Lend Me Your Ears

Yesterday after work I went to see the Carolina Chocolate Drops play on the lawn at Weaver Street Market. I hadn't been to one of their After Hours events in years, so I don't know if this were unusual, but there was no sound equipment. I suppose they expect the bands to provide their own. CCD having arrived a little from just getting off their flight had none. It was just the three of them, their accoustic instruments and throngs of people on the lawn.

After the first song, someone from the crowd brings up a simple amp/speaker combo and mic and sets that up in front of the band. Later he places the speaker on a stand above the heads of the audience. It's a big improvement. The people in back certainly couldn't hear, but at least the first 20 or so rows could now. A couple songs later someone else donates a mic and stand. Now we have one for the instruments and one for vocal. Through the small speaker they sound appropriately like they were coming through an old tube radio. Then ...

and here's the thing: People don't respect sound. I mean sound generally and the job of the Sound Guy itself. They think, 'You just put a mic in front of someone and hook it up to the amp and that's it. What's the big deal?' You're an idiot. That's the big deal. Running sound is a complicated task the has to consider the band, the instrument, the arena, the type of mic, the type of music, the audience, the acoustics, environment, etc. Unfortunately, there are a lot of sound guys who don't realise this either. Putting the speaker on the stand was smart because then the sound isn't simply absorbed into the bodies on the first row. It lessens the chance of feedback. That was probably somebody who knew at least a little what he was doing. On the other hand there's

... another guy brings up a guitar amp. Hmm, I think, I don't know about this. He takes the instrument mic cord from the speaker on the stand and plugs it into the amp which he has placed beside the band. My fingers are already going for my ears. Of course, there is feedback. He is quick with the volume knob, though. He at least knew enough to move the amp forward. But he leaves it on the ground where aforementioned front row bodies immediately begin absorbing the sound. OK, at least he left the vocal mic in the good *bzzzpt* He unplugs the vocal mic. Dude, you so don't mess with another guys setup. A guitar amp is not the same as a vocal PA. I don't care if it does go all the way up to 11, it's not going to be right for the job. So now all the sound is going through the guitar amp, and Carolina Chocolate Drops sound more like T Rex.

Idiot.

At least the band was good as usual. The hectic schedule and poor sound had little effect on their performance. They still talk too much. Well, Rhiannon talks too much. I mean, I get that it's historically significant music and all, the tradition shouldn't die away, pass it on, blah blah blah. Sometimes I just want to listen to some music. Dom sometimes reels her in. There's an interesting respectful tension between those two that I can't tell if it fuels creative energy or threatens the band's existence. He is a showman. He understands the importance of putting on a show. A "songster" is what he calls himself.