Lonelobo Posted December 17, 2012 Share Posted December 17, 2012 On Saturday I went to hear Brian Setzer's orchestra playing their Christmas show at Arena Theatre in Houston. The Arena Theatre is "in the round" with a stage that rotates 360 degrees so you only have to watch the back of the band 2/3rds of the time. The good part is that no seat is very far from the stage. But the bad part is that when the band is not facing you, you are listening to the band's floor monitors in addition to the house mix. Some of the band appeared to be wearing in ear monitors as well. Each and every instrument was individually mic'd which also introduces some sonic issues. Long story short is that the big band sound was more of a big mush sound which made it difficult to pick out Setzer's guitar and the horns lost all their edge. If the 6 trombones, 6 trumpets, and 6 saxes had different parts, most of it was lost in the mellange. Every once in a while the bari sax would stand out but that's about it. None of the horns or winds did much to impress me,even during their solos. My tenure at UNT has ruined my patience for less than stellar playing. My friend who I went with thought the band was tight. If my pants were that tight, everyone would see me undies. When the band left a rockabilly trio on stage, the entire concert changed for the better and they rocked out righteously and cleanly. They played a very long time, which is a tribute to Setzer's generosity on stage. He played a handfull of Stray Cat standards that really got the girls dancin. If any of you get a chance to hear his orchestra in a better venue I would love to hear your impressions. Merry Christmas!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris A Posted December 17, 2012 Share Posted December 17, 2012 Ron, Your description above reminded me of my experiences at G. Rollie White Colisium ("the holler house on the Brazos") during undergrad years: the arena is a truncated horseshoe shape with the stage area (when not being used for sports events) on the truncated side, the entire wall being made of corrugated galvanized steel ( [+o(] ). I never heard a floor mixing engineer able to mix the overall sound where you could hear both the band and the vocals at the same time. If they had simply put up absorption material all over the corrugated steel wall, I think that the venue would have been useful for musical acts. It never was worth the price of admission as it stood however... Journey and Bachman Turner Overdrive both made it in the mid-70s, as well as other big acts. It was always a train wreck experience, however. I remember one BTO number whereby they set off what sounded like a half stick of TNT on stage - my ears rang for hours/days after that, and I became much less interested in going to hear "electrified R&R bands" after that, (...except for Linda Ronstadt...[]). That's when I started to invest in home sound reproduction... Chris Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Boxx Posted December 17, 2012 Share Posted December 17, 2012 This subject makes me long for the performance venue at the, now destroyed, Bronco Bowl. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rummy Posted December 17, 2012 Share Posted December 17, 2012 The Bronco Bowl, pure greatness! Bowling, even if we were terrible at it. Batting cages, even if we were worse at it. One of the first bars I was taken to in mid sixties, my Great Uncle lost a girl friend in Oak Cliff, so he went to have a drink, I sat at a table with a root beer while he knocked a couple back to get over watching someone pass. We spent our senior night at the Bronco bowl in 1973. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
indyhawg Posted December 17, 2012 Share Posted December 17, 2012 I loved seeing shows at the Bronco Bowl when I was stationed in Texas. Sad day when they tore that place down. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mallette Posted December 17, 2012 Share Posted December 17, 2012 I am OUTRAGED when I go anywhere I am paying for a "live" concert and wind up listening to acoustic instruments through loudspeakers. End of story... Dave Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LarryC Posted December 17, 2012 Share Posted December 17, 2012 I am OUTRAGED when I go anywhere I am paying for a "live" concert and wind up listening to acoustic instruments through loudspeakers. I'm sure you're thinking of classical as well as rock/whatever settings, and I couldn't agree more. I went to hear Yo-Yo-Ma in the massive Washington Nat'l Cathedral once, and found that all musicality was lost past the 5th row of seats -- not a whisper of Y-Y's cello tone or expressivity!The only successful mic'ing I've ever heard was a classical acoustical guitar (Manuel Barrueco) playing the Rodrigo concerto with a symphony in a large auditorium. Never would'a worked without the amp/speaker support. