BDO 2007 who's going?

Danger Mouse · Post by **Danger Mouse** » Sat Jan 20, 2007 10:06 pm

ash wrote:
And sure enough, soon as the Muse came on, so did the volume. All of a sudden the PA was no longer submerged in water. It's a real shame how they do that. It made watching the Killers almost pointless.
Who's responsible for that kind of carry on? Do they have a universal sound crew for the whole day or does each band have their own guy twiddling the knobs? Could it be the the Killers' guy isn't as good with his hands as the Muse twiddler?

Most of the time it's someone that works with the band. My uncle used to own a stage production company, mainly did the set-up/rigs and occasionally the set design as well. He had a couple of guys that he'd use for sound engineering, but most bands had their own engineers, they knew what the band should sound like and how to get the best out of the gear they used. I tried getting into that when I did my audio engineering course years ago, but as I sucked and had no experience... no-one was remotely interested...

philipnz · Post by **philipnz** » Sat Jan 20, 2007 10:57 pm

Was a great BDO for me.
Arrived a bit late as I had to work on my boat and there wasn't anything early I wanted to catch. Got there just in time for Eskimo Joe but first hearing the last song of Sinate. I'm pretty much over death metal. Eskimo Joe rocked, really good

Over to the other area to hear Little Birdy (cool) and the Tuts (did nothing for me) Goodnight Nurse (fair to middling) Blindspot (over them too)

My Chemical Romance filled the stadium and produced just what you'd expect, I liked it, but then I went to Good Charlotte a couple of years back

Evermore sounded just like record. Maybe too much. I'm not sure what was going on over there as I was wrong side.

Heard a little of the Presets (sounded good) and Kasabiam (likewise)

Caught the end of Emermore and Jet who played to half a stadium of fairly disinterested people. Couple of years ago they ruled the airwaves. They looked good on stage and played great but struggled to get the crowd behind them but the sound was total crap so maybe that was it.

Peaches sounded great rocking but then went into hip hop shit.

Could'nt quite avoid Scribe but not enough to make me want to slash my wrists

Killers were fantastic despite the shit sound

Muse - WOW, third time I've heard them and they get better and better, sound was fnally okay

Tool - They sounded awesome but the dark stage, no screen just didn't do it for me. Left a little early before the crowd and caught the start of the .........

Violent Femmes............Blister in the sun, cool didn't have to wait till the end.

Top day, heard lots of other bands in passing too. The sights and atmosphere make it for me.

AmpShop · Post by **AmpShop** » Sun Jan 21, 2007 11:20 am

ash wrote:
And sure enough, soon as the Muse came on, so did the volume. All of a sudden the PA was no longer submerged in water. It's a real shame how they do that. It made watching the Killers almost pointless.
Who's responsible for that kind of carry on? Do they have a universal sound crew for the whole day or does each band have their own guy twiddling the knobs? Could it be the the Killers' guy isn't as good with his hands as the Muse twiddler?

There's usually an agreement (that actually gets signed) that the bands playing during the day must not be as loud as the headline band(s). The PA's overall output is limited during the "support" acts, and those limitations are removed for the "headline" act(s). I've got some soundguy mates who've actually been threatened with physical violence for coming close to breaking that agreement while doing sound for the "support" bands.

ash · Post by **ash** » Sun Jan 21, 2007 12:15 pm

CustomAudioBoutique wrote: There's usually an agreement (that actually gets signed) that the bands playing during the day must not be as loud as the headline band(s). The PA's overall output is limited during the "support" acts, and those limitations are removed for the "headline" act(s). I've got some soundguy mates who've actually been threatened with physical violence for coming close to breaking that agreement while doing sound for the "support" bands.

Interesting... Thats what I suspected might be at play here. Must be a bitter pill for a band like The Killers to have to swallow before Muse.

