Is CD quality too good

[Butch Bos]

Just did a 3 day Blugerass Festival
I heard from 2 people that the guy who used to do sound for it said that it sounded like a cd and that was not right for a live show :rolleyes:
Did I do my job too good :eek:

The FOH guy with the Headliner loved SAC and had NO problem at all and was extremely happy with the sound
His band was fantastic Only 2 mics and a di on bass all on in ears they mixed them selves perfectly a few eq tweaks and just watched the set
Yea I know only 3 inputs plus a little reverb pretty easy but when it's good it"s good

Butch

[Mattseymour]

So what did he want, a bit more feedback and bad eq? All the bluegrass recordings I have are among the best and most natural sounding recordings I've heard. The idea is capture the sound of the band. So if it sounded 'like a cd' I'd take that as a massive complement no matter how it's intended.

Unless of court he was referring to that terrible CD ;)

[Eric White]

LOL, had a band tell me once that the sound was too clean. Lead singer said "we are a grunge band, we don't like it!"

-Eric

[RBIngraham]

LOL, had a band tell me once that the sound was too clean. Lead singer said "we are a grunge band, we don't like it!"

-Eric

Probably because they could hear how awful they really sounded and played? :rolleyes:

[erlohr]

Probably because they could hear how awful they really sounded and played? :rolleyes:

+1 on that

[soundchicken]

That's always the complaint that I'm happy to get. But don't let it get you distressed (http://www.audiodamage.com/downloads/product.php?pid=ADF002).:)

[Paul Henry]

He might also have been referring to your approach to the mix. For low volume gigs, weddings, dinner shows, etc. I tend to mix like the CD, but for festivals, or if I want to drive a crowd or a mosh pit, I tend to mix more aggressively, exaggerating the key aspects of the song, maybe the kick, the rhythm guitar if it's a heavy riff, the bass for groove parts, etc.

Technically it's not perfect but it gets the crowd moving every time.

[Brent Evans]

Heh... I get this from time to time too working in tent revivals and camp meetings. There are certain groups where I intentionally do some things to make it sound a little more like a poorly installed church sound system... but part of that is because they don't want the worship experience to come off as a performance.

With certain preachers, I also have learned how to selectively distort the monitors so they can get what they want (which to my ears is horrible).

A big Plus One to raising the level of quality way beyond the customer's expectations!

[Butch Bos]

The promoter of the festival sent me some pictures of last year so I know what i need

Bob can you make a plug in that will make SAC sound like 4 old style Peavey SP2s and a peavey MK2 mixer :D

I have never had SOOO many people tell me they needed us years ago
Sure makes the job fun

Butch

[Wink0r]

My first thought on reading the post was that you needed to throw a bunch of towels over mikes and horns to make it sound like an old Peavey rig.

[RandyHyde]

Just did a 3 day Blugerass Festival
I heard from 2 people that the guy who used to do sound for it said that it sounded like a cd and that was not right for a live show :rolleyes:
Did I do my job too good :eek:

What a sly way of admitting his sound system sucked. :)

Cheers,
Randy Hyde

[Eric White]

He might also have been referring to your approach to the mix.

This was 20 years ago, way before what we are using today. They had a PA that consisted of 4 SONIC cabs loaded with dual eminence 15" + 1" horns and a phonic brand mixer. Volume was always distorted due to insufficient PA. So..I brought in JBL 4732 cabs and subs, crown amps , soundcraft console + processing and made it sufficient. It wasnt a volume issue at all, it was that you could actually hear how bad they really were playing and I think it emasculated their egos a little.

[mojogil]

I had a house tech tell me once that he and I have a different mixing style. I apparently mix too much like a cd. He said I needed more kick drum. It was already thumping pretty hot. I mix Hitchville- a contemporary vocal heavy country band. There is a reason they pay out of pocket NOT to use that house guy:)

[Jim]

I did a large bluegrass festival last week. I do 5-10 bluegrass gigs a year. I think what the person may have been saying is that the sound may have sounded over-compressed. Don't know if this is the case or not but its my main complaint about many shows.

With BG bands, I rarely compress anything. Sometimes a vocalist if they have really bad mic technique. Maybe bass if the club resonates too bad at low freqs. Otherwise its a very earthy show.

[Butch Bos]

VERY little comp at all None on the headliner

Pretty sure this guy doesn't even know what a comp is he was just a guy who knew how to turn on the Peavey mixer and has heard Bluegrass cds
He was a nice guy but a long way from pro sound guy

Butch