I've just received a live engineer job offer

[::XeS::]

As the title says, this evening I received this job offer from a band I've to record the next months (opened for aborted, misery signals, etc..):
"How much do you want to be our live sound guy?"
I'm really stocked because I've never done this before...but at the same time I'm really pleased.
The offer is only for the "big" gig (small club venues), not for the 8x8 rooms of course....
What do you think about it? Do you think I need any particular equipment (the venues have mixers I suppose) apart some mics?
I haven't decided yet, because I don't know if it worths the effort (they are 18yr old so they can't pay lot of money)...anyway I'm getting some info

 

[arv_foh]

As the title says, this evening I received this job offer from a band I've to record the next months (opened for aborted, misery signals, etc..):
"How much do you want to be our live sound guy?"
I'm really stocked because I've never done this before...but at the same time I'm really pleased.
The offer is only for the "big" gig (small club venues), not for the 8x8 rooms of course....
What do you think about it? Do you think I need any particular equipment (the venues have mixers I suppose) apart some mics?
I haven't decided yet, because I don't know if it worths the effort (they are 18yr old so they can't pay lot of money)...anyway I'm getting some info

Have you ever run live sound before? It's a different beast than doing studio work

When I do one offs with bands I always take my own mic package (minus vocal mics), and a rack with comps, gates, and at least 1 effects unit. The clubs SHOULD have all this already, but just in case they don't I'm prepared.

 

[::XeS::]

Yeah, definitelly a different beast.
I'm asking for this reason, because if I have to buy anything new I'll probably decline the offer.

 

[lolzgreg]

I'd go for it.

 

[AllanD]

Any live sound guys want to chime in? I'm interested in knowing the difference.

 

[arv_foh]

Any live sound guys want to chime in? I'm interested in knowing the difference.

feedback, shit breaking during the show, not being in a controlled environment, and every room you mix in will have different acoustics and a different system than the last one you mixed in.. just for starters

you have to know your frequencies really well so if something starts squealing you can immediately pull out that frequency.. once you figure out where it's coming from, which could be the mains or any of the monitor mixes on stage

 

[fade_2_black]

You may as well do it for a bit of fun. It will be easier if you already know the band and the music.
You need to have well trained ears and need to be able to pick out frequencies without even thinking about it. Not just for feedback issues but also for tuning the room. If you are a headlining act and get a soundcheck, you will get to play around with the room with some music / your voice, if not, youll have to know how you want things to sound and will need to be able to hear what frequencies need to be cut for this - ie, you have to do it on the go without thinking or having time to play with it.
I highly recommend getting your own kit so you have reliable mics that you know will work, sound good, etc. If they use kick triggers thats an easy start, if not, im a HUGE fan of the Sennheiser 901/602 combination on kick, killer for metal!!
You would expect venues to have decent rack gear but a lot wont, so its always handy to have your own it. Even if its just a 4U rack with a quad comp, quad gate, verb and delay unit - this kinda rack is awesomely portable and even this small amount of gear can help you a lot!

Obviously, youll probably want to do a few gigs first to try get some money for gear before you go blow a few grand on mics and rack gear.. Also to find out if livesound is for you!!

Just watch your ears , dont be around too much loud noise!

 

[greyskull]

ive been tempted to go that way as well... been offered several pretty big tours already!

 

[brianhood]

live sound can suck ass depending on the room and system.

Playing the smaller venues(200-600 cap) can be a pain if you're running the sound. a huge pain actually.
Not to mention you'll be touring in a van(im assuming). You'll probably hate everyone and everything by the end of the tour.

not to be a negative Nancy

 

[::XeS::]

Ahahah....I know.
But it's not for tour gigs...only one day in the weekend, only for little club gigs.
I've just received another proposal from the last band I recorded, for the live sound of the release party....I'm pretty disoriented because I've never done this and I don't know how it will be at the end....I wouldn't make more damages that good things
Anyway the band asked to the club which gear they already have...so I can judge the situation a little more.
What about using my macbook pro, with profire2626 to route all the stage monitors and the live sound? Of course if they have a pretty decent mixer I don't need my interface.

 

[Ola Englund]

Cool I would totally take it, just to get the experience.

 

[Ermz]

The experience is worth it, even just to gauge whether you have a thing for live sound or not.

