The Deceit of Accoustics
We went to see Widowspeak at the Music Hall of Williamsburg in Brooklyn last night.
Widowspeak is one of the bands I most listen to when I write because the lead singer's voice puts me into flow state almost automatically. They just released a new album and I was eager to see them. They're also a Brooklyn-based band (I think), so they'd be playing in their hometown.
The Music Hall of Williamsburg is a beloved venue that opened twenty-five years ago (and is closing later this year. It's small (650 capacity) and it has excellent sight lines, as you can see here:
In short, everything was in place for a memorable night of music.
There was only one problem: it sounded like shit.
Actually, I exaggerate: it sounded worse than shit. It was nightmarishly bad, with the drums and lead guitar pushed so far forward that you could barely hear the lead singer (the main attraction). Plus, the sound was muddy as well. I know all these songs by heart and couldn't make out a single word she sang.
After we listened for about forty-five minutes and it was already nearing ten, I told C we should go downstairs, go to the bathroom, and go home. It was getting late (for us, and it was 45+ minutes home), we were both tired, and while I was glad to see the band live, it had been a disappointment.
We went down three flights of stairs to the bottom level of the venue. There's a bar down there with bathrooms adjoining.
I stood by the bar in amazement because coming out of the speakers in the bar was the perfect sound mix of what was happening onstage, incredibly balanced and absolutely crystal clear. A masterpiece. C noticed it right away and said it sounded like a totally different band. Somehow, in the bar, they finally sounded like themselves.
There was a live video feed playing on two different screens in the bar area, so we actually sat down and listened to two perfect songs, thinking all along how ridiculous it was to pay money for a show to have to sit in the bar for the best sound mix.
I thought all along that the person in charge of their sound had just screwed up when they initially balanced the mix, but now I have no idea what went wrong. It wasn't a particularly modern venue and I wouldn't be surprised if the acoustics were terrible. So the mix going through the board (which may have been fed through speakers directly to the bar) might have been perfect, but once it went out into the venue, it was ruined.
I have more respect than ever for the people working the sound board now.
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