Bands vs. Sound: The Battle of Power
By Erik Beyer
When I first started running sound I was working for a very conservative organization and never thought that some day I would, in a club, be getting large doses of attitude thrown at me by touring bands burned out, tired, baked, and drunk. As time progressed I became accustomed to it and eventually even learned how to deal with them and get them to feel happy about their presence in the venue.
It never failed that some band would walk through the door and demand the world, thinking they are the “stuff.” Go to find out, “Oh, they’re the touring band from LA. Let me deal with them,” I would say. So, talking to these guys, find out they were over promised and under delivered to, or just flat out misunderstood the guidelines presented to them at some point over the phone regarding the show. This is typical, but what isn’t expected is the same attitude and lack of respect for a place of business by local acts. Many even have preconceived ideas about how the sound person is going to be. Inevitably, the sound person is the one who tends to get all of the gruff, only because they are the one standing in front of them, working hard to please them on stage, and the booking agent is no where to be found.
I am writing this column to express some ideas, thoughts, bring up rhetorical questions, and overall try to come to some kind of understanding as to why sound people get so much crap! And are very underpaid, by the way, but so are bands these days, so I won’t complain. Actually, most of what you are going to read is about facing issues, including ego and who’s right.
I will be using the “sound people” title throughout this as a point to remember. Portland, OR has a large amount of very talented famale sound engineers and frankly, are highly overlooked. My hat is off to you ladies out there mixing some fantastic shows! I have worked with a few of them, and each one of them impress me. They also tend to be the nicer ones out there…but don’t piss them off. Kidding.
The first issue to discuss is, why the lack of respect? Well, there are several obvious reasons that come to mind almost immediately. There are bands that just don’t have it together and never quite know what to expect. They are unprepared, move too slow, and frankly, just not professional at all about what they are doing. What does this do to us (“us” being the sound people)? We have to get a little bossier and demanding, which can lead to frustration and eventually someone gets mad. How can we all deal with this? Sound people need to be more forgiving to the "newbies," and even the veterans who just don’t get it. We also need to make sure we are prepared to work with bands like this. Have your stuff ready! Be the bigger person. In the end, your reputation and the clubs reputation will conquer all.
How does the band deal with it? Exactly that. Deal with it. Yeah, they are going to run into the new sound person who doesn’t quite have a routine down, but the bands also need to be ready for anything. Don’t forget your kick pedal at home, bring extra strings and picks, and if your cable wasn’t working very well in rehearsal earlier that day, chances are it’s not going to work very well at the show, so go get a new one. In a nut shell, be prepared.
Another fun issue to deal with is high expectations of club sound systems. Okay, so that sentence was a little facetious. Most of the time, club sound systems are lacking some things, like microphones that work, enough cables to handle even a 4-piece band, or for that matter, blown speaker components, or just not enough room on stage to even have monitors. This is where we, as sound people, need to really work on our people skills and learn how to convince the club owner that the sound is very important and critical in the success in the club. If you can’t seem to get any leverage, try harder. Portland is infamous for having lazy venue owners and not wanting to step up to the plate and make sure their sound is up to standards. Every sound person in this town has contacts for good deals on sound equipment. If you don’t, call me, I can take care of you. This will help in repeat business and positive word of mouth by the bands and patrons.
How do the bands typically deal with this? By whining and complaining until you threaten to shut them down. Now, this isn’t always true. For those band members that are passive and do their best to make the most out of every show, no matter what the elements are, I commend and thank you. You are the bands I probably remember the most and enjoyed working with time and time again.
Monitors are another issue. Some bands have what we are all too familiar with, pre-Madonnas. Band members don’t really think about the realities of playing live. They hear good stories about getting killer monitor mixes and expect that from everyone. Now, to toot my own horn, no matter where I worked, I was always complimented on my monitor mixes, some bands claiming it being the best they ever had. So, not to steer to far off course here, I have to say that monitor euphoria is not impossible, just don’t ever expect to have everything you want. Remember the Rolling Stones song, “You Can’t Always Get What You Want.”
Sound people, how can we solve this? Tip here! Use headphones. Get decent sealed headphones and learn to mix monitors. Remember…keep the musicians happy, and you will be happy.
Leading to my favorite topic of discussion and the cause of many arguments, walkouts, set shutdowns, and the finger…is stage volume. Bands, I am going to talk to you first. The rule of thumb is, the more reasonable the volume on stage, the better your house sound will be, the more pleased your fans will be, the more merchandise they will buy, and the more shows they will return to see, and bring friends, too! Don’t believe me? Try it.
How should a band fix the stage volume issue? Just because the amp goes to 11, doesn’t actually mean you have to turn it up to 11. If you practice in a space where you can crank the hell out of your gear, great, more power to you and your hearing. You need to practice turning it down. Practice more effectively by using headphone monitors and mix yourselves into it, or just turn it down. If your drummer can’t turn down and they are beating holes through your head because the one on their drum keeps breaking, they need to develop more professional habits. I have worked with so many bands that have said to me, “I can’t turn down, then I can’t hear myself over the drummer.” Okay, here’s a thought: That is why monitors were created. Please do not rely on yourselves to sound good right off the stage…you probably don’t. Let the sound person do their job. That is what they are paid to do, poorly or not.
I only touched the surface on that issue, but I need to talk to us sound people now. Most of you have faced this issue or one like it. You know to fight them a little until they hopefully give in and realize you were right, but in most cases, you won’t win. The musicians need to be educated a little more and during a set change is not the time to do it, and neither is after the show when you are coiling up cables and the band members are bitching because they couldn’t hear each other during their set. All you can do is, before the show, introduce yourself, and take the time to find out their set-up configuration, talk to them about stage volume ahead of time, and allow them to feel comfortable working with you. This will also allow them time to figure out how they should set up to accommodate your requests. From there, do your job, and let them do theirs. Give them the best possible monitor and main mix you can.
In closing, I want to mention a key element in the brief one-nighter most of us have with bands, or bands have with sound people, from the time they walk though the door, to the time they load-out. We all need to walk into a situation with a positive, open mind, and strive for effective and positive communication with each other. Listen to each other’s suggestions and requests, and follow through with anything you say you are going to do. Both bands and sound people are guilty of causing stress and confusion, frustration, and the impulse to walk out. Just take a deep breath and both make a strong effort to make the show go well…it’s the least we can do.
If you have any questions, comments, or suggestions as a band member or a sound person, I encourage emails. Please send them to ewbeyer@verizon.net. I will be more than happy to share some words, give advice and direction, as well as agree or disagree with anything you comment about.
