Saw Brad Paisley Saturday Night

bigpig · February 29th, 2004, 09:52 AM

My wife and I saw Brad Paisley Saturday night in Wabash, Indiana at The Honeywell Center. What a beautiful 1500 seat facility. We were seated fairly close to the stage (Row L) and had a fantastic view. Now the unpleasent part, the front of house sound man seemed to have never seen the show before. Not once throughout the evening did he have Brad P. guitar loud enough in the mix, solo's and fill's were all missing. If I did not know what to listen (and look) for I would not guess BP to be such a fantastic picker. The rest of the band played very well, but again, the FOH mix did not flatter them by any means. We had a wonderful time and BP is a very enjoyable entertainer, but I wanted to be floored by his guitar work and tone.

gtrplr2 · February 29th, 2004, 10:00 AM

I know that must have been very dissapointing. I had the same thing happen at a Clint Black show, the FOH mix was terrible.

beez · February 29th, 2004, 10:12 AM

The third time I saw SRV (and the first time I had seen him with Reese), the organ sound was mixed so loud, I could barely hear the guitar! Man that was a bummer!

lenny · February 29th, 2004, 10:23 AM

it's sort of odd with him. any songs of his i ever hear on the radio, or see video's of, it's like that with his guitar playing, not highlighted at all. not that he needs to, he's got a lot else goin on good too. mebbe hes brushin up on his chops to bust out with more guitar for us!! wishful thinking
:P

blue water girl · February 29th, 2004, 10:25 AM

..

Showman · February 29th, 2004, 11:03 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by gtrplr2

I know that must have been very dissapointing. I had the same thing happen at a Clint Black show, the FOH mix was terrible.

Thats too bad cause i think Clint is a very tastefull player as well as a great vocalist.And he has a perty wife.

Showman · February 29th, 2004, 11:09 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by blue water girl

and he was wondering why in the world these guys didn't bring along their own sound guys? Most big names always do or this very thing happens.

Makes you wonder don't it?My guess is when you have more than one artist playing its easier and faster maybe cheaper for one sound guy to run all the shows.Although i have seen shows where they had thier own sound guys and it took about an hour to set everything up.I was impressed.I usually hang around and watch them tear down too.Sometimes even offer assistance.

T Prior · February 29th, 2004, 11:59 AM

That a sound tek isn't traveling with the full band..I have seen in many cases where a traveling tekky sat with the local "HIRES" to guide the process..

Where I come from a sound man must know the band totally inside and out..he or she is PART of the band !!!!

Goes to show ya..a great sound man will make the show..this is a time honored constant...

and

an unfamiliar sound man will..well..make for a not so great show..

even at a very local level like many of us play at...

The band I play with was invited to do a 30 minute set on the local TV channel....(not Laugh-in)

They told me " No Amps" ,the TV sound guy will do it all thru the board..

I said.."have fun..I'll watch from home".....

They told me.."But he's a Professional " and I said "Thats a relief , then he'll know where to place the 57's"...

Back to Brad..I too would be dissapointed for sure...

t

tadeo · February 29th, 2004, 12:40 PM

I find it hard to believe, and Zac may jump in here to confirm, but I seriously doubt Brad uses anyone except his own personal soundman at any show he does. His crew travels with him wherever he goes. Are we sure it was a local FOH guy? Also, I've seen shows where if you're sitting too close to the stage, you don't get the full impact of the house mix, which is mixed from a point further back in the room.

Just a thought, YMMV. :D

Tony

dean · February 29th, 2004, 01:34 PM

This is kinda stupid, and it was a little out of character for me - but I had ingested numerous cups of margaritas and was feeling fairly righteous. Of course, I was at a Jimmy Buffett concert and was sitting in the infamous Lawn Seats section. When the concert began, the sound was absolutely abysmal - you could not even tell he was singing unless you looked at the big-screen TV. That's when I took it upon myself to correct the situation for the 20,000 of us sitting on the grass. I made my way down to the security guard by the sound boards (there's a whole 'nother funny story about me losing my glasses there), and told him I wanted to talk to the main sound guy - I wasn't paying to watch a TV screen with no sound. The guard actually went over and got the sound guy, I told him the problem, and as I was dancing my way back to my buddies, the sound cranked up, the crowd cheered, and a super time was had by all!

