NBC: volume

[Deb Lubin]

This is a "favorite" topic in the yahoo blues group in this area.   Maybe more musicians will read about it here and finally get it.  And yes, I do enjoy beating my head against the wall, proverbially.

I wouldn't have guessed Lucky either--I agree with Maxdog.  Attitude problems but not volume in my experience hearing Lucky (when he shows up that is).  My first guess was Joe Bonamassa; second guess Bernard Allison (because of the wall of amps); third guess Coco Montoya.  Needless to say, the list can be quite long, especially in a small club with low ceilings, etc.  I could name a few more.

Walter, you're so right that what the musicians hear on stage has little relation to what the audience hears.  Why don't musicians get that?  How can they tell what it sounds like for us?  I have often told one of my local faves, who asks me to tell him if it's too loud--"when I have my fingers in my ears, it's too damn loud."   Can't they see the pain on our faces?   Don't they get it when half the audience spends the whole evening outside on the sidewalk?  Or, more apropos, don't they care?   I more often than not these days choose not to support a band that doesn't care about the audience.

I should stop--this is my top pet peeve.
Deb    

Son Lewis <Sonlewis1@aol.com> wrote:
  

In a message dated 10/14/2007 2:11:48 P.M. Eastern Daylight Time, 
maxdog-blues-l@COMCAST.NET writes:

A couple of years back a well-known blues guitar player came through our 
local club and was so loud that many of the patrons of the club complained to 
him. His response was something like "That's the way its going to be, take it 
or leave it." 


Let me guess... were his initials Lucky Petersen? Having opened for him I 
watched the then-owner of The Stanhope House cut the power to the stage 
because Lucky's response to audience complaints of volume was "well, your car's st
ill in the parking lot..."

I think most venues struggle with the question of volume from bands who feel 
that tone requires amp tube saturation and some drummers must hit very hard 
in order to maintain their groove. 

My band does a ton of restaurants and even after more than 20 years in the 
business (well, nearly 40) maintaining the proper volume threshold for us is 
still a challenge. We adjust to a new "tone" required by the volume for the 
audiences benefit, not ours. We are always asking from the stage to make sure 
we are not getting out of control (we are all hearing-damaged, and it's 
really hard to tell from where we are).

I think the venue may call for a completely different "tone" and if it's 
clean because the venue is small then the musicians MUST be able to get their 
head around playing with a different tone. I come from a different school of 
thought on "my sound"... I believe that the groove, the emotion of the 
delivery, the passion of the performance define "my sound" and not just a single 
tonal quality established by a particular volume on my guitar and amp... but 
maybe that (and my lack of talent and ability) is what keeps me from fame and 
stardom!

Son Lewis
Blues Vocalist/Guitarist
_www.sonlewis.com_ (http://www.sonlewis.com/) 



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