Never question the sound guy. Ever.
Last week my parents were in town. Mum was keen to catch a show somewhere, so we all went and checked out the Ruby Suns at the Hopetoun. Having come fresh off their tour with The Shins, the Suns played a explosion of psychedelia that brought LSD-assisted 60s pop to mind – think a cross between early Pink Floyd mixed with the grandeur of something like The Polyphonic Spree’s live show (albiet with far fewer members).
Obviously the swirling oddball pop wasn’t quite registering with one of the support acts as well as they thought it should be, and they felt that some adjustments to the mix were in order.
Across the little pub this one individual marched, and delivered a statement which no one should utter if they want to live long on the earth:
“You really need to turn the vocals up”
I was half expecting the entire room (band included) to fall silent melodramatically in a way reminiscent of a face-off scene in a movie. Everyone knows that you don’t tell the sound guy what to do. Ever.
The sound man is the wizard, making it possible for the joys of music to be heard by all. Through his masterful hands does the entire spectrum of musical signals get guided on their merry way to the punters ears, as they stand and revel in his mastery. The sound man is, put simply, the master. Obviously, he should never be told how he should best be exersizing his talents.
A pause.
The band did not stop playing, nor did most of the room notice the sudden spark had just been ignited.
But there was definitely a pause. And then came the response, polite but firm:
“I think the vocals sound fine, thankyou”
The master resumes his rightful place on the throne. The musician retreats hastily. And the rest of the show continues uninterrupted.
That’s what the “idiot knob” is for – you have one or two channels that aren’t in use, and whenever someone tells you how to do your job, you just say OK, and play with the controls on one of these channels. At least that’s how I deal with all the bogans who think they can do better than me, and most of the other people I know in the business do the same. But questioning the sound guy’s judgement really is very common.
Comment by Vas the Man — August 19, 2007 @ 10:02 pm
i saw the ruby suns in melbourne a couple of weeks ago and i thought their sound kinda sucked. but as a punter i would never tell a sound guy how to do their job, but i think its fair to say that they don’t always know best – just as some drummers are crappy drummers, some bartenders are crappy bartenders, some sound guys are crappy sound guys. however if you didn’t hire the guy, its not really your place to tell him how to mix the gig. its all subjective anyway, i know that night i thought the mix was crappy, but some of the people i was with were really into it and the crowd was enjoying it, so maybe it was just me?
and hey shouldn’t that be “sound person” not “sound guy”?
Comment by tim — August 19, 2007 @ 11:55 pm
but but too many buts
Comment by tim — August 19, 2007 @ 11:56 pm
Yeah, I often don’t like the mix at a gig, but I satisfy myself by bitching about it to my wife, not telling off the guy at the desk. The trouble with mixing sound is that there’s a lot of personal taste involved, and the acoustics of the venue often work against you. It may or may not be fair to say the sound guy’s work is “crappy” when it may just be that we have conflicting tastes. And I thing “audio engineer” is the sensitive/politically correct/gender neutral term.
Comment by Vas the Man — August 20, 2007 @ 9:02 am
Ah the age old arrogance of sound guys. But I guess they do have a hard trek uphill in Sydney where the sound is almost universally shitty. Was that Richard the sound guy at the Hoey? I’ve got some advice for next time then; just get a pretty 19 year old girl to ask him. Ooh harsh, but I’ve seen him at work, and I’m not talking mixing here.
Comment by syms covington — August 20, 2007 @ 4:37 pm
He’s a smooth operator, you’re right Syms. Both with the sound and the ladies. (And I agree with “Sounds Person”). I like that the sound person in question here told him where to go!
Comment by Kell — August 22, 2007 @ 8:59 pm
I know when hanging out with the sound/editing guys at work they were quick to point out the eagerness of punters/clients to want to tell them how to do their job.
He always said have your hands on the keyboard hitting useless keys, even when you’re just waiting for things to load…it keeps them happy – thinking you’re doing something.
Comment by DDA — August 27, 2007 @ 2:25 pm
The problem with most of the soundguys around sydney these day is they are leftovers. Leftovers from the 80′s, not a bad time really.. but the essence of mixing back then was…
Keep turning it up until you can’t hear the problem anymore…
This mixing style has led to permamnent deficiencies in the ability of these “mixing veterans”…
Having said that it leads me to contimplate rephrasing the a very popular statement…
“If it’s too loud, you’re too young”
Grace out
Comment by Ximno — August 28, 2007 @ 11:38 am
Looks like Joe Hardy Monster is not the only thing that stirs up the comments section.
Comment by syms covington — August 29, 2007 @ 11:13 am
Wow, I wasn’t expecting this to provoke the response it did.
It looks like people have taken a few angles on it, which has been interesting. My point was to remark on the sense of power/importance that sound engineers seem to enjoy having, but despite this frequently being annoying, it’s just as much so for punters to go expressing their opinion to them (regardless of whether they’re right or not)
As far as that particular evening was concerned, I actually had much the same experience as Tim – I thought the sound for the Ruby’s wasn’t too hot either. Enjoyed their set (mostly) – there were definitely issues all over the place with the mix, but the band would be a lot better if they worked on honing their sound more as well.
Interestingly, we went back to the Hopetoun again a week later, different sound engineer – a female actually (so yep, good call on the gender neutral term). It sounded amazing. Vocals were crisp and prominent, instruments were perfectly placed – didn’t know the system was capable of it actually – and the room was a lot more pleasant to be in. except for the heat, which those guys badly have to get right… but I digress…
Comment by joe — August 31, 2007 @ 12:41 am
Ah the Hopetoun sauna….
Comment by syms covington — August 31, 2007 @ 3:40 pm
As a member of the Ruby Suns that played that night, I can concur. Our sound man Mixie would be less than likely to compromise his position on a sound mix, especially to a member of the audience. The Hopetoun was a very enjoyable gig, as were all the shows in Australia on that tour. We encountered many an ‘interesting’ sound tech, especially at some larger venues, were autonomy wasn’t always guaranteed. Mixie is a pop master, he’ll let you have it. No problems. Joe you are correct, he (the sound man) is the master of all he surveys!
Comment by Old Ruby — December 7, 2007 @ 9:53 am