I think that if I were in another situation like that - especially paying the prices that are demanded for shows these days - I would have an usher give a note to the sound person and let them know that there was a problem with the mix. I can't imagine paying to see/hear BP and not being able to hear his guitar! My guess is that the sound guy, the band, and Brad didn't know there was a problem. I can't imagine anyone who doesn't want to give the audience their money's worth. What a bummer for you.

Thanks for the review, though.

Dean

jhundt · February 29th, 2004, 02:24 PM

We went to see Bruce a few years ago at the Oakland Coliseum Arena. Compared to the outdoor coliseum, the arena is a bit more "intimate", and we had decent seats. But the sound was so bad the first couple of songs, I almost wanted to get up and go! We paid around $50 for each seat... We've seen "the Boss" before and knew what to expect... you KNOW he's got his own system, crew, stage mixer, and HOUSE MAN... but nevertheless, it sucked! What did they do during the sound check? We're talking about 20- to 30,000 seats here! Luckily, around the 4th song somebody caught on, and the sound got way better, we stayed and it was one of my most memorable shows. But man, it was bad for a while.

Mike Dickerson · February 29th, 2004, 02:44 PM

OK, first of all I know it sucks to not hear a mix like you would like it to be. But remember no two people hear exactly the same or have the same tastes. I would be leary of going up to many foh guys and telling them the mix sucks. You dont know the problems with rented consoles,mics, stagehands, etc. Some sound guys cant mix the way they would like to because the boss wants it a certain way. Brad does travel with his own sound guy and usually you can hear his guitar, so there must have been weird circumstances going on. Still I wish it could have been better so you could have got the full Paisley effect! I have seen him twice and have a friend who owns a lighting company that has done several BP shows.

Cheesecaster · March 1st, 2004, 03:12 AM

this happened to a band who brought their own soundman. The first set was sounding real bad , they were
playing real hard especially the bass player . You could tell he was the leader the way he carried himself. I think the last tune of the set
the soundman walked up to the mains and stuck his head into the butterfly bins. He then walked over to the power amps and hit a switch . Boom , it was amazing
the difference it makes when you actually turn on the bass bins

, the bass player could tell , he didnt look too happy .

Oskar · March 1st, 2004, 08:36 AM

I'm sure there is plenty to go around for both sides, but as a musician I can only speak from my perspective, and that is that those times we had a sound system set up for us with someone running the sound it was not an entirely good experience. We did an outdoor food festival once and the sound was so loud on the stage that we couldn't hear ourselves. It was mostly noise. Now I agree that everyone's hearing different, but when you have six musicians (yeah, even the drummer!) complaining about the sound, and then friends tell you later it was a lousy mix the finger points to only one direction. I don't know what it is about those doing sound. More often than not it's not right, mostly too, too loud. I'm usually surprised that the band or artist doesn't stop and say something. While it's not always obvious there are signs that things may not be right, and there are roadies out there that should monitor the sound from the audience.

Zac · March 1st, 2004, 11:55 AM

!!

eryque · March 1st, 2004, 11:58 AM

Seems to me that as far as small shows go, the best sound has always been at the venues that don't have their own sound guy. Best sound I ever heard at a club was from a band that had 4 mics, a little PA and two PA speakers on their stands. No one was playing an amp bigger than a Deluxe Reverb, and none of them was playing too loud.

I could hear all the instruments clearly, hear all of the nuances of their playing, and hear the vocals. And it wasn't so loud that I couldn't talk to my friends sitting at the table, either.

Seems that a small PA, control of the levels, and judicious amp placement go a long, long way. I've been to plenty of places with a house sound guy where it just sounded awful.

Oskar · March 1st, 2004, 12:17 PM

My experience has been the same. I really think that most bands don't spend a lot of time tweaking their live sound, and it's obvious that those bands that do end up sounding pretty darn good live. I've seen bands with quite basic sound systems sound incredibly balanced, and those with high-powered multichannelled units sound dreadful. I hate admitting it, but I was in a band with the latter problem. After a couple of years I took it upon myself to read the manuals and learn the board. The sound ended up okay, but it was still much better than it was originally. It's amazing how many of us spend a lot of time tweaking the sound from our amps & guitars, but when it comes to setting up that PA/Sound System it's a different story.

