Van Halen - Live in Fresno 1979 [watermark removed & upscaled to HD]

  • Thread starter Thread starter JohnnyGtar
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JohnnyGtar said:
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Crazy how soundman and players back then could get great sounds and mixes out of the PA without all the modelers, in ears, quite stages, etc... lol.

I'd love to see many of today's players and soundman dropped back in time to deal with live sound and loud stages, I'd be hilarious.

Trust me as a guy that saw a ton of concerts in my life - today's live mixes generally suck comparatively.
 
jabps said:
Crazy how soundman and players back then could get great sounds and mixes out of the PA without all the modelers, in ears, quite stages, etc... lol.

I'd love to see many of today's players and soundman dropped back in time to deal with live sound and loud stages, I'd be hilarious.

Trust me as a guy that saw a ton of concerts in my life - today's live mixes generally suck comparatively.
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Yup, concerts don't sound the same anymore. There WAS something to loud amps and stage volumes. Even Dave Friedman has mentioned this point.
A few times I was right up on the stage, actually hearing stage volume, I could not believe how loud it was.
Ritchie Blackmore and Robin Trower. Ungodly loud coming off the stage.
Soundmen dealt with it back then, they should be able to deal with it now (mixing sound)

The '79 VH is a reminder of when I saw them blow Sabbath off the stage in '78.
 
CarlF said:
Soundmen dealt with it back then, they should be able to deal with it now (mixing sound)
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The soundmen are usually not the issue. It's mostly (venue/government/safety) regulations these days... and stage size.
It's easier for a soundman to work with a loud full-stack tube amp on a larger stage, because it's less likely to interfere with the FoH...

I played on big stages, where both the monitor guy and the FoH guy had 0 issue with me crankin' my Engl Invader 100+4x12. But in smaller venues, it's almost ALWAYS a battle.
"TURN IT DOWN!" "I CAN'T, OUR DRUMMER IS TOO LOUD OTHERWISE." "TELL HIM TO PLAY MORE QUIET THEN." "I CAN'T, HE'LL PLAY LIKE A SISSY B!TCH." :p
 
Speeddemon said:
The soundmen are usually not the issue. It's mostly (venue/government/safety) regulations these days... and stage size.
It's easier for a soundman to work with a loud full-stack tube amp on a larger stage, because it's less likely to interfere with the FoH...

I played on big stages, where both the monitor guy and the FoH guy had 0 issue with me crankin' my Engl Invader 100+4x12. But in smaller venues, it's almost ALWAYS a battle.
"TURN IT DOWN!" "I CAN'T, OUR DRUMMER IS TOO LOUD OTHERWISE." "TELL HIM TO PLAY MORE QUIET THEN." "I CAN'T, HE'LL PLAY LIKE A SISSY B!TCH." :p
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Yeah I gotta disagree with "them" not being the issue when they're pumping bass drums loud enough to remove the roof in large venues. I get it in small clubs, that's always been a battle. Been there done that. Granted the really, really good soundman I worked with back in the day knew you had to move a little air onstage and they would work with you within reason.

Newer soundman want to control the environment and the best way to do that is no bleed, in ears, IR's, quiet stages etc... and it usually sucks. All the newer concerts I have seen within the last few years, it often just sounds bad with a cluttered mix of mush. Saw Kiss at Nashville's big arena on which is designed for live concerts on the End of the Road tour and it was just a mush sandwich. Comparatively saw them at the same arena during the Reunion tour two decades ago and sounded incredible. Not to long ago saw my friends band at a club, they're all in ears, IR's etc... He asked me how it sounded and I had to be honest, I said the mix sucked. And his response was yeah, guy wanted to mic as little as possible. Best sounding concert I have ever heard was Journey in 1980, it was loud and it was pristine. Kevin Elson was their sound engineer, same guy that helped produce their Departure album. There's just no way modern soundman can deal with real drums, amps, bleed, feedback, proper monitor mixes now without all their crutches.

Live is supposed to be live, air, movement, you're job as the soundman is to deal with it and those old codgers knew how to deal. Anyway that's my old man shouting at the cloud opinion.
 
The full audio is killer . my favorite VH bootleg . First date of the tour

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