I met British DJ Hugo Mendez recently. He was here in Granada for a night, playing his mix of funky latino, samba and old reggae tunes in the Afrodisia bar: not so much a nightclub, more a room to jump around in with a bar along one side. A nice place, with a friendly local crowd. Hugo’s tunes went down well.
The only problem was the sound system. It was rubbish.
While chatting at the bar, I noticed that whenever there was any hint of bass in the music, the sound ‘dropped out’. So one minute you’re expecting a beat to start up, and the next, you’re listening to a flat, tinny sound at about half volume - like listening through a wall to a transistor radio playing in your neighbour’s bathroom. (If you’ve ever had a rubbish ‘midi’ stereo or a broken speaker, you’ll know all about this).
I found it weird that no one else seemed concerned. Indeed, everyone else was dancing. Was I going deaf?
Well, no. I went over to the DJ cabin to say hello. Hugo was having a hard time. ‘There’s no bass,’ he explained. ‘If turn up the EQ, the sound drops right out.’ I reassured him that he was picking good tunes (he was) and that nobody else was aware of a problem. But how could this be? How could a whole room full of people (except Hugo and I) not notice that the music was missing half its content? Was everyone really that drunk?
And the real question is: does this bode well for me? On the one hand, I’m no sound engineer but I correctly identified the problem straight away. On the other hand, I’m hoping to hone my skills here, playing choice old soul and ska to discerning groovers. I’ve got the Mac and the Ableton Live and a host of add-ons and, more importantly, my own ideas. But if the crowd will go mad for anything, surely all I have to do is put on an old tape of the Skatalties and everyone will love it anyway. How will I know if I’m any good?And this reminds me that when I lived in Barcelona I witnessed folk dancing to all kinds of unlikely things: two overlapping radio stations played loudly through a car stereo, a man banging a beer bottle off a wooden stage during a power cut, people clapping their hands…
And so, here in Granada, does the DJ matter? GG
1 comment:
Not just in Granada does the question of DJ arise Gareth. It's a sad fact that you could load up WinAmp, slap it on random play with a 2 second crossfade, and quite possibly nobody will notice. I guess it depends on the crowd's intentions for going to the club/bar in the first place. If it's mainly a social thing, then that music is background, and secondary to seeing friends, having a beer or two, maybe a dance. Even if you put your heart and soul into what you're playing to the room, the choice of music, the progression of tunes, all that, sometimes it makes no odds to the crowd. If you're enthusiastic about what you're doing though, sometimes it will make a difference, and your love of what you're doing will transform a good night out into an amazing night out for a room full of people, and that's priceless.
As for the sound system, it sounds like Aphrodisia has fallen foul of 'over-zealous rig protection' syndrome. Most likely there's a limiter somewhere in the signal chain, set to attenuate the volume whenever the threshold is reached. They really suck, and show disrespect for the DJ's ability to get the best from a sound system without blowing speakers. They usually get included in soundsytems either because the people that sold them the rig convinced the bar they'll need it, and set it up badly, or they've had DJs in the past that have overdriven the sound system and caused damage. It's always worth having a shufty at the set up before you play a place that doesn't have a dedicated sound-dude you can talk to, and seeing how they've set things up. If there is a sound-dude present, ask them how to get the best from the system, which shows respect and will set their mind at ease that you're not just going to redline everything horribly.
Appreciation of sound quality is a mystery to me though - I just can't tolerate bad sound, and would rather it was quiet and sounded nice than loud and horrid on my ears. Some people just don't seem to notice though - it's weird. I guess sometimes people only notice content, and not quality of delivery, which as a music lover is often as important as the music being played.
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