Festival of the Bluegrass

[Bradley]

Just got back from the Kentucky horsepark where after the rain moved out, we had a great fetival.

Saturdays line up included :Blue Highway,DL&QS,JD and the NS,Seldon Scene,and Mountain Heart.
What a package it was,Doyle was his usual smooth self,Shawn Lane proved that he is still underated in the Mandolin World,and "the Diamond Cutter" Adam Steffey was just smoking his Gibson.For my taste he is still the King of our beloved instrument,bar none.

Mountain Heart has gone to all cordless pickups in all their instruments and use mikes for vocals.I have never been one to use pickups,however whatever they were using sounded really good and balanced.

Kentucky Horsepark is a great festival,for those who havent been its worth the trying.


Happy Pickin http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/mandosmiley.gif

[Dfyngravity]

Sounds like you had some fun. I just went to Graves Mountain Bluegrass Festival the first part of June. The first day line up was Kenny and Amanda Smith, Lonesome River Band, Marty Raybon and Mountain Heart...well there was a few others but I tell you, it was some serious music that first day. And I have to agree with you on Adam Steffey. He is my favorite mando picker...he is just so quick and clean all at the same time. He can flat out pick that darn little ol' mando of his. Although I like the sound of his Apitius mando better than the gibson he is pickin on now.

[Kevin K]

http://www.dpamicrophones.com/ are the instument mics that Mountain Heart is using now along with Shure wireless systems. This really seems to work for them. Those mic's seem to do a good job.

[blugrassboy]

I just got back from cherokee.....and steffey was awsome!

[danmills]

I just got back from the Fathers Day Festival in Grass Valley, CA. I had a blast of course. Mountain Heart's first set was Saturday night and they had a number of problems with their sound--the bass especially was all slap/click and no tone, and they had a bunch of static problems. I heard some other complaints too, about the sound that is. Everybody I talked to loved their music. They just wished they could have heard it better.

They did a gospel set on Sunday morning, for which they dropped the wireless rig completely and went to mics on stands for everything.

[Bradley]

It was great at Lexington,Ky.

Steffey had to make some adjustments on the fly, but nothing major.

[Mark in Nevada City]

I saw the Mountain Heart show at Grass Valley this weekend and will say the sound system was bad to worse. Yes, the bass was obviously out of wack, but the overall tone and equalization was just plain off. Steve Gulley's big beautiful Martin sounded like a Taylor and while Adam's playing was superb, he was too low in the mix to really enjoy.

The wireless setup was interesting from a "band stage presence" point of view, the way the guys freely moved around the stage reminded me of a rock concert and it was used to good effect. I just wish they had sounded better.

cheers. mmm

[Albert Whiting]

to me the sound is the most important thing. i don't care if they can jump around on stage. if they don't sound good doing it then it is a complete waste of time to have a wireless setup. nickel creek is plugged in but they sound killer. i have heard mtn heart 2 or 3 times since they got the wireless setup and i haven't heard it sound good yet. so the question is, what's more important, the show, or the quality of music and sound? give me good quality sound and playing over dancing any day.


ps: steffey rocks!

[Randy42649]

While I agree with you somewhat (being a recording engineer, quality is everything) I would have to say that at the live shows entertaining is very important too. Particularly if you look at the kind of crowd Mountian Heart is trying to attract. They are wanting a younger crowd; a new generation of bluegrass people to keep the music going. Those people are used to seeing country and rock shows where the musicians are all over the stage. Mountain Heart is trying to give them a good all around show. I'm sure sound quality is important to them. They are just trying to find the best mix of quality and entertainment. The one mic crowd is kind of doing the same thing. Their entertainment comes in the form of watching everyone learn how to "dance" around one another to be in the mic at the right time. And the sound quality can suffer from time to time in that arrangement too. Too many musicians who can play well, still don't have a clue what entertainment is on a live show. I like to give credit to those who are trying.
Randy