Turn it up ... or down

SOUND IS SUCH a relative thing. It's too loud, not loud enough, not clear enough, or just plain muddy. Getting the sound right is the trick for a live act, and it ain't easy.

Saturday night Cori Lyssy and I (HartLyss) played at Red Light in Quincy. We had a blast. Everybody seemed to enjoy themselves and there were even a few folks who stuck around until the bitter end. It's always better when people get into what you are doing and give you positive feedback.

During the show, we were told there "wasn't enough high end" on the vocals. Then somebody complained they couldn't hear it and told us to turn it up. I thought the sound was murky and boomy at the beginning - it's a huge room. Yesterday I was told it was too loud, especially my guitar. It was an accurate assessment. I was experimenting with my Princeton Reverb amp and in the end, it was better to plug the acoustic guitar straight into our Boss L1 sound system.

But ... live and learn. Sound is elusive and you can chase tone and volume forever.

One thing I go off of is if the venue owner is happy. Also, there was another bar owner at our show and she was so impressed, she hired us practically on the spot to play at her place this summer. As the night went on I think we dialed it in a little bit better.

We'll keep chasing tone. And thank you to everybody who came out, it was a great night. Here's to many more at the right volume!