Live Sound for a band that usually plays parties and stuff

[dgerch]

Hi, I guess I'm looking for some ideas that can make my band sound better. Here are some recordings:

http://www.baddudes.us/recordings/rec-cover.html

Anyways, the music we're playing should theoretically work and we can all execute it pretty well, but whenever we practice or play a show (Often without the drums being or amps being miced) it's this inarticulate, ugly wall of noise.

We've tried so many different solutions, eq'ing the amps, playing quieter, playing louder, different configurations, different angles but we always end up sounding like dog shit.

I think there might be a lot of frequency overlap and bad volume distribution, but what are some of your ideas to get the best practice/live sound where there is good seperation and the songs sound crisp?

Thanks for the help!

[Electricide]

Wow, that's some really fun stuff. You should post on the music mp3 forum, if you haven't yet.

well, what's your band's live set up? Two guitars and keyboard simultaneous?

[dgerch]

2 guitars, keyboard, drums, bass and vocals that are yet to be recorded. We actually did this in San Diego with Rafter Roberts who is a contributer to tape-op. Any ideas on how to pull this off live?

[Electricide]

well most of your stuff is interweaving, and relies really on the space in between the notes. So, in a live setting where everythings spills over, play as staccato (stacatto?) as possible. Hopefully the guitars are using separate amps? maybe even think about tube and solid state, or a class A and a class AB, or something to differentiate. And pull down all your live reverb effects by like 30 percent, if you use them.

And maybe, just maybe, think about eliminating some parts that aren't essential. If you have all three going (2 gtr, keys), and you can't distinguish any of it, what's the point, right? Maybe have the second or third part play only down beats or something, just to free up some space.

[lutopia]

I would agree with the above, often times arrangements that are recorded need to be refined and focused for live performance. Try to focus on the melodies and keep the rhythm tight clear cut. My experience has taught me that, usually, on the stage more is less. I would also agree that anytime instrumentation can be differentiated tonally your better off. It might also help to have someone you trust help balance instrument levels from the audience perspective - that is, have someone stand in front of the band and tell you who's too loud and who's too soft. Well...that's my two cents!

[tiger vomitt]

wet t shirt is cool as hell

[Lazy_Q]

bloody heck, it's all so situational. I mean, the odds of sounding good are slim if you're set up in a small room with concrete walls/tile floor, on the ground the same as the audience. In general though, it's harder to balance loud, cymbals can cause havoc depending on the room, and it helps a lot to have control over relative volumes in a live situation taken out of the hands of the individual members of the band and given to someone that you can trust in the audience. The tonally-stepping-on-each-other problem is so much easier to fix in a studio environment than live that I can't offer any constructive advice - it's just really hard.

cool music. reminds me of mr bungle by way of a NES.

[AGCurry]

What are you complaining about? It's good. It sounds live because it is.

[dgerch]

Thank you guys so much for your help. I'll try some of that stuff and tell you the results. Simplify the songs, try to get more space, no reverb, easy on the cymbals. Any other ideas?

[wing]

the drumming and prog synth is totally cool... these songs rock!

what kind of synth is that?

[dgerch]

When we recorded this stuff we had two synth players (now we have one).
Phil used a Moog Source, while Marty used a Sh-101? and a Korg MS-20 and some Wurlitzer I think (I don't really know much about synths). One of our guitar players, Brady, actually did double duty and tracked the drums, he's also one of the two drummers in the great San Diego band Upsilon Acrux. Since then we've lost a keyboardist but gained a singer and drummer. We recorded this stuff with Rafter Roberts at singing serpent
( www.singingserpent.com ) in San Diego. We haven't really mixed or mastered or added vocals yet, any ideas on how to make things sound a little more heavy and aggressive?