Bobby Owsinski: Why Do Concerts Sound So Bad?

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In this episode of Sound Design Live, I speak with the the author of Music 4.0: A Survival Guide for Making Music in the Internet Age and Deconstructed Hits: Uncover the Stories & Techniques Behind Iconic Songs, Bobby Owsinski. We discuss concert sound quality and the three most important qualities for building a lifelong career in pro audio. I ask:

You recently published an article called Why Do Concerts Sound So Bad? in which you write, “The fact of the matter is that the majority of concerts really sound bad these days…” and that the biggest reason for this is that the vocal cannot be heard or understood. Is the solution as simple as turning up the vocal, or is there something more complex going on?
Are there any methods we could be using for building relationships and generating personal referral on a regular basis to be more in control of our future and getting more of the work that we really want?
Why aren’t artists and event planners streaming all of their events?

[image error]A whole generation of sound engineers learned the wrong way. They tend to concentrate way too much on the drums and far too little on the vocals.

Notes

All music in this episode by B1.
Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell
Products: The Presonus Studio Live Official Handbook, The Mixing Engineers Handbook
Quotes

It all comes down to attitude and perseverance and not so much on talent. You can have a lot of talent and if you’re no fun to be around, you’re not going to work. It’s always the case that the nicest person, the most fun to be around, get’s the gig.
Things don’t happen over night. The person with the most perseverance is the one that will have a career.


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