Turtlerock Forum

i went to see lorde on the weekend
i like to see whats going on with the big shows around the place.
i was very politely surprised.
show looked AMAZING (with not that many lights, maybe 50 fixtures, which is small these days)
and sounded unbelievable. probably the best sounding show i can remember going to.
not loud at all. id say around 100db at FOH
fut full, fat, wide, but crisp, clear and defined.
great vocal (looked like a senny radio, but didnt get that close)
FOH console was avid profile with what looked like no outboard.
i know the hordern is a hard room to mix too (the bottom end is nuts, and you cant get the PA high enough to array properly cause of the roof) but this didnt sound like any compromises.

congrats to anyone involved.

My 12 year old daughter went on Saturday night and had a great time.

She loved it but said "I was a bit peeved that there was no band except for a drummer and everything else was on a backing tape".

Chip off the old block.

I wonder what happened to the synth player?
That'd pretty pathetic really.


headman

Some of the best live sound I've heard has been when everything was coming off tape: Prince in the late 80's and New Order. Obviously it's a harder job when you have so many more variables from five or six musicians, all with mics and amps on stage.

i thought the turning an electronic act into a band show aspect was done really well actually
there was a drummer, who was also clearly playing a lot of samples/ pads/ SPD etc
and a keys player who had a number of synths/ sounds and seemed to actually be playing a fair bit
they where dynamic and entertaining.
there was ALSO a lot of backing track. but there always is these days! and i think it "sat well" in the structure of what the players where playing.

Ah ha, she didn't mention a keys player. I'll have to quiz her on that one.

Ity's a bit of a stretch to include a concert wich consists of mainly recorded backing as "best live sound".
Among the best live sound I heard was Supertramp at Festival Hall in the mid 70's. It's worth looking into the history of the sound system Spy Mathews put together for the band. Spy now a director of Delicate Productions started out at Strauss / Nova Sound in Morrabin and is definitley among the greats of the industry. I think i put up a post about it and Delicate Productions a year or so ago.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MEEHy0ZJwQk

well i wasnt alive for supertramp in the 70s - so cant comment
i do go to A LOT of shows though (id think more than most on this board)
i toured with roger hodgson (the singer of supertramp) though i couple of years ago, and he and band sounded great.
wont say best ever. but damn good.

backing tracks or not, the lorde show sounded spectacular.
i hear a lot of backing track only with a live vocal gigs, and plenty of them sound rubbish.
infact - id say backing track gigs often sound worse than real bands. it just doesnt "work" and you can hear it.
the lorde show didnt feel like that at all.
it was a pleasure to listen to, so however they make those sounds (backing track/ sampler/ real band) is sort of irrelevant.

maybe credit is due also to the studio engineer who did the backing track mixes.
so good on them too!
they helped contribute to a great show.

gigpiglet wrote:well i wasnt alive for supertramp in the 70s - so cant comment

damn, all of a sudden I feel REALLY old


damn piglet!


cheers

WIz

I heard Supertramp at the Civic Theatre in Newcastle on that tour, and yes it was the best live sound I've ever heard as well.
Also the first time I saw no amplifiers or Leslie on stage all monitoring through small wedges. Yep if you can remember it you are old, but who cares, I've never forgotten that night and the sound of that distorted Wurli

I don't have a problem with backing tracks, but I'm just old fashioned and like to see people play when I spend a fair bit of cash

headman

the civic underground's klipsche system...
i saw Hudson Mowhawke, an electronic music DJ there a few years back.
there was a sound guy there who was ruthless with the system....(in a good way)
ive never experienced, seriously physical low end like that before with such clarity.
a good band on that would be sick

oh that old klipshe system was hard work.
is it still in there?
i havnt been in there since ladyhawk..... and we stacked a DandB Q series infront of the poor old klipshe and pretended it wasnt there.

i dont think it's gone no?
last time i was there when it sounded good was 2011, the system didnt change, but the soundguy did.
so, who knows....
never sounded the same after the sound guy that was there in that period left though...

Speaking of good sounding shows,
I saw Celine Dion at Ceasars Palace last month and have to say, it sounded fantastic.
She used what appeared to be a CABLED SM58 most of the night.
There was not a single speaker on stage - no amps, no wedges.
And one could see virtually NO cables either.
Wow, and can she sing or what.
I know the budget is big, but man it was nice to see it done right for a change.

Al

Here's the skinny:

http://www.audiotechnology.com.au/wp/in ... ood-lorde/