I was listening the Columbia bootleg on the way into work today and was struck by how it didn't SOUND that great. (The Bonnaroo boot is worse.) Red Mosquito begins and it is all Ed and Matt. No Mike. NO MIKE!

Then I was thinking about how flat Avacado sounds. I know there are mixed feelings on that album but I personally love the songs and the direction the band went. But the sound isn't that great. Not like the deep, colorful texture of No Code.

Then I was remembering standing about half way back at Camden 06 and wondering why the best rock band in the world sounded so...soft. And where the fuck was Mike?! It got a little better on the west coast but still not LOUD like a rock show should be.

Why is that a band that is so genuine and so into THE MUSIC is letting the sound suffer? Am I being anal? Can someone with connections to the band send them the message?!

No - you're not the only one to notice.

IMO, in the live setting, Ed's guitar is way too high in the mix and Mike's is way too low. Mikes guitar just does not cut through the mix at all.

No. You're right. Live they're not the loudest. I wonder if it has something to do energy consumption. As for the albums, yeah i have no idea what they're thinking.

A perfect example of this is in my tree (before the god awful Boom era). I was listening to Jones Beach 2000...and that wonderful lead guitar that Mike does starting in the second verse is way too fucking low...turn that shit up!

This may have to do with the way how the bootlegs are produced. If you've ever heard a (unreleased) SBD bootleg, you'll notice it sounds very odd especially as far as the guitars are concerned.

If you read my post, it says live.... I was not talking about the bootlegs though they are failry accurate to the overall mix I have found.

It's dependent on each show, too. Some nights, for instance, Mike can be too loud in the mix, other times too quiet.

Also, after the London Wembley show in 2007, some people complained that everything was too loud. These people were wrong though...it was loud, but it was fucking great. And they had to compete with a very energetic crowd.

2007 was a mess sound-wise if i remember correctly.

It may also be depending on where you're standing.

if i remember correctly that was actually a technical error. we in the audience didn't hear Mike either at the intro.

London and Munich 07 you could not hear Mike at all, and we were in front of him!
their live mixing is gone to shit lately.

This thread reminds me that it's been 3 years since I last saw the band.

It won't matter if you are in front of him or not. The sound from his amps virtually disappears in those huge venues.

munich isn't really huge

No way. You're totally right. It saddening to hear all the instruments lose their volume, clarity, and balls. I think that they have just pussed out a bit with older age for some reason. It's like they are all trying to hide in the mix - but when they all do it there is nothing to hide behind and the whole sound suffers. Ed's voice obviously isn't as powerful as it used to be and for some reason he has also turned his guitar way down low and gotten rid of the overdrive he used to have. I guess he pussed out his guitar to match his pussed out cigarette trashed voice. lol Mike seemed to start sounding like shit in 2005. Prior 2005 he was awesome. Occasionally his tone is awesome but there are far too many boots where he is totally lost in the mix and I just can't even listen to the show. Stone is standing his ground somewhat decently and is trying to pick up the slack for his wimpy bandmates. I think that guitar tone wise 2000 was the tits. People on this board seem to hate me for expressing these views though. lol Most people who agree with me seem to have left.

He sounded fine to me in London, and that even came across in the boot of the show. The only problem I had with sound that night was Jeff being quiet at some points.

I noticed it in 2006 at the Boston and Albany shows. Could barely hear Mike at all. Same deal on the boots.

Yeah, their live show mixing is very inconsistent, and mediocre at best. I was surprised the DC show i went to last year was somewhat loud.

In 2008 i went to both VA Beach and DC. In Va Beach i could not hear Jeff at all for 3/4 of the show, which sucks because i love how jeff plays bass in a lot of PJ songs. I could hear him more in DC, but still not loud enough.

Ed and Stone seem to be the loudest. in DC 06 during fucking up i could hear Stone's guitar way more than Mikes (this is evident in the boot too for me). Its very unfortunate, because Mike was the loudest one from 2005 and before. In 2003 his volume was at like 8 while the rest of the band was at 6. I wish I had seen them before 2000 to hear them play shit at 11.

Any idea who does the mixing at PJ shows? Can we petition them to get it right? They dont necessarily have to turn the band up (though that would be cool, but some shows are loud enough for me), but they REALLY have to do a better job of mixing the guys. Sometimes its just the Ed and Matt show up there (as far as consistency...i guess Matt's drums are consistently a bit too loud and reverby for the mix lately? It comes off that they're giving him an 80s arena rock drum sound, where as a 90s more trebly sound is more desired for me, in my opinion).

TURN MIKE and JEFF UP

Isn't it Brett Eliason?

I've always thought the band sounded great at the shows I've seen, but I haven't seen them since 2003.