And they should! For several years now, we have strived to incorporate the best of Studio-Grade sound processing into our live shows as well as developing an unbeatable sonic strategy of incorporating the entire venue and environment into our soundfield, and it SHOWS!

There are several factors to consider when striving for optimal sound - and no single PA system can handle it all. While there are many KJ's out there who drag in a pair of "Speakers on Sticks" and plug some microphones into a powered mixer along with their CDG player and hope for the best - our customers have learned to expect MORE!

At BCM, we treat each and every venue as an entirely new show based on the sonic characteristics and layout of the room or rooms we are hosting. Over the years we have found that although it may be a bit of extra work to travel with 3 unique prosound systems, the flexibility it allows us at the different venues we play to perfect the end result is more than an equitable trade-off. Face it, your singers aren't going to have as much fun when they don't sound their absolute best, and if they aren't having fun then they won't return (and they certainly won't bring other singers back with them to spend money in your establishment!)

Without getting too into detail, there is a simple way to sum up the BREW CITY MUSIC sound ... And it can be broken into 3 simple parts as explained below...

We first take the vocal signal and tailor it to the individual singers dynamics - you will NEVER hear the dreaded "Karaoke Echo" at our shows! Each singers performance is dynamically compressed to ensure consistant sound quality and level as well as gated to prevent peaks and overdriven signals (think of the drunk screaming into the mic until it distorts - how many times have we all heard THAT at the average "Karaoke Night"?). After the vocal has been tamed and given consistancy, then we apply the appropriate effects to match the dynamics of both the chosen song and the room hosting the performance. Only when the vocal signal is as clean and accurate as it can be does it get fed into our PA system....
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Once the vocal signal and the source music (background track) have met, then we have two worries: Getting the mixed sound back into the singers ears so they can follow the song (IE: monitoring) and getting the final mixed performance into the crowd in a balanced, consistant manner. Our monitor sends as well as our main PA signals are constantly monitored by a series of 96 stage "notch" filters, which identify and reduce potential feedback-causing frequencies within several hundreths of a second, and our monitoring system is EQ'd to provide our singers the highest possible gain-before-feedback, allowing a wider range of mic techniques and singing styles to remain consistant...
What this results in is a quality sound environment for all involved - our singers never sound "thin" or "boomy" and our audience sound is smooth, sharp, and detailed as if they were listening to an actual recorded performance.

Lastly, THE DREADED ROOM ACOUSTICS need to be leashed....Here is where there are many subtleties to the BREW CITY MUSIC sound. Many KJ's tout the wattage of their systems or the "power" when advertising their shows - but any professional sound engineer will tell you if asked "Bigger isn't ALWAYS better". A truly accurate PA system needs to be positioned correctly to provide the proper bass response and sound projection to ensure that the ENTIRE room enjoys the same quality sound without "Hot Spots" or "Sonic Pockets", and when an overall sound is bad no amount of "TURN IT UP" is going to fix the problem - just make it louder and more annoying! At BCM, our entertainers are also trained sound engineers, and we pride ourselves on taming any "ROOM BEAST" - Remember, the whole idea here is for everyone in your establishment to enjoy the show, and if it doesn't sound"right", well then a less-than-perfect singer is going to grate on your nerves even WORSE - Now your whole perspective has changed and suddenly things aren't so much fun!

So now you know the secret(s) ... Years of professional sound experience combined with state-of-the-art Studio and Prosound equipment - That's the BREW CITY MUSIC sound. Add in a level of professionalism and years of experience on the stage (and behind the scenes) and you've got a combination that NOBODY can compete with.

Anyone who has EVER talked with me about Karaoke Sound or sound in general KNOWS that my absolute, number one, ass chewing, mind blowing PET PEEVE is the MORON KJ crying about feedback and/or bad sound to me while insisting on hosting their show with speaker boxes up in the air with a stick up their....Well, you get the idea. Here's my deal:

Speaker stands are fine for what they are designed to do - get a small speaker up in the air so the sound isn't blocked by bodies, room obstructions, etc. BUT - here's a question for you - other than in the last few years (when speaker cabinets became smaller and speaker stands became widely available) where can you remember speakers being way up high like that? Here's a hint: LARGE OUTDOOR CONCERTS and STADIUMS, COUNTY FAIRGROUNDS, or in SCHOOL PA's.

