The Walkmen. Bad audio. Who is to blame?

I don't know who is to blame for bad audio. If it's the 9:30 Club or whoever the band has touring with them for sound, but what I do know is that when the band came out and the lead singer
was blowing the veins out his neck like I've never seen him before to knock the socks off of every single mother f-er in the audience… and you couldn't hear a single note he was singing. For two whole songs! Somebody needs to get their ass kicked. So I immediately go down to the 899 channel audio board in the back of the room. Not a soul behind the board. Not even the blur of somebody running so fast to solve the problem they've left a ghostly image behind. What you
got was a guy calmly walking from around the corner going into the booth, who as he passed I said, "Hey man, you can't hear the lead singer." He mutters, "Yeah you can." Sure, you can hear the lead singer. BLOWING THE VEINS OUT HIS NECK to rock the socks off every mother f-er in the crowd. But you don't hear anything in the speakers. Which is connected to the audio board. Which is connected to the lead singers microphone. A few seconds of standing there and I'm not sure if it's all the blank stares from the crowd in front of him, or if his ear which is connected to his ass, which is connected to his brain, finally figures things out. But scramble mode kicks in. Panic. Confusion. But no audio.

At this point I snap. I'm tired of the "Best Concert Venue on the East Coast" sucking all the time. Whether it's bass levels so high the speakers are cracking or generally the vocals so lost in a sea of garbled sound that you wonder if you're listening to the show underwater. I go the ticket office to demand a full refund. "Sorry, no refunds." Where can I complain? "You can use the Forum." So there is nobody I can talk to about why the audio is always bad here. "No, there is nobody you can talk to." Robot monkeys. The world is run… by
robot monkeys.

Walking back into the main room I hear the sound of someone shouting, "They've got the audio, the singer has audio." The audience is applauding
in the middle of the song not for joy, but to explain that now they can actually hear the show. Honestly, for the band the show was already over. They could play the songs and sing like they meant it, but the heart had left the building. And this is before the piano couldn't be heard and the bass player couldn't be heard. I truely felt sorry for them. Ultimately,
great to see them and brilliant music. But like them, I went home angry.

Professional solution. Stop the show, fix the problem and start over. But is the 9:30 Club, the audio techs and the band all professional to
handle that? I guess we'll never know.

Robot Monkeys.

Can I use that for a band name if I ever learn how to play an instrument and find three other people who would actually want to be in a band with me?

I think the only people the Walkmen have to blame for a sub-par live show is themselves. Granted, no vocals for the first two songs was a little bogus, but that didn't make up for the complete lack of energy for a majority of the songs. I still like them on record, but doubt I'll ever see them again.

It is not the best music venue on the East Coast, it is nationwide. Best nightclub venue in the nation. At least get your basics straight dude.

I wasn't at the club last night so I have no idea who was doing sound. But, various members of the 9:30 staph, including Seth the owner, check in. So hopefully they can give you a better answer as to what was going on last night.

As much as I disliked Weird War the first time I saw them, I have to admit that they were the best out of the three last night.

Thirsty and I share a brain. While the Walkmen did hit some hit points (notably "Thinking of a Dream I Had," "Wake Up," and "Little House of Savages"), they were definitely not a live band. At least Weird War showed marked improvement over the last time I saw them. Man, that guitarist can wail!

Originally posted by thirsty moore:
As much as I disliked Weird War the first time I saw them, I have to admit that they were the best out of the three last night.

I hear it is the best place in the world, period. Sort of wish I had gotten married and had my honeymoon there.

Originally posted by no teddy:
It is not the best music venue on the East Coast, it is nationwide. Best nightclub venue in the nation. At least get your basics straight dude.

Kosmo, that would be fantastic.
It's responses like "no teddy" that almost kept me from using this Forum in the first place, but if it eventually gathers an intelligent response from somebody then my time last night and on this Forum will be worth it. Thanks.

