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[bruce gering]

Yesterday I did a show with multiple acts all day long. Although this was at a local level and not national acts, the same principles apply. Let me tell you, the talent was all over the road map from really poor to really good. With some of the bands, I really tried hard to pull a good sound out of them, but it just wasn't going to happen. Still other acts just had their cream rise to the top and it was just as effortless as could be to get a great sound out them.

Ironically, the opening act, a local teenage country singer who is starting to get some national attention with her songwriting, was one of the best sounding acts that day. Really impressive.

The next band came out of the gate firing hard and they just sucked. Plain sucked. The overall volume off of the stage was much greater, but things like the uneven foot of the drummer on the kick, the guitarist who insisted his stage volume be above everyone else with tone that reminded me a metal table being dragged across a concrete floor, the singer who didn't really sing but yelled or screamed into the mic...it was a hard set for me to get through, but as they say garbage in, garbage out.

And so the day went on with the talent level all over the map until the headliner, which was an AC/DC cover band. Yes, I have to admit it, the volume went up a notch and I put the guitars up in the mix to the vocal and pushed the rig hard. It was really pretty loud but you know what? I kept glancing over to the limiters and saw I was barely tickling the soft limit and never once went into  true limiting.

I've also been a guest engineer at a local major 10 day festival. Last year I recall BE'ing the opening act for the headliner...their were also other acts at that stage on that day. Although I felt the I was getting a pretty good sound, somehow I felt their was something missing. I really couldn't get the rig rocking like I wanted to and felt like there was some type of compression going on in the rig that was squashing the sound. After their set, I stuck around at FOH just long enough to see the A1 go over to the DSP, unlock it, and lift the limiters to where they really should be.

 I think this happens more often than not at these major festivals with multiple bands on multiple stages for multiple days....you don't want to blow up the rig with the opening acts. Fair enough. It does happen but there are reasons for this.

[Randy Pence]

I experienced this last week, while thankfully i was there to hear the headliner.  Sold out, almost 1,000 seats in a building that once held almost double (balconies removed), with acoustically difficult shaped ceiling and walls (not exactly diffusers....).  Openers were crap. They had a couple moments, which did in fact compliment the headliner, but in general they appeared nervous.  Midas hl3 desk (i sat almost right behind).  I doubt there was enough outboard for both bands.  There was certainly just one eq.  There was enough room on the console for more channels, but it seemed like they had to "trade" an overhead for a second lead vocal mic (2 performance positions).  The sound of the room was much more present for the openers than the headliner.

One could argue that the mix reflected the talent of the openers, but lighting effects were absolutely reserved for the headliner.

[David Parker]

It sounds like business as usual...

Technology is making it better, if a digital console can get back to final sound check settings with a simple button push.

SPL is likely to be reserved for the act providing the gear, while I have heard cases where the extra SPL used by the headliner worked against them.

I recall one small NAMM show concert where the opener (Robin Ford) sounded much better IMO than the headliner (Toto) because the latter were too damn loud.  While this may be a personal problem.. I've been backstage at some big name shows where I just left the building after they started playing for the same reason. 

JR

I saw AC/DC in 1980 or so. The opener was Nazareth. Sam Houston Coloseum in Houston, 15,000 plus. Nazareth sounded like a recording, perfect mix, perfect tone, plenty loud. AC/DC came out and jacked it up at least 12db. It sounded great if you held your fingers in your ears, otherwise it was horrible.

[kristianjohnsen]

I'm a guitar player/band guy first, novice soundman second.  I'm not sure how many of you run sound for national acts, but is it a requirement to make the opening band sound worse than the headlineer?  Is it something that is implemented by the headliner so they sound "better"?

I guess I've just always wondered why the opening bands sound kinda of "meh" and once the headliner takes the stage its'.....BOOM!!!!

Just curious.


and no, I've never opened for a headlining act so it's not a complaint on my part.

I just went to a Metallica stadium show. 

