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Sawyer Point / Linford's Lap
At 09:22 PM 6/5/98 GMT, you wrote:
>
>Hiya, Mike. Welcome.
Thanks! Thanks for writing me back! I've never been on a list before and
I'm excited to exchange opinions and ideas.
>>The mix should be centered around Karin.
>>Her voice is the most important thing in that band, period.
>>It's all about Karin's voice, and it just isn't coming through that way.
>According to you.
Yep. By this I mean technically speaking; from the sound engineer's
standpoint. It's a philosophy of sound design. The female human voice has
less dynamic range and less power than any other element in their mix
(except the violin, and we couldn't hear that, either). Therefore, it
should be handled most carefully and all other elements should be brought
into play around the vocals. Plus, it happens that she's the one telling
the stories as the lead singer, so there's another reason she's the most
important. Also, Karin's voice is particularly attractive, I think we can
agree, complex and expressive- a beautiful instrument. To not focus on her
in the live mix is in my opinion, artistically speaking, a wasted
opportunity to do something... musical.
>>The bass was all muddy and Karin's vocals were
>>murky and lost at times in the overdone keyboards. The guitar was
>>sloppily out front during solos,
>
>Heaven forbid someone should be up in the mix while soloing. ;-)
>
I just found it sloppy- overdone, obvious, clumsy, too much. An electric
guitar solo is naturally loud anyway... I don't know; I come at this as a
musician, classically trained and expecting things to sound-- natural. In
my opinion and limited experience, the audience should not even be able to
tell there IS a sound person. If I can say to myself, "Oh, I hear that the
sound person just bumped up the guitar for this solo," that's a bad thing.
>>make it sound great - outdoors, with that huge wall of loudspeakers and
>>all that nice equipment - then something is wrong, folks.
>
>Actually, it's usually much harder to make an outdoor show sound good
>than an indoor one. Outside, you have nothing to bounce the sound
>off of. (i.e. walls, etc.) The soundwaves just radiate out in all
>directions. Rain only worsens things.
>
Again, not in my experience. Sound bouncing off walls is bad, not good,
unless you're in a cathedral listening to an organ or a concert hall
listening to unreinforced instruments or voices, like an orchestra or a
choir. Electrically amplified reinforcement of sound negates the need for
any particular acoustical characteristics of a hall to carry sound waves.
All those watts driving all those amplifiers powering that huge wall of
loudspeakers sends all those decibels of sound straight at the people
standing right in front of them, uncomplicated by walls, ceilings, and
floors. You get the straight, uncluttered result of the mix. So I'm left
to question the performance of the sound engineer. (Rain can certainly
damage equipment, and a hard rain makes a lot of noise and soaks up a lot
of sound, but as I recall, it had stopped raining earlier in the evening.)
>It's quite possible that was just a bad night for sound. The last 4
>shows I've been to sounded great, even at Brady's in Kent - the
>acoustic of *that* building boggle the mind.
>
Certainly possible; it was just two bad nights in a row for me, which
raised my eyebrow.
>>but there never was a real high point.
>>Yes there are some new faces and they're still getting to know each
>>other, but I'm talking about ENERGY, and I'm wanting.
>
>What did you think of the new material?
>
I take it by new you mean unrecorded; I'm still catching up and getting to
know the GDBD and Besides stuff. My ex-girlfriend, slightly drunk, bugged
me during a couple of songs... I love all their material! I really do.
That's why I go see them. I'm disappointed with their stage presence. Dug
speaks the gospel truth in "Sadness part II" from 6/5 (#185). Amen, brother!
>>And it got worse!
>
>*yawn*
>
>>Unbelievable. What in the wide, wide world of sports was that all
>>about??? Hello! Earth to Band! We're down here, and we're the reason
>>you're there...
>
>This was a perfect opportunity to use the phrase "wide world of
>sporks."
>
OK, I was a bit silly here; just trying to express consternation...
>Date: Fri, 5 Jun 1998 17:38:41 -0500
>From: rainscape at juno_com (Melissa M Konieczko)
>Subject: Re: Sawyer Point / Linford's Lap
>
>yeah, the band is in it for the fans to an extent, but, really, when you
>get right down to it, bands are out there for themselves... to express
>themselves... i don't think we as the listeners have too much of a right
>to complain... i mean, it's always cool to tell them what you think and
>all of that, but, when you get down to it, it is their call... it would
>suck if OtR was out there just trying to please an audience. they are
>obviously *not* doing that, and i think that is a really good thing.
>
>but that is purely my own opinion.
>
>*(*Melissa*)*
Very good point! OtR is certainly not some commercial juggernaut just
trying to sell, sell, sell. There's total artistic integrity at work and
at the heart of their projects. But I still feel there should be a balance
between that and caring about your audience and performing with energy and
enthusiasm. Dug speaks to this very honestly in his posting "Sadness part
II" from 6/5 (#185).
Mike
Michael E. Boso
Information Specialist, Manufacturing Information Network
Suite 220, Center for Robotics and Manufacturing Systems
UK College of Engineering, Lexington, KY USA 40506-0108
Internet: http:/www.engr.uky.edu/CRMS/mintmb.html
E-mail: meboso at engr_uky.edu
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