Last night’s show at Northern Lights was less than stellar, and it’s not any fault of the bands who played.
I was given the heads up before the show about “guitar amp buzz” being a factor in every set. Some of the more interesting theories I heard blamed the neon lights at the front of the building, and one blamed the proximity to the Fisher buildings giant radio antenna. I’m not some musical genius or savvy electrician, but I’d like to think if I had a venue where every single guitar amp emitted a buzz that was equally as prominent as the music that I would be on a mission to fix it.
Am I totally incorrect to think that there’s some rack mountable thingy with lights on it that would fix the problem? I don’t know. I do know that I would have it fixed before asking another guitar player to perform there.
At any rate, it’s good to see The Esperantos back together. They’re from Bay City, and it would’ve been nice if they would’ve had a chance to play in front of a few more people. Then again, they’re from Bay City… so they’re probably used to things not being that great.
This was my first time seeing Speedy Greasy. The set really didn’t do it for me, but I’ll reserve any judgment until I see them with the loudest fucking guitar buzz in history. It was obvious they were all technically proficient, it just seemed that at times they weren’t really on the same page. We’ll blame the buzz.
The Nice Device did what they do. Their guitars emitted the least amount of buzz of the night, which is the equivalent to getting the best grade in your remedial reading class. This was offset by watching Matt Lannoo play guitar. I don’t really care what you think about the band, because you’re probably wrong. That guy, though. That guy is a great guitar player.
On top of that, I had this wonderful interaction at the bar:
Them: Hey, are you that dial tone guy?
Me: (Nervous laugh)
Them: You said really bad things about my band.
This usually goes the same way every single time. This time though after a long conversation about how I’m a fool and no one should ever listen to me, I ended up buying them a drink and getting kissed on the mouth. Fair enough I guess.
so glad I did not go to this show
Most likely the buzz is coming from the outlets being improperly grounded. The chances of them dropping the cash on getting an electrician is probably pretty slim, though. (A real electrician, not some dude’s brother-in-law who once replaced a light switch.)
PROTIP: Hold guitar strings with hand, put tongue on microphone.
WORKS EVERY TIME.
You’ve said bad things about everyone and everything.
i say next time someone plays there try running a really long extension chord from another outlet. Maybe it’ll be grounded better. We notice that some venues are worst then others when it comes to the phantom buzz sound.
I’ve also kissed a lot of mouths. Sue me.
i lost an amp head due to shoddy electrical work at the painted lady last winter. three of us blew out amps that night.
I don’t dislike Northern Lights as a bar, it’s comfortable, decent to hang out in, but I don’t think the sound there could ever be described as adequate and it’s not like my standards are high.
The belmont is a hallway that’s sound marginally improves when you open the bathroom door.
The Lager House for many years had a sound system that was largely based on tinfoil hats stolen from sleeping hobos. (a bit better now)
Smalls has always been pretty decent, despite relying on a room that approximates being trapped in an impenetrable concrete box.
Paychecks had (or perhaps still has) a huge hole in floor of the stage, plenty of sound problems, all exacerbated by the endless attempts to have speed metal, hip hop, yer cousin’s indie rock band lineups 6 nights a week.
I’d call any of those places’ sound adequate +
The sound guy there told me it’s because the plug you plug the amps into is ungrounded. Which is great.
I’ve also had big problems with my amp making noise at this venue. Shit’s obviously not grounded properly, and it’s no joke - it can hurt both equipment and the people who play through it.
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