# Tonight sounded terrible..



## polarbeast666 (Oct 8, 2012)

Nobody in my town cares about good sound at all, we just opened for Abiotic, Sea of Treachery, Float Face Down and The Burial, and some guy from a local band was running the PA. We didnt know when to set our stuff up or anything, no one was running the show, we didnt get our amps micd which made me livid, but then we also didnt get ANYTHING on the drums micd. Not even the bass drum. Also, no monitors at all. And we use backing tracks. Disaster. Only the vocals through the PA, it was ridiculous so we had to turn our amps up, heard none of the vocal or backing tracks and thats how the show went for every band. This was only our 3rd show, is it always this bad? Damn..pretty much a band practice sound on stage with no monitors


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## hairychris (Oct 8, 2012)

How big was the venue?

Small venues not miking amps and having dodgy monitoring is not uncommon. This can cause problems if you're using low wattage combos, a decent head and 2x12 or 4x12 should give enough projection in small venues.

Not miking kick is a bit odd, but have seen it before.

Edit: Not sound checking is also pretty common at smaller gigs. You need to have your shit together at line-check.

Also the "no-one in charge" is also, unfortunately, something that you may see depending on the professionalism of those people who are promoting shows. The promoter should be the one who sorts out stage times, set up times, sound check times (if any) but it sounds like the person who put the gig on failed miserably.

There are a few things to consider. Do you want to be on any bills that they put on again? If not, then just don't accept any more shows from them. If you do, and do accept more shows, get on their case before the day and make sure that you have a timetable before doing anything. Promoter also needs to know your technical requirements - backing tracks in your case*. Don't just rock up expecting anything that you *haven't* arranged in advance to be available, basically. Even then there may be last minute emergencies.

Small scenes can be a real problem if the only show in town is incompetent.

*The first time my band tried adding other shit to the sound it all went horribly wrong - although at an established venue with decent PA and a promoter who knew what we needed. Let's just say that a WORKING DI box is on my shopping list.


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## polarbeast666 (Oct 8, 2012)

hairychris said:


> How big was the venue?
> 
> Small venues not miking amps and having dodgy monitoring is not uncommon. This can cause problems if you're using low wattage combos, a decent head and 2x12 or 4x12 should give enough projection in small venues.
> 
> ...



Its a pretty good sized venue, could fit maybe 600 people really, I couldnt believe they micd absolutely nothing...
And yeah its weird because ussually we know who is putting the gig on but tonight it was like the venue booked it and left it at that and did absolutely nothing...hardly any stage gear, there were not enough plug ins so we couldnt use our pedals we we rushed home and got our own extension cables, crazy. But yeah thanks for the advice, if this venure wont hire a good sound guy I know a guy Ill pay myself to do it, cause its one of the only good venues here, just everyone is too dumb and cheap to do anything about sound. Bleh


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## robare99 (Oct 8, 2012)

Welcome to indie gigs. 

5 bands almost guarantees a shit show.


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## CTID (Oct 8, 2012)

robare99 said:


> Welcome to indie gigs.
> 
> 5 bands almost guarantees a shit show.



Say that in Savannah, where our main venue is the basement of a pizza restaurant, and the common show has from 5-8 bands on it. Turnouts are usually in the range of 30-100 people.


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## Luke Acacia (Oct 9, 2012)

All of this is typical.


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## wrongnote85 (Oct 9, 2012)

Luke Acacia said:


> All of this is typical.



this. it's a long road from here too.


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## sage (Oct 11, 2012)

Yup. Totally normal. Sounds like you just played a gigantic house party. If you're planning on using backing tracks, I suggest your band invests in something to amplify them. A little keyboard amp or bass combo will suffice. I've got a Fender Rumble 100 with 2x10" and a horn. Really nice full range of sound and it has an XLR line out so, in the event that you find yourself in exactly the situation you were just in, you've got sound on stage and monkeyboy can patch your amp directly into the board so everyone else can hear it too. I paid $200 for it on Craigslist. 

Option B for bands in scenes with shitty gigs and shitty sound: be your own fucking promoter. You might be surprised to find out that all of the other bands thought the sound was shit also. You may also be surprised to learn that most of the people in attendance were less than impressed. Find a good sound guy. Get some ticket takers that you trust. Forge a relationship with the venue. Learn how a professional promoter and stage manager do their jobs. Do a couple of shows without your band in it so you can make sure that you've got everything under control as far as managing a bill goes and then, when you feel confident that you can take an hour off to set up, play your set, and tear down, go at it. It is a relatively simple game with a lot of moving parts. If you've got the gumption to do a little more that piss and moan about crap gigs, the benefits are huge, but it takes a considerable amount of elbow grease and pride in your work to effect any measurable change.


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## Nykur_Myrkvi (Oct 11, 2012)

This sounds painfully familiar.

The last gig my band played the monitors couldn't handle the mics being at a volume where they could be heard over...well pretty much anything.

As there are three people who sing/scream in the band a lot was lost.


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## cwhitey2 (Oct 11, 2012)

sage said:


> Option B for bands in scenes with shitty gigs and shitty sound: be your own fucking promoter




This.


I do this now, and its worth the BS when everything goes as planned.

I always book the best sound guy around (if hes booked, he will refer me to someone decent) and I dont care how much he costs. I have never had bad sound....for shows I have booked...

Its the key stone to the show.


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## Winspear (Oct 11, 2012)

I must admit I'm pretty surprised by the amount of unsurprised responses! I played a lot of gigs in an unknown band at various small and/or crappy venues and the sound might well have been shit but there were always mics and gear! I thought Sea of Treachery are a pretty well known band? I really am surprised


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## Enselmis (Oct 11, 2012)

After The Burial should get The Burial to open for them. It'd be funny.

Maybe get totally comfortable without the backing tracks in case of scenarios like this?


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## trianglebutt (Oct 11, 2012)

I would definitely suggest investing in some PA equipment of your own. My band commonly plays at places that have shit PAs so we just set up our own, and therefore gain complete control of the sound.


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## polarbeast666 (Oct 13, 2012)

yeah I was surprised that none of the bands had a sound guy or any gear with them at all, its was unbelievable. Crazy. but yeah anyways our vocalist is a promotor now and we're finding some good sound guys to try out, thanks for the suggestions everyone


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