NYC show at Gramercy Theater 3/26

[Vince Neilstein]

We've posted a review of last night's Dark Tranquillity / The Haunted / Into Eternity / Scar Symmetry show at The Gramercy Theater in NYC:

http://www.metalsucks.net/?p=382

Enjoy! Great show...

-VN

 

[Metal Israel]

and I posted pictures... from my Blackberry but they're still nice...

http://www.metalisrael.com

 

[afz902k]

At one point singer Mikael Stanne remarked “So how many of you recognized that one?” and after a good number of cheers remarked jokingly “You damn pirates!”

Olo.

 

[Rev Jim Jones]

WTF is with the sound being FUBAR for the opening bands? Don't get me wrong, I'm spending 16 hours in a car to see Dark Tranquillity and mainly Dark Tranquillity this weekend, but I also am really looking forward to seeing/hearing Scar Symmetry and Into Eternity as well...I just don't understand how their sound can be mixed like man-ass in comparing on numerous occasions?

Anyone here seen this show where the opening bands had good sound? Inquiring minds want to know.

 

[afz902k]

If it's being done on purpose, it's a low and foul tactic, otherwise their staff sucks and should be fired; Anyway, it is not excusable.

 

[Nt3N]

WTF is with the sound being FUBAR for the opening bands? Don't get me wrong, I'm spending 16 hours in a car to see Dark Tranquillity and mainly Dark Tranquillity this weekend, but I also am really looking forward to seeing/hearing Scar Symmetry and Into Eternity as well...I just don't understand how their sound can be mixed like man-ass in comparing on numerous occasions?

Anyone here seen this show where the opening bands had good sound? Inquiring minds want to know.

opening bands never have so much time at sound-check to set up the sound correctly. it happens lots of times. I remember this year when Mastodon's sound was *incredibly* shitty.. they opened for Tool.........

 

[anita_job]

Are the sound guys that accompany the band paid/selected by the label? If so, it makes sense from a dollars-and-sense point of view to screw the "minor" bands opening and spend the dough on the headliner. Just a theory.

 

[anita_job]

On a topic unrelated to AWFUL soundmen, is this the correct setlist for the NYC show?

terminus
final resistance
hedon
my negation
wonders at your feet
lost to apathy
the sun fired blanks
treason wall
endless feed
focus shift
punish my heaven
icipher
damage done
the new build

 

[Kovenant84]

If I remember correctly, the roadies for DT and the Haunted seemed mighty peeved with the house Sound Engineer. They took an awful long time to do the checks, and didn't seem too happy with how he was handling it. So it might hav ejust been a local thing for NYC, but if it's shitty all over, I'm not sure what might be going on.

~kov.

 

[plintus]

Are the sound guys that accompany the band paid/selected by the label? If so, it makes sense from a dollars-and-sense point of view to screw the "minor" bands opening and spend the dough on the headliner. Just a theory.

They don't necessarily fuck up the sound on purpose, but opening bands don't have much time to set up (or a fancy engineer to play with the board). Opening bands can't sound better than the headliners, also true

NYC had teh worst sound out of NYC, DC and PHL, PHL was the best so far. Crowd too. From where I was standing at least.

dt were absolutely awesome any day.

 

[anita_job]

Plintus: you're saying the NYC fans were shitty? (Not that I disagree, I'm just asking for clarification.)

Also, I was sitting directly behind the soundboard and the openers definitely had different people than the Haunted and DT. I really do think it comes down to money.

Usually the soundman will tweak each individual instrument ("testing 1, 2, 3") but he has to re-do it once the band actually starts playing because the guitars, drums, etc all sound a lot different in concert together than in isolation. So it's not a question of who has more time to tune-up and get ready because a lot of the actual mixing gets done during the first couple songs.

One mistake I see at every metal show is turning everything up to level 11 (like Spinal Tap) regardless of how much it degrades the sound. Most of the time if you actually want to hear the music being played you are much better off plugging your ears, especially if the soundman is an idiot. DT and a few others (Cryptopsy, Fear Factory) I think have been the exceptions to this rule in my experience.

