quote:

Some shareholders said they found the arrangement a bargain compared to grocery shopping, while
others considered it a worthwhile indulgence. Most agreed that the urge to buy and spend locally —
to avoid the costs and environmental degradation that come with shipping and storage — was behind
the decision to join.

Some shareholders said they found the arrangement at the Live Music Farm a bargain compared to schlubbing into the city for an expensive show with expensive parking and often disappointing bad sound, while others considered locally-grown musical talent and styles a worthwhile indulgence. Most agreed that the urge to buy and spend locally -- to avoid the costs and artificialities that come with highly packaged touring acts -- was behind the decision to join.

quote:

“From a ‘going green’ standpoint, it’s an appropriate thing to do,” said Gerard Brill, a musician who
bought a share of Erehwon. “Like everything organic, it’s not a bargain, but what price do you put on
being healthy? Considering all things, it’s actually a very good deal.”

He's closer than he thinks.

quote:

The guy in the next office is banging his head on my wall...

Tell him to stop.

So NOW I know why you don't want me to chunk my thoughts into multiple posts!

Go to the Notify tab at the top of this window and click. Turn off the notification.

quote:

The guy in the next office is banging his head on my wall...


Tell him to stop.

So NOW I know why you don't want me to chunk my thoughts into multiple posts!

Hi:

quote:

"The band thinks that the reason they sometimes don't do well in performing arts centers has something to do with "the subscribers" maybe not digging their unique, sometimes raw brand of rock and rockin' blues.

But that's not it. The "subscibers" are you and me. Boomers. We LOVE to rock. We MADE rock.

What we don't like is to be jackhammered into our seats by our favorite bands."

My 02:
In many cases I don't think the musicians on stage have a clue what the FOH sound levels, and sound quality, are much of the time, since their reference is their stage monitors (part of the L1's success seems to bear that out).

I believe it's the sound crew who are responsible for the overbearing sound - and resulting lousy sound quality - of many of the music concerts many of us are (apparently) getting sick and tired of attending because of these over-the-top sound levels. This is the single biggest reason I stopped supporting local music, and certainly why I will no longer pay ridiculously high ticket prices to see any name band...unless I know the venue, and can know with certainty that the sound levels will be reasonable, etc.

I have found a local (to me) event that promotes live music (albeit on a smaller scale) and the guy doing the sound has it right! I try to attend as many of those concerts as my schedule will allow, to show my support for what they are trying to do, etc. I've yet to be disappointed with any of the musicians' performances. And I never leave the venue half-deaf.

The Whitaker Center (Harrisburg, PA) is another one. Similar in appearance to the Mahaiwe theatre. The sound crew at the Whitaker Center provide some of the best live sound I've ever heard at any venue; and they do it on a consistent basis. It's a real pleasure to listen to music at the Whitaker Center!

Nowadays I only go to music concerts where I know there's a high probability that I will not come home half deaf after the concert. There are way too many opportunities to attend live concerts these days that there simply is no reason to encourage musicians to play at ear-splitting performances by attending their concerts.

Because of the current (and increasing) level of competition between TV and Computer Media, for the attention of the audience and their descretionary dollars, I believe that professional musicians are going to have to get their sound levels under control if they expect to last long in this highly competitive arena.

Back to Los Lobos: I heard them on the Prairie Home Companion show once, doing some fantastic acoustic stuff. I could listen to them play like that all day long.

Stu

I've had an email exchange as planned with the Technical Director at the Mahaiwe in Great Barrington.

Here's his answer to my questions: (I've fixed a few typos):

quote:

Our "control" over the audio environment varies from show to show. On events when our engineer is directly mixing the show, then we have complete control, although the artist's road manager will often have a lot to say about it. On many shows, however, like Los Lobos, the show is actually mixed by an engineer who comes with the artists. In fact, the person who directly mixed Los Lobos was their road manager. In these cases, our engineer, who is with him at the board, is more of an advisor on how the house sounds and feels, and how that house gear functions. Some are more receptive to this "advice" then others. The Los Lobos engineer was happy to do this. This always works to the artists advantage, as it helps them sound better, to have someone guide them, who knows the room better then they do.

Like most venues, our patrons, board and executive staff are not shy from expressing their feelings about production to me. I cam often reminded that everyone seems to know two things, what they do for a living and sound...

That said, they do not mandate specific levels, but we do try to be conscious of they style of the show, who the patrons are, and what will be an acceptable level of volume for them. Over the last few months, we have had sound re-enforcement/PA for the Paul Taylor Dance Company, Judy Collins, Daryl Hall and Los Lobos. All of these have a different audience, and require a different approach to the mix.

I find this information quite interesting and encouraging. It sounds to me like this place really has its act together. They have a really good engineer who can work in a variety of scenarios.

It also sounds like the community of patrons is very involved and variously vocal. They can't blast people (act and genre dependent) without hearing about it.

Given Stuart's examples, and some of the other comments here, there's at least some part of the market that seems to be shifting towards better sound levels.

Once levels are comfortable, we'll be able to hear again, and with that I believe will come further improvements in fidelity, including systems that take advantage of that marvelous property of our hearing system called "the cocktail party effect".

Ken

I should have mentioned before that LL has taken recently to putting the road case for their backline amps (they rent these days instead of carrying) in front of their amps.

This is so that they don't kill the people in the audience who would be in the line of fire.

Obviously there's some cultural shift taking place.

Ken

Ken