Christine wrote:
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Could someone please explain to me why many bands feel the need to be amplified when playing an indoor venue,
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Uh oh...
A MAJOR complaint with me also.
I play in one big band that mics every member. Yes, even the brass all have their own mics. On top of that the sound man is next to incompetent.
He is not a big band guy, but he makes all the gigs and helps with the set up and tear down...so he is in.
He has no idea of where solos are, even after MANY performances, therefore, we all know for example, that the first 3 or 4 bars of my trumpet solo on Take The A Train, played with a harmon, no stem, will not be heard.
The
drummer, in a
big band has 5 microphones!!!!!!! Bass drum, under each tom and 2 over head, this is in a big band!
I complained once that I did not sound good on an out front solo. I had to play toward the vocalist's microphone. I went and looked at the board afterward and the singer's mic is heavy toward the bass setting with very little highs. No wonder I sounded so bad. I checked the three trumpet mic settings and they were not even close to
each other in the highs and lows and mid-range settings. How can the section sound good when the members are not even miced the same???
It is a real problem with big band. I showed the lader of that group mnay pictures of the big bands and their set ups at gigs in th 30's and 40's. Often one mic for the trumpets, one for the bones and two or three in front of the sax section. And these guys would play in huge rooms with thousands of prople!
Oh well, a long rant, but I agree...there is way too much use of microphone on a big band.
-cw-