Mark McPheeters · March 1st, 2004, 12:41 PM

There are SO many influences on a mix it can sometimes be frustrating for everyone involved. Some rooms are next to impossible to get a good mix.

Another factor to consider is the FOH guys placement. If he's directly in front of the lead player's rig and the lead player has a high stage volume, there's a really good chance that only those folks in the path of his guitar rig will hear him! This happened at a Rush show I saw in St Louis... where's ALEX?! Also, the soundman can be in a hot spot or dead spot if the FOH speakers aren't properly splayed and (mis)EQ things accordingly....

Another factor is familiarity. If the soundman is traveling with the group, he's probably entirely familiar with the words, fills, and solos and might actually "hear" them from memory, all the while not having actually audible enough for the audience...

teleinMI · March 1st, 2004, 02:58 PM

Our seats for last nights show were directly behind the foh board, there was a guy sitting there that turned out to work foh for the house...I asked him about some of the gear and he told me "these guys bring in there own sound equipment and run it, It will be an easy night for me." He also had some very nice things to say about working with Brad's crew. We talked a bit about all the shows that come through there and soon Brad's foh guy showed up said hello and quickly went to work, once the show started the house guy left.

The sound was excellent from my vantagepoint last night.

February 29th, 2004, 09:52 AM	#1 (permalink)
bigpig NEW MEMBER! Join Date: Mar 2003 Location: Camden, IN Posts: 3	Saw Brad Paisley Saturday Night My wife and I saw Brad Paisley Saturday night in Wabash, Indiana at The Honeywell Center. What a beautiful 1500 seat facility. We were seated fairly close to the stage (Row L) and had a fantastic view. Now the unpleasent part, the front of house sound man seemed to have never seen the show before. Not once throughout the evening did he have Brad P. guitar loud enough in the mix, solo's and fill's were all missing. If I did not know what to listen (and look) for I would not guess BP to be such a fantastic picker. The rest of the band played very well, but again, the FOH mix did not flatter them by any means. We had a wonderful time and BP is a very enjoyable entertainer, but I wanted to be floored by his guitar work and tone.

February 29th, 2004, 10:12 AM	#3 (permalink)
beez Tele-Holic Join Date: Dec 2003 Location: Nashville, TN Posts: 755	I know the feeling...... The third time I saw SRV (and the first time I had seen him with Reese), the organ sound was mixed so loud, I could barely hear the guitar! Man that was a bummer!

February 29th, 2004, 10:25 AM	#5 (permalink)
blue water girl Tele-Afflicted Join Date: Jan 2004 Location: nashville, tennessee Posts: 1,025	.. ..

February 29th, 2004, 11:59 AM	#8 (permalink)
T Prior Tele-Holic Join Date: Mar 2003 Location: Charlotte NC Posts: 906	I guess I'm somewhat suprised.. That a sound tek isn't traveling with the full band..I have seen in many cases where a traveling tekky sat with the local "HIRES" to guide the process.. Where I come from a sound man must know the band totally inside and out..he or she is PART of the band !!!! Goes to show ya..a great sound man will make the show..this is a time honored constant... and an unfamiliar sound man will..well..make for a not so great show.. even at a very local level like many of us play at... The band I play with was invited to do a 30 minute set on the local TV channel....(not Laugh-in) They told me " No Amps" ,the TV sound guy will do it all thru the board.. I said.."have fun..I'll watch from home"..... They told me.."But he's a Professional " and I said "Thats a relief , then he'll know where to place the 57's"... Back to Brad..I too would be dissapointed for sure... t

February 29th, 2004, 12:40 PM	#9 (permalink)
tadeo Tele-Meister Join Date: Jun 2003 Location: tennessee Posts: 141	brad I find it hard to believe, and Zac may jump in here to confirm, but I seriously doubt Brad uses anyone except his own personal soundman at any show he does. His crew travels with him wherever he goes. Are we sure it was a local FOH guy? Also, I've seen shows where if you're sitting too close to the stage, you don't get the full impact of the house mix, which is mixed from a point further back in the room. Just a thought, YMMV. :D Tony

February 29th, 2004, 10:00 AM	#2 (permalink)
gtrplr2 Tele-Meister Join Date: Apr 2003 Posts: 198	I know that must have been very dissapointing. I had the same thing happen at a Clint Black show, the FOH mix was terrible.

