Worst live sound/gig you have ever experienced?

just to balance things out ... I saw Helloween play at a club in jersey about 7 years ago (Starland Ballroom). Anyway, there were about 3 opening bands and I was standing in the bar area directly behind the sound guy. I also noticed this rather serious looking individual just standing a bit off to the side, downing what looked to be rum & cokes every 10 minutes and occasionally leaning over to say something to the sound guy. Anyhoooooooo ... this was the 1st time I had been to this place so I had no idea what the sound would be like there. Those of you that have been there, you know it s a good sized place with some less than desirable acoustics. So the 3 opening bands played through what I can only describe as absolute audio mud with a hi hat. Thats all I heard ... a wall of mud, and a hi hat with the odd scream here or there. I think to myself "fuck". I've waited YEARS to see Helloween and when I finally get the chance, this is where they play and what they're gonna sound like. So Helloween's gear starts getting set up and all of a sudden I see the serious looking guy (who's on his 5th rum & coke at least) politely shoo aside the sound guy ... I realize this must be Helloween's actual sound guy, the other dude was just the club's. I then stare in amazement as this serious guy (I'm gonna call him Otto ... he looked like an Otto) I stare as Otto takes a quick scan of everything and then begins completely changing EVERYTHING at like warp speed. He's pulling cables and plugging them back in other places, spinning hand cranked wheels, I think he yaked a circuit board, etc etc ... all the while drinking his drink and smoking his smoke. This goes on for about 5 minutes until Otto gets this very satisfied look and just leans back and waits.

Helloween comes on to one of the most pristine, clear & powerful live sounds I could have imagined

Sorry for the long story but my opinion is that even a club with shitty acoustics can be made to sound awesome with a seasoned professional sound guy who knows his shit inside and out. And if you ever want to know just how lucky some of you sound guys have it, go stand by Manowar's sound guy sometime and just watch him. He's working harder and putting on more of a show than they are

Hail Otto!
 
Jarkko Mattheiszen said:
I do a bit of FOH work myself, so I usually don't jump on the hate wagon if a gig's sound is a bit off, because I know there are lots and lots and lots of factors that might contribute to that besides the FOH guy's know-how. There are tons of situations where not even the best live engineer could make it work. Horrible venues, crap gear, artists on an ego trip and so on and so on.
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See, the problem with the show I listed as my worst sound experience (Lazarus AD, Unearth, Testament) is that the opening band (Lazarus AD) had great sound, it was the headliners (Unearth and Testament) that had truly awful sound.

Drives me crazy when one band can get great sound at a venue and the others on the bill can't. The problem with the show was that Unearth and Testament (be it the bands themselves or the FOH engineer(s)) decided that the headliners needed to be dimed as far as volume was concerned, the venue only played a role when the volume levels became unlistenable - it all collapsed into a cacophony of shit. I suspect it's more of the "ego trip" theory where the headliners needed to play as loud as possible.

As a side note about volume - the loudest show I have ever been to was Motorhead at the Agora Ballroom in Hartford CT back in the 80's, the difference was that it was loud as fuck, but it was clear with a well balanced sound despite the volume used. I think my hearing took a permanent hit that evening that I've still yet too recover from. :headbang:
 
Skinny Viking said:
just to balance things out ... I saw Helloween play at a club in jersey about 7 years ago (Starland Ballroom). Anyway, there were about 3 opening bands and I was standing in the bar area directly behind the sound guy. I also noticed this rather serious looking individual just standing a bit off to the side, downing what looked to be rum & cokes every 10 minutes and occasionally leaning over to say something to the sound guy. Anyhoooooooo ... this was the 1st time I had been to this place so I had no idea what the sound would be like there. Those of you that have been there, you know it s a good sized place with some less than desirable acoustics. So the 3 opening bands played through what I can only describe as absolute audio mud with a hi hat. Thats all I heard ... a wall of mud, and a hi hat with the odd scream here or there. I think to myself "fuck". I've waited YEARS to see Helloween and when I finally get the chance, this is where they play and what they're gonna sound like. So Helloween's gear starts getting set up and all of a sudden I see the serious looking guy (who's on his 5th rum & coke at least) politely shoo aside the sound guy ... I realize this must be Helloween's actual sound guy, the other dude was just the club's. I then stare in amazement as this serious guy (I'm gonna call him Otto ... he looked like an Otto) I stare as Otto takes a quick scan of everything and then begins completely changing EVERYTHING at like warp speed. He's pulling cables and plugging them back in other places, spinning hand cranked wheels, I think he yaked a circuit board, etc etc ... all the while drinking his drink and smoking his smoke. This goes on for about 5 minutes until Otto gets this very satisfied look and just leans back and waits.

