The Live Audio Tips & Tricks Thread

[amarshism]

Give the band better monitoring and they won't need to push their stage volume. For a while now, there's been a real rockstar attitude among live engineers in Australia towards the talent. They don't realize that they're there to help the band and facilitate their art, not their own personal egos. I can understand this jaded attitude toward the smaller bands that don't have a clue, and aren't willing to cooperate with the engineer, but I've played some of the countries biggest venues over and over again, and had soundguys (mostly the in house monitor engineers) about as helpful as a shit on a plate. Tip 1: be respectful to the band and they'll probably be respectful to you.

 

[christopher ridley]

I don't really ever understand the concept of musicians telling engineers how to behave or vise versa. I've been playing live for 5-6 years and running sound for the same amount of time. Also worked in the studio for about 4 years. I guess it gives me a better understanding of what the other person would want (ie if I'm the guitar player, I'll help the engineer by being clear on what I'd like while understanding that you can't have 3 vocals, 2 guitars, some kick, bass, samples all blasting in a 12" wedge aimed at your knees and hear it all clearly.) Playing live isn't sitting in your bedroom with headphones on or crammed in a jam room with a PA blasting back in your face.

If you are having trouble with the engineer acting like he is moving faders, then the engineer clearly doesn't understand how to mix live properly. There is absolutely no reason to fake doing anything. If the monitors are being pushed too hard, you explain that (Hey that's all the headroom we have. Or I can go up a bit if we pull some of this other stuff out)
Same goes for guitar players trying to play with their amps set on 8. Absolutely no reason for that and they don't understand the dynamics of live sound, stage volume, and a PA system. If you want to have a better and smoother show regardless of whether you are mixing or playing, educate yourself on what the other person is doing and how the systems are designed to work.

 

[if6was9]

It's not hard to get a monitor mix people are happy with on stage, just takes a little work on both sides. For example, bass players ALWAYS play too loud so get them to turn down to a reasonable level and everything will get alot clearer on stage. No amount of pushing vocals through the monitors will get over a guitar amp thats way too loud so again get them to turn down. There's a fine balance between on stage and montiors, get the onstage volume right, add a little help in the monitors and everybody will be happy.
Tips

-Eq space in the guitars for vocals. For a long time I was eqing the guitars pushing the mids to get them to cut better, over the last couple of months I've being dipping the mids at the desk and the vocals cut ALOT better.

- instead of turning up the guitar for a solo turn up that channels upper mids/ treble. The guitar will cut through like butter if you've already got a balanced mix.

- I high pass everything except kick, bass and floor tom. Nothing else needs to be down there. Try and be smart with your eq, i tend to boost the bass with the low shelf and give a low mid boost, but cut the kick in the same freq and give a slight dip in the kick with the low shelf. Gets a cleaner, clearer low end that can be big too. All depends on the venue and sources though too obviously.

- Gain stage properly and you'll get a cleaner, less harsh mix. Again I learned this the hard way, I was backing a little off the poweramps cause I wanted the headroom so I didn't blow anything. Just ended up pushing the desk harder and getting more distortion.

- If you can, gate the drums. Will add alot of punch to the overall mix and kill alot of cymbal bleed.

- Be careful with overheads. I've never ended up using them in any venue I've worked. I've spot miced the hats and ride but never ended up using them alot in the mix. Cymbals are more of a problem than anything!

If you're working a place without a monitor eq, split the main vocal into 2 channels either using a splitter XLR or the channels direct outs if they're pre eq/fader. EQ one channel to kill feedback in the monitors and use its auxes and leave the fader down. EQ the other for FOH and leave the auxes down and use its fader.
You can also do something similar if you've got spare channels and auxes. Use for example aux 2 as your monitor channel, but patch aux 2 to a free channel on the desk, EQ that to kill feedback and use aux 3 as your monitor out.

Being a live engineer is great, I've generally found being nice and helpful to bands makes it a much easier going job than alot of live guys think. To be honest, alot of live guys have got a serious attitude problem. Been making a living off this for over 2 years now and it's the best job I've ever had. Only problem is it is hard on your ears- wear plugs every chance you get. I usually stick them in while setting up the stage and wont get up there while a band is playing without them.

 

[guitarguru777]

Don' let the monitoring suck & don't tell me to lower my amp on stage if I don't hear any guitar shit on the monitors when I'm not allowed to move the cab. That's what I want from a live mixer
also the empty fade trick won't work with me because I actually hear if the monitors go up in volume or not (not that hard to hear imo).
If you tell me you did it and I dont hear any difference I get to your pult and take a look at it myself. fuckers.
I really hate bad monitoring

Man up and get yourself some inears then. I absoloutely REFUSE to turn things up in the monitors after sound check. If you were to lazy to give it a good go at sound check, then your fucking problem not mine. I am not going to go and change and entire mix that sounds great in the room cause you cant hear yourself on stage. I will go as far as turning other things down in your monitor so you can hear yourself better, but I am not going to have to fight feedback cause someone like you cant hear themselves. That's what sound check is for.

