In search of the perfect sound engineer

Evidently Portland is blessed with exceptional sound people in its venues. Most cities are not so lucky.

Menomena: Pimping Our Ride/Gresham Represent! (S.F./Los Angeles, CA)-- local Cut: "After joining the esteemed ranks of Touring Bands (or, hyper-idealistic groups of musicians that assume Fame And Fortune would be heaped upon them if they could only find a shitty van and make it to Brooklyn and back) in late 2004, Menomena became acutely aware of the phenomenon of the Out Of State Sound Person (OOSSP – squint and it reads “OOPS”). Portland bands don’t know how good they have it up here. Whether it be Dave at Berbati’s, Shira at Doug Fir, Jason at Holocene, Chris at the Crystal Ballroom, or virtually anyone else who’s ever done sound at virtually any club in our fair city, there always seems to be an element of pride taken in a job that is heartbreakingly stressful and thankless (PS- thank you, o People of Portland Sound!).

The only problem with the quality of Stumptown’s sound engineers is that they spoil the bands they work with, so those of us traveling around the country for the first time are usually in for a rude awakening. Especially if said traveling bands try to play seventeen hundred different instruments simultaneously on stage. This sort of situation only serves to put the OOSSP roughly 1,601 problems ahead of Jay-Z, and judging by the hygiene of some of these characters, and I’d venture to guess that a um… “derogatory slang for female” definitely ain’t one. Sons of bitches!"

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