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by Jordan Roherty
I’ve been doing sound professionally
for close to a dozen years. I started in clubs and moved onwards
from there. Currently, I’m quite comfortable as technical
director and FOH mixer for a 600-seat theatre in Ontario,
where I have the pleasure of working on a nice Meyer/DiGiCo
rig, but I’ve done it all. Toured the U.S. and Canada,
mixed in venues from tiny clubs to arenas to sheds, and mixed
the Much Music Video Awards live to a million people on TV.
Music is super fun. Playing and mixing it are amazing. And
getting paid to do those things is even better.
I have seen a number of similar lists and/or
posts, but I think I have a few pearls of wisdom to share.
I should mention that there are a lot of references to “sound
guys” in here, but the same can refer to sound gals
as well. And some of the following items may seem like plain
logic, but I’m putting down all the ones I can think
of — in no particular order...
Sound Check is Not Rehearsal
Seems pretty simple right? The definition
is in the name, after all. But not so much. Here’s how
it works; you run through all the inputs — kick drum
through vocals — putting it in monitors where required
then in the front of house system. A good way to do this?
As the sound guy (either at monitors or from FOH) calls each
instrument, raise your hand if you want it in your monitor,
then lower when there is enough. Then run a couple songs to
make sure everything is good. Running your whole set is not
an option. Despite that...
Soundcheck is for the Artist, Not the Sound
Guy
I don’t care what the venue is, generally
speaking they are empty for sound check and full of people
(hopefully) for the show. I call people “meat baffles”
because I enjoy dehumanizing an audience and because of the
astounding amount of audio a human body absorbs. Get your
monitors and stage volume right. I can make a band play 10
songs during sound check to get the mix perfect, but as soon
as the audience arrives, all that work goes out the window.
Turn it Down. Turn it Down!
Even you, drummer. This is gonna take a while.
So you played your heart out one night, got off stage and
had your afterglow ruined because your buddy says he couldn’t
make out words you sang or your lead guitarist’s solos.
You spend the rest of the night sulking in the merch booth
and staring daggers at the sound guy. Guess what? It’s
almost certainly entirely your fault. Think back...what was
the second thing you did during your set? Right after you
checked to make sure your crotch stuffing was dressed left
and right before you pulled your long glossy locks out from
under your guitar strap. That’s right, you turned your
guitar amp up. And now you can’t hear your vocals in
the monitors, so you asked for more of that. Then your bass
player decided he should turn up because it’s the only
way anyone will pay him any attention. And your drummer is
kinda inexperienced, so he hits his cymbals as hard as he
can, and also constantly, so now the sound guy is crying in
the fetal position and your loyal audience is listening to
a pleasant mix of guitar fuzz, bass rig shaking itself apart
and cymbal hiss. Get your stage volume right at the start
of sound check and leave it. This theme will be revisited
in later points.
I Can’t Fake Dynamics
One of the most important skills a young band
needs to learn is dynamics. By this, I mean a volume knob,
and the difference between loud and quiet. Cymbals and snare
drums are often main culprits here. Hitting them too hard
makes everyone else try to play louder (see above). Another
common problem is volume differences between a guitarist’s
amp channels. Nothing sucks the power out of a change between
a clean intro and dirty hook than stepping on your distortion
pedal and having the volume drop. Imagine this happening at
the start of “Smells like Teen Spirit” by Nirvana
or “Song 2” by Blur. The rule is: if the clean
channel volume is X, the dirty channel is X + 3 dB, and the
lead channel is X + 6 dB.
Never Ask the Audience “How Does it
sound?”
It sounds great. If it doesn’t, as we’ve
discussed, it’s probably the artist’s own fault
(or at least the guitar player who turns it up to 11 after
the soundcheck). But the audience always assumes it’s
the sound guy’s fault, and now the artist is really,
really mad at you.
Never Discuss Anything Technical in a Way
the Crowd Can Hear
Mixing monitors and front of house simultaneously
sucks, but until you reach a certain level, that is usually
how it is going to be. If you need more monitors during your
set, ask yourself “Did I turn my guitar amp up? Maybe
that’s why I can no longer hear my vocals.” Now
that you’ve worked out that you are dumb... you still
need more vocals in the monitor. Meet the sound guy’s
eye, point at your mouth, point at the monitor, point up.
Every sound guy on planet earth will understand these signals.
Doesn’t seem to be happening? The sound guy may be talking
to a hot girl/guy. There is only one way to verbally request
more monitors mid-show; in a friendly, polite voice, ask the
sound guy (preferably by name) for a touch more vocal in the
monitors. Be aware of your tone of voice (this is good practice
for being married). Do not ask more then twice. Sometimes
speakers can only go so loud, and remember, this wouldn’t
have happened if you had not turned your guitar amp up.
Keep It Simple
I once had a band with two guitarists expect
me to mic six guitar amps. I don’t care who you are,
but that is not necessary. I will excuse this kind of behavior
in certain rock stars because they are supposed to be excessive.
It is never necessary. Similarly, I have had an opening band
bring a drum kit that Neil Peart from Rush would be jealous
of. I’m talking two kick drums, two snares, 10 toms
on a rack, roto-toms. How many mics does this guy think I
have? Always assume you are opening, always assume you have
no time for changeover between bands. You should be able to
set up your entire rig — by yourself — in five
minutes.
Keep Backing Tracks to a Minimum
I’m a purist, I like to see people playing
what I’m hearing. But I understand some songs sound
better with a string section, and some bands can’t afford
to tour with an orchestra for one song. So I get that backing
tracks have a place in live music. But do us a favor; make
sure these backing tracks are mastered, volume has been normalized
and by God, don’t play it off an iPod. At least if you
do, make sure you plugged it in. If your tracks sound like
crap, it will become very obvious going through a high-quality
sound system. Also, if there is lead vocal in your backing
tracks, you are lame. Quit now.
Practice your Banter
This sounds lame but is really important.
If you feel awkward talking to the audience, then, chances
are, you sound awkward as well. Speaking off the cuff usually
is at best boring at worst is misconstrued to be offensive.
Remember; just because you meant it as a joke when you said
“Hitler had some good points” doesn’t mean
everybody gets your twisted sense of humor, you freak. Also,
it’s a guarantee that someone with a popular YouTube
account was filming at that moment, so you better be ready
to back up your “Hitler was great” thesis to the
whole world with some interesting new facts.. On the subject
of planning your banter, unless you are in Phish...
Rehearse Every Second You Are Onstage
Rehearse setting up your stuff. Rehearse walking
on stage as a band and every move you make until you push
your way through the screaming fans to get to the tour bus
after the show. Hell, rehearse pushing through fans if you
can. I’m not saying do everything in ‘sync (pun
intended), but the only way to look natural on stage is to
rehearse until it is natural. Set lists are not just the songs
you are playing in order but should also have breaks and banter
notes. DO NOT STOP between each song — ever! Nothing
takes the wind out of your sails and kills energy like pausing
between each song. Your set should look something like this:
three rocker songs, pause to say hi; two rockers, pause to
intro ballad; ballad, pause to apologize for ballad; two rockers,
pause to say bye and thanks, close with one or two rockers.
Oh, I was kidding about apologizing. there are no apologies
in rock ‘n’ roll.
Jordan Roherty is the technical director of the Regent Theatre
in Oshawa, Ontario, Canada and is also an accounts manager
for JMS Audio. You can catch Jordan on ProAudioSpace.com This
is adapted from a recent post on ProAudioSpace.com, and we
thought we’d share it with a wider audience. It’s
definitely something that a lot of artists could benefit from.
Enjoy! —ed.
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