There was apparant "compressor pumping" on the main mix during the opener.  If this was a mix decision or a system preset issue, I have no idea.

There was a similar issue at the beginning of Metallica's set, upon which James Hetfield said in the mic:  Are we loud enough?  James, let's give them some volume.

If this is a prearranged monologue between James Hetfield and (presumably) James the system tech, or whether it was spontaneous, I don't know, but I know the mix "opened up" after that.

What I also do know is that those L'Acoustics K1 hangs sounded GREAT. 

Obviously, the mix must have been great for the speakers to shine, but the mix wouldn't have shone without great speakers to be projected from.

I also found it humorous that there was a Midas XL8 at FOH (after all the Metallica analogue talk of the past).

PS:  The mix didn't "sound digital" LOL.

[Tim McCulloch]

I had a festival gig yesterday where my purpose was to be the "rental console delivery boy."  The system was adequate for the first 2/3 of the acts (locals and regionals) but was undersized for the national acts that closed the show.  To their credit the BEs for those bands accepted the rig and made a deliberate effort to operate it safely.

The talent was all fairly decent but each act presented different challenges for both monitors and FOH.  Some acts may have thought their mix wasn't everything they might have hoped for but overall I think that each local or regional band got a decent shake in their 40 minute set.

My only complaint was that stage management was lax about the physical movement of the acts on and off stage, and that wasn't my problem.  The console worked, I took care of FOH patching between desks and drive so the system provider could deal with the stage end of the snake.

I mixed the first couple of songs for one act while the provider took care of some other issues that popped up and found myself making SPL decisions based on what I thought the rig would take, long term, so the headliner act would have a fully functioning system for their performance.  Some folks might think I was sand-bagging, but the choices I made were in the interests of the *festival* and not just one performer.

YMMV, etc.

[Sam Zuckerman]

The opening band should make the headliner sound better. I know when I mix both opener and HL I will mix the opener about 3-6db lower and with less outboard/fx.

We had a national act come through to do a show and there was no opener. The BE put the house iPod on a big ass compressor with wacky settings so "they would sound better." I think that's overkill, but you get the idea.

I thought it was the "push for erection" ..if they're actually good button??? lol

There us a "Push to Erect" button on grandMA light boards. It always makes me chuckle.

[Bob Leonard]

I have an opener for us in August and I'm going to mix for them. I suppose I could make them sound like shit, but I never have and never will play that game. If they put on a better show than my band then I haven't done my job and qudo's to them.

[Loren Aguey]

As is always our custom, I also tipped the engineer beforehand.

If you tipped him BEFORE and he still ignored your requests then fuck him. Tim's right about long days and often less than desirable work conditions. But the way I see it, at the end of the day if the band asks for something within reason that requires a twist of a knob then there's no way I flat out ignore a request like that.

Its a simple matter of doing the job you're being paid to do.

On the other hand I don't know the full situation and maybe he was sharing important channels with the headliner. But in general if I'm mixing then I'll do my best for every band that plays.

[Douglas R. Allen]

Went to a local show just last year. 3 local bands opened. The mains had a stereo pan effect blended in at about 20 percent of mix. Drove me nuts. Gave a flange, swirl effect to every band. 1st headline band came on then boom! Effect gone. Not sure how many noticed but I sure did.
Does happen.

Douglas R. Allen

[David Hayes]

If you tipped him BEFORE and he still ignored your requests then fuck him. Tim's right about long days and often less than desirable work conditions. But the way I see it, at the end of the day if the band asks for something within reason that requires a twist of a knob then there's no way I flat out ignore a request like that.

Its a simple matter of doing the job you're being paid to do.

On the other hand I don't know the full situation and maybe he was sharing important channels with the headliner. But in general if I'm mixing then I'll do my best for every band that plays.

Yeah, I thought it was strange. Doesn't seem to be any logical reason why we couldn't at least get what we needed in the monitors.  Headliners must not have been too happy with him either because they never considered him for the event this year.

[ProSoundWeb Community]