To bad the place has a separate bar room area too with pool tables and sports TV, so if some dudes come in and start playing too loud at the jam, people head into the bar room and soon they are playing to about an empty room. Some bands do that and well, soon you see which bands or people can actually sit in and not run the overloud volumes and can hear the singing and such and individuals who sit in on those jams. Of course, the weekends with the bands, and all of them never get too loud when playing and also play in balance (volume whatever) - otherwise I doubt they be there ever again.
 
If a band can not adjust to the place then I doubt they have any reason to think a place is going to put up with it.
 
In other words, some musicians are artists and some belong in another job or not playing music at least.
 

To each his own but I just don't do things I hate.
I use to. But I changed my ways.

But there is always the baseball bat.

 
 At any rate, it is also cheap draft beer nite also. Otherwise.....................??
And still it may be .....................??
 

Thanks for sharing guys,
 
Bubba- Nobody ever volunteers to help load OUT, ever.
 
Starise- I try to help friends out when I am needed. and the favors are generally returned either via a helping hand at a later date, or some form of Karma.  This particular friend was also one of the only people who helped me out on a couple of evenings years ago while I was framing out & building my studio.  I kinda owed him so-to-speak in this case.
 
Herb- Cools story man.   I personally can't stand battle of the bands, they are almost always rigged from the start, not worth it, and serve to raise money for the bar, and a feeling of contempt between bands on the same scene.  I feel they suck & I avoid them at almost all costs.  Congrats on the win though!
Mike-  Very true.  Bands that suck, always blame everything else. The sound man, the system, the room....  It's never that they just blow chunks.
 
SpaceAlf- Or it is worse yet when you are playing out of town in a new area for the 1st time, you're told this is great line up and these bands draw so you could pick up some new fans to start building a base there.  Your band drove 3 vehicles 60 miles to go perform.  You are playing say 3rd in a showcase of 4 bands...
   The 1st plays and takes forever to get their sh*t off the stage and they weren't that great anyway, some people get tired of the wait in the transition and leave.   The 2nd band takes the stage and just sucks, and I mean SUUUUUUCCCCKS!  plus they play over their set time & succeed in emptying the bar out completely.  You go on for 3 drunk regulars, 4 friends who rode up with you, 1 bartender, and the 3 guys in the last band (maybe one or two of their girlfriends).  You get done and they hand you 20 bucks and say thanks.  Awesome.  Sometimes, It's a good thing it's about the music and not the money, or the fans!  haha 
 
 
 
 
 
 

That band was in a bunch of BotB ... most were not in bars and were sponsored by radio stations and towns in conjunction with their street festivals and such. I think we entered about 5 or 6 during our time.... we won all  in first place except one. 
 
One of them was particularly interesting... I called to register and the guy asked me Country or Rock? He stated there were 2 categories with separate prizes and judging.
 
I spoke to the other 2 guys and called him back. We want to enter BOTH categories. He said you have to pay 2 entry fees. No problem....  We paid, we played and we won 1st place in both categories.... we got both 1st place prize monies and also got to play the street festival a short time later. Thousands of people were there dancing in the street.... it was a hoot.
 
While I do agree many  BotB are rigged... we found that the ones we entered didn't seem to be because we knew no one at the events.  Hometown bands do seem to have the edge.

Hi,
 
I did a lot of technical theater, mostly with lighting and sound, and the only hard part of this, is that I knew what I wanted to do, and how, but trying to get someone else to do it was ... frustrating.
 
On one show, I had a rather difficult, and very fast light change, and I could get up there and go ... you do this, and then this and then this. Voila. And the girl still missed it on the show, and it created a slight hesitation and break for the actors that broke the mood of the sequence.
 
This is the hard part of a lot of my writing. I already have the stage/film set for it, and I am trying to describe it, and it was just like the idea I had for the original Coffee House picture/set, which I really wanted to put together as it was a bit of a take on Hipgnosis, but it was not understood. I would have done it, if Bapu said ... neat ... far out ... not sure how to use it, or what it means ... but it got blown out right away, and that hurt the inner feeling that "saw" that set and picture!
 
