St Pat's Day - Unamplified

Subject: Folklore: St Pat's Day - Unamplified
From: GUEST
Date: 18 Mar 07 - 05:49 PM

I sang in a pub on St Patick's day without using any amplification for voice or instrument. The first two sets went ok but the third was a bit more difficult. Was I mad? Any one else try anything similar?

Subject: RE: Folklore: St Pat's Day - Unamplified
From: Bainbo
Date: 18 Mar 07 - 05:56 PM

I sing unamplified in pubs every St Patrick's Day.


Mind you, I'm usually lying flat on my back under a table at the time.

Subject: RE: Folklore: St Pat's Day - Unamplified
From: Leadfingers
Date: 18 Mar 07 - 09:23 PM

I wouldnt do ANY pub , at ANY time without PA ! I want to be able to at least talk the following day !

Subject: RE: Folklore: St Pat's Day - Unamplified
From: Murray MacLeod
Date: 18 Mar 07 - 09:36 PM

I am assuming the pub was in the States.

The answer is yes, you were mad to do it without amplification.

Subject: RE: St Pat's Day - Unamplified
From: Jim Lad
Date: 18 Mar 07 - 09:48 PM

What were you thinking?

Subject: RE: St Pat's Day - Unamplified
From: Scrump
Date: 19 Mar 07 - 02:56 AM

My voice was fairly worn out after Saturday night's gig, and we were using a sound system - we needed it, if only to be able to hear what we were singing/playing via the monitors. The pub was packed and the background noise levels were higher than usual. But a good gig and great craic! :-)

Subject: RE: St Pat's Day - Unamplified
From: Jim Lad
Date: 19 Mar 07 - 03:03 AM

Good For You, Scrump.
Had a packed house for six hours.
Sound was good though. I daisy chained an extra speaker into the middle of the room. Less volume/More sound.

Subject: RE: St Pat's Day - Unamplified
From: erinmaidin
Date: 19 Mar 07 - 03:26 AM

We went "accoustic" here in South Dublin. At least it started that way. Then the fiddle player decided he wasn't being heard so he plugged into his mini-amp, and a bass player turned up and of course, they can NEVER hear themselves well enough, so not only was he plugged in but kept turning himself up. We had a great uillean piper who had no problem being heard. Myself, the singer, amidst all of this, kept myself above water. There were a couple songs requested that were (by my terms) "gentle" for St.Patrick's so I warned the audience and said they were special requests for special regulars of the pub and I recieved the quiet necessary to carry them off. However, the evening was stained (as is usually the case on St.Patrick's so I always brace myself for it) by the drunkest sot in the place approaching me and telling me that it was "shite". That didn't bother me at all and I just laughed and walked away...but when he followed me and asked me had he offended me, in all innocence (bollocks) I just turned and said quite seriously "How could it have been otherwise, when I've spent my entire evening working my hardest to see that eejits, such as yourself, had a good time". Maybe he'll be kinder to next year's entertainment.

Subject: RE: St Pat's Day - Unamplified
From: The Vulgar Boatman
Date: 19 Mar 07 - 06:12 AM

We did one unamplified once - and were asked to turn the rig down...
mind you, there were twelve of us.

Subject: RE: St Pat's Day - Unamplified
From: Willie-O
Date: 19 Mar 07 - 06:41 AM

Maybe you could get away with it in a pub the size of my living room...but I generally find that in any situation where folks are drinking, some kind of amplification is required. And it's better to have a real PA than let individual instrumentalists use their own pieces according to whim...someone(s) will always be drowned out if they're not in that game.

Also, if you take a break, the staff puts the canned music on, it should be the same volume as the live music, more or less. And they amplify IT to suit themselves!

W-O