A Great Story

AndyOrr

Experienced
We played a show to approximately 550 people at a local (national distribution)brewery last week. We caught the crowd's attention early and kept it the whole show. Both the bass player and I use the Axe FX II and go DI to front of house. Our mix is easily managed and since our stage volume is almost nil, our vocals can be placed up front where they belong.

At the end of the show I was speaking to the person that hired us. She was using many superlatives giving us nice compliments. One of the brewery's owners came over and said to the booking person, "Whatever we agreed to pay these guys, pay them double." The check arrived in the mail yesterday and, sure enough, it was twice our contract rate! That has never happened to me in 20+ years of gigging.

To top it off, I received this email today.

"THANKS again for such an incredible show!! Folks are still talking about it :)

I was hoping you might be able to help or at least point me in a direction where I can find what we need? We have a special movie screening happening next Tuesday the 14th. We'll be hosting a fundraiser for Colorado's Chapter of Trout Unlimited and we'll be playing Patagonia's feature length documentary film, DAMnation. We'll be showing the movie on our outdoor screen.
We had a test run a few weeks ago and the sound was pretty much non-existent. We've been thinking of buying a small amp anyway for band needs and other events, but I have no idea where to start. Your band and its sound was some of the best! So I'm hoping you might have time this week to come and chat with us about what we can do to get this sound right?
I can trade you a case of beer for your trouble and I don't think it should take more than a half hour to consult with us?"

Twice as much money!! Free beer!! Audio consulting gigs!! Did I mention free beer? Thank-you Fractal Audio!!

*Your results may vary. ;-)
 
A great story indeed - good stuff all round Andy!
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Well done Andy! Do you guys use in-ears for your monitoring then?

Yes. Everyone but the singer is IEM. When we have our board (Allen & Heath GLD80), we have the FOH mix sent to two powered monitors so the singer can hear himself. We set the monitor levels using the monitor's amps. Our stage volume is approx 80 - 85db. Our FOH volume at mix position is closer to +\- 95db. I like to say that, "We can still rock and the crowd can still talk!"

Our singer is trying to go 100% IEM but is still hearing himself a little too well and ends up under-singing and gliding note-to-note when he has both ears in. (It takes a lot of practice time to master singing and using IEM.) Otherwise, he's got great pipes and does a fantastic job so we're happy with whatever makes him comfortable.

We play to a click. We use a few WAVES SOUNDGRID plug-ins on our board (I love Vocal Rider and the C6 compressor on vocals). Our IEM's are the ES series from Westone here in Colorado. We each have the ME-1's from Allen Heath to customize our IEM mix.

I developed a pretty good case of tinnitus from a concussion suffered in a fall last year. I'm not sure I could continue playing without the Axe FX and the IEM's. We did a few "analog" (real amps and stage monitors) shows this past summer for the multiple band / festival thing where we had to be on / off stage quickly and didn't want to mess with the sound contractor's stage plot / mic settings. Our stage volume was closer to 100 - 105db. My ears rang for days afterwards. We're still working on how to best do the traditional, analog shows.

To me, the most beautiful aspect of the Axe FX besides the sheer variety of sounds is that you can reliably deliver realistic tones that inspire great playing without having to crank it up as you would a real amp. I still love real amps but they don't love me like they used to...

Sorry for being long-winded.
 
At the end of the show I was speaking to the person that hired us. She was using many superlatives giving us nice compliments. One of the brewery's owners came over and said to the booking person, "Whatever we agreed to pay these guys, pay them double." The check arrived in the mail yesterday and, sure enough, it was twice our contract rate! That has never happened to me in 20+ years of gigging.

I would say that not only is that the first time that ever happened to you in YOUR 20+ years of gigging, it's the first time it's ever happened to ANY musician since the dawn of time.
 
I would say that not only is that the first time that ever happened to you in YOUR 20+ years of gigging, it's the first time it's ever happened to ANY musician since the dawn of time.

Not so. I once doubled my contracted gig pay when someone threw a five dollar bill in my tip jar.

But hey, I'm not on tour!
 
Very cool. I'd chalk it up to talent and engaging the crowd instead of any Axe related tone though.

I've heard plenty of horrible bands with great tone, and likewise really enjoyed some shows by bands playing craptone 2000 amps.
 
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