Struggling with sound engineering guitarist

[mrtcat]

Anyone else tear their hair out with the band member who does the band's live sound?

 

4 piece wedding band (guitar x2, bass, drums and occasional keys from singer guitarist).

 

Our guitarist does the mixing. He's a brilliant player but comes from a heavy metal background. We play standard wedding indie / pop rock at a huge variety of venues. He pumps the kick drum, buries the bass guitar (i swear he hates bass guitar and often jokes about it) absolutely drowns everything in his guitar and eq's the vocals so they don't get in the way. It absolutely kills me every time. I'm there for the money but it would be nice to feel like I'm part of the sound and I think we just sound like a blaring mess. I've offered to mix countless times but he complains endlessly and, as it's his mixer, he generally pulls rank and takes over.

 

If we get the usual venue complaints of "it's too loud and there's too much bass" it's usually a reference to the absolutely thumping kick drum but he laughs and just turns the bass guitar down even further.

 

Annoyingly, he's a lovely guy when he's not mixing. 

[BabyBlueSound]

Just the average egoguitarist approach to mixing. Nothing new under the sun 😁 OF COURSE everyone wants to hear his crunchy tones and nothing else, that's why they're there for on the wedding!

[Beedster]

11 minutes ago, BabyBlueSound said:

Just the average egoguitarist approach to mixing. Nothing new under the sun 😁 OF COURSE everyone wants to hear his crunchy tones and nothing else, that's why they're there for on the wedding!

 

Yep, three things come to mind....

 

1. If you joined a band in which guitarist does sound you could have seen this coming

2. If you let the guitarist start doing the sound once you were already in the band, you could have seen this coming

3. If the guitarist decided to do the sound on his own volition, you could have seen this coming........ 

 

Sorry. But there's a rule to be adhered to here. NEVER LET THE GUITARIST DO THE LEVELS  

[police squad]

there's only one solution here (IMO)

Walk

[Bigwan]

If he's not willing to compromise, walk away. Or buy your own mixer and have ultimate say!

[Steve Browning]

There is the option of sucking it up, but there lies the path to frustration. Realistically, is there any chance it'll change? Is the PA a joint enterprise, or owned by one individual?

 

What do the other band members think?

Edited 1 hour ago by Steve Browning

[HeadlessBassist]

Is there a way you can kill the guitarist without anyone knowing? 🤔

 

 

I went to see a friend I've been playing with for thirty years playing his solo act on Saturday, being as I wasn't out playing for a change. He was 'support' to a local 70's Disco band. The Disco band had several huge issues, which is a shame because they were reasonably able. The guitar was too quiet (odd, I know!), you couldn't hear the drums (drummer must try harder!), and the bass player clearly hadn't recognized that the venue has a very boomy, hollow stage. So all you could hear was bass boom - played badly, I might add. I don't know who there did the sound, but it was awful. More of a pity, as the female singer, keyboard player and sax player were all pretty good. Just a pity they were hard to hear.  

[Beedster]

1 hour ago, Steve Browning said:

What do the other band members think?

 

That is ONLY factor here.....

 

The other factor being what do the audiences think...?

[Woodinblack]

1 hour ago, mrtcat said:

Anyone else tear their hair out with the band member who does the band's live sound?

 

Yes, but it is me!

 

1 hour ago, mrtcat said:

comes from a heavy metal background. We play standard wedding indie / pop rock at a huge variety of venues. He pumps the kick drum, buries the bass guitar (i swear he hates bass guitar and often jokes about it) 

 

Didn't formerly work for metallica did he?

 

Well, your option is to walk if you can't persuade him to change, telling him it doesn't seem like it is worth being there when you are turned down. Alternataively when he turns you down, stop playing and see if anyone notices.