I would have liked to have the chance to put more bands on the stage. I would have done "The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway". I would have done "Tales from Topographic Oceans". I would have done "Passion Play" ... and show people that some new music has more in it, than we give it credit for, but I felt that the folks that were doing the CH stuff (THEN), wanted to skin it down to a rock'n'roll song only and nothing else.
 
I can understand, how the presentation/visual can change the meanings and ideas around ANYTHING, and this happens in film and the stage, too! But in the end, what attracts most people to something, is that 3rd dimention that you can not always put your finger on, and sometimes that picture, or that visual, is more important than the music, in making it come alive.
 
We just need, "less" songs, and more "music". Is how I like to say it.
 

Karyn
I love doing live sound.

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
 
This :)
 

How did that work for Jerry Garcia's band?  Did you have to run Dead sound?

Hi,
 
(remember I am not a musician that plays an instrument like you do! Theater and film and stage!) 
 
Had a couple of interesting bits while running around with Gong. Michael (eventually became the bass player for University of Errors with Daevid) was the sound engineer for 2 runs through here in the West Coast, and it was interesting to watch him do his thing.
 
He obviously knew what the band needed and wanted for their sound, and the first thing he did in Eugene, was to run up to the board and turn all the slides to half way, when the band started warming up a bit and doing a sound check. Easier to adjust from there, than come up with nothing, and you have to know how it relates to the rest of the band, is what I thought he said.
 
You have Bloomdido on his wind instruments, and he HAS to be heard, and can not be blown out by the drums and guitar like most rock avenues do around here in the West Coast. Three times Ozric Tentacles came through here and three times the keyboards were there only during a solo! The rest of the music wasted!
 
Honestly, too much of the mix is a problemin the decisions by the folks that make up the band ... or a George Martin, or Tom Dowd, that know what music is, and how to make it sound more interesting and better!
 
We do not look at music that way, from the outside! Ed, as technically good as he is, in my eyes, only sees one thing, ahd since he plays in it, I am not sure he knows how to separate himself from it. Can't blame him really!
 
This was probably one of the things about Gong that was right in their tours ... they knew how to setup their sound and make sure that everyone was heard, and there was not a "superstar" that had to be louder than anyone else, which is the real problem in most rock shows ... which takes away from the guitar player, for example, who can only play for 57 seconds during the solo and the rest of the time he doesn't play? I wonder how Tchaikovsky setup his "solos"? Forget that, this is rock'n'roll!
 
Live sound is only as good as the band and the person doing it. If the person doing it is sensitive to the musicians in the band, you will hear them all beautifully.
 
The rest is just egocentric behavior, and I probably would leave, though I can imagine that at least 75% of all the bands out there is what this is all about. It's not even the music!
 
 
So, is Chuck telling us that he can't stand putting up with this egocentric behavior that is not even about the music?

I sometimes let people help me with my gear and sometimes I don't. My gear is expensive and often a little tricky.
 
Stands
I know which mic shock-mounts are just balanced on top of the stands vs. the ones screwed on. I know which screws have broken off. I know exactly how to use any of my stands to best position a mic without further damaging the stands.
 
Cables
We all have our way. I like mine folded in half a couple of times and tied in half. That way they never get tangled in the bags.
 
Power cords, pres, compressors, interfaces, computer...
To important to get help with.
 
Once everything is broken down... Mics in cases, Cables in sacks, hardware neatly packed, I can totally get help making runs to the car. And honestly, there are usually several people who want to help me load the car, but I usually pick just one so I can keep an eye on everything. I like to double check the car once loaded to be sure everything made it in.
 
Organization is the key for me. I use an old Pedal Board to organize hardware and make it safe to carry. It has a hardtop.