Oh... your drummer doesnt hit as hard during sound check? Blame him not me.

I tell every band I run FOH for. you better pay the fuck attention during sound check cause if you don't. Too fucking bad I am not changing the mix that took me an hour to get perfect cause you were lazy during sound check. What most bands dont realize is in smaller venues even the monitors effect the mix. You can get phase issues from reflections off the back of the stage.

In addition to that I REQUIRE that vocalists have In Ears. If they don't I bring a receiver and belt pack and tell them straight up. Bring headphones or your not gonna hear yourself.

I am known locally as the monitor NAZI. But every band in town wants me on the gig cause it sounds great out front and they always get complements.

I also tell bands if you attempt to bring a full stack or 4 cabs and the venue holds less then 1500, I am not going to mic your cabs and you can fuck yourself.

Its MY PA and I am not going to blow it cause you need to look cool. I am there to make you sound great. Shut the fuck up and let me do my job. Thats why I am the FOH guy and YOU are the musician. I will give you want you ask for within reason. But if you get out of hand, good luck hearing yourself on stage. I am going to do what gets the job done RIGHT every time. I dont care who you are....

This isnt directed at you Mago, just a general consensus of dealing with vocalists and guitar players. I am a guitar player too and I know what volumes work on the stage you are playing on cause I play them too. So dont tell me when I got your monitor channel set 4db higher then I normally do on the same stage you cant hear yourself. Cause its bullshit......

 

[arv_foh]

- instead of turning up the guitar for a solo turn up that channels upper mids/ treble. The guitar will cut through like butter if you've already got a balanced mix.

I find that a lot of the time that boosts bad frequencies making the guitar really harsh... Just riding the fader up a few dB works better IMO. Could also have something to do with the fact that my PR30s have a big presence bump in the 3k-4k range.

- I high pass everything except kick, bass and floor tom. Nothing else needs to be down there.

I do too, I usually cut everything at 50hz or above and leave below 50 for the kick

 

[HeadCrusher]

1. ring out feedback frequencies in the monitors using 31 band EQ
2. ring out feedback frequencies in the PA using 31 band EQ

How do you go about doing that? I mean is there a certain routine you can go through to eliminate any feedback to begin with? So far I only pulled out frequencies as feedback ocured but that can get you in a stressful place if people cup their mics out of the blue or bring their own mics etc.
I've seen guys using an iPhone app that detects feedbacking frequencies but I don't have an iPhone.

Guitarists. TURN THE FUCK DOWN! Makes for a way better FOH sound

This. Also aim the cabs from the side as discussed in another thread recently.

Be careful with overheads. I've never ended up using them in any venue I've worked. I've spot miced the hats and ride but never ended up using them alot in the mix.

I never cared much for micing cymbals either. Most of the places they are loud enough anyway. Unless you are mixing huge outdoor festivals...

For example, bass players ALWAYS play too loud so get them to turn down to a reasonable level and everything will get alot clearer on stage.

This!

As far as monitoring goes you shouldn't need much more than maybe the other guitar player, a little bit of vocals and samples in the monitors imo.

 

[HeadCrusher]

Oh yeah, forgot to say: I was chatting with the soundguy at a show when the singer (or growler...) of the band that just did soundcheck came up to the desk and said:
"It needs to sound deeper!"
FOH: "What do you want me to do?"
"May I?" said the guy an turned up 80 Hz all the way on his channel.

 

[arvoitus]

I absoloutely REFUSE to turn things up in the monitors after sound check. If you were to lazy to give it a good go at sound check, then your fucking problem not mine. I am not going to go and change and entire mix that sounds great in the room cause you cant hear yourself on stage. I will go as far as turning other things down in your monitor so you can hear yourself better, but I am not going to have to fight feedback cause someone like you cant hear themselves. That's what sound check is for.

Without knowing you i can tell your absolutely the worst monitor engineer i know. It's your job to take care of an artist so that he can hear something. Ofcourse an artist can be a pain in the ass sometimes and we have to tell them to take care of his shit. But your the monitor engineer and people decide they need a couple of db's more then it's your job to take care of it.

If you know your equipment and their limits you dont worry about feedback.

 

[arv_foh]

How do you go about doing that? I mean is there a certain routine you can go through to eliminate any feedback to begin with? So far I only pulled out frequencies as feedback ocured but that can get you in a stressful place if people cup their mics out of the blue or bring their own mics etc.
I've seen guys using an iPhone app that detects feedbacking frequencies but I don't have an iPhone.

Turn it up til it feeds back, pull it out. I usually cup too because you will have people do that, and typically from a 58 feedback occurs at 1.25k from cupping

When people bring in their own mics I if I hear something feeding back I will pull it out on the strip instead of the 31 band so you don't end up with a super hacked EQ that sounds like shit for everyone else

If you aren't good at identifying frequencies by ear, boost them up a little and if that causes feedback, pull it down by the amount you boosted. For example if you boost 6.3k by 3dB and that causes feedback, pull out 3dB on the 31 band.

