quote:

Originally posted by ST:
We are answering questions and offering opinions all the time. I was wondering what would happen if we turned that around a bit.

If you could say just one thing to a new L1® owner, what would it be?

quote:

Originally posted by Col. Cliff-at-Bose:
Joshua

How frustrating. Your main problem is getting your band to play as a team.

I know when we first started to play with the very first pre-production proto L1 system (actually before any production planning had begun AT ALL!), everyone swung for the fences all the time. Keep in mind that this particular band was a collection of A-list, seasoned, around-the-block professional players, albeit with all the bad habits that the triple amplification system instills in you (all of us). It wasn't until someone outside the band (Ken Jacob in this instance) said "stop and play right. Can't you hear what you're doing?"). And, of course, we all could hear it but hadn't yet realized that we could individually and collectively do something about it. Old habits die hard. Like simply play it right and not everyone bashing all the time on 10. This led to way more pleasing and dramatic arrangements, both for the audience and for the players too. (With the L1, as a player onstage, you have the best seat in the house.)

My guess is that all this is also true with your band. Do you have a recognized music director onstage? If not, you have to establish one. Eventually, everyone will take this role, but to start you need one. The other thing is that my guess is everyone does their own home recording on some kind of computer-based setup. Is that right? And so, especially with the guitar players, point out that when they do their home mixes, are the guitars covering up the vocals? If it's a good mix, they aren't and the guitars are only dominant when there's a guitar solo. If you appeal to their sense of a good mix and get it across that it's the same on stage, you will get somewhere. And don't listen to that "I need to be real loud to get my sound" BS. It's not true.

Getting the point across; that everyone has a role in the mix, but you can all hear it and do something about it; probably won't happen right away. It took me a while and, before the L1, such a situation was out of all our experiences as musicians. Someone else made the mix for the audience. Someone else had their hand on the brush. From your message here, it sounds like you get it. That's all it takes, except the part about getting everyone to play team ball. Band politics. You must have this with an all-L1 band. Everyone must be willing to play together.

When I formed my own band, I was the only L1-conscious player and had to teach everyone what was going on. These are all veteran players. So they listened, reasoned and now we have intelligent conversations about the mix based on what we all hear. I'm not saying it's easy to play and sing and get a great mix. It isn't. It's hard and takes a lot of practice to get it right. But the point is that if you play and arrange onstage based on what you all hear, and if everyone is willing to commit to serving the song and the audience (and not themselves or their individual instrument), then you will succeed in creating an artistic and satisfying mix for everyone.

You might want to show the cats this message as a place to start.

quote:

Originally posted by Ken-at-Bose:
Today I was going through some last minute details with the band leader and I decided to tell the leader a little bit of what to expect.

I thought this might be interesting to this community.

quote:

Hi Eddie,

With only a day to go before your performance, I want to get you thinking if I can about this new approach to amplification. In the past, this coaching has led to some spectacular performances.

Here’s the easiest way to think about it.

Imagine your group was rehearsing in your living room, and each person had a volume control for their own voice or instrument, AND NO OTHER. That’s it. Essentially, this is a “back to the future” system. It applies all the benefits of a natural, unamplified ensemble to music that uses amplification.

The shape of the loudspeakers used is important: if they were conventional speakers, you’d be able to have the living room rehearsal but you couldn’t project entertainment sound levels to the audience. If you made the level right for the artists, it wouldn’t be loud enough in the audience. Make it louder for the audience, and it would be too loud on stage, or you’d get feedback.

The seven-foot tall, coffee-mug wide L1 speakers have the unusual property of projecting sound across the stage and deep into an audience with little loss of sound volume. They’re like miniature versions of the concert line arrays used in arenas and stadiums, which have the same sound radiating property.

In our case, placed BEHIND the performers, they provide even sound distribution on stage and in an audience up to about 500 and eliminate the need for monitors, PA and even backline amps if artists so choose.

The demand, if you can call it that, is for the ensemble to listen to each other and PLAY TOGETHER. I know that sounds funny, but with conventional amplification systems employing separate monitor mixes for each player, and total isolation of the stage from the audience, many musicians have learned to just “play to their monitor” and “trust the front of house engineer”. Many have lost touch with what it means to truly play together like an ensemble, where every note, every sound, is controlled by the artists. Until the mid 1960s of course this is how everybody played amplified music. I love watching The Beatles play to the royal family in Royal Albert Hall, with only their amps behind them.

With our new approach, the sound you make together on stage, is the same sound that the audience hears. So if you concentrate on the deploying the song, you can be certain that’s reaching your audience. There’s no one else making audio or musical decisions.

Our experience, without exception in the case of the corporate center concerts, is that professional musicians take to this new approach like ducks to water. It can be a little odd at first, but any anxiety melts with the knowledge that you can just trust what’s happening musically on stage.

The biggest problem we encounter with less seasoned bands is the idea that if the singer (or singers) aren’t loud enough (relative to the instruments) the sound engineer will just turn the singers up. In this new approach, there is no sound engineer mixing the band. The band is mixing the band. So if the singer, or singers, aren’t loud enough, there’s only three options: sing louder, turn yourself up, or play softer. Our system can play very loud. But at a certain point, feedback will creep in and that’s just a drag to deal with. Singing louder is sometimes an option, but not if you’re already singing loudly. No one wants to strain their voice. Usually, the best musical option is to play softer. We train bands to listen to the hits of the 40s through the 90s and ask them to analyze the level of the vocals vs. the instruments. The vocals are king. Always. Then we ask them to deploy a song with that in mind. The results are usually just staggering. Like an angel came from heaven to bless the band. Dynamics!!! Tension and release!!! Lyrics!!! And so on. With your experience, I’m sure you know all about this.

I think you guys are going to have an absolute blast playing on this new system. Your music, and your talent, are perfect. Trust yourselves to be in control and I think it will be one of the greatest performances we’ve ever heard.