I attended a Rick Wakeman concert on Sunday evening. The show was awesome--Wakeman's fingers work as well as they did in the 70's. I can't think of a single thing about what he did on stage that could be improved, at least for his fans (and I'm certainly one of those).
A lot of it was played on piano (Wakeman did not have a band in tow). I was shocked at how bad the amplification was on the piano. The fifth octave up on the piano resonated in the microphones terribly to the point where stuff in that range just turned to mud. None of it sounded like the full range of the piano. The piano itself was competent if not excellent--a 7-foot conservatory-grade Yamaha that I'm sure was locally procured or owned by the venue. The sound on his keyboards (a pair of Korgs) was excellent, so I think the problem was in how the piano was mic'd not further along in the sound system.
I think five minutes with an EQ and I could have made it a thousand percent better. Wakeman's technique is superb and benefits from clarity, not saturation and feedback. And he doesn't need a live-sound system squashing his musical phrasing, which takes full advantage of his classical training.
There's no doubt that venues vary widely in their skills, especially at present, but this particular venue (the Birchmere in Alexandria) has hosted a zillion big-name artists in its intimate space, and I would have thought that micing a piano would be a standard thing for them.
Needless to say, I never want my home system to sound like that live system.
Rick "the sound system made me want to wear Wakeman's 'Grumpy As Hell' commemorative cap that my wife bought for me in the schwag shop" Denney
A lot of it was played on piano (Wakeman did not have a band in tow). I was shocked at how bad the amplification was on the piano. The fifth octave up on the piano resonated in the microphones terribly to the point where stuff in that range just turned to mud. None of it sounded like the full range of the piano. The piano itself was competent if not excellent--a 7-foot conservatory-grade Yamaha that I'm sure was locally procured or owned by the venue. The sound on his keyboards (a pair of Korgs) was excellent, so I think the problem was in how the piano was mic'd not further along in the sound system.
I think five minutes with an EQ and I could have made it a thousand percent better. Wakeman's technique is superb and benefits from clarity, not saturation and feedback. And he doesn't need a live-sound system squashing his musical phrasing, which takes full advantage of his classical training.
There's no doubt that venues vary widely in their skills, especially at present, but this particular venue (the Birchmere in Alexandria) has hosted a zillion big-name artists in its intimate space, and I would have thought that micing a piano would be a standard thing for them.
Needless to say, I never want my home system to sound like that live system.
Rick "the sound system made me want to wear Wakeman's 'Grumpy As Hell' commemorative cap that my wife bought for me in the schwag shop" Denney