On May 9, 2007, at 10:02 PM, Raymond Horton wrote:
Once, many years ago, a rock sound guy (perhaps not the tightest
cable tie in the bunch, if you get my drift) was setting up mics
for a pops concert of ours. I mentioned to him how we had a
problem at the rehearsal getting a solo heard. He said to me,
missing the point of what I had just said:
"That's the great thing about a symphony job. You just put up a
bunch of mics, turn 'em on, and it sounds like a symphony!"
How can you argue with logic like that?
Well, I'm not sure he's so far off.
I give a lot of... well, let's say constructive... comments to sound
engineers, especially if I am in the audience and paying good prices.
I went up and spoke to the sound guy at a Joe Lovano concert here in
Montreal at the Jazz Festival because of the bad sound quality, and
darned if the sound didn't get better in the second half. All I said
was, "Do you think the bass drum is that loud on stage?" Amazing the
difference that made.
On the flip side, I also make it a point to mention when the sound
has been good, and every time I do, I get variants of the same
answer: "I didn't do much, just set a basic position and balance and
let them play." So if the band already played with a good sound and
balance, the sound guy didn't stick his fingers where they weren't
needed, to the benefit of everyone.
Phil Nimmons (I consider him to be the Canadian Duke Ellington,
because of the quality of his output, but I also have a special
fondness for him because he got me started writing) always used the
same sound man, Jake, and introduced him so he could take a bow at
the end of every concert of his band. Jake said that he got the gig
when Phil came up to him before a concert and said, "You know, my
band plays pretty soft sometimes. When they do, don't turn them up."
and Jake's response was, "Of course not!" Phil hugged him after the
show, and a beautiful relationship was born.
Christopher
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