July 18, 2015 editorial: comments

Live Sound Burnout Syndrome

I had an annoying experience at a gig recently. My band was playing at a music festival in which there was a very good sound system, and everything onstage was miked. As a result, I didn’t worry about turning up my guitar amp any louder than was necessary to hear myself. The front of house mixer had my back — or so I assumed.

After the set, I talked to friends who were in the audience, and discovered that my guitar was almost inaudible out front. WTF? Apparently, this sound guy was asleep at the switch. My assumption was that he just didn’t give a shit. We were just one of many bands playing over the course of the day, and he was too lazy to put in the effort to mix us correctly. Now, please if any of you out there are live sound mixers, don’t take this wrong, but I have noticed this attitude frequently among many (but not all) soundpeople — at clubs especially. I’ve also talked to musician friends of mine who’ve experienced the same thing.

There must be something about having to mix a lot of bands, day in and day out, that turns a lot of live sound engineers into grumpy old men who don’t give a damn. On some level, I sympathize, because, especially at clubs with multiple band bills (which are most clubs these days), the house sound person has to deal with many bands every night, some of whom play too loud or show very little respect and complain on the mic about the monitors. But still...If they’re going to do that job, why not try to do their best?

Sure, club sound engineers need a lot of patience to deal with so many musicians on a regular basis, some of whom are jerks or treat the microphones and other sound gear carelessly. But hey, we all have challenges in our jobs, but they don’t make us just stop caring. (At least I hope not.)

So what do you think? Have you had similar experiences with the sound personnel at the clubs and other venues you play?