An Opinionated Thing About Volume

Sometimes my geeky, opinionated side comes out, and recently while in the Birmingham area I was once again really impressed with my miniature sound system. I often use a Roland AC60 and two Schure Beta series microphones (a Beta 57 on the guitar & a Beta 58 on vocals). Plus, I run a line from the guitar pickup, which recently has been the fishman Rare-Earth sound hole magnetic pickup. Overall, it doesn’t sound like a multi thousand dollar quality system, but it gets the job done, and I don’t to break my back in the process! The beta series mics are simply great (No, I am not getting a kickback from Schure.). It seems that no matter what you plug them into, they always do a wonderful job – much better than the standard 57 and 58 from my point of view. They have a very sweet high end and none of that “whoomy” lower mid range that makes everything so unintelligible. Plus, the little acoustic amp suits them well.

Here comes the opinionated part….

Mine is a small system with no thumping bass and you simply can’t get to major headache inducing volume, which is a major plus in my opinion. I wish bands would quit the volume wars (live and on CD). I can’t stand most live music because it’s too loud to hear. I rarely go see a band, and when I do I don’t enjoy it. Several times when not using my system I have asked the sound person to turn me down, and judging from the odd looks I get I’m guessing they usually get opposite requests. However, the looks on people’s faces gets more pleasant, and it starts to sound more natural at a more natural level (imagine that!). Once you hit a certain volume the music ceases to me musical. It just turns into a wall of volume. Plus, Christian bands have more to think about: are you damaging people? Probably. So, my trick is simply to ignore the status-quo and go small. Over and over again I get folks thanking me for making the lyrics intelligible. It’s two parts. TURN IT DOWN!, and cut the low end from things like guitars and vocals. I suppose there’s enunciation to consider, too, but going small is half the battle. Plus, throwing a mic on the guitar further limits the volume. You simply can’t be as loud, which would be a welcomed change for most bands in my humble opinion.

So am I stodgy? Yep. I don’t deny it. I say throw away the huge system, or at least turn it down, and teach your drummer to listen and be a musician. Or, hire my brother who has at least accepted my position and thereby is an incredibly supportive musician.