The Brooklyn crowd seemed to eat it up, but I looked at the people I was at the show with for confirmation and I got it: they couldn't properly hear TVOTR either, and then I got kind of pissed off because there's no damn excuse. This wasn't the Rush show at the First Niagara (which also had deplorable sound), this was TV On The Radio, in Brooklyn, in an opera house within the Brooklyn Academy of Music, and their guitarist Dave Sitek is also their producer. Plus, Phosphorescent, the band that preceded them, sounded extraordinary. I was all smiles during their set; hell, I almost swooned Phosphorescent sounded so beautiful. The headliner TVOTR however sounded like rubbish, and it made me wonder: is their sound guy that big of an ass clown... or is Dave Sitek going deaf?
As you can tell, I was not amused by these events, and yeah, maybe I'm lashing out, but still, come on. The stage was set for something potentially wonderful, and instead we got something woeful, and I have to blame somebody. And for the record, I thoroughly enjoyed Sitek's impeccably produced Maximum Balloon side project... but somebody has to explain to me how a sonically ambitious and complex band like TV On The Radio can sound like Rush at the acoustically challenged FNC... in an opera house no less. It was a crime against art, technology, and my ears, and Dave Sitek's suspect hearing is taking the rap.
Behold, here's some Sitek... from happier times.
Record Producer - is an individual working within the music industry, whose job is to oversee and manage the recording (i.e. "production") of an artist's music.
Has zero to do with the front of house sound. This whole article couldn't have made less sense. As a writer for a music blog I would think you would know what the role of a record producer is, and what the role of the FOH sound engineer at a venue is.
reminds me of the first time I ever heard them, live at the town ballroom, when they were touring Return to Cookie Mountain. the noise in the room was so loud that i ventured back into the empty vip area and sat as far away from the stage as possible, but the band was still so painfully loud that i had to plug my ears with my hands just to enjoy the chaotic dance moves and wonder why i've never seen anyone else hang wind-chimes from their guitar.
i walked out on their set before they finished playing, having no idea what their songs sounded like. i remember thinking the soundguy was some asshole who didn't know what he was doing.
even though the sound was horrible, i bought the record because their stage show was impressive, and i wanted to chat with the vivian girls for a little while before going home.
thank god i did.
comparing the sounds on the album against what i experienced at the town ballroom that night left me totally bewildered. how could you transform such a brilliant band into a painfully overblown sonic shit-fest?
perhaps this problem is more common than we think.
Thank you for your excellent use of Wikipedia Anonymous. That was very helpful... except for your omission of the second paragraph which is entirely germane to my point about a sonic craftsmen like Dave. Still, you troll because you care (and you've got nothing better to do), so I thank you for your time.
Dear Buffalo Dude......maybe they just suck as a band ............