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Muddy sounding live arrangements
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Author:  paulrace [ Thu Sep 24, 2015 9:44 am ]
Post subject:  Muddy sounding live arrangements

Just got this from Carlos Castillo (Captain Schwilly):

A decent article to which I added what I think is an intelligent comment:

http://schwillyfamilymusicians.com/on-t ... -problems/

Author:  paulrace [ Thu Sep 24, 2015 9:48 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Muddy sounding live arrangements

Just realized that, depending on your settings, you might not be able to see my comment, so here it is:

Back in my band days, a four-piece band was lead guitar, bass, drums, and keys OR rhythm guitarist. If you had a lead singer that didn't play an instrument, that was fine, too. But if you had BOTH keys and rhythm guitar, they couldn't both be playing chords at the same time all the time - one would have to lay out or lay back or play something else. The rhythm guitar could play arpeggios or harmonize the lead (Allman style) or the keys could stick to arpeggios or "trumpet stabs" or something that would not step all over the rhythm guitar's chords.

If you added a horn (I was mostly a rock sax player), the horn would need to negotiate for "space" with the lead. Groups like Three Dog Night, Chicago, and BS&T could get away with having 6-11 pieces because the keys and rhythm guitar were careful never to compete for the same space, and the horns never competed with the lead guitar for the same space.

An exception might be certain ska bands, in which EVERY instrument is competing for the same space at the same time, to create a homophony that is almost unique to that genre. But, sadly, most of you aren't playing ska.

This is an oversimplification of what Danny is trying to say, but hopefully it will help you sort out some of the most basic problems he is addressing.

Author:  paulrace [ Sun Oct 11, 2015 3:44 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Muddy sounding live arrangements

Another comment on the muddy live mixes issue. Showed up for a friends' gig last night, discovered that he had been bumped an hour earlier so I missed his set. A local garage band was butchering early Eagles covers, so I said hi to my friend, visited the desert bar and left. But it reminded me about the dueling rhythm guitar problems I wrote about earlier. 2 electric guitars, one of whom usually played leads. The rhythm guitarists' guitar had relatively poor intonation, but you couldn't tell THAT much as long as he was the only one playing chords. Whenever the guitarists BOTH played chords I wanted to run screaming from the room. Yes, he needs to fix his guitar. But it points out that two instruments playing essentially the same part when they don't really need to doesn't add anything, and it may subtract.

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