Tip 1: be respectful to the band and they'll probably be respectful to you.

Yeah the same could conversely be said for the hundreds of dickhead bands that have come through my venue

 

[ahjteam]

I REQUIRE that vocalists have In Ears.

That is a bit extreme and douchey. It's really hard to sing in pitch if you have never used in-ears, it's also really disturbingly claustrophobic experience on the first few times.

I absoloutely REFUSE to turn things up in the monitors after sound check.

Same here, super douchey. Especially on smaller venues the sound on stage can change radically when the audience comes in, especially if it's a loud one.

 

[chrisrivalry]

instead of being so harsh with bands why not simply say "hey, that's all I have left in the monitors" that seems to work for me... For me tip though, tidiness really helps, especially if it's your duty to get bands on and off stage which is often the case for smaller venues like the one I work at, nothing kills a show like having to wait 45 minutes for a band to set up.

 

[guitarguru777]

That is a bit extreme and douchey. It's really hard to sing in pitch if you have never used in-ears, it's also really disturbingly claustrophobic experience on the first few times.

98% of vocalists practice to an iPod or MP3 player. There is no difference really. All of the vocalists I work with say they actually prefer In ears cause the dont get any of the hard frequencies and cymbals blaring in their ears.

Same here, super douchey. Especially on smaller venues the sound on stage can change radically when the audience comes in, especially if it's a loud one.

Thats why we tune the PA, and if you have worked the venue long enough you know exactly how it will react dependent upon the size of the crowd.

Also none of this is done in a HEY DOUCHEBAG SHUT THE FUCK UP type of way unless the band starts acting like dicks. When someone hires me I let them know up front I am very particular about how things will be on stage. If they don't like it they have the choice not to work with me. Its not like I am the only FOH guy in Vegas. In the 6 years I have been doing FOH here I have only had 1 band complain.

Everlast and his hunk of shit Rap / Reggae / Country bullshit

 

[HeadCrusher]

Turn it up til it feeds back, pull it out. I usually cup too because you will have people do that, and typically from a 58 feedback occurs at 1.25k from cupping

If you aren't good at identifying frequencies by ear, boost them up a little and if that causes feedback, pull it down by the amount you boosted. For example if you boost 6.3k by 3dB and that causes feedback, pull out 3dB on the 31 band.

So I should basically boost one frequency after another on the 31 band. If no feedback occurs at +12db (or whatever the eq gives you) this frequency is fine and I can set it back to 0. If it feeds back I'll pull it out as you explained above. Have I gotten that right? Which mics do I need to have set up at this point? How does the process differ for the monitors and the PA?

What about "hissing" or "popping" into the mic? I see people do that quite often as well.

Sorry about the noob questions but since all of the systems I used so far have been rung out already I never had to do it myself and therefore never learned how to do it.

 

[arvoitus]

Last saturday when i was standing behind a desk i was just pressing random buttons and sliding with faders. I never had more then 4 faders open at the same time. The band and the audience loved it!
I recieved loads of positive comments and everybody told me i did a great job while i just pressed some random buttons!

I love doing lights ...

 

[if6was9]

To ring it out keep turning it up till it feeds back, find that frequency on the eq and cut it. I usually do it with whatever my main vocal mic will be- usually a 58, sometimes an om6. Sometimes it helps to hum or sing the feedback freq back to into the mic to keep it ringing if you're having trouble finding it. It takes a while but soon you develop a knack for it and can tell what freqency it is by hearing it.

 

[if6was9]

I find that a lot of the time that boosts bad frequencies making the guitar really harsh... Just riding the fader up a few dB works better IMO. Could also have something to do with the fact that my PR30s have a big presence bump in the 3k-4k range.

To be honest I usually do a combination of the 2 for solos, to make sure they cut well and pop out of the mix. I usually cut the guitar mids for space for vocals so I'm not so much boosting them for solos, I'm just putting back in what was originally there!

 

[Dalinkwent48@aim.com]

Ive tried doing some eq'ing before riding the fader on solos but i always end up just leaving it and bumping the fader. Works better for me.

 

[arv_foh]

So I should basically boost one frequency after another on the 31 band. If no feedback occurs at +12db (or whatever the eq gives you) this frequency is fine and I can set it back to 0. If it feeds back I'll pull it out as you explained above. Have I gotten that right? Which mics do I need to have set up at this point? How does the process differ for the monitors and the PA?

What about "hissing" or "popping" into the mic? I see people do that quite often as well.

Sorry about the noob questions but since all of the systems I used so far have been rung out already I never had to do it myself and therefore never learned how to do it.

I just do it with a 58

for essing you just have to cut 8k and above, not much else you can do... the 58's windscreen pretty much kills plosives you really shouldn't run into that much at all

To be honest I usually do a combination of the 2 for solos, to make sure they cut well and pop out of the mix. I usually cut the guitar mids for space for vocals so I'm not so much boosting them for solos, I'm just putting back in what was originally there!

10-4 bro