February 29th, 2004, 10:23 AM	#4 (permalink)
lenny Banned Friend of Leo's Join Date: Jan 2004 Location: New Haven, CT. USA Posts: 3,219	it's sort of odd with him. any songs of his i ever hear on the radio, or see video's of, it's like that with his guitar playing, not highlighted at all. not that he needs to, he's got a lot else goin on good too. mebbe hes brushin up on his chops to bust out with more guitar for us!! wishful thinking :P

February 29th, 2004, 01:34 PM	#10 (permalink)
dean Friend of Leo's Join Date: Mar 2003 Location: Twin Cities, Minnesota Age: 60 Posts: 2,004	My one experience at affecting sound . . . This is kinda stupid, and it was a little out of character for me - but I had ingested numerous cups of margaritas and was feeling fairly righteous. Of course, I was at a Jimmy Buffett concert and was sitting in the infamous Lawn Seats section. When the concert began, the sound was absolutely abysmal - you could not even tell he was singing unless you looked at the big-screen TV. That's when I took it upon myself to correct the situation for the 20,000 of us sitting on the grass. I made my way down to the security guard by the sound boards (there's a whole 'nother funny story about me losing my glasses there), and told him I wanted to talk to the main sound guy - I wasn't paying to watch a TV screen with no sound. The guard actually went over and got the sound guy, I told him the problem, and as I was dancing my way back to my buddies, the sound cranked up, the crowd cheered, and a super time was had by all! I think that if I were in another situation like that - especially paying the prices that are demanded for shows these days - I would have an usher give a note to the sound person and let them know that there was a problem with the mix. I can't imagine paying to see/hear BP and not being able to hear his guitar! My guess is that the sound guy, the band, and Brad didn't know there was a problem. I can't imagine anyone who doesn't want to give the audience their money's worth. What a bummer for you. Thanks for the review, though. Dean __________________ "I used to be clueless, but I've turned that situation around 360 degrees."

February 29th, 2004, 02:24 PM	#11 (permalink)
jhundt Friend of Leo's Join Date: Mar 2003 Location: Netherlands Age: 54 Posts: 2,983 9 Photos	Sort of the same with Bruce Springsteen.. We went to see Bruce a few years ago at the Oakland Coliseum Arena. Compared to the outdoor coliseum, the arena is a bit more "intimate", and we had decent seats. But the sound was so bad the first couple of songs, I almost wanted to get up and go! We paid around $50 for each seat... We've seen "the Boss" before and knew what to expect... you KNOW he's got his own system, crew, stage mixer, and HOUSE MAN... but nevertheless, it sucked! What did they do during the sound check? We're talking about 20- to 30,000 seats here! Luckily, around the 4th song somebody caught on, and the sound got way better, we stayed and it was one of my most memorable shows. But man, it was bad for a while.

February 29th, 2004, 02:44 PM	#12 (permalink)
Mike Dickerson Tele-Meister Join Date: Mar 2003 Location: Paragould Arkansas Age: 47 Posts: 245	soundmen OK, first of all I know it sucks to not hear a mix like you would like it to be. But remember no two people hear exactly the same or have the same tastes. I would be leary of going up to many foh guys and telling them the mix sucks. You dont know the problems with rented consoles,mics, stagehands, etc. Some sound guys cant mix the way they would like to because the boss wants it a certain way. Brad does travel with his own sound guy and usually you can hear his guitar, so there must have been weird circumstances going on. Still I wish it could have been better so you could have got the full Paisley effect! I have seen him twice and have a friend who owns a lighting company that has done several BP shows.

March 1st, 2004, 03:12 AM	#13 (permalink)
Cheesecaster Tele-Meister Join Date: Jun 2003 Location: Ontario, Canada Posts: 259	this happened to a band who brought their own soundman. The first set was sounding real bad , they were playing real hard especially the bass player . You could tell he was the leader the way he carried himself. I think the last tune of the set the soundman walked up to the mains and stuck his head into the butterfly bins. He then walked over to the power amps and hit a switch . Boom , it was amazing the difference it makes when you actually turn on the bass bins , the bass player could tell , he didnt look too happy .

