Is anyone a sound engineer for pop bands ?

[kahunabean]

Why is it that the headline act at a gig always sounds better (more intense, not necessarily louder - but a more 'compressed' sound) or is it my imagiantion or is it that the headline acts can generally play better than the support band ? It sounds to me like the support bands at say, the Astoria, have the 'tinny' button pushed in on the PA, whereas the headline act get the 'bbefy' button pushed in.....

[bobbobley]

a good friend of mine is and he says that is exactly what happens to support acts. the reason being that the main act never wants the support act to sound better than them and blow them off stage so they never get to use the main PA system to its full capacity. I don't think there's a special "tinny" button, just an expert knob-twiddler (usually employed by the headline act to do both shows) making sure the sound isn't as full as it should be for the support.

[kahunabean]

bob, (may I call you bob ?) you are a dude thanks

[sft42]

As a gigging muso i feel qualified to chip in an answer here. There are a couple of amin reasons the first being that warmup acts never get anywhere near the same rehearsal time as the main band to get the sound right coupled with the fact that they usually can't afford they're own sound tech's so they have to use the main bands who will give them no attention to details just a bog standard your on and have no feedback. Another is stage positioning which can colour sound a lot as support acts usualy have to play perched right at the front of a stage in front of the main bands gear. But true to bob's answer the big reason is what headline band wants to be upstaged by the support act(s) so they ALWAYS leave a little in the tank for an extra push when they hit the stage and give it that little lift just to give it that "special" sound.

[cupra]

Hence the '11' on Spinal Tap's amps!

[bobbobley]

of course you may call me bob - there's no need for any formal address on this site. ;-)

[freebass]

its simply that the headline act do a bigger show therefore they need to sound bigger then their support act. i know most support acts r on for longer but most peeple go 2 the show 2 c the headline act dont thy?