Re: TURN DOWN THE FREAKIN KICKDRUM

[John McIntyre <mcintyre@xxxxxxxxxx>]

OK, personal anecdote time.

I was once asked to do sound for a band that I used to be in.  They were involved
in an all day  battle of the bands and had the unfortunate time slot of 4 PM.

The previous evening I attended a Miles Davis concert in a chemically enhanced
condition and marveled at how loud Al Foster's bass drum was miked.

So the next afternoon, more than a little hazed, I stagger over to the club where
the battle of the bands is being held.  One of the bands participating was
supplying the sound system, and the guy who owned the mixer offered to do a basic
mix since he was familiar with the mixer and then I could make adjustments since
I was familiar with the band.  The guy was good.  His basic mix sounded fine.
Except I said "It needs a bit more bass drum."

During the band's set, one audience member came up to me with his hands over his
ears and asked "Don't you think it's a little loud?"

My response was to crank the bass drum up a little more.

The band finished third, which given the time slot, and especially given the
band, was considered very good.

They won six hours of recording time at a studio in a converted barn up north.
Their bass player was awol at the time so they asked me to play on the session.
The engineer got into the spirit of things and turned off the clock.  We were
there for fourteen hours.  The engineer kept marveling at our patience as he
tried different mixes.   We kept telling him "It's never going to sound this good
again."

John McIntyre
Physics - Astronomy Domine Dept
Michigan State University
mcintyre@pa.msu.edu