Best sound guys in the area, and why?

tornandfrayed · Post by **tornandfrayed** » Monday Dec 29, 2003

Whether you are playing Heavey Metal, Punk, Country, Ska, Rock'n'Roll or Polka, we all have one thing in common. Our shows and sound can be greatly influenced by the guy behind the board, the master of mayhem; yes! the sound guy. I am interested in knowing who the best sound guys are in the area. The only way to know that is to ask the working musicians in the area for input..so..who do you guys think the best sound guys in the area are and why?

hitman18 · Post by **hitman18** » Monday Dec 29, 2003

in my opinion the very best soundmen i have worked with. had been around for a while. and was able to develop an ear for different styles of music. there is alot of guys. who are good on the tech side of things but lack in the ear for the right sound department. and visa versa. trying to find a good soundman is like auditioning another member for your band. cuz you need someone who can adapt to all that the band is about. and open to ideas. and not to allow them to take over the band. cuz after all its the band who hire's them. Harlan Cox has been around for a long time. and has a good mix for a band and know's just as much about the gear as well. he has run sound for bands all over the state. local and agency bands . and Rick Claar ( the front, Paradise lost, and many more)by far the best at being able to mix drums. they sounded like thunder . giving you that feeling in your chest and at the same time it wasnt to loud, ( still cant figure that out, lol) and his mix for a band was untouchable. in my opinion. but there are guys coming on to the scene. who are good. and people you can work with. cuz everyone know's there is a bunch out there that have been around that you cant work with due to ego or just plain in it for the money kinda guys. A soundman that is just getting started, that i feel will be very good is Dave Wertz or DWERTZ . there is alot of good soundmen out there. if you have patience to find them. but i could also do a whole new thread on bad soundmen too.

BDR · Post by **BDR** » Monday Dec 29, 2003

I think sound guys become better the better they know the band. If you start with a good sound guy and work with him often, no one will be able to run better for you than him.

We work mostly with RICHIE JOHNSON and DAVE NAGLE and they both make us pound.

r:>)

April · Post by **April** » Wednesday Dec 31, 2003

Red Solinsky does an awesome job making everybody pound at the Castle Pub. kick ass light show too, Red.

Dave · Post by **Dave** » Wednesday Dec 31, 2003

I have to throw in a vote for Zilly. Reasons:

1. Experienced. He gives a great mix and can really make a system pound.

2. Easy going. Even when we were just getting started he treated us well and mixed for us like we were any other band.

3. Professional. I have never seen him drink while he was working (except coffee).

Overall Zilly has to be one of the best in the area. I am sure plenty of others agree.

Banned · Post by **Banned** » Wednesday Dec 31, 2003

Zilly is awesome. People who follow us around tend to say that we sound the best at City Limits. (Come out January 10 and let me know what you think. SHAMELESS PLUG!)

There also seems to be a ton of veteran soundguys in the Johnstown area. Don't know many of their names off the top of my head, though. Those guys are great for giving you feedback on what you as a band can do to sound better. For example, the guy at Westmont Gardens gave us some tweaking hints to improve our kick drum sound drastically. A lot of guys are too willing to sit there passively with their arms folded and let an individual sound like @$$, when you are up on stage thinking that you sound like +!+s. Gotta get a second opinion from your ears in the back of the room, ya know?

Craven Sound · Post by **Craven Sound** » Wednesday Dec 31, 2003

Here's a quote from a sign I saw at the BJC one time: "Everybody knows two things: their business and sound", and I knew exactly what the house engineer was getting at. Everybody has an idea of what they "want" to hear, if it's not what they want, they bitch. As a sound guy, I've heard it all from "you did an excellent job" or "are they really playing, or are you playing a CD" to "I can't hear the tone". WTF does that mean? I've worked with Zilly many times, and he gets my vote. A great band once sang "you can't please everyone, so you have to please yourself".

T-bone · Post by **T-bone** » Wednesday Dec 31, 2003

Billy from aldo's isn't to shabby either.he knows his system pretty dam good. thats a must in the sound buisness. his monitor mixes are near flawless. billy has my vote.

rickw · Post by **rickw** » Wednesday Dec 31, 2003

Happy New Year! The bands I've been in over the centuries have all had one thing in common. Absolutely excellent sound techs. From Don Verderame, Mike Dublin, Johnny from Hell, Mark Criste, Harlan Cox, to webmaster Ron himself! Also Brian McConnell is extremely talented. It takes a superhuman effort to engineer one of the ACT's musicals (especially ones with guitarists, lol), and Brian always comes through. I totally agree with the consensus on Zilly. One question for the sound guys though. How the hell do you put up with us whiners!?! Too loud, to soft, cut 2.5K!! Now!! Oh man. Don't know how ya do it, but thanks.

Craven Sound · Post by **Craven Sound** » Thursday Jan 01, 2004

Don't even get me started on the whining!!!

