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[John Huntington]

I'd love to get your (coherent, pithy ) thoughts on this:
http://www.controlgeek.net/why-does-live-sound-suck/
(please comment on the blog, not here, so that I can keep track of things).

Thanks!

John Huntington
www.controlgeek.net

[Duncan McLennan]

It's so true.  Audiences don't have standards because they often can't appreciate what a concert really COULD sound like.

I strive to make bands sound as good as I possibly can, and push club owners to buy better equipment, mostly because of a probably-futile hope that I have, that someday people might be able to appreciate the difference.

[Andy Peters]

John Huntington wrote on Tue, 25 March 2008 19:47

(please comment on the blog, not here, so that I can keep track of things).

You ask the question here, you look for the responses here.

-a

[Duncan McLennan]

Andy Peters wrote on Wed, 26 March 2008 00:09

You ask the question here, you look for the responses here. -a

Yep, sorry...

I didn't even read thoroughly through your post.  Clicked the link, scanned what you wrote, made a response.  I suspect more of the same will happen.

[Ken Freeman]

So John,

Why do chubby middle aged audio snobs try to do A/V?.... If one of my tech's ever left a room with a projector and screen set looking anything like this he or she would be looking for a new job.

I strongly suggest you get you own house in order before you bash an entire industry of hard working folks.  

See you at NAB, Infocomm, AES and LDI.

Ken

[Micky Basiliere]

Bad Musicians sound like shit on stage. Bad sound guy's usually aren't Musicians!

[Mike Babcock]

John Huntington wrote on Tue, 25 March 2008 22:47

I'd love to get your (coherent, pithy ) thoughts on this: http://www.controlgeek.net/why-does-live-sound-suck/

I think a different question should be brought up. How come when a thread about a bad sounding concert comes up, everyone has an opinion, but when a thread about a good or great sounding concert pops up, it scrolls off the main page virtually unseen? (people can answer here because I wouldn't expect to have to check another site for the answer. )

[Jason Dermer]

Because all of the "really good" sound guys are far too skilled to mix and teach instead?

Tongue firmly planted in cheek.

[Steve Syfuhs]

The quality of live sound is subjective to the listener.  Same dynamic as why different generations think each others kind of music sucks.

For the technical aspect of shows, if one can simply understand the intricacies of the physics involved (not necessarily the physics itself) its pretty easy to figure out why some live sound *sucks*...because its fricken hard to do right, period.  Its just like developing hardware or software...its really hard to do, especially to do it properly.  The amount of work required to properly set up the system, get gain structures set up properly, tune the room and attempt to fix nulls (everyone keeps a couple bass traps in the backs of the trucks right? ), etc etc. is huge.

Yeaaaa some of these steps are rudimentary and are dealt with quickly from experience, but each venue is different.  Sound is strange, unlike lighting which any monkey can do jk.  It all really boils down to the physics of it all.

It's my philosophy that you can bring in the worlds best sound system (tm), but still have it suck, if the physics of the venue is gross.  Conversely you can bring in a fairly crappy sound system in a properly-accoustically-treated venue and have it sound pretty decent.

But then again sometimes the engineer is just an idiot. That could have been what the you were hinting at all along, and maybe you were saying that all us new up-and-comers should have proper schooling/training, I dunno...its late here and I may be babbling incoherently haha.

Just my $0.02.

[Justice C. Bigler]

Jason Dermer wrote on Tue, 25 March 2008 23:58

Because all of the "really good" sound guys are far too skilled to mix and teach instead?

I thought all the really good sound guys were working in the theatre, mixing hundreds of input and dozens of output channels at a time?

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