Originally posted by nkotbie:
I think the only people the Walkmen have to blame for a sub-par live show is themselves. Granted, no vocals for the first two songs was a little bogus, but that didn't make up for the complete lack of energy for a majority of the songs. I still like them on record, but doubt I'll ever see them again.

There's also the fact that we saw three bands play on the same equipment (did you notice the drums never moved? the amps were the same??) and it worked for all the other bands. It just seems… odd. I too say their fault

Originally posted by thirsty moore:
As much as I disliked Weird War the first time I saw them, I have to admit that they were the best out of the three last night.

the main annoyance when i saw them (open for ted leo) was the overly dramatic in-between song banter. however, the one make-up cd i have is kinda wack

Let me explain a few things to you.

First of all, your impression of a sound system is overly simplified. There are many components between the microphone and the sound console, so thre are many places where the problem could lie, either in an individual component or the connecting cables.
Therefore, the way to troubleshoot a problem is to gradually eliminate the possible causes, beginning with the most likely cause and proceeding from there.

In this case, it was obvious that the singer could hear himself through the stage monitors, eliminating 1 possible cause: Microphone not turned on [yes this happens occasionally]. This also indicated that the signal was arriving at the monitor console correctly. Therefore, the problem had to be somewhere in the signal path between the splitter, which takes the single signal from the microphone and sends it to both the monitor console and the front of house console, and the front of house console itself.
Since it was obvious the second the guy opened his mouth that something was wrong, the first step was to look at the vocal channel on the FOH console to be sure everything was turned on, which it was. So the engineer ran back behind the stage where the splitter and other components are located, to check those. That's why there wasn't anyone behind the board when you went there to insert yourself into the situation…he was already well on his way to fixing the problem. Let me assure you that the last thing ANYBODY who is trying to solve ANY problem in a crunch situation needs is somebody interrupting their train of thought to tell them what they already know.
It turned out the components in the backstage area were fine, narrowing the possible causes still further to the front of house area, where in addition to the sound console there are a number of effects and equalization components that could have been involved.
As it turned out it was one cable that went bad, preventing the signal from reaching the sound console. Sometimes this happens, and there's not a damn thing you can do about it. Everything works fine at soundcheck, and then during the show something doesn't. Guess what? Shit happens.

Contrary to your opinion, the professional thing to do is not to stop the show, but to correct the problem as quickly as possible as the show continues. It's also easier to fix a problem while it is actually occurring rather than stopping and trying to recreate it. This particular problem was repaired pretty quickly considering how many things could have been causing it, and how many potential obstacles there are in the signal path.

Regarding the other issues you mention, it's purely bad luck that the bass rig blew up, and there's nothing the sound engineer can do about that from behind the sound board. If you weren't so busy being pissed off, you might have noticed our stage tech assisting the bass player with his amp, and then rewiring the bass to bypass the amp when it became apparent that it had blown up. Sometimes amps blow, and that's just the way it goes. The only thing you can do is deal with it on the spot.
The guys in the Walkmen have been performing musicians for well over 10 years, and they know that sometimes unforeseen problems occur during shows. That wasn't the first time they've had technical problems during a show and they know it won't be the last. Far from becoming panicked or disheartened, they recovered well and went on to give us a fine show, even with the additional bass amp distraction. The only "heart that had left the building" was yours.

The bottom line here is that live performances are not an exact science. They are a spontaneous, in-the-moment creation with many variables that affect the whole. Sometimes technical problems occur and need to be dealt with. Other times a band member may turn their amp up so loud that it drowns out the other players and/or the vocals, which the sound engineer is powerless to fix because the volume is coming from the stage not through the sound console. Sometimes the singer grips the microphone the wrong way, muffling their own vocals, which the engineer is also powerless to correct. Other times the band is tired, or ill, or not getting along, or just having a bad day, all of which can affect the show. Our technical staff deals with all of these problems, and many more, on a daily basis. Often, the concert-goers don't even know that a major problem occurred and was dealt with in the most professional manner possible. That's a major reason why we have been recognized multiple times by our peers in the music industry as the best club in the country. That's a major reason why bands look forward to coming back here to play. If you have a hard time dealing with the spontaneous nature of live performances, maybe seeing shows just isn't your thing and you would be happier to remain in a more controlled environment, i.e. on your couch, listening to your favorite already recorded music.

excellent job twangirl!

