On Durham and identity

grady grady at ibiblio.org
Thu Apr 5 15:31:12 EDT 2007


I agree, but honestly, speaking as someone who shoots a fair amount of 
video at shows (and thus gets to listen back to it the next day), the 
crappiest sound I hear lately is at the Cradle. TOO MUCH BASS, and half 
the time the kick drum is all I can hear. (Note that I'm aware of this 
problem at the show, and not just while watching the video later.)

Local 506 & the Coffeehouse usually sound OK, once the person at the PA 
at the Coffeehouse gets the mix under control, which can sometimes take 
a bit of time. Shows at Chaz's actually used to sound pretty good too; 
BCHQ is a little bright n boomy, but they're talking about ways to 
mitigate that.

What's important is that the PA be matched to the size of the room, and 
that, yes, someone with ears & some knowledge of how to run it be put in 
charge of it.  In most small rooms, all you need in the PA is vocals and 
any acoustic instruments, and your biggest problem is getting the 
freaking drummer to not play like [s]he's filling in for Keith Moon at 
Wembley.

I may be less picky than you are, or more punk rock, but all I want is 
to be able to hear everything at more or less the right level. That 
actually happens around the Triangle more often than not, in part 
because a lot of the smaller pick-up venues actually do seem to care at 
least a little bit about sound.

But yeah, I guess I am less picky than you are, because I don't think 
I've ever said "fuckit, I don't like the PA at such-and-such, I'm 
skipping that show." I have so many *other* good excuses to skip shows 
that it just hasn't ever come to that ;-)

trekky records wrote:
> The problem I have with these "specialty" venues (the restaurants,
> laundromats, etc.) is usually just the sound. Maybe I'm not punk rock
> enough (I play guitar, but also accordion) but sometimes if there
> isn't a good PA and a competent sound guy, I totally turn off. If
> these places could get good systems, work on their rooms to sound
> good, then I'd be into it, but until then it just gives me the vibe
> that those places make the actual music a low priority.
> 
> That's of course extremely general, some places do just fine, and I
> know good equipment is pricey, but it certainly is a factor in my
> deciding which shows I'll go to.
> 
> 
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> 
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