The EM Poll

Keeping Murphy at Bay

Mar 13, 2008 5:21 PM, By Karen Stackpole

           

THREE PRO ENGINEERS OFFER ADVICE ON HOW TO KEEP YOUR LIVE SOUND UNDER CONTROL

Illustration: Peter Fasolino

Everyone knows Murphy. Murphy's the guy who came up with the law that anything that can go wrong will go wrong. Chances are, he's been onstage with you more than once, vexing you with little things like feedback, bum cables, unruly sound, an apathetic soundperson, and more. Sound familiar? Never fear-you can keep Murphy from becoming a regular at your gigs.

I asked three professional sound engineers for some sage advice to gigging musicians on how to smooth out the rough edges when it comes to working with a house engineer or doing your own sound. Andy Heller has dealt with a gamut of bands and situations over the past ten years while running Location Digital, his live-sound and recording operation. Andy Lipnick, a 14-year veteran of live music, performing arts, and broadcast, does the sound at John Lee Hooker's Boom Boom Room in San Francisco and directs the Theater Sound and Lighting course at Ex'pression Center for New Media in Emeryville, California. John Karr, a seasoned San Francisco sound engineer, mixes at venues all over the city, including the Great American Music Hall, the Fillmore, and the Bottom of the Hill.

Load-In and Sound Check

Bad sound can ruin a good show. You may be tempted to blame it all on the soundperson, but you, the musician, can actually take some simple steps to help the house engineer create a better sonic experience. For starters, be prepared. Make sure you have your gear and your set material together. Making a checklist in advance is a good idea. When you're scrambling to get ready to leave for the gig, that's one aspect less to worry about-you can just run down your list and load the truck.

Every engineer I spoke to emphasized the following advice: Arrive early. This will allow you plenty of time to set up and still give you a margin for error. If you're going to get there late or you don't need a sound check, notify the club ahead of time. Remember, on most gigs you'll be sharing the bill with one or more bands. If you do your part, the sound check will go more smoothly and the sound engineer will appreciate it. Be cooperative-a little courtesy and teamwork will yield good results.

Fig. 1: A stage plot and input list is the best way for you to communicate your band's setup and sound requirements quickly to the house engineer.

Photo: Courtesy Karen Stackpole

Provide the house engineer with a basic stage plot and input list (see Fig. 1). He or she may also find it useful to have a set list with any instrument changes. For instance, I play in a band where the leader switches between acoustic guitar, electric guitar, accordion, banjo, sax, and other instruments, all while singing. A list of these moves gives the soundperson a heads-up. Also, let the soundperson know if the show has any other unique aspects-for example, maybe your perky lead singer likes to run into the audience in front of the mains with an open mic, like Mick Jagger.

If your band has an unusual sound, communicate that aesthetic to the engineer. "I think a lot of bands take for granted that an engineer will understand where they're coming from after a couple of tunes," says Lipnick. "Good engineers often do because they've had a lot of experience mixing different kinds of music, but some engineers don't."

Pet Peeves

A couple of things can put a burr under the saddle of even the most unshakable and diplomatic live-sound engineer. Karr offers two essential tips to keep you on the soundperson's good side. First, never unplug anything (direct boxes, instruments, amps, or microphones) without first turning down the gain all the way or turning the equipment off. Failure to do so can damage both the P.A. system and your ears. Second, refrain from telling the engineer how to do his or her job. You can't dictate how to mix the show from the stage because the house sound is totally different.

Conflicts inevitably arise from time to time between the engineer and the musicians. Naturally, a band wants to control its sound, but at times the engineer may have a better idea of what's going on. "The band's got to trust the engineer-that's hard to do, and I see both sides of it," Heller states frankly. "Unfortunately, if you run into enough ding-dong sound engineers who don't know what they're doing and mess up your gig, pretty soon you're thinking all sound engineers are a bunch of idiots. But many engineers are professionals, and they're good at their jobs."

Another point to keep in mind is that not every venue requires the same amount of sound reinforcement. If you're doing a show on a big stage at a large hall one night and a gig at a local club the next, don't expect to use an identical miking arrangement for both. Lipnick recalls a band that expected to use the same number of mics it had used for a big stage when it performed in the modest-size Boom Boom Room: "A horn player who also played some small percussion instruments and a talking drum wanted three mics. If I gave him three mics in that small space, it would sound like hell in front. The band must trust the engineer to know that."