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Looper's Delight
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Mahavishnu was the loudest concert I ever stayed for. Glenn Branca was even louder, but not worth the ear damage (sorry, Glenn). I always point my amp directly at me. amp positioning is one of the coolest ways of ensuring that band members mix themselves properly, imo. For me, tho, I enjoy playing high-volume-type tones at low volumes. I always have to turn up in order to drown out, er.. i mean play with, the drummer :-) On Thu, Aug 27, 2009 at 6:19 AM, Rick Walker<looppool@cruzio.com> wrote: > Bill Walker wrote: > "Of course Billy Cobham and > Lenny White had a lot to do with ratcheting up the volume. " > > True Bill.................I was with you at those exciting and mind >bending > concerts > (we were the ONLY ones at Winterland who were standing up with our mouths > agape > at the sound of a 3rd bill group, Mahavishnu, playing "Inner Mounting > Flame" two weeks before > they even release it on Columbia records......................what a life > changing experience that was)..... > > ........but, honestly, I have a different take on the whole ratcheting >up of > the volume controversy. > > I don't think it was Cobham and Lenny White (despite their immense power >and > volume) who were responsible for ratcheting up the volume in the >earliest > days > of fusion. > > Hendrix, the Who and Blue Cheer had ramped up the volume with their >guitar > amps > in the 60's but they were using 50 and 100 watt amplifiers at the time. > I remember hearing the Jefferson Airplane debut 'Surrealistic Pillow" > two weeks before they released that record at Frost Ampitheater at >Stanford > with a large collection of Fender Twin Reverbs and a smallish P.A. system > for the vocals and drums and it was deafeningly loud. > > Remember that the Beatles played Shea Stadium in New York with a > Bogen P.A. system that amplified the vocals and NOT the guitars or the > drums. > Go check out the film footage from this era. The screaming teenage >girls > so drowned > out the music that it made the Beatles give up performing live for good. > Ringo Starr started a whole new school of studio drumming by playing >fills > at weird > times when the screaming would subside a little bit, allowing him to > actually even > hear his own drum set. > > By the early 70's, however, people were using Fender Dual Showmans and > Marshall stacks and the wattage went through the roof. > > Then equipment changed and the volume of modern popular music went > through the roof in the early 70's. > > Any acoustic trapset drummer will tell you that when you compete > with a Marshall Stack, that a guitar is VASTLY louder than an acoustic > un-miced drumset. > > I've rehearsed with loud bands where I played a huge Vistalite Ludwig kit > with double 22" inch kicks large sized toms where I was completely >drowned > out by the guitarist. I'd get blisters trying to compete with the >volume. > > I remember having a huge argument with the first guitarist in Tao >Chemical > where I insisted that > he put his guitar on the side of the stage pointed directly at his ears > (where I , the drummer > had to sit for years before taking the brunt of his loud trebly sound) so > that he would turn his volume > down. > > I got huge blisters on my hands from playing as hard as I could to >compete > and I had no nuance whatsoever in my playing. It made me stronger >competing > but certainly not subtler. > > ******* > > Nowaday, the average kid can spend $300 on a guitar amplifier on sale > that can blow the hell out of the loudest acoustic drummers. Add to this > the > incredible reduction in dollar (euro/pound/yen) per watt that has >occurred > in modern sound reinforcement > and the prevalence of huge subwoofers powered by literally thousands of > Watts > at large venues and it's the technology that ramped up the volume > NOT the drummer. > > LOL, okay, that's my drummerly rant about volume for the quarter. > I'll be back with more obnoxious soap boxing about volume in three > months.......................LOL > > Rick > ------------------------------------------------------------------------ > > > ------------------------------------------------------------------------ > > -- Warren http://www.ubetoo.com/Artist.taf?_ArtistId=6679 http://www.warrensirota.com