Enough Already!

I've been silent long enough,. I can't take it anymore. I need to air one of my live performance pet peeves. I don't feel that it's necessary to add a ton of reverb to your live mixes. I see it way to often, an artist will dial in some hellacious amount of reverb when playing a small venue or room, like they're playing Madison Square Garden. In the words of very wise sound engineer, that shit aint right! Listen to some of your favorite recordings, do those artist slather the mix in reverb? Probably not. It creates a very unnatural effect in what would otherwise be considered an acoustic performance. The funny thing about it, those engineers mixing in those large venues probably don't dial the reverb in at that level either. The venue is the source of the reverberation, and for the most part, it's out of their hands. The best approach in my opinion, is to add reverb to your vocals until you detect it, then back off a bit.  
      I realize that this reverb problem isn't going to go away anytime soon. And there are some who will insist that they sound super awesome when the reverb is set at eleven. My response to them would be, "You are wrong".
   So there, I feel better now, having gotten that off my chest. Finally, as I suggested earlier in this post, give your favorite recordings a listen and see if I'm not right about this.  You'll thank me for the enlightenment.
    In other news, we recently attended another Florida Folk Festival in beautiful White Springs Florida. We had a great time in spite of the soaking rain we received at times over the weekend. The cloudy conditions made for a slightly cooler than usual festival. Don't get me wrong, it was still plenty toasty. A lot of great music and reconnecting with friends from all around the state. If you've never attended, you should go. If for no other reason than to earn your FFF merit badge.
      I'll let you go now, there are things that need doing around here. I hope you all have a great summer and keep the faith. Remember, It's always orangest before the dawn!
​   Your compadre, Al