Hmm....Think about it - At the concert venue, the big speakers in the air aren't the only speakers, in fact, they are only a part of the speaker system designed to carry mid and high frequencies over a long distance. On the stage (or in most cases, on the ground in front of the stage) are another whole set of speakers, the SUBWOOFERS or "Low Pass" speakers designed to couple the speaker cabinet and eminating low frequency waves to the ground where they belong. Also, when speakers are mounted high for announcements, background music, etc (such as at the County Fair) the voices and mid-frequency programming are very clear and legible, but the overall sound is thin and harsh....See where I'm going with this?

Speaker stands and smaller cabinets (little 12 or 15" 2 ways) are very versatile when used correctly.....IN CONJUNCTION WITH A SUBWOOFER or AS A DIRECTIONAL AID TO A MAIN PA SYSTEM (IE: as side fills or in a "long throw" configuration). If you take a smaller 2-way cabinet and put it up on a stick, while you gain some volume and "throw", you lose the "coupling" of the speakers mass with the floor and your bass response DIES, fast and HARD, PERIOD. Turning up or EQ'ing the bass to compensate (a typical mistake) drastically changes the frequency response of the speaker system and immediately shoots to hell the nice, flat frequency response curve that speaker designers work so hard to design into their products.

WAIT A MINUTE - I'm not done ranting yet... So let's look at "average KJ" who has his or her speakers up in the air with no backup (IE: a sub or seperate "Front Line" PA), the bass EQ is jacked to hell to compensate for the poor placement, the volume goes up, up, up to try and even everything out (another typical inexperienced move) and here comes mister feedback, because the kaliedoscope of frequencies bouncing around the room at all kinds of different volumes are eventually going to head back into good ol mister microphone....."So let's turn the mics down, right? Now the mix is screwed, hmm, if we EQ the bad frequencies out of the mic mix well then the feedback goes away..." only now, good 'ol "Average KJ" is EQ'ing and adjusting the mix to fight an uncontrollable beast, NOT to make the best of the source, which is the singers voice. We've all heard the scenario at just about every karaoke show around, if you are still a skeptic please remember this rant the next time a set of "Speakers on Sticks" sound like crap. Do everyone a favor, ask the KJ to take at least 1 speaker off of the stand and put it on something heavy and solid to help couple the bass to the floor and get the speaker (at least one of them) performing as it was designed - even something so simple can take literally 40-50% of the load off of the speaker flying around up there in the air and allow it to be used MUCH more accurately and efficiently.

I swear it's a good thing my father isn't around to hear me say this after putting up with my music for years and years while I was growing up, but I guess he was right after all - "Louder is in NO WAY neccessarily Better". THERE - I said it.

Let me close with the first rule I beat into any of our engineers, which is that BREW CITY MUSIC will NEVER present a show without either a floorstanding Speaker Stack designed for full-range use OR at least 1 powered subwoofer of the appropriate size and power for the venue. QUALITY SOUND SELLS - people will listen longer and spend more money at your establishment when the sound doesn't wear them out. Singers will sing more songs and stay all night (sometimes longer) when they sound good and are comfortable with the way a KJ is putting their voice out there into the audience!

MORE SPEAKERS DOES NOT MEAN MORE VOLUME - MORE SPEAKERS MEAN THAT EACH ONE HAS TO WORK LESS TO ACCOMPLISH THE END RESULT. Think about any speaker you've ever listened to, at home, in the car, wherever - as a rule of thumb, there is a spot somewhere around halfway on the juice (volume) where the speaker sounds it's best and is effortlessly doing as much as it can...Throw a simple 2 or 3 way cabinet with a 12 or 15 inch LF driver up on a stick and you cut that halfway "sweet" spot by another 50% - anything you do at this point to try and compensate just 'AINT RIGHT!

WE INVITE YOU TO STOP BY A SHOW AND HEAR THE BREW CITY
DIFFERENCE FOR YOURSELF. STICKS NOT INCLUDED.