I did it for a few years but by the end was just left an empty, hateful shell. Whatever SHIT you think you have to clean doing studio work, multiply it by 100 and you approximate live sound at a low to mid tier. The venue gear will be defunct and falling apart. The bands will not be prepared, nor will they sound anything resembling good on stage. The rooms will undoubtedly suck and by the time you're done 'tuning' them, you will find no life left in the system whatsoever. You will be blamed for EVERYTHING, down to the band's poor performance. It was always the "sound guy's" fault.

If you think you can handle the stresses of working to a really tight schedule, dealing with gear that should have been binned decades ago, horrible rooms and people with no respect for your skill set, then by all means give it a go.

 

[::XeS::]

I'm pretty much with you Ermin... anyway the point is that if I have to buy something new I'll decline the offer, because I will not pay back the gear with this job, for sure...so...
Probably I'll do that release party, just to check how it is....but before that I'll try to get some info

 

[Mikaël-ange]

The experience is worth it, even just to gauge whether you have a thing for live sound or not.

I did it for a few years but by the end was just left an empty, hateful shell. Whatever SHIT you think you have to clean doing studio work, multiply it by 100 and you approximate live sound at a low to mid tier. The venue gear will be defunct and falling apart. The bands will not be prepared, nor will they sound anything resembling good on stage. The rooms will undoubtedly suck and by the time you're done 'tuning' them, you will find no life left in the system whatsoever. You will be blamed for EVERYTHING, down to the band's poor performance. It was always the "sound guy's" fault.

If you think you can handle the stresses of working to a really tight schedule, dealing with gear that should have been binned decades ago, horrible rooms and people with no respect for your skill set, then by all means give it a go.

+1000
But in others hand, you can speak about all question you want to know with Seb from Aborted during this tour

But for back on FOH job, ask Ahjteam for crucial gear you need to have (basiquelly eq, gate and lot fo courage).

 

[dcb]

also be prepared to have people from the audience "helping you to mix right..."

- where is the guitar solo?? turn that up
- i cant hear the kick, turn that up
- turn up the bass, buddy, i cant hear it...
- can you turn up the vocals?
- i cant hear the splash !? man, turn that up!

also be sure to say goodbye to your ears after 10 years of live mixing...
from my 10 years of being an FOH i decline almost every job , its not worth the stress and you get way less money than for studio work.
and : if you havent done it before : i wouldnt do it, tbh. i did mix on metalfest with nile, belfegor and also a support band on a meshuggah tour.
there was a young tech for the other support band, who never did thish kind of work before... we had delays that i could not even soundcheck
the band i was doing. believe me - people get really mad, when the tech does not "deliver"...

 

[Ermz]

+1 to that. Honestly I found the few moments of relief and pride to be way overshadowed by the many many moments of stress, anger, disbelief etc. There just was no pay-off in live sound for me. It's always a compromise of some kind, and you're more of a tech trying to jury-rig a half-assed solution to make do with fucked gear than actually sitting back and trying to craft a mix.

I think I'd sooner clean toilets in McDonald's for a living than go back into regular live sound.

Only exception I can think of is corporate work. This shit pays truckloads of money and usually has really simple sets.

 

[Jarkko Mattheiszen]

If it's your first time, prepare to enter a world of pain It's quite a hectic and stressful job to do, but you'll get the hang of it. Just set yourself in the mentality that actually mixing is just a little part of your duties. You'll have to deal with equipment you haven't used before, technical difficulties that might have nothing to do with you (but you still get the blame) and people you'd gladly stab in the face.

 

[::XeS::]

Eheheh....I don't wanna do it for living of course, only just to get an addictional income. I prefer much more the studio work but here I'm speaking about helping some clients/friends in some gigs. Probably I will do the release party (4-5 bands): the venue has already mics, mixer, cables, etc...and a fucking untreated big room will always sound like shit so, no problems

 

[DanLights]

Do it! start with the small things like that release party, study a bit, harmony central has a live sound section with good tips/threads/dudes, and our own Anssi (Ahjteam) is a very experienced FOH guy, hope he pops in on this thread soon

 

[::XeS::]

The only thing that scares me is the feedback problem.
If I have only a mixer, how can I deal with it? I think I have to find the mic that introduces the feedback, sweeping all the mute buttons...and when I find it? What I have to do?