Helloween comes on to one of the most pristine, clear & powerful live sounds I could have imagined

Sorry for the long story but my opinion is that even a club with shitty acoustics can be made to sound awesome with a seasoned professional sound guy who knows his shit inside and out. And if you ever want to know just how lucky some of you sound guys have it, go stand by Manowar's sound guy sometime and just watch him. He's working harder and putting on more of a show than they are

Hail Otto!
Click to expand...

Starland is cool. I've seen a bunch of shows there. Life of Agony sounded great there.

Joe
 
I usually don't throw it at the sound guy either since I know there are really a whole bunch of factors that are beyond his control.

Conny, maybe you can give some more detailed information on the points you made. I'm sure it would clear up a lot of things some of us don't know about. Besides if nothing more it's at least very interesting.
 
Everytime ive seen the Deftones they've sounded terrible. Not sure if it was the band or the sound guy but it was the same everytime.
 
mixing position is a big issue, glad fitzrangerhoodngarb mentioned it.

Here in Poland 99% of the venues have the console crammed straight into a corner, and you come in and you're unfamiliar with the venue you're just "guessing" a lot of things instead of mixing, especially when it comes to bass freq's. You have to constantly run around back and forth from the console to the center where people are standing to really hear what's happening, which can be really tiresome after some time.
 
ratsapprentice said:
the band finally came on, and holy-fucking-snare batman!
Seriously, all could hear through the first two songs was snare and bass like you wouldn't believe. Thankfully after that the snare was reigned in a bit, unfortunately the bass was not.
The rest of the set was basically just 80hz, the guitars were sooooo fucking low in the mix. I don't think I can put into words how little of the guitars I could hear, FUCKING NOTHING!!!

I am dissapoint :mad:
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Man... That sucks. I wonder who was mixing it?
How does stuff normally sound in there?
 
I don't know who was mixing it man, I think it may have been the resident guy, but honestly, I'm just guessing.(whoever was dj-ing had hip-hip on the go)
It was also my first time at the venue so I don't have any frame of reference, but I tried moving around a bit, and couldn't find a good spot.
Didn't you recently tour with them?
 
Mastodon was pretty much the worst sounding mess of a gig I've ever heard in my life.
 
ratsapprentice said:
I don't know who was mixing it man, I think it may have been the resident guy, but honestly, I'm just guessing.(whoever was dj-ing had hip-hip on the go)
It was also my first time at the venue so I don't have any frame of reference, but I tried moving around a bit, and couldn't find a good spot.
Didn't you recently tour with them?
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Bizarre, I wouldn't have thought a band like Mayhem would use the house guy - they're very particular with their mix.

Yeah I was with them in September, took a show or two to get completely satisfied with it but guitars were one of the easiest things - both gats were using relatively low gain dual or triple rectifiers (differed between venues) and they were very thick, low-mid heavy tones - the kind of guitar tone you hope to hear as a FOH engineer - very easy to place in the mix.

I was fucking stoked with my Mayhem mixes (and so were they). If only it weren't for living right at the ass-end of the globe I'm sure I would be able to work with them more
 
ratsapprentice said:
I don't know who was mixing it man, I think it may have been the resident guy, but honestly, I'm just guessing.(whoever was dj-ing had hip-hip on the go)
It was also my first time at the venue so I don't have any frame of reference, but I tried moving around a bit, and couldn't find a good spot.
Didn't you recently tour with them?
Click to expand...

Yeah it was their usual dude, he mixes most the metal gigs there i think.

Did we meet at all?! I was pretty drunk, so i don't remember much about who i met or not :lol:
 
Skinny Viking said:
And if you ever want to know just how lucky some of you sound guys have it, go stand by Manowar's sound guy sometime and just watch him. He's working harder and putting on more of a show than they are
Click to expand...

Haha, that dude owns all of the PA and production in my club. He is a great sound engineer
 
No doubt - Smashing Pumpkins at Lollapalooza (I forget the year). Worst live band EVER!!!!! I seriously wanted to vomit throughout the whole show. Bad sound, terrible playing, horrid vocals...

/thread
 
Paradise lost at hammerfest, the bass was outragously loud and really uncomfortable even at the back, crap really as that was the band I really wanted to hear.
The other bands that day and afterwards were ok, it seems like the headliners wanted to be louder than everyone else.
 
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