Dave · Post by **Dave** » Thursday Jan 01, 2004

One thing that impresses me about Brian McConnell is his ability to take a big mess and make it work. He did the sound for the Y-Woodstock event last summer. He got every band on and off the stage quickly, hooked everything up and had each band sounding great without any soundchecks. He just dialed everything in during the first song of each set. He is very professional.

FatVin · Post by **FatVin** » Thursday Jan 01, 2004

I have to echo Rob and give kudos top Dave Nagle, we've worked with him several times and he always does good by us. If, by the way ya need to get some recording done Dave just upgraded his studio recently and it's a cool place to work.

facingwest · Post by **facingwest** » Thursday Jan 01, 2004

I've never had the pleasure in working with a lot of soundguys in the area, however, I know what's important to me whenever we hire out for sound. A soundman hitting ques for solos is one of the biggest things. I can't stand to be listening out of the mains and not hear a single note being played until the last few notes of a solo. For a guitarist, that's embarassing. Secondly, say with 5 different instruments being played, they should be mixed evenly, so you can hear everything clearly, but not too overbearing. A soundman should be familiar with your set to have an idea of what's to be expected out of the band. Vocals and vocal harmonies are the most important thing out of anything else in a mix. It sux when you listen out and can only hear 3 vocals out of a 5 part vocal harmony. Aside from the norm, those are things I'd definitely look for in working with a soundguy.

tonefight · Post by **tonefight** » Thursday Jan 01, 2004

I gave up on sound guys turning up the guitar for a solo, I took it on myself to set up seperate lead channels with a little extra VOLUME, that way I can actually keep my volume at a decent level when it doesn't need to be loud and know I still got that pedal when I need it.

killyourscene · Post by **killyourscene** » Thursday Jan 01, 2004

billy from aldo's.

kingofevil · Post by **kingofevil** » Thursday Jan 01, 2004

replying to your so called sound man I saw his so called talent at the pony lounge and he sucks!!!! I am a sound man from the area am requested often from not only local bands but of agency bands.the sound company can only be as good as the band it's self. you are a good band but your sound is killing your band...you have talent but your judgement in sound is way off key!!!!!!!!! I never claimed to be as you say technical, but I've worked enough to know what knobs to turn to make my ears happy and to make the band pound!!!!!!!!! A good drum sound will be crisp and clean and make your nipples hard.......by the way not making your ears bleed....from the show I saw at the Pony in november your drums would make a tupperware lady happy...I'm not cutting your band , but come on get real........... I also caught your show at Dougherty's and you kicked ass , what the fuck happened??? could it be that the sound equiptment and the dude running it knows what he's doing...did you get a new band or did you send your twins???????????

Dave · Post by **Dave** » Thursday Jan 01, 2004

kingofevil wrote:replying to your so called sound man I saw his so called talent at the pony lounge and he sucks!!!!

Ouch! What/who are you replying to?

Post by **Ron** » Thursday Jan 01, 2004

kingofevil,

I'm going to have to deactivate your membership for a while, not because of your nasty comments, but because you gave a bogus email address when you signed up. Normally I put the account on hold for 2 weeks or until I am sent a valid email address that I can confirm. If I get no reply for two weeks, then the account gets deleted.

Sorry, but it's a violation of Rockpage's terms of use.

cruseaudio · Post by **cruseaudio** » Friday Jan 02, 2004

HOW TO MAKE A GOOD SOUND GUY

Where do I start. A good sound guy or sound company has good equip, good ear, and personable additude. Can we at least agree on that? So lets start at the beginning- good ear! You don't even do this for a living unless many people told you that you have one. That is paramount.
Second is top notch equipment. Well if you want to do this for a living a good start is a $30,000.00 equip. list.(average)
Third, is a likeable personality. Also a nice atribute.

Finally stir your ingrediants: Take your sound guy with his investment and good additude,mix him with a nasty club owner,noise ordinance laws, bands with no experience but plenty of additude, and are also deaf because this is there 4th show in a row that week, an empty club (in other words free show), a nasty wanna be lars' snare drum on a stage the size of a parking lot space, and finally pay him $150.00 for the night.

How many shows are you doing this year 50? 50 multiplied by $150.00. $7500.00!!!!! FOR A YEAR? A YEAR!!!!!!!!
Who payes for the broken equip.? The band? right.

I do not want to tick people off but this is pretty much what happens to make good sound guys go bad.

Bands don't make much money, so they can't pay a lot for sound/lights.

Sound guys really DO want to work and KEEP a good additude, but you need to understand that WHEN YOU SAY THAT WE ARE IN IT FOR THE MONEY, THAT IS TOTAL CRAP. IF you don't beleive me you spend your hard-earned money and let people use and abuse it night after night and we will see how good your additude becomes.

