Scott Henderson Discussion

[dizzy]

Hey Scott

I listened to guitar wank. I was sorry to hear that you had some bad travel and sound situations on your last tour.
I hear you about live sound. I experience that and some times when I hear bands I don't know what the sound man is thinking- like when I saw Al Di Meola acoustic show and my wife had to tell the sound man to mix Al up because we couldn't hear him. When Al heard my wife make the request he looked at the sound man and said "see, that's what I was fucking telling you during sound check."
I know you like the sound coming through the PA and some of the gigs are too big to not mic stuff but have you ever considered not putting stuff in the PA at some gigs?
I heard you play a few times in LA without a PA and it sounded great.
I recently heard you at GIT and I was in the front row so I was only hearing what came off of the stage. That sounded very well balanced.
Thanks

[Scott Henderson]

One of the first considerations when we walk into the room is whether we need the PA at all, especially for drums and bass. Guitar cabinets are very directional, especially closed backs which I have to rent sometimes, so a tiny bit of guitar in the PA doesn't really make it louder, it just spreads out the sound. Also the kick drum tends to get lost in the mix sometimes so it's a good idea to have it in the PA. Otherwise, the PA isn't needed in a very small club.

The main problem is sound men who are idiots. Even with the PA off, they'd still manage to fuck it up somehow. The next tour will be better, because our road manager is a musician and will be at the board during the shows. I refuse to let sound men ruin any more shows.

I went to see Book Of Mormon this week at the Pantages - the sound was terrible. The music was so loud, it made the actors voices totally thin and hard to understand. I've seen 4 musicals on Broadway and 5 in Vegas, and the sound was amazing. The 2 musicals I've seen in LA sucked because of the sound. I'm really not surprised.