Re: DON'T TRUST THE SOUND MAN

[Mark <sine@zerocrossing.net>]

Most PA setups don't do stereo for the reason that (especially outside) 
you've
got people all over the place that want to hear the full mix.  If you've 
got a
lot of stereo information going out, you risk that people on one side are 
pretty
much not going to hear half the mix.  Aside from my webcasts and small 
cafes, I
always go mono in larger clubs.

Mark

whiteoakstudios wrote:

> I just give the sound man a stereo feed and use my own in-ear monitoring 
>-
> at least then it sounds good to me and I just tell the sound man/woman to
> pan hard right and left, with no eq.
> It takes a real idiot to mess up those instructions - though last time I
> played out of doors and followed the above I came down from stage and 
>asked
> a freind how it went and he said"fine but I though you could have done 
>more
> with stereo placement". I replied that the sound was bouncing all over 
>the
> place - turns out the PA man runs it all in mono!!
>
> Gareth
>
> just got in from my gig opening for SUGAR DADDY AND THE BIG BONED
> GALS.....went in 2 hours early for a sound check....."we supply all the
> speakers etc.".....the sound guy took all my inputs and rearranged them 
>in
> my
> mixer and sent it out to his console.....for about 2 mins this sounded ok
> (total sound check) but i was worried and not quite happy.....i am not a
> great or even good player, but i do pride myself in "my sound".....WELL,
> 8:00
> o'clock comes and the first note i hit sounds like *shit* and i begin to 
>get
> worried.....this is nothing like what we had set up and his configuration
> totally freaked me, things were not where they should have been.....where
> was
> the sound guy, NOWHERE TO BE FOUND.....yikes, the show must go on and no 
>one
> wants to see a 53 year old man cry, although i was sweating like a pig in
> the
> sahara, so thankfully they could not see my tears.....IT WAS AWFUL, i 
>had no
> control of anything, boy does that make you feel like being
> adventuresome.....then after cutting it about 10 mins. short everyone 
>comes
> up and says "wow that was cool " and LIES to that effect.....thankfully 
>the
> WILD TURKEY (sorry no scotch) kicked in and i did not burn my guitar and
> rang.....i will never play through someone elses system again.....in 
>fact,
> this solo thing is getting to weird, i need other warm bodies to help the
> tunes out.....sorry for such a goofy post but if i cant share this with 
>you
> all who can i share it with.....:(m