Guys like Zilli are really good and I suppose that not having to maintain a good soundsystem out of thier own pocket helps with the good additude thing. Harlan Cox is really good to. Call him now? He is a victim of the nice guy sindrome.( you pay me what you can and I will be here for you till enough equip. breaks down and I can't work anymore)!

Look people I really don't want to cause a riot here but hopefully this gave you some food for thought. The phrase (catch 22 ) comes to mind.

I guess a good sound guy is someone who work under these conditions. If you know someone like this, he probably is a SOUND GOD. PAY HIM WELL AND GIVE HIM A PAT ON THE BACK.

casdahgeo · Post by **casdahgeo** » Friday Jan 02, 2004

You know what... these guys are great at least at Doughertys Terra Tory.....any other time they are "ok"....even on new year's eve...they were ok.....i don't know if they changed for just one night or what but.....Doughtery's Terra Tory sounded best..... in my opinion...... My sugesstion is also "to never mix business w/ pleasure", anyother band will tell you.... a thought to keep.....Rock on Hair Force One

Craven Sound · Post by **Craven Sound** » Friday Jan 02, 2004

It helps when there is communication between the band and the sound guy too. Some of us have many talents, but WE ARE NOT PSYCIC!! If you have a problem with the sound guy, tell him. If you are too lazy to bring in all of the equipment, or THINK the sound guy doesn't know what he is talking about, you're probably wrong. I had an argument one time to set all of the speakers up on one side of the stage to save room. Granted, the system is mono, but big rockstars shouldn't want all of their speakers on one side; it would look stupid, as well as moving the sound stage WAY off center.

And by the way, of course you think they sound great at Dougherty's, it's you husband's PA system. You've only been to 3 HF gigs, so STEP_OFF!

Just venting.

tornandfrayed · Post by **tornandfrayed** » Friday Jan 02, 2004

OK so... If a band has a problem with a sound guy they should approach them and ask if it can be addressed. Do you think that if approached in the right manner most guys will respond well and try to be helpful? I think that they will. What can we do as musicians to try to help or make it easier for the sound people to do their jobs? Also what if a sound person is bad and can't admit it? If you are not so great at something you can improve with patience and practice, right? I believe that in most cases these people are doing this because they enjoy the environment and they enjoy music. I am curious about how you guys ( girls ) deal with sound issues to try to get them resolved. Also I want to point out that I have nothing but respect for everyone on the scene, I have not yet met anyone without any redeeming qualities! I just believe that the better everyone sounds the better the scene and the better for Central PA musicians.

joyride · Post by **joyride** » Friday Jan 02, 2004

A reply to Cruseaudio, I work as the sound guy at Dougherty's. I get to work with alot of good bands such as Skell, Pivet, Bad Daze, RENNIS, Flap Jack and Jill, and a new band called Hair Force One. The equipment i work with is not cheap equitment and because i work as the in house sound guy, I dont get to spend anytime with the various bands that play there. It is very difficult without a set list ,and the guys have to trrust that the equipment is good, and that I know what I am doing, but with these bands it is easy to work with them as they are all very good. U also have to take into consideration the area u r talking about. A bigger city will have better sound than smaller cities, due to location and building structure

G

Banned · Post by **Banned** » Saturday Jan 03, 2004

Alright, here's some venting of my own . . .

This thread has turned into a "let's bash Hair Force One and their soundguy thread" and it's gone far enough. If anyone has suggestions or criticisms for us or Craven, please do the professional and mature thing and DISCUSS IT IN PRIVATE. Please refer to www.HF1rocks.com for our e-mail and phone contact information, or use the Rockpage PM system. Or come out to rock with us at Yesterday's Party this Saturday (SHAMELESS PLUG!!!) and discuss it in person.

These forums are for constructive discussions, not verbal warfare. Especially in a close-knit scene like this one. There is very little anonymity here - people know who you are, so think before you type. Otherwise you may find yourself wondering where all your friends went.

hitman18 · Post by **hitman18** » Saturday Jan 03, 2004

First of all the original post that i put up was not a bashing of our soundman it wasnt that nor was it intended to be that. im not going to apoligize for something people think i said. . there is one thing that is true that has come out of all these post's we did have problems with our soundman and once again im not bashing him. cuz the problems worked both ways if we felt there was a problem we did not go to him . nor did he come to us. the original post i put up got taken way out of context. and i know our soundman took it as being directed at him. THAT TOTTALLY WAS NOT MY INTENTIONS . i have as alot of people has , worked with alot of soundmen over the years and yes i am partial to some of them, but that is why i never listed nor would i ever list someones name to be bashed like this. cravensound does not deserve to be treated this way. the issue's that we had were addressed but not in the fashion they should have been. i respect cravensound as a soundman and as a friend, bottom line even though this wasn't supposed to be what the original post was about. is if you do have a problem with a soundman or even a band member. you need to resolve it before it blow's into a giant fiasco. if there is one thing i will apolige for that is that cravensound was drug thru the mud and he should have been treated in a more proffesional way.