The EM Poll

Sounding Off

Jan 11, 2008 5:26 PM, By Buck Moore

           

As a live-sound engineer, I've mixed many bands and musical acts throughout the years, and I've seen (and heard) a lot of things go wrong onstage. No, I'm not talking about bad notes, bad arrangements, or bad songs — although I've certainly experienced my share. I'm referring to onstage sound problems that are mainly preventable.

I know because I've been on both sides of the stage. Before focusing on running sound, I spent years as a touring guitarist and vocalist. During my first few years of touring, I rarely gave sound engineers the benefit of the doubt when it came to handling my sound. That was sometimes because of all-too-common communication problems between musicians and soundpeople, but it was also partly because of my own ego.

Eventually, however, I began taking mental notes on what the sound engineers were doing and how they were contributing to the show, and my attitude changed. Once I realized how critical communication between the individual musicians and the soundperson was to getting the best live sound, I found it easier to work as a team, and I encouraged my bandmates to do the same.

In that spirit of cooperation, here's my advice to musicians about what they can do to help sound engineers achieve the best possible mix out front.

SOUND CHECK

If you want to get off to a good start with the soundperson, don't arrive five minutes before your performance and hand over a complicated stage plot. Realize that it takes a some time to get a decent sound and a little more time to get a good sound. Also, try not to “help” by doing things such as repositioning microphones and monitors — the soundperson almost certainly knows the gear and the room better than you do.

Another important element to consider is your onstage volume. The more amp and monitor sound there is onstage, the more difficult it will be for the soundperson to get a good overall balance and for the musicians to hear themselves. Moral: turn your amps down! And don't just turn them down for the sound check and then crank them back up during the show. For some reason, I've found that bassists and keyboardists seem to be the worst offenders in that area, the latter blowing away the soundperson, and in some cases the sound system, with 15 dB increases during solos.

THIS MEANS YOU

Most of the problems encountered in achieving a good live sound have to do with either volume or individual instrument sounds, and the majority of those problems have solutions. Here's a look at a few of the most common problems and how to solve them while keeping the band, the soundperson, the promoter, and the audience happy.

Guitar

Between pickups, tone controls, amps, and effects processors, guitarists have an almost infinite number of sonic options at their disposal. Although all of that tonal flexibility can be great, your settings can sometimes cause problems in the main mix. There are, however, a few things you can watch out for.

FIG. 1: The Giant V amplifier EQ setting is popular with guitarists and bassists who play heavy rock. The highs and lows are cranked up all the way, and the mids are scooped out.

Having the preamp, or gain, control turned way up on a guitar amplifier or pedal may result in liquid-sounding solos and singing sustain, but often it also leads to lack of definition in a live mix. In the worst cases, people in the audience hear a distorted and buzzy sound that doesn't really change in pitch no matter what chord is played. A good solution for that is to lower the preamp gain from 10 to about 6 or 7 and turn up the master volume to compensate.

Another common problem with electric guitars is mismatched volumes. For example, the distorted sounds may be at a lower volume than the clean sounds. (The opposite problem also occurs.) When the guitarist switches from the louder sound to the quieter one, the audience perceives a hole in the mix. Try backing off the preamplifier on the amp's distortion channel or on the distortion pedal, and turning up the main volume; if necessary, set the EQ on the clean sound to a slightly flatter setting. Those changes won't alter your sound drastically, but they will make it more consistent from the audience's perspective. It's always a good practice to try to make sure that the various sounds that you switch between (whether from stompboxes, multi-effects pedals, or amp channels) are as balanced as possible from a volume standpoint.

If you must have your amp up really loud, side-washing it, or positioning it on the side of the stage facing toward you rather than toward the audience, is often a good idea; this is especially true in smaller venues. That way the soundperson will have greater control of the volume coming directly from the stage. (Naturally, that will work only if your amp is miked or taken direct into the P.A.) Furthermore, if your amp is directly behind you, pointing at the audience, and you move around in front of it, the sound will change intermittently as it is blocked, which is another reason to side-wash your amp.

That is not to say that your guitar amp should always face away from the audience. If you set the amp at a low enough volume relative to the other sounds onstage, it may be just fine facing forward. The point is that you want to give the soundperson as much control of the sound — or at least the levels — as possible. Therefore, if your guitar is too loud during a quiet vocal section, it can be taken down a little bit. Remember that having control of all of the sounds is an essential factor of a soundperson's job.

The two things that soundpeople can't control without cooperation from the guitarist are the guitar and amplifier EQ settings. Certain styles of music require some pretty extreme equalization, and the more drastic the settings, the more difficult it is for the soundperson to make reasonable adjustments within the mix. For example, if you use the common Giant V curve (see Fig. 1), with the highs and lows boosted to the max and the mids scooped out, it may sound really cool to you as you play ultrachunky hand-mutes, but the sound probably will interfere with the bass and bass-drum sounds. Bear in mind also that if you use the Giant V EQ setting, the soundperson will likely counter it by rolling off some highs and lows at the console, further limiting the mixing possibilities. (It is a lot easier for a soundperson to cut and boost the board EQ when it's at or near the middle position.) Naturally, you want to be able to set your tone so that it suits your taste, but remember that using extreme settings can make it difficult for the soundperson to do his or her job properly.