Would you benefit from a P.A. System Health Check and some Sound Advice?

In our experience more and more UK club artistes fall foul of Music Store Syndrome everyday

What's Music Store Syndrome?

Well you know everyone kind of has their favourite music store where they like to hang, get to know all the staff and build up a rapport with them. All too often these staff will end up becoming their gurus, when in fact they most probably have much less knowledge and experience about equipment at end user level, than the people that seek their advice. (Let's face it most of them are barely out of their teens). It's all too easy to forget that music store staff  are merely sales people making a living. They are not your friends!!

You just go in for a coffee and invariably chat with staff about a few problems with your equipment (of the musical kind hopefully) and before long HEY PRESTO you have spent another few grand on equipment you probably didn't need and you still have no more knowledge on using it.

Yeah I must admit we (the band) don't really know how to get the best from our PA, we have recently bought a new rig, but to be honest it doesn't sound much different from the old one and the people in the store don't seem to be able to help us much and do not have time to come out to us on a gig.

I'm afraid that's often the case with the store people. You have to bear in mind that if whoever is responsible for your F.O.H. sound is not au fait with everything, he/she will invariably try and make it sound like your old system, which in my opinion defeats the object of buying the new one in the first place.

Well yes I agree with you totally, but we don't really know how to make it better and we just do the best we can on the night. We always seem to struggle with Graphic Eq's and Effects and our PA always sounds harsh. In our band no one really likes to admit lack of knowledge of the gear we use, especially to music store staff. You know it's all about keeping face really. Ideally we need someone who knows their stuff to come out to us on a gig and give us some training and advice.

I have found in order to learn, people need to get over the pride hurdle. This being a scenario where people are just too proud to ask, or it may just be they have a fear of technical intimidation. In many cases people just think they are getting it right and no one is going to tell them otherwise (the latter can not be educated as they already know it all).

Well how can JTB help us?

Firstly we need to get your band and PA set up in a gig scenario and after I have checked your system configurations and compatibilities, I'll then talk with your sound operator, be it the singer/guitarist or whoever. I will ask him/her to systematically explain and demonstrate to me, their process of setting up the PA for the room and carrying out the sound check. This will enable me to highlight the area(s) we need to concentrate on mostly. I will cover things like the importance of EQ, how to get a mix, effects etc. etc. Not only will I explain how, but also why certain processes need to be followed and above all, it will be explained in lay-mans terms. I guarantee you will not be blinded with any unnecessary technical jargon, unless of course you want to go deeper in to it all, then by all means we can go technical. For the day to be beneficial you will need to appoint someone with "Ears" and a will to learn because as the old saying goes "you can lead a horse to water, but you can't make it drink." 

It sounds like we would definitely benefit from a day with JTB.

Let's face it people know what sounds good these days and there are a lot of factors to consider in achieving a great sound. Your band will automatically have its profile raised if it sounds better than the last ten bands that have performed at a given venue. In short you will perform better knowing it sounds right out there. All this will certainly help bring in more work for you. You will also be given impartial advice regarding any equipment you have that may or may not need upgrading or replacing. We have sorted out problems for lot's of bands/trios/duos and solo artistes in the past 12 months. In most cases we have saved them a great deal of money as well.

Call us on 07775 802929 or email us to discuss our consultancy service