all.