C^8 · Post by **C^8** » Sun Jan 21, 2007 3:46 pm

My partner and I got to Mt Smart before 11am and my first reaction upon entering the gates was 'bloody hell, look at all the people here already!'. I haven't been to a BDO in about 8 years, so it took a while to get used to the congestion. If anyone can remember the very first one, they'll remember the leisurely 15-20 thousand or so that attended.
Anyway the bands... I caught most of Shaky Hands - excellent new band, can't wait for their eventual album release. Popped over and saw a bit of Eskimo Joe but I'm not a fan so I didn't pay much attention. Caught Trivium - technically very good but not the height of originality.. they got their best response from covering Master of Puppets (way to forge your own identity).
We wandered back to the top stages and saw the Tutts - I thought they sounded pretty good, a tight knit pop-rock outfit, I'm sure we'll hear more from them too. Hung around there for a bit of David Kilgour - I'm not really sure if the BDO scene is the right crowd for him, suits a more intimate club atmos.
Went back to the main stage and got a seat for My Chemical Romance, one of my partner's fav bands. The sound was pretty bad.. It had to be the mixing. I couldn't even pick I'm Not OK 'til they got to the chorus and the crowd sang it.
Snuck back up to see Kasabian - I was suitably impressed having not really heard much of them previously. The only annoying thing about those top stages was the PA which seemed to be cutting in and out .. on the right hand side anyway.
Back to the main stage for the 'big' acts... and most people around us seemed to be getting fidgety and bored waiting for Scribe to finish... they really needed a band like Shihad in that spot, because the rock crowd was mostly unimpressed.
Finally, the Killers got on stage and played the best set of the day/night from what I witnessed IMO. The sound was not great, but it was better than MCR. Mr Flowers really knows how to work a crowd.
Muse.. woah! loudest guitar of the night. Played a bunch of their favourites including Plug In Baby and Hysteria. I never realised what insanely modified guitars Bellamy uses either til I saw them on the big screen... yes, he actually has a Kaoss pad built into one of his custom Hugh Manson beasts.
Tool. Well, what can you say about them that hasn't already been said? Amazing musicians - loud - weird - creepy and tight as a gnat's you-know-what.

It was well worth going even if just for the last 3 acts.
The only thing I didn't enjoy was the crowd congestion - there were queues for Africa for everything it seemed. Maybe the organisers need to limit ticket sales in years ahead. The sound was a bit iffy here and there, but you have to expect that somewhat at these sort of events.

jimi · Post by **jimi** » Sun Jan 21, 2007 5:22 pm

Had a chat to a mate of mine who was up on the main stage during the day.

The story with the sound as he tells it is that there are 3 stacks of speakers (one in the middle between the stages and one on either side). Apparently they are designed to only have 2 running at any one time - the middle and the one beside whichever side of the stage is playing, as the 2 outside ones will cancel each other out.

The problem with the sound during the day was that all 3 stacks were running, and it was only when Muse came on (who had their own sound guys) that the 3rd stack was switched off.

All hearsay ofcourse, but makes sense. Apparently the moments of good sound that you'd get during MCR and The Killers were caused by the wind effecting the speakers so they werent cancelling each other out.

darkness · Post by **darkness** » Mon Jan 22, 2007 8:15 am

C^8 wrote: he actually has a Kaoss pad built into one of his custom Hugh Manson beasts.

thats some pretty funky shit right there.

Basket Case · Post by **Basket Case** » Mon Jan 22, 2007 9:04 am

What's a Kaos pad? Is it a midi trigger for samples?

Jenesis · Post by **Jenesis** » Mon Jan 22, 2007 9:10 am

A KAOS pad? Would you believe it's the opposite of a CONTROL pad?

C^8 · Post by **C^8** » Mon Jan 22, 2007 10:01 am

Basket Case wrote:What's a Kaos pad? Is it a midi trigger for samples?

Korg calls it a 'dynamic effect controller'
http://www.korg.com/gear/info.asp?A_PROD_NO=KP2

Terexgeek · Post by **Terexgeek** » Mon Jan 22, 2007 10:02 am

Jenesis wrote:A KAOS pad? Would you believe it's the opposite of a CONTROL pad?

Well done 99

Gelato · Post by **Gelato** » Mon Jan 22, 2007 10:09 am

Terexgeek wrote:
Jenesis wrote:A KAOS pad? Would you believe it's the opposite of a CONTROL pad?
Well done 99

I heard that Duane "The Rock" Johnson has signed up for the movie

Jenesis · Post by **Jenesis** » Mon Jan 22, 2007 10:23 am

Great. Because there just aren't enough movie remakes of old TV shows.

Post by Bg » Mon Jan 22, 2007 10:27 am

or films starring 'the rock', face it, one film is too many

Kristie · Post by **Kristie** » Mon Jan 22, 2007 4:07 pm

B45-12 wrote:You know while Krisitie is at the BDO we could run a sweepstake on whether she makes it home or gets arrested for some trivial item that upsets the blue meanies. All monies to be paid to charity of course

$1.00 says she makes it to 4pm and is then hauled off in the paddy wagon.

I was arrested while walking to the big day at around 10:45.

Bugger.