The sound...

[Cheiron]

One of the major reasons I stopped seeing so much live metal, was I just couldn't take paying $40 to go and see another band play a lot of music, and then not be able to hear the singer, or the lead guitar, etc.

This year, the quality of the sound varied. For several bands, the house mixer just capped out nearly everything. The vocals were sunk, or at least, even if the vocals were loud, they tended to be drowned out since everything was loud. For example, the vocals were mostly drowned out for Circus Maximus (especially frustrating since their great progpower performances in the past, were in a large part, due to having great sound, and being able to hear the singer hit every note), Serious Black, Scar Symmetry, Ascendia, and first 1/3rd of Devin Townsend (Devin had his own sound mixer, so maybe that's how Devin wanted them to sound, but his vocals weren't very clear. However, based on that video, perhaps he told her that he had voice issues, so to not play him too loud?).

Luckily, :Green Carnation, Spock's Beard, and Haken had really good sound. I also thought that Blind Guardian, Freedom Call, Stream of Passion, and Fates Warning had good sound.

 

[hoodaman]

DTP mix was def. off. Drums overpowered everything. vocals way too quiet.

 

[flashburn]

Spock's Beard sounded fucking terrible for the first few songs. Their sound guy seemed completely lost on that board.

I disagree about Ascendia, CM, and Serious Black. SS sound was a bit muddled, but it wasn't too bad. DTP I also agree that the vocals were lost in the mix. I think a lot of it depended on where you are standing/sitting. Generally speaking standing at the front center of the stage is the worst place sound wise.

Overall I was extremely happy about the sound. Most bands sounded fantastic over the course of 4 days.

 

[Diamond45]

I agree that the sound varied from set to set, and within a set. Overall the sound was fine, but there were some bands where the vocals were way too low and some instruments were way too high. Often times the drums were just way too loud!

But considering it's a live event with twenty bands over four days, you tend to expect such things. I'm just surprised how well they're able to pull it off! I've seen the changes first hand and let me tell you it's amazing how well they're able to do things in such a short amount of time! Kudos to Glenn's crew!

 

[nailz]

But considering it's a live event with twenty bands over four days, you tend to expect such things. I'm just surprised how well they're able to pull it off! I've seen the changes first hand and let me tell you it's amazing how well they're able to do things in such a short amount of time! Kudos to Glenn's crew!

While I tend to agree with the "crew is great" comments every year, I'm not really willing to give (whoever it was) a free pass on the sound this year. Year in and out, we've come to expect that the house sound person is almost always spot on for every band they mix for, vastly doing it better than band sound techs except headliners. I suspect the poor sound this year came from both house and band sound people. I'd be interested to know if it was someone new or if there was some kind of actual problem. I'm not one to really pick out nuances of OH MY GOD I COULDNT HEAR THOSE 3 NOTES IN THE 4TH BAR FROM THE LEAD GUITAR OVER THE 2 THUMB PICKS OF THE BASS, but, as a stand out, Pyramaze was ear-murder to the point I had to actually leave.

 

[oldboy]

Yes. Drums, and bass overpowered everything. Keyboards were the main victims, but singers, and even guitars suffered too. I used custom made musicians earplugs that reduced the sound by 25 decibels, but I pity anyone who did not.

 

[flashburn]

Yes. Drums, and bass overpowered everything. Keyboards were the main victims, but singers, and even guitars suffered too. I used custom made musicians earplugs that reduced the sound by 25 decibels, but I pity anyone who did not.

Custom earplugs are the best purchase I've made... maybe ever. Not only do they save my ears, they tend to help balance out the mix if anything is excessively loud. That's likely why I didn't have too many complaints about the sound. I have a pretty critical ear overall, and with only a few exceptions I was very happy with the sound.

 

[Purveyor Of Evil]

Freedom Call sounded horrible. The solos were completely inaudible.

 

[KingsGene]

Check out promotor Glenn Harveston's thoughts on this topic in the latest 2016 Wrap-Up & 2017 Roster Discussion Facebook live chat, starting somewhere around the 30 minute mark, and again near the end of the video.