Performing in front of over 5,500 people is not as easy as it looks.
Just ask any of the artists who performed at this year’s Spring Sing. One look at the massive crowd from the safety of backstage was enough to put butterflies in anyone’s stomach, especially with Tom Anderson (“Maybe if he likes us he’ll make us MySpace band of the week!”) and Quincy Jones in the audience.
For most musicians, there is no greater reward than performing to such a large and distinguished audience and knowing that you played the best you could. Unfortunately, for many of the acts at this year’s Spring Sing there is no such satisfaction, due in large part to the venue’s sound problems.
As part of the opening act, whose sound check the day before was cut short when our drummer was sent to the emergency room, I was skeptical about how we would sound come Friday night. Our brief time on stage during dress rehearsal seemed to only add to the technical issues. When we were told repeatedly over the following few days that our sound was totally off for the first half of our song, and that the audience could barely hear our lead singer, I can’t say that I was surprised.
But for many of the other acts, things didn’t go too much better. Many of the (totally brilliant) Company productions were obscured by poor sound. For most of Taylor Rice and Jesse Epstein’s gorgeous performance, one of the acoustic guitars was barely audible. David Villafaña, a third-year ethnomusicology student and guitarist of Arepa, went totally unheard for the entire performance.
“It took away a lot from our performance, because the song started off just guitar and vocals, and the guitar not being there made things sound awkward, like there was something missing,” Villafaña said. “It was bugging me the whole night.”
Anthony Ferrara, bassist of Blue Like Water, experienced similar problems and thought they could (and should) have been taken care of before the show.
“The sound check was kind of rushed. When we were going through the rehearsal, it was just kind of “˜Get on, get off,’ without dealing with any of the problems,” Ferrara said. “I couldn’t hear (bandmates) Chris or Ana when I was playing.”
Each one of the acts on the stage went through a long process in order to perform: They applied several months in advance. They auditioned in front of the Student Alumni Association. They met with their talent director to get advice. They rehearsed in front of SAA two more times. They were required to flier on Bruin Walk five hours each. They helped build the stage. They rehearsed twice more for light and sound, and they played the dress rehearsal.
That so many acts were plagued with bad sound after all the work they put into Spring Sing is simply irresponsible.
And not only that, it’s unfair from the standpoint of competition. I’m not saying that Jarell Perry and the Ambassadors should not have won ““ in my opinion, sound or no sound, they were the best band out there Friday night ““ but when there are instruments literally missing from a band’s mix, the grounds upon which it is judged become very different.
None of this ruined Spring Sing for anyone, but good sound quality would definitely be a positive addition to the event’s already stellar resume of talented artists, hilarious productions by Company and unbeatably energetic crowd. At such a big venue with so many in attendance, sound should have been a much higher priority rather than being left for the last minute and often not addressed at all. And this is a change that should be made not only for the artists’ sake, but for the audience and staff as well.
Fortunately for Spring Sing, there’s always next year, and things should only get better. Until then, I’ll be expecting to see Jarell Perry and the Ambassadors as MySpace artist of the week any time now.
E-mail your favorite Spring Sing moments to Duhamel at dduhamel@media.ucla.edu.