As twangirl put it, some problems are pretty routine. But sometimes you just gotta stop: When I saw the Screaming Blue Messiahs back in '86 on F St., a stage outlet caught fire. The band dropped (literally) their instruments and left the stage for about 20 minutes while repairs were made. Bill Carter, the singer/guitarist, broke more strings that night than all the other guitarists I've seen combined. But he never stopped. When he broke too many he threw (again literally) his guitar to the roadie who had a kit specially designed for quick string replacement.

Great post twangirl. I've been to probably 100 shows at both the old and new 930 and the sound is usually excellent. Sure I've seen a problem or two, but the if it's been in the club's power to do so, they've almost always been fixed immediately

Thanks for the professional response twangirl. I'm not going to get into the pissing contest that you've started, but I guess I'll take your assessment of the technical problems of the show since you seemed to be "in the know." Though you didn't say how or why you know these facts.

I guess you were too busy backstage accepting awards from your peers, but unfortunately the technical aspects of a concert are only part of the equation. There is a audience as well. Something else the music industry has forgotten about. I know the Walkmen as well as I know you, but I was able to recognize a home town crowd. A home coming, home town crowd. Ask some of your buddies checking ID's of grandfathers at the door.

It was obivous to anyone with a soul that the lead singer busting his balls out for the home coming crowd for two opening songs, only to find out after the fact that nobody could even hear you, would be a major downer. Despite the fact that you've been performing musicians for well over 10 years. The fact that guess what, more shit happenend. Didn't help things. In retrospect I love the band more than ever now, because it proved they cared about audience.

You on the other hand, I'm not so sure. There is a countless number of jobs in the world, technical or otherwise that are performed by a countless number of people behind the scenes. Unknown. Unrecognized. Unthanked. If you're looking for thank you's in your job go hand out medicine in a third world country. Otherwise go home knowing that you've performed your job the best you can.

In this case, sorry it didn't happen. I've gotten off the couch to go to enough shows in my lifetime to know there ain't nothing wrong with stopping a show to make sure everything is alright. For the band AND the audience. And it seemed like a lot wasn't alright.

As for your run down of the many ways the band can screw up the audio at the 9:30 Club. Well, I guess that's informative and priceless. Debating with you the fine points of that and all the snide comments you made would be a waste of your time and mine. But if it helps you in the future, thanks for all the hard work you and your fellow engineers perform day in and day out. Just remember, the audience is listening.

Thanks for the post twangirl. It was very informative.

For the record, from what I heard of the walkmen last night, they sounded much much better than the previous time I had seen them in New York.

I am not entirely sure what some people expect from a $12 live experience. The unpredictability is surely part of the charm.

Weird War had a couple of good songs, but in the end they sound like they are one synthesizer away from being an 80's one hit wonder novelty act. I would like them alot more without the introduction to philosophy stage banter.

The Walkmen were a bit of a letdown, especially when compared to their last show in DC at the Black Cat, which was one of the best concerts I have seen.

I used to have one of the original Walkmans
<img src="http://www.pocketcalculatorshow.com/walkman/sony/graphics/wm-5.jpg" alt=" - " />
and it kicked Ipods ass!

The sound was grrrrrrrrrrrrrrreat!

I was really worried for the Walkmen's bass guitarist when he couldn't get the amps workin' or something. Yah, there were some problems, but I liked it anyway. Just be more careful next time, ok robot monkeys?

The the lead singer of Weird War? Darn entertaining. I wish that guy was my brother, but I sorta don't. He's cool.