As I have mentioned in my “Hooked on Bluegrass” story from way back, one of the things that attracted me to this music is the portability and organic aspect – it can be played anywhere, anytime, with nothing but instruments and voices. It is wonderful for people to get together, whip out some guitars, mandolins, banjos, fiddles, and bass and you can make beautiful music.
That said, when you endeavor to play this music in public, technology quickly intrudes. Now we’re introducing mics, cables and speakers enter the picture. This leads to equalization, sound checks, ear buds and who knows what else. This is done innocently enough for a couple of reasons. One is to allow the music – the acoustic music and voices – to be heard well throughout the venue, The second reason is to control the quality of sound in a variety of venues. It’s a noble pursuit, really.
It can be a challenge as a band tries to get into bigger and better venues to be able to present a consistent sound for the band from venue to venue. The purpose of all this is to present that organic down home sound, no matter what the venue.
Some folks might think this tech stuff helps bad bands sound good – I don’t think this is so. I have heard top notch bands warming up backstage and they can absolutely bring amazing sound without anything but voices and instruments. The tech just helps them bring the sound to the back row in every place they play.
I have also heard some pretty weak bands expertly amplified, and the amplification didn’t do them any favors.
I have also heard some pretty weak bands expertly amplified, and the amplification didn’t do them any favors.
I had a couple of rare acoustic-only gigs this past weekend – you can get dependent on the mics to bring mandolins and guitars up in the mix, so when you truly “go commando”, everyone has to be very cognizant of their instrument’s (and voice’s) dynamic range to ensure the listeners get a balance sound. You may not be able to reach the “cheap seats” everyone closer in should hear pure, acoustic bluegrass.
It was a lot of fun, despite our concerns. We got to play bluegrass the way it was really meant to be played, and it was in front of people who aren’t accustomed to bluegrass, so they were surprised and pleased to hear a quartet deliver powerful and beautiful music with nothing but wires, wood and singing.
Now they know what you all have known for a long time!
