Why are venue house bass amps always such utter sh#te?

[TimR]

7 hours ago, Phil Starr said:

I ran sound at free festivals in my 20's. Turnarounds averaged 15mins but were very band dependant. You never knew what you were getting but the pro's were always easiest to work with. Steve Winwood turrned up with Traffic refused to go on stage 1 because of the sound and wandered across to our stage listened to the band I was mixing and asked to come on. Are you kidding me! . A total gentleman, no fuss: "I'll play and you make it sound as good as you can" The easiest band I ever had to mix for. They knew what they were doing, the onstage sound was great and all I really had to do was make it loud out front. They even said "thanks" at the end. Sometimes it isn't the sound guy.

 

 

Mostly it isn't the sound guy based on the antics of primadonna (inexperienced) bands that I've seen. 

 

We played a local pub 'festival' for several years, the last one the local 'famous' band had been relegated to support. 

 

Speaking to the sound guy (line up organiser), he was less than complimentary about them, their lack of professionalism and level of expectation. He said he'd put us as headliners as we just "got on stage and played". 

 

It was quite painful listening to band after band "soundcheck" throughout the day. 

 

We should remember that the sound guy is often the person who will report back to the venue organiser and recommend whether a band comes back and plays a more popular night, or never returns. There are more bands than venues.

[Dan Dare]

1 hour ago, TimR said:

We should remember that the sound guy is often the person who will report back to the venue organiser and recommend whether a band comes back and plays a more popular night, or never returns. There are more bands than venues.

 

Absolutely. It's just good sense to be nice to the sound guy (or gal). Wherever I've worked, whether at the day job or in bands, I've made sure to be friendly to security/door staff, sound people, bar/wait staff and similar. They can ensure you have a pleasant experience or make life awkward, so, even if you look at it from a purely selfish point of view, it's a smart move to be nice to them.

[LawrenceH]

Being nice to sound techs is common sense I think.

 

But I don't think that precludes me noting that, as it becomes more about driving complex software interfaces, a surprising number of them aren't actually very good at mixing music with their ears.

 

One thing I have noticed, and which was corroborated chatting to a touring engineer for the band of an old friend at a gig this weekend, is that a lot of house systems appear to be EQ'ed for an empty room. He said once the audience turns up, he often ends up having to push a ton of mids through the mains to compensate system EQs. The perils of preset system design.

[Chienmortbb]

34 minutes ago, LawrenceH said:

One thing I have noticed, and which was corroborated chatting to a touring engineer for the band of an old friend at a gig this weekend, is that a lot of house systems appear to be EQ'ed for an empty room. He said once the audience turns up, he often ends up having to push a ton of mids through the mains to compensate system EQs. The perils of preset system design.

That may explain why so many seem to be interested more in the bass drum than anything else. Of course, the PA will be set up in an empty room, but the sound tech should have enough about themselves to realise that they need to boost the mids and do it before the concert starts. 

[agedhorse]

18 hours ago, Phil Starr said:

I ran sound at free festivals in my 20's. Turnarounds averaged 15mins but were very band dependant. You never knew what you were getting but the pro's were always easiest to work with. Steve Winwood turrned up with Traffic refused to go on stage 1 because of the sound and wandered across to our stage listened to the band I was mixing and asked to come on. Are you kidding me! . A total gentleman, no fuss: "I'll play and you make it sound as good as you can" The easiest band I ever had to mix for. They knew what they were doing, the onstage sound was great and all I really had to do was make it loud out front. They even said "thanks" at the end. Sometimes it isn't the sound guy.

Exactly the reason for my path in the industry, it’s much more pleasant working with seasoned pros in general. It also pays MUCH better. 

 

6 hours ago, Chienmortbb said:

That may explain why so many seem to be interested more in the bass drum than anything else. Of course, the PA will be set up in an empty room, but the sound tech should have enough about themselves to realise that they need to boost the mids and do it before the concert starts. 

it depends very much on the level of sound techs and engineers you are working with. 

[lozkerr]

On 16/12/2025 at 11:20, Lozz196 said:

Assuming I used a provided cab I could, before my back issues, clear my gear off stage in less than 3 minutes which included putting the bass in it`s case, curling up leads properly and putting tuner & preamp pedal in their respective boxes. Just a case of having a set method of breakdown and sticking to it. 

 

That is exactly what I do. Play last encore (assuming we're asked for one 😉 ), mute amp, unplug and switch off wireless transmitter, put bass into gig bag, pedal board into case, coil cables, change shades for normal specs and get off the stage sharpish. Takes about three minutes to get everything where it should be and I do final tidying up backstage or in the green room. 

 

That just seems to me to be the professional thing to do.