March 1st, 2004, 08:36 AM	#14 (permalink)
Oskar Friend of Leo's Join Date: Mar 2003 Location: Northampton, MA Posts: 3,145	This is one of those never-ending dialogues I'm sure there is plenty to go around for both sides, but as a musician I can only speak from my perspective, and that is that those times we had a sound system set up for us with someone running the sound it was not an entirely good experience. We did an outdoor food festival once and the sound was so loud on the stage that we couldn't hear ourselves. It was mostly noise. Now I agree that everyone's hearing different, but when you have six musicians (yeah, even the drummer!) complaining about the sound, and then friends tell you later it was a lousy mix the finger points to only one direction. I don't know what it is about those doing sound. More often than not it's not right, mostly too, too loud. I'm usually surprised that the band or artist doesn't stop and say something. While it's not always obvious there are signs that things may not be right, and there are roadies out there that should monitor the sound from the audience.

March 1st, 2004, 11:55 AM	#15 (permalink)
Zac Tele-Meister Join Date: Mar 2003 Location: TN Posts: 132	!!

March 1st, 2004, 11:58 AM	#16 (permalink)
eryque Poster Extraordinaire Join Date: Mar 2003 Location: albany, ny [not chicago] Posts: 7,086 44 Photos	Seems to me that as far as small shows go, the best sound has always been at the venues that don't have their own sound guy. Best sound I ever heard at a club was from a band that had 4 mics, a little PA and two PA speakers on their stands. No one was playing an amp bigger than a Deluxe Reverb, and none of them was playing too loud. I could hear all the instruments clearly, hear all of the nuances of their playing, and hear the vocals. And it wasn't so loud that I couldn't talk to my friends sitting at the table, either. Seems that a small PA, control of the levels, and judicious amp placement go a long, long way. I've been to plenty of places with a house sound guy where it just sounded awful.

March 1st, 2004, 12:17 PM	#17 (permalink)
Oskar Friend of Leo's Join Date: Mar 2003 Location: Northampton, MA Posts: 3,145	I agree My experience has been the same. I really think that most bands don't spend a lot of time tweaking their live sound, and it's obvious that those bands that do end up sounding pretty darn good live. I've seen bands with quite basic sound systems sound incredibly balanced, and those with high-powered multichannelled units sound dreadful. I hate admitting it, but I was in a band with the latter problem. After a couple of years I took it upon myself to read the manuals and learn the board. The sound ended up okay, but it was still much better than it was originally. It's amazing how many of us spend a lot of time tweaking the sound from our amps & guitars, but when it comes to setting up that PA/Sound System it's a different story.

March 1st, 2004, 12:41 PM	#18 (permalink)
Mark McPheeters TDPRI Member Join Date: Mar 2003 Location: Lake of the Ozarks, MO. Posts: 68	There are SO many influences on a mix it can sometimes be frustrating for everyone involved. Some rooms are next to impossible to get a good mix. Another factor to consider is the FOH guys placement. If he's directly in front of the lead player's rig and the lead player has a high stage volume, there's a really good chance that only those folks in the path of his guitar rig will hear him! This happened at a Rush show I saw in St Louis... where's ALEX?! Also, the soundman can be in a hot spot or dead spot if the FOH speakers aren't properly splayed and (mis)EQ things accordingly.... Another factor is familiarity. If the soundman is traveling with the group, he's probably entirely familiar with the words, fills, and solos and might actually "hear" them from memory, all the while not having actually audible enough for the audience...

March 1st, 2004, 02:58 PM	#19 (permalink)
teleinMI Tele-Meister Join Date: Jan 2004 Location: Gallagher Island Posts: 168	Sunday's show Our seats for last nights show were directly behind the foh board, there was a guy sitting there that turned out to work foh for the house...I asked him about some of the gear and he told me "these guys bring in there own sound equipment and run it, It will be an easy night for me." He also had some very nice things to say about working with Brad's crew. We talked a bit about all the shows that come through there and soon Brad's foh guy showed up said hello and quickly went to work, once the show started the house guy left. The sound was excellent from my vantagepoint last night.