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JerolW Posted December 17, 2012 Share Posted December 17, 2012 The Circle Star theatre was in San Carlos, down the penisula from San Francisco.That was where I first experienced 'in the round'. Ike and Tina was the first show I saw there. You're right. Icould never get used to the 'in the round' sound. I went to, maybe, four shows there. Ike and Tina, Chicago, Neil Diamond and Hair(?). That was in the early '70s. jerol Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Boxx Posted December 17, 2012 Share Posted December 17, 2012 The Bronco Bowl, pure greatness! Bowling, even if we were terrible at it. Batting cages, even if we were worse at it. One of the first bars I was taken to in mid sixties, my Great Uncle lost a girl friend in Oak Cliff, so he went to have a drink, I sat at a table with a root beer while he knocked a couple back to get over watching someone pass. We spent our senior night at the Bronco bowl in 1973.Anyone remember "slot cars?' I used to go to "Bronco" and buy time to race my cars on their track.... Now those were good days.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mallette Posted December 20, 2012 Share Posted December 20, 2012 Chris, I grew up in Bryan and went to see Paul Revere and the Raiders during their height at Jolly Rolly. Twas a great time, though the sound was not on my mind I'm sure. Always regret not going to see Three Dog Night who played there as well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mallette Posted December 20, 2012 Share Posted December 20, 2012 Strange that you should say that as I have fond memories of seeing Joe Jackson at the Bronco Bowl. I was sad when the man tore it down. As an aside, the very best concert experience ever was seeing the Stray Cats at the HOT CLUB in Dallas. Most monster show ever with Jack Black Label being passed between audience and band. Setzer has never been better, though he is still entertaining. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mallette Posted December 20, 2012 Share Posted December 20, 2012 That's what you get for not logging out of the Klipsch forum from my computer. I am imposting you even now. Now if I can just order some K-Horns while I'm logged on as you. Plus a case of whiskey, yeah....that's the ticket. Maybe I should say something really controversial and everyone would just jump on your A$$. Completely inappropriate and politically incorrect...no, wait you've already done that! Maybe I should just post something reasonable and make everyone think you are schitzo... Like according to me, "I believe every single instrument in the orchestra deserves it's own mic during recordings, except the bass drum which should have 3." And "I believe that cables make ALL the difference in my audio system". Wait, wait...how about "I have incriminating pictures of all of you" This and the previous 2 postings were not written by LoneLobo....and I can prove it! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CECAA850 Posted December 20, 2012 Share Posted December 20, 2012 LOL Ron! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators dtel Posted December 20, 2012 Moderators Share Posted December 20, 2012 That's funny, should have at least answered his own post and then get into an argument with himself. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mallette Posted December 20, 2012 Share Posted December 20, 2012 Nobody would ever believe I am sorry I missed a 3 Dog Night concert... Dave Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators dtel Posted December 20, 2012 Moderators Share Posted December 20, 2012 Well you do like horns Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mallette Posted December 20, 2012 Share Posted December 20, 2012 Well you do like horns TRVTH Dave PS - Get the hell off my account Lobo or I'll use my God powers to edit one of your posts praising your new Bose system and you'll never live it down. Remember, I carry a badge...[6] Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
skonopa Posted December 22, 2012 Share Posted December 22, 2012 The only successful mic'ing I've ever heard was a classical acoustical guitar (Manuel Barrueco) playing the Rodrigo concerto with a symphony in a large auditorium. Never would'a worked without the amp/speaker support. I know exactly which performance you are speaking about here as I was with you that day. That worked out very well. They used just enough amplification to bring the guitar out better so it would not get drowned out by the much more powerful orchestra. That really was a very nice performance - I sure was impressed. As far as rock performances go, I've sat through some pretty dreadful ones myself. However, I will admit that of the recent perfomances that I've seen, this last ProgPower USA just this past September sounded INCREDIBLE. In addition, the TSO show that I just saw right after Thanksgiving this past month was also very well done (and I did not even need earplugs for that one!). And speaking of earplugs, I will not use anything less than Etymotic Ety-Plug ER-20s. They do work as advertised. Takes the harshe edge off of very loud, over-amplified performances and actually make them quite listenable, not to mention the basic fact of simply protecting my hearing. I can still very clearly hear the vocals and the instruments. One time I forgot mine at a show and had to bum a pair of the cheapy foam ones off a friend. I could immediatly tell as those foam ones just sucked. Yeah, it protected my hearing, but pretty much killed any hint of fidelity I may have gotten out of the sound. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hugeroost Posted December 25, 2012 Share Posted December 25, 2012 I saw REO in that theater a few years ago, they sounded good, I think it only holds 3k Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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