Worst live sound ever for me would have to be Van Halen with Sammy Hagar. Prolly about 7 years ago at one of the arenas in st louis(cant remember which one). Couldn't hear anything but the mids. I think my ears were bleeding by the time I left. I've never looked at van halen the same since.
Worst live sound/gig you have ever experienced?
- Thread starter ratsapprentice
- Start date
Megin
Member
Worst live sound/gig you have ever experienced? That was the thread and I choosed the latter. Am I an asshole?
ahjteam
Anssi Tenhunen
no, I mean I saw gigs on 4 different occasions there, even tho if I was standing RIGHT IN FRONT OF THE MAIN SPEAKERS, I could not hear the guitars on any of those gigs, except with Karnivool, who had their own sound guy.
luismars
Member
One week ago, a famous band in Spain called Tierra Santa. Hard panned guitars, no OH mics. "Nice concert" without solos and only kick and snare...
BlackSA
Member
I don't really understand what's wrong with the use of compression in live scenarios. some of you mentioned it. i always (heavily) compress lots of channels, especially bass and vox and i never had bad results and always the band as well as the audience said, that the the sound was fine or great. i mean, i do this stuff for about 3 years (i'm a trainee as a event engineering specialist or whatever the fuck my english teacher told me how it's called) and i'm, and as mentioned before the bands, too, at least pretty satisfied with the sound. aren't we able to hear the mistakes in my mixing or was it the fact, that compression in live situations isn't as bad as it seems to be? i mean (and i'd say that i can tell what a kinda good or at least acceptable mix is) i'm really kinda confused, because i used hell of compression live before i read some stuff in here. dunno. how do live compression?
RevoltStudios
Member
- Aug 2, 2009
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I"m in Nashville doin sound and it can be stupid. There are guys comping bass, vox, drums, even guitars sometimes. Cool, except they pump them and THEN put a comp on the main outs and squash it there too. Sounds great quiet but loud it just hurts so much. Digital consoles are killin my vibe man. I like my analog without all this extra junk.
Nothing wrong with using compression live, helps to get more control over dynamic sources like bass and vocals. Might have a few issues with feedback happening earlier with compression but thats the only con I can think of.
Mastadon was one of the worst sounds I've heard, The Ocean in Galway was shocking aswell.
Hard to say who the best was, God is an Astronaut sounded amazing when I saw them recently. Decapitated a few years ago before the accident had a clear, tight sound that was punishing when I saw them.
Mastadon was one of the worst sounds I've heard, The Ocean in Galway was shocking aswell.
Hard to say who the best was, God is an Astronaut sounded amazing when I saw them recently. Decapitated a few years ago before the accident had a clear, tight sound that was punishing when I saw them.
arv_foh
Brian K
I use comps on kick, snare, bass, and vox... some drummers don't need it on kick but I like to have it there to use anyways, you shouldn't compress mic signals too heavily if you're sending them to monitors as well though.. sometimes you can get feedback issues and end up having to carve the shit out of the EQ which will also affect your mix at FOH
BlackSA
Member
Okay, i get the fact with feedback on monitors. Could anyone else tell arguments against live compression?
PhilR
Studio Scapegoat
The argument isn't against the use of it, but the misuse. Too many live engineers try to do too much with too little. It's real easy to equip a venue with a rackload of processing gear for little money (I've lost count of how many venues have the usual Behringer list of quad gates, dual comp/gates, 32-band graphics, feedback destroyers etc) but more often than not unless you're very familiar with your room and well experienced it's easy to go into the mix with too many assumptions which you don't really have the luxury of being able to change in mid-set. And yes, this sould be sorted in soundcheck. But we all know that things have a habit of going to shit when you hit the stage for real.
Personally I like to comp kick a little, snare alot, bass a bit, vocals depends heavily on their voice, style and mic etiquette. There's a local death metal band whos vocals I don't comp at all because he's super consistent, sometimes you really need to comp due to their huge dynamics. I never comp hats, guitars and toms.
I don't like to comp toms at all but will gate them if I can. One of the best things for me with live sound was NOT having gates for a long time. I really had to work hard on drums to get them sounding nice and not having too much bleed. I find alot of guys don't care about the tuning and tone of the toms live. They just stick a gate on it and they're done often with really muddy, boomy toms.
I don't like to comp toms at all but will gate them if I can. One of the best things for me with live sound was NOT having gates for a long time. I really had to work hard on drums to get them sounding nice and not having too much bleed. I find alot of guys don't care about the tuning and tone of the toms live. They just stick a gate on it and they're done often with really muddy, boomy toms.
