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  • Thread starter Thread starter starbuck26
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Been doing some fairly large gigs recently with a band that previously I only dep'd for. Long and short of it the sound through the stage monitors and FOH was pretty bad on most occasions as observed by my mates who have attended a few shows. Last week their sound guy was sick last minute I volunteered my best friend a bass player with years of gigs under his belt and also in my main working band. I told them he was an experienced sound guy, they bought it. I told him to let the rest of the guys sound check with their usual "everything" miced up including drums and sent back to the stage. When the gig starts wack em all to zero except the vocal just like we normally do on our gigs. This he did. After the show they were all over him telling him it was the best mix they'd ever had. He's doing the next two shows as well.:rolleyes:
 
One of the best peices of advice I've ever gotten for dealing with a bad stage mix is, if all else fails, position yourself as close to the drummer's hi-hat as you can, and just follow him. If you know the material, all that really matters (from the audience's perspective) is if you sound like you're grooving with the dummer, so just latch onto him, trust your fingers, and then have a word with the so-called sound guy after the set.

EDIT - by the way, what club was this?
 
Some guys like monster cabs with everything turned up to "vaporize." You can't tell them not to do it, because they complain they can't hear themselves. Guess what, guys, the speakers are melting your knees, and you still can't hear, because you're aiming the wrong way.

In my last band, we all played combos (Ampeg B100R for me) on stands that tilt the cabinets back. I always positioned my amp so the drummer and rhythm player could hear me plainly. That beats the hell out of running multiple monitors everywhere -- no matter what you do (unless you have really good gear you ain't gonna afford, gigging around here) you are making the band sound muddy.

Over the last 30+ years I've played in and recorded more than a few gigs, and I think I see a correlation.

Some people mistake the size of the rig with the size of their...don't need to finish that! The younger, the more they tend to be guilty. Us old guys who no longer have the hearing of 18 year olds wonder how any of them are going to hear at all, when they get to our age.
 
Having both run sound and played with the worship team at church for years, I have to say the sound tech can be the weakest part of the link. But I agree with the previous posters... Not enough weight can be put on a proper sound check and keeping the monitor to mostly vocal.

We use electric drums, so they have to end up in the monitors as well.

The only other thing that HAS to be in the monitor mix in our situation would be the lead rhythm guitar. It's probably different with different types of music.

Here's my general procedure for monitors - We run front (primarily vocal) and rear (most lead vocals):

1. Let everyone get started and warmed up a little. No volume to the mains yet.
2. Mix the front monitors. Lead vocalists, rhythm guitar, drums and harmony singers. Monitor the monitors while you're doing all of this (headphones or some small speakers or something).
3. Mix the rear monitors. Lead vocalists, rhythm guitar and louder drums (so the instruments can really get into it). No harmony singers.
4. Remember that early in the process, vocalist my not be really giving everything and may be still trying to find their voice - so give them time to continue getting warmed up.
5. Do a rough FOH mix to full desired volume (we use a sound level meter to help keep things consistent).
6. Get comments from the band again (you can use your talkback mic). Make adjustments.
7. Go up on stage and stand right next to each person so you can hear exactly what they are hearing from both the monitors and the room. Get more feedback from them, go back to the board and make adjustments.
8. HOPEFULLY, if you've done all that, you are probably getting close on the monitors.
9. After a little more back and forth about the monitors, the FOH is all your's for the rest of the night!

I really think the personal interaction back and forth with the band is critical - force their hand at making comments about the monitor mix. I always let them know that I'm in control of the sound in the room and no matter what they do on stage they are still at my mercy. It's sort of a joke with my teams at church, but they understand I'm pretty serious about it to.

My basic philosophy is that the sound tech is as much part of the band as anyone on the stage. So the sound person has to be as professional (or more so) than the rest of the band...

BTW - Controlling feedback in the monitors is part of this process as well.

But it I was running sound on Friday night after a few beers, I'm sure I would have the exact same problems as the rest of the world!
 
:p
andydeedpoll said:
You burn your hair off and it's the guy with the hurt hand we're meant to be laughing at?:D:p

Andrew.
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lol, different gig but yeah, both expereinces were straight out of the circus. Booze 'etc' were the culprits everytime... ahh the hazy old days:o
 
Superhuman said:
:p

lol, different gig but yeah, both expereinces were straight out of the circus. Booze 'etc' were the culprits everytime... ahh the hazy old days:o
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In a band my bro was FOH for, the lead singer once took a stage dive right into a spinning ceiling fan.
 
ggunn said:
In a band my bro was FOH for, the lead singer once took a stage dive right into a spinning ceiling fan.
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Hell of a dive! He must have been trying for a little height for that full-gainer 1-1/2 twist thingy. :D
 
Zaphod B said:
Hell of a dive! He must have been trying for a little height for that full-gainer 1-1/2 twist thingy. :D
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It was a weirdly laid out room where the ceiling over the dance floor was substantially lower than over the stage. The lights were in his eyes and there was alcohol involved. He climbed up on a rail that partially enclosed the stage and dove into a ceiling fan over the dance floor.
 
ouch. that had to hurt. Did Grwar gig once as tech. big mess.
 
ggunn said:
It was a weirdly laid out room where the ceiling over the dance floor was substantially lower than over the stage. The lights were in his eyes and there was alcohol involved. He climbed up on a rail that partially enclosed the stage and dove into a ceiling fan over the dance floor.
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Ouch. :eek: :o
 
OK, that's the next tip: don't dive into a spinning fan.


...geez, the next tip will be to zip up when you leave the toilet.
 
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