Gone are the days when the band all played through one amplifier. We, as musicians have all gone through those days in our humble beginnings, borrowing a friend’s amplifier or borrowing a guitar for a gig.

Then we finally had separate amps, one for the PA system that we sung through one each for the bass guitar, the lead guitar, the keyboard. The drums were loud enough not to need amplification and got picked up by the vocal mikes anyway. 

That’s all history now.

Now the equipment on stage serves as a monitor for our own use on stage then each of those amps has a line out that goes to a mixer where the sound engineer controls the tone and volume balances all the instruments and sends it out to the dancing or listening public. 

So those in the audience hear every note, every ‘ting’ every ‘tsing’ every breath the singer takes loud and clear. That is called quality sound and it’s something we musicians cannot do without.

Quality sound makes all the difference between a good gig and a great gig, a good concert and a great concert, a good band and a great band and good quality sound is expensive.

Most often the musician earns less than the sound provider which makes us feel sometimes that we’re really working for the sound provider not the client.

But we don’t grudge them their payment because good sound makes the musician a good name and most bands remember to thank the sound engineer for doing a great job on the mixer. We don’t like to compromise on sound but the client is usually shocked at how much he has to shell out for sound. 

The sound guys work very hard for their money, arrive hours before the show begins, setting up, hiding the wires neatly, testing the mikes, balancing the sound. They are worth every penny. If only the client feels the same way.

Our Mumbai sound providers have many bands in their stable, who are loyal to them and get the best rates for the sound they need. They own enough equipment for doing many gigs on the same day so each venue and musician/band gets the sound they need.

So on a Saturday night or on any day of the week the musician may be sitting at home without a gig but his sound provider may be doing 5 different gigs all over Mumbai on that same day. 

Which leaves many a musician wondering if they should give up music and become sound providers instead. But then it also takes a lot of investment, constant maintenance on the amplifiers, speakers, lead wires, a godown/storeroom to store the equipment, a tempo to transport the equipment, coolies/roadies to carry these heavy speakers etc.

Better to keep it simple. Remain a musician employed or unemployed…………impossible to change.

By Ernest Joseph Flanagan

Ernest Flanagan aka Ernie is a professional musician who has been around since 1976, Singer, songwriter, multi instrumentalist and budding poet; he has performed almost all over the world. His vast repertoire of songs in all genres and many original pieces can be found on YouTube.