Re: [Harp-L] Re: Why Charlie's Cruncher was backwards, and other stuff

[Bill Hines <billhines4@xxxxxxxxx>]

What a great response from Charlie. I really hope he wasn't told that 
anyone here was criticizing *him*, I don't think that's the case - at 
least for the overwhelming majority of folks here I think they all 
realized already exactly what Charlie is saying and were more 
criticizing the sound folks or whomever was responsible. Amazingly he 
may have been victimized by one of those people who thinks they know 
what a harmonica should 'sound' like based on that stereotyped sound we 
too often hear in public media, or one of those singers who have not a 
lot of experience or technique and pick it up just to feel that they are 
'playing an instrument' or for some rough, raw chordal accompaniment or 
fills.

I hope he knows the vast majority here are proud of him and fans and 
know full well what he's capable of. Remember folks, Charlie has dropped 
in on us on occasion here. I also attributed the sound to perhaps that 
it was distorted when it was recorded and perhaps didn't sound that way 
at all live, or perhaps that I was listening to it on my computer and 
not a high fidelity stereo system and over the Internet as opposed to a 
production CD or DVD. It sounds like he wasn't happy either, his 
frustration bleeds through below.

Anyone that thinks he plays lightly or softly lately hasn't heard his 
recent work with the Blind Boys of Alabama, I just love Spirit in the 
Sky! Or Delta Hardware?

I'm very thankful that we have so many experienced pros on this list to 
clue the average bar performer joe in on these type of things to set 
them straight and build understanding of how it all works in the big 
time, lest the wrong person get trashed or made to feel bad in a 
situation like this.

Bill Hines

Greg Heumann wrote:
> I emailed Charlie and asked him. Here's what he said:
>
> "They picked up the band at 5:15am. When we got to the studio they had 
> it all set up like they wanted. A Times Square TV studio like that 
> with an audience and all is a very busy and complicated place. I was 
> curious about why they had my amp turned around, but there was no time 
> to even discuss it. We just had time to get straight to work. When it 
> was over the crew started breaking everything down with the precision 
> of a drill team while they hustled the band out to a waiting van. Next 
> week when I fly back to meet Cyndi in Cleveland to start the tour, 
> I'll get to discuss it because I'm curious too about the amp 
> placement. Another thing all those folks should know is that whatever 
> sound I was getting from my Cruncher, it was at the mercy of the 
> studio before it reached the TV listening audience. I have no way of 
> controlling that and they can change your sound dramatically and the 
> player has no way of knowing about it.  A professional that's backing 
> somebody up plays what's appropriate for who they're backing up and 
> what's appropriate is what the artist that hired them wants. If you 
> ignore what they want and just play what you want.....you ain't going 
> to last long in that line of work. It's not a difficult concept to 
> grasp. If you hired a guy to paint your house and he decided to paint 
> it his favorite color instead of the color the homeowner asked 
> for.....well that'd be plain stupid.  That shouldn't be so hard to 
> understand unless you're the kind of person that just likes to look 
> for something negative to say. If you come to hear me live, you would 
> hear something very different. But, no matter how hard you try and no 
> matter how much you care, there's always some sour puss out there just 
> waiting to jump on you with something negative and they are, for the 
> most part, clueless - they weren't there; they don't know what all 
> went on behind the scenes, but they're not going to hesitate from 
> blabbing a bunch of baloney as if they're some kind of authority. 
> Personally, when I see anybody getting any kind of work at all in this 
> business - I'm pulling for them. All that negative baloney is just 
> plain silly."
>
> I couldn't agree more.
>
>
>
>
> /Greg
>
> http://www.blowsmeaway.com
> http://www.bluestateband.net
> http://itunes.apple.com/us/album/duracool/id343874731