Last weekend I was in San Francisco for the Bay Area Harmony Sweepstakes. I've been there before - 2003 as competitor and 2004 as host. It was nice to be back - held in the Palace of Fine Arts right in the most interesting (imo) section of San Francisco.
John Neal, the national producer of the Harmony Sweepstakes, also produces this regional. It's consistently good, and consistently interesting.
Of all the Harmony Sweepstakes I've been to, this is the most similar to a festival feel. It felt more like an A Cappella Jam than a competition. 10 groups (!), all totally different, and there seemed to be little concern about the competition. Just a bunch of people, doing very unique and personal music, having a good time and making friends. It's overtly stated in the purpose of the Harmony Sweepstakes that the competition should be more like a festival, a place to enjoy, network, and for an audience to get a great show. I feel like this regional really pulls it off.
The audience was great - 800 people who just like good singing. Very supportive, very diverse.
The groups were fun, top to bottom. I got to hear most of the groups - my group (Plumbers of Rome) started the second half, so I got to hear the whole first half and almost all the groups after us.
Akabella World music - all-female quintet - butt-kicking awesome harmony, great arranging and songwriting - just a treat to listen to. I loved their original song. Warm sounds, great group.
After Five Young group, great energy. 5 guys and a girl. They seemed a little rough around the edges - still rehearsing choreography in sound check. Good talent, I hope they keep working and continue to improve.
High Seas I just love these mature all-women's groups that sing classic a cappella. These ladies did an excellent job and had a great time. They're affiliated with a yacht club!
His Juliet Female trio, really great sound. This was the group that I didn't get to see, and I wish I had, as I loved what I heard from backstage. Sang Imogen Heap's 'Hide and Seek' with 3 voices - and it rocked. They won best original song, and I didn't hear that song, and I am frowny-face sad.
House Blend (third place) Barbershop quartet (male). Three of their guys sang the entire last song (Zombie Jamboree) with zombie masks on. That seems difficult.
Rat Trio This was the regional of trios! Really fun to hear different ways different trios treat the 3-voice configuration (which I highly recommend). 2 men and a lady - really talented, really quirky medley of TV themes. Lots of great sound effects, lots of fun stuff - quintessential San Francisco quirky intellectual awesomeness. They suffered for not having great sound support for their bass singer (see 'Sound' section below).
Love Notes (champions) Female barbershop-ish quartet. Young girls, and they are FANTASTIC performers. Musically amazing, put on a great program. Seriously great sound from these girls.
Musaic Bunch of guys... like 19 of them on stage? ... actually just 8... singing choral-based stuff. Really nice guys, singing for the love, singing well. Looked freaking sharp! Stood in an arc the whole time, but did it without shame and it totally works for them.
Plumbers Of Rome Weird.
TonicEffect The Yuppy Quintet! All post-college professionals, singing for fun, had some cool songs. I couldn't tell if the bass or vp were any good because I couldn't really hear them.
Sound: was not bad. Clear, consistent, and the audience could enjoy each group's performance. I always gripe about EQ, so here it goes: the claim that leaving the mics alone because it levels the playing field for all singers is simple FALSE. 8 wired SM58's on flat EQ. Tenors and Altos sound great. Sopranos are decent, but not crisp. Basses sound like tenors - no resonance, no richness to the voice. Vocal Percussion? Forget about it. You might as well not have it, because it doesn't sound good.
A bass singer sounds different than a tenor... than an alto... than a soprano. Microphones and sound systems have their own flavor of frequency response. If the microphone makes a bass sound like a tenor, CHANGE THE EQ PATTERN. If you leave it flat, it is not leveling the playing field, it is stacking it in favor of whoever sounds good on that particular microphone and that particular sound system. In this case it was the female groups. They sounded spectacular. Any group with bass and vp? Sounded lame.
I asked the sound guy if the subwoofers were turned on. His direct response: "Why would they be?"
Subwoofers usually boost around 125hz and lower. Without them, you lose the kick drum - 60-80hz; lip buzz - 50-100hz; even low bass notes (110hz is the low A on the bass clef - most basses are going to produce several, if not many, notes below that). Without the subwoofers, groups like mine - that use vocal percussion, lip buzz, bass singing - are automatically at a disadvantage.
Great regional! Go to this one if you can. Audience is loyal and supportive and it's the most diverse program you'll see.
Click on the wrench in the upper left-hand corner to see what else you can do.
Comments
sound issues
Posted by Amy Malkoff on 03/27/2009Did you tell the sound guy what you wrote here? I really hope you did because he probably didn't even KNOW that and may also have had that typical sound guy apathy.
Amy Malkoff
http://www.amymalkoff.com/harmony
CASA (Contemporary A Cappella Society) Program Manager + Director of Web Content - http://www.casa.org
Judge - ICCA, ICHSA, Harmony Sweepstakes, etc.
Awful EQ, but good regional??
Posted by hyperdel on 03/29/2009Good review, Tim. I'm just perplexed at how this regional which as you described had terrible EQ could be considered good. How can the sound be good too if it puts the groups who use bass, lipbuzz or vp at a disadvantage and prevents people from actually hearing all of the great things that these groups can do? Isn't that what they are supposed to be presenting for adjudication? That to me is a terrible regional and a problem that this competition in general has had for years.
You don't have consistency from region to region as far as the rules and sound reinforcement go and at this point that is ridiculous. Winning is more of a survival at the Sweeps. Overcoming the odds if you will.
Like I said, good review. Well done. I just get frustrated when I read stories like this about the Sweeps. You would think that they would have had these things fixed after all of these years. I guess that's asking too much.
Del