I saw Men Of Steel on Sunday night (kinda long-winded)


Like the title says, I saw Men Of Steel on Sunday. It's a 4-piece group,
consisting of Beppe Gambetta, Dan Crary, Tony McManus, and Don Ross, all
playing steel-string guitars.

An excellent performance, overall. They played as a quartet, as duos, and
everybody got a solo turn as well. Mostly they did instrumental tunes,
though there were a few vocal bits (Don and Beppe playing a Monteverdi piece
with Don singing in Italian, Don and Dan doing "Mama Said Yeah" with Dan
singing, all four doing "Church Street Blues" with Beppe singing lead). The
highlight for me was Tony doing the late Isaac Guillory's "Desert Dance" --
simply beautiful.

It was very cool to see the differences in styles. Don is a master
fingerstylist, and uses lots of alternate tunings; he had two Beneteaus, one
a baritone. Tony is a Celtic guitarist, using a flatpick and the middle
finger on his right hand; he played a Melville cutaway which sounded
wonderful, I think (more on this later). Beppe seems like a cross between a
rock guitarist and an Italian-style mandolinist, played with a flatpick
exclusively; he used a Taylor. Dan is a very traditional bluegrass-style
flatpicker; he played a Taylor cutaway dreadnaught and a cutaway 12-string
(which had some of the flamiest maple on it I've ever seen).

Terrific players, having a great time, in a lovely venue (the Unitarian
Church here in Ottawa; I've seen all sorts of folks here from traditional
classical guitar to folk stuff to choral works, a great sounding room).

But the sound sucked.

They were using the Bose L1/PS1/B1 system. Each guy had a speaker and a
bass unit. They commented on how nice it was to not have to worry about
monitors, but joked that they didn't have a sound guy to gripe about. There
were, however, at least one and possibly two guys there to look after the
equipment. And they had the same kinds of problems that one sees with
traditional PA systems -- feedback from mics that weren't turned down,
people trying to talk into microphones that weren't turned up, that sort of
thing.

The balance between players was poor. I admit, I was right in the front row
in front of Dan, but where I was sitting, he was *MUCH* louder than anyone
else. If he moved away from his designated spot, he was between me and
Beppe's system, and just about wiped out Beppe's sound. A friend who was
sitting about half-way back on the opposite side (in front of Don)
complained that Don was much louder than everybody else. I suspect that the
balance might have been okay further back and further toward the center of
the audience, but that sweet spot is pretty small.

I found too that there was a distinct lack of blending of sounds between
performers. Bose seems to push this as a good thing, but I found it
distracting that the sounds seemed to emanate from specific points, rather
than the somewhat broader area of a guitar or a person. It always seemed to
be four individuals, rather than a quartet, if that makes sense.

As well, the quality of sound wasn't very good. I found it rather hard
sounding, too much upper midrange, and very tiring to listen to. Not quite
the quack of a piezo pickup directly into a mixing board, but that kind of
sound. The guitar sounds were distinctly different, mind. Anyone who's
seen them at a Taylor clinic will know that Beppe tends to a rather
electrified kind of sound, while Dan goes for a kind of bright traditional
dreadnaught sound; those differences came across clearly.


So -- performances get high marks, technology barely gets a passing grade.
Overall, the show was very good, entertaining, very musical, and all four
guys have terrific senses of humour. It's not just a chops fest. Highly
recommended.

Dave O'H
--
oheareATmagmaDOTca


.

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