Live Sound..

A couple weeks ago I received a call from my friend, Lisa, and she asked if I was interested in running sound at a local establishment called the French Quarter Cafe. I have been looking for an opportunity like this for some time, so I took the job. After meeting the bar owner, Dennis, he asked me to run sound for him every Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday.

I am just going into my 3rd week at the French Quarter, and I already have learned a lot about the do's and don'ts of live sound engineering. One good example is to tell the guitar and bass players to keep their amps levels down on-stage. That way you can actually manipulate the sound and make the band sound good as a whole. Unfortunately, though, this is not something that every band is willing to comply with, as I found out with a band last weekend. The band consisted of 2 guitars, bass (who did vocals), and drums. Each guitarist had two 4x12 cabs set up both sides of the stage. I requested that they keep the stage volume down for the sake of the overall sound and the people who were eating dinner. They responded, "We're not worried about the sound. It's not that big of a deal." I decided at that point that it wasn't worth my time to try to talk some sense in to them, and let them have it their way. It was easily the worst sounding set that I have experienced at the French Quarter Cafe.

One other thing that I have learned is that people have no problem informing me when they are not hearing exactly what they want to, when they want to. I have already been ripped up and down by a older gentleman who thought it was my fault that the first band was not on the stage at 9pm like the schedule had said. And at the end of the night, he then gave me his opinion on everything about the mix that he thought I could have done better. But in the case of the young lady that came up to me last Friday evening, it didn't matter that she was sitting in the worst spot in the house in terms of being able to hear the house mix. I was asked to find a speaker to turn towards them so they could hear the vocals. If nothing else, I can find some entertainment in my conversations with these people. Everyone's a critic, whether they can do the job themself or not.

Other than the band that preferred to make more noise than music, and random verbal slashing from customers, it has been a lot of fun. Come on out and check the place out if you're in the area.

- Andy Roy