FASH CHAT – In Praise of Good Sound Men
While I do indeed praise and thank good sound men, most of this article will be less positive. The title is also sexist, but who has ever met a sound girl? Not me, perhaps because lady acoustic engineers are all excellent and hence not noticed? Apart from the usual call for thanks and applause from the band at the end of a gig, you don't really notice the sound man if the sound has been good, only if poor. Of course it is polite for the band to say thank you, but they have little idea if the sound has been good or bad: they are not listening to the sound in the hall, they are listening to monitors.
All this is important, because a good level and balance of sound can make a concert wonderful and the opposite can be pretty awful. I have often heard people talking at the bar about the sound being too loud (never too quiet) or that they could not hear the singer or they disliked the echo. But have they told the sound man? No!
Looking the other way, how many times have you known a sound man to come and ask the audience at the interval if they are happy with the sound? For myself, never, though a dance caller will often ask if the sound is OK at some point in the session, and people will call out if they can't hear the caller.
I wondered how you become a sound man, so I looked on the web to see what training was on offer. The answer seemed to be very little, apart from several people saying that the training was useless and experience was everything. It would seem that most sound people learn by working with other sound men and gradually getting more experienced, in effect an apprenticeship. This is fine if the guy you learn from is good. If not, then you are likely to repeat and amplify their mistakes. At this point, let me say that I would welcome anyone doing this job writing to me to put the other side of the case.
One frequent problem is the overall sound level. I have many times spoken to the sound engineer and said that it is too loud for me. The answer has always been that "People like it loud". How do they know? Have there been a series of punters coming up and saying that the music is nice and loud, or please can they make it louder? Have they taken a sample of the audience? Once, at Chippenham I had to have a shouted conversation to a sound man who was, I think, partly deafened.
At Towersey Folk Festival last year people abandoned the Eliza Carthy concert as they couldn't hear her and I had wanted to hear the Bellowhead concert, but lasted about two songs as the bass drum was far too loud. Back at my caravan, about 400 yards from the stage, it was physically shaking with the drum beats. I mentioned this later to a couple of people and they agreed, but had enjoyed it from their tent 500 yards away where the sound was quite good.
So, lets get more positive. There have been many concerts where the sound has been excellent. I now always try to thank the sound man, at the interval, if the sound has been good. I also try and find the right words to ask for a change if I think it important to my enjoyment of the music. If we all spoke to the sound man at least he would have had some feedback.
Postage Costs
I wrote a few months back when the postal charges changed, asking anyone who had been surcharged to contact me. I'm pleased to say that I have not been deluged with calls, so hopefully it is settling down. Our wonderful distribution duo, Jean and Arthur take great care to always ask the Post Office to weigh the envelopes and tell us the right stamps, so it was annoying to say the least when the delivery men added surcharges.
I eventually found the right bit of the Post Office to complain to and they apologised and sent us some stamps by way of recompense. More importantly I have the complaint number and if there are any more instances of over charging, they have told me to refer back to this number to help them fix it.
To match the increases in postage costs, the cost now for mailing the annual supply of Solent Waves has been changed to £3 for FASH members and £5.50 for non members. For clubs who are getting several copies mailed, please can you have a look at the stamp cost on your envelopes and make sure that you make a donation of at least 10 times the stamp cost to cover the 10 editions per year.
"Hug a Seccy"
I have received from several club secretaries, the details of forthcoming events, changes in contacts and so on. Many thanks to you all, it makes the editor's job much easier when all I have to do is copy from the bit of paper.
There is a huge amount of work done by the officials of your club, so I suggest that February is a good month to find out who works hard for your group and give them a thank you hug.
As current Bagman for Wickham Morris, I confidently expect close to zero hugs as few read anything I write, but that's life!
Local Festivals
Peter Chegwyn has sent me details of the Gosport and Fareham Easter Festival which runs from Thursday 5 April to Monday 9 April, 2007, mostly based around the Ferneham Hall in Fareham. Artists include Kate Rusby, Seth Lakeman, John Tams and Show of Hands.
Also, he is working on plans for the Wickham Festival, 2nd to 5th August.
Morris Workshops
Sarum Morris are starting celebrations of their 25th Anniversary with a special Workshop on Sunday 11th February with:
Simon Pipe and Brian Manders – "adding something special to your dancing"
Gog Magog - Molly
Sarum - A Bampton Dance choreographed by one of Sarum's founder members, Katrina Ellis
Numbers will be limited, so book early by contacting Sarah Marks at srahmarks@aol.com.
FASH are also working with Winchester Morris to run a Morris workshop, probably in October.
And if any Morris Bagmen are reading, please get your programmes to the Editor early, if you want them publicised. Plan on 8th March latest.
Other Events
Craig:Morgan:Robson will be at the Littleton Memorial Hall, near Winchester, Hants on Saturday 3rd March.
The Royal Oak, Station Street, Lewes has Too Many Strings on February 8th, Bing Lyle on the 15th and Leon Rosselson on the 22nd.
Also in Lewes at the Lewes Arms is a workshop on Vocal harmony with Cockersdale on 17th February and another workshop on the 10th March with Judy Cook called Ballad Forum.
Don't forget the West Gallery Workshop on 25th February, see previous issue (or the back cover of the printed February Issue).
Lastly, I regularly get sent details of events at the Havant Centre, and if you are in the area, I suggest you get on their lists too. I see that Phil Beer will be performing on 17th May and Steve Knightley on 25th May – I wonder if these two know each other?
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Submitted by (to whom technical queries and requests for additional links only) and Edited by Dennis Wheeler, Penshurst, Vicarage Lane, Swanmore, Hants SO32 2PW 01489 892911 editor@fash.org.uk).