 

[Villain]

Heh, this reminds me of how back in Tuska 2004 afterparty me and Michael Nicklasson were standing next to the soundguy while Before the Dawn(?) was playing, and Michael tried to give the poor guy some advice on the bass-levels. Ah, the memories.

-Villain

 

[Dark_Silence]

One mistake I see at every metal show is turning everything up to level 11 (like Spinal Tap) regardless of how much it degrades the sound. Most of the time if you actually want to hear the music being played you are much better off plugging your ears, especially if the soundman is an idiot. DT and a few others (Cryptopsy, Fear Factory) I think have been the exceptions to this rule in my experience.

I once talked with a sound engineer, when i made a camp to learn a bit about sound engineering, and he said that a lot of musicians always ask for their own intrument to be louder as the other ones (especially guitarists)... and some dumb sound engineers (most of the time young people who havent a lot of experience) put the sound really loud because of that...
he also said that people who were working since a longer time (thus with more experience)put the sound of the other intruments (those who didnt ask to be heard louder) less loud so that it seemed to the musicians that he actually put the guitar louder !
They rellay should do liek that all the time... music is not about killing one´s ears

 

[Kovenant84]

When I took my Acoustics and Sound & Space courses two years ago, my teacher was a part-time DJ who had happened on the behind-the-scenes scene acting as an assistant sound engineer for Deep Purple. Taught us a bunch of helpful bits of info, like the lowering DS mentioned, and warned us against the pitfalls and possible ways to lose sound quality. Awesome classes, chill dude. Didn't learn as much as I would have like about the practical aspects, but it was cool enough.

~kov.

 

[IntoPhagist]

the venuw was horrible, go to a show at bb kings everyone has energy , opening bands sound amazing, everythign rules....i saw threat signal open up for soilwork and thread sounded likea headlining band that night, thats how good there sound was.

 

[plintus]

Plintus: you're saying the NYC fans were shitty? (Not that I disagree, I'm just asking for clarification.)

They were most apathetic of three shows I've been at, very static crowd during DT set (I was more to the right).

Philly was packed (DC - sold out, but the venue is smaller), and crowd was most supportive towards there, too.

Heard that many people were kicked out because of moshing and crowd surfing even before DT came on.

 

[Kovenant84]

They were most apathetic of three shows I've been at, very static crowd during DT set (I was more to the right).

Philly was packed (DC - sold out, but the venue is smaller), and crowd was most supportive towards there, too.

Heard that many people were kicked out because of moshing and crowd surfing even before DT came on.

Indeed- saw a crowd getting pulled out as I was headed in right before Haunted came on. Very, very sparse, but good energy, considering.

~kov.

 

[afz902k]

They were most apathetic of three shows I've been at, very static crowd during DT set

Maybe they were just Lost to Apathy.

 

[Jolty]

Maybe they were just Lost to Apathy.

They were probably just At Loss for Words because Dark Tranquillity was so amazing.

 

[anita_job]

They were most apathetic of three shows I've been at, very static crowd during DT set (I was more to the right).

Philly was packed (DC - sold out, but the venue is smaller), and crowd was most supportive towards there, too.

Heard that many people were kicked out because of moshing and crowd surfing even before DT came on.

Yeah the no-moshing policy had something to do with it. Also, I think the crowd was just straight tired by the time DT came on. Maybe it was because the Haunted set was pretty long? Also, don't opening bands usually only get half an hour? I seem to remember Scar Symmetry and Into Eternity getting 45 minutes but maybe I'm wrong.

Lastly, I think NYC fans are spoiled by all the bands that come around. I'll bet that some of the best shows for more obscure groups like DT are in more intimate settings in less-travelled areas (suburbs, rural areas) where people will drive 2-5 hours for the show because it's not often that these kinds of shows with these kinds of bands come along.