Sisters live sound?

THE place for your Sisters-related comments, questions and snippets of Sisters information. For those who do not know, The Sisters of Mercy are a rock'n'roll band. And a pop band. And an industrial groove machine. Or so they say. They make records. Lots of records, apparently. But not in your galaxy. They play concerts. Lots of concerts, actually. But you still cannot see them. So what's it all about, Alfie? This is one of the few tightly-moderated forums on Heartland, so please keep on-topic. All off-topic posts will either be moved or deleted. Chairman Bux is the editor and the editor's decision is final. Danke.
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ribbons69
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circle wrote:Ben plays bass in Neverland and Romeo Down. Only noticed when I saw sisterstekland's 2011 MultiCam DVD... :oops:
Does he? :oops:
Well spotted Sir!
Then my dream of ever hearing Emma played live is not so far fetched after all.
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stufarq
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Being645 wrote:So what? The Sisters sound great nowadays!!! ... :lol: ... ;D ...
The Sisters sound audible nowadays. That's a big improvement but far from being great.
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paul
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The thing I don't like these days is the simplification of the songs. Most of the times bass lines are brought back to three tones (like Lucretia for example, which completely lacks the groovy bass riff). Besides that the sound of electronic basses in a live band sounds lame to my ears.

Subtle guitar parts are brought back to simple power chords (for outsiders: power chords are for 15-year-old dudes who bought a 75 Euro electric guitar and want to sound cool without the knowledge/skills of playing a guitar properly).

Drum sounds are quite dull, outdated and Boom-Ching-Boom-Ching (if you catch my drift), lacking fills, rolls etc.

And the vocals ...

oh well, I still love 'm nonetheless :lol:
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mandrake
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1993, 1996 and 1997 the Sisters sound amazing. The voice here is still clear and spitefull. You can hear him almost sing..Real bass always better. Those gigs are almost perfect. Although 2011 sounds much better than they used to...
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centurionofprix
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They sounded brilliant in Helsinki this year.

I'm just repeating myself over and over. Is this what happens to everyone here? :lol:
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Bartek
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ribbons69 wrote:
circle wrote:Ben plays bass in Neverland and Romeo Down. Only noticed when I saw sisterstekland's 2011 MultiCam DVD... :oops:
Does he? :oops:
Well spotted Sir!
Then my dream of ever hearing Emma played live is not so far fetched after all.
he did it even in 2006- i still got picture in my midn cause i tried to fugire out how to play bass on "Romeo".
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Purple Light
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mandrake wrote:1993, 1996 and 1997 the Sisters sound amazing. The voice here is still clear and spitefull. You can hear him almost sing..Real bass always better. Those gigs are almost perfect. Although 2011 sounds much better than they used to...
I'd agree with that bar one thing... Romeo Down, 1998, London.
“I got lost in the mirror, wondering what could have been, I couldn’t help but kill her, but I couldn’t kill the dream.”
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DocSommer
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stufarq wrote:
Being645 wrote:So what? The Sisters sound great nowadays!!! ... :lol: ... ;D ...
The Sisters sound audible nowadays. That's a big improvement but far from being great.
Yeah, that's true - we tend to use different scales when it comes to judging the sisters live sound. Two weeks ago I was at a little village fair to see a local band - there was no fancy stage, PA system or mixing desk but soundwise everything was tighter/better sounding compared to the sisters show I've seen so far - and I'm just talking about the sound tech-wise, not the performance itself - of course I would have prefered to see the sisters for free^^

Feel free to compare:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PztDJLc0ZlY
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tf7XTSj2d2c&

Note: I was using better mics for the sisters show

That's exactly the reason why I understand if people are not that euphoric, maybe disappointed after visiting sisters shows, even the ones that appeared stunning or "superb" (haha^^) to the more-or-less die hard fans. It's just hard getting used to something without knowing what to expect...
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Sita
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Now this wasn't what where you were going with that comparison, but my first impression was, it really shows what superb guitarist Ben is.

Question of taste and absolutely subjective, of course, like everything :)

I find it difficult to compare the sound itself because the situation is so different. I'd say I prefer the Sisters sound, but it makes me dream about a proper live album again, because a little mix on it would work wonders.
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DocSommer
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hehe, yeah that guitar work reminded me at bens very first shows with lots of bad notes^^ - IIRC it was just the second live/public performance within a year for that cover band and all members are usually playing in other bands with more routine so it's just a side project. But that's indeed nothing I wanted to point out since this thread is about sound-issues.
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centurionofprix
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Maybe the Sisters live sound is more fragile in terms of recording these days, in the sense that Von's naturally quiet vocal, and consequently everything else, is amplified and mixed so as to be "just right" (on a good day - which he seems to have more consistently these days) through concert speakers, but it's not as robust as a show with extra volume in the vocals if you have to run it through a camera and then play it from small speakers. I really think the sound is superb on a good night.
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damagedone
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I want more :innocent:
Keep Music Evil
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DocSommer
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centurionofprix wrote:Maybe the Sisters live sound is more fragile in terms of recording these days, in the sense that Von's naturally quiet vocal, and consequently everything else, is amplified and mixed so as to be "just right" (on a good day - which he seems to have more consistently these days) through concert speakers, but it's not as robust as a show with extra volume in the vocals if you have to run it through a camera and then play it from small speakers. I really think the sound is superb on a good night.
There's indeed some kind of differences between the recording quality and the live experience - sometimes the recording turns out better than your memory from the live shows and sometimes it's worse (subjective impressions) - but usually everything varies just within a manageable range if you use proper recording gears right - I never had a true WTF-moment in terms of quality differencies after checking my recordings and it doesn't matter if it's a sisters show or some other bands performance.

Sisters shows tends to become quiter to gain more headroom for the vocals, especially indoor. I don't mind that because there's no need for earplugs/protection then (I'd usually wear during normal "rock-show-sound-levels"). Lower the volume is a trick but I'd wish that the band + Jürgen would investigate and try more to improve the sound, like using different mic capsules, in-ear monitoring and whatever stuff may help.
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stefano
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I like Wake (DVD)!!!!! Sisters was great in R.A.Hall (1985)....
best version of "Marian", "Alice","No time to cry", " A rock and a hard place","walk away","body and soul".....
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