C.J. Lewis Posted March 27, 2023 Share Posted March 27, 2023 Thank you all so much - just getting back to this (I'm less and less enthralled about the internet as I get older). Lots of great suggestions, but I think my main takeaway is that it's not an exact science, and the tools out there that do exist will give me an approximation of what needs done when, which will vary from gig to gig. Thankfully, we have a level of consistency in that we're 100% IEM, the venues we play have high powered (mostly) line array systems, and as long as the band is happy with their IEM mix, I try my best to remove what FOH may or may not be doing. This is also one of the next steps in our band evolution - hiring a full time FOH engineer who knows Journey's music and our interpretation thereof and can dial in a mix accordingly. Quote ivorycj Main stuff: Yamaha CP88 | Korg Kronos 2 73 | Kurzweil Forte 7 | 1898 Steinway I Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stokely Posted March 27, 2023 Share Posted March 27, 2023 That sounds like about the only plan. Someone out front that knows what they are doing is by far the ideal thing but many of us aren't making that much as it is! For really important gigs we bite the bullet and hire someone usually. Ironically our biggest gig in years sounded the worst (according to people out front)...sound company gig, all their equipment. They were trying to blame the band for some weird phasing thing, to us on stage it sounded fine. Paid those guys 500 bucks to sound terrible, wish we had that back and I could have hired a friend to run our PA for 100 or so. Just be as consistent as you can. I pick a couple songs here and there to spend out front mixing. Doesn't help with my singing or playing, though in soundchecks I have the lead vocalist bang on some keys (might be a good reason to have a sequence on my Modx, come to think of it!). That's if we get a soundcheck....mostly we get line checks and a very brief test of the mains if anything. When I sing my first song (generally song 4 or 5), the lead singer runs out with the tablet and adjusts as needed. After that we mostly go on cruise control. We often have a musician or sound engineer friend in the audience who can let us know what needs tweaking, and occasionally someone we trust enough to hand the tablet to! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EricBarker Posted March 27, 2023 Share Posted March 27, 2023 Frankly, the most consistent bands I've ever played with ran their own sound. Obviously that's not practical for large hall/auditorium/arena stuff, but for mid-sized venues... my heart sinks a bit when I see a house sound guy. Yes, it makes my life easier, but we're gonna sound shitty. My faith in sound guys is very low. The other day, I had to explain what "Stereo vs Mono" was. About halfway through the explanation, I just said "forget it, I'll run mono", because I could just imagine him at the board going "what does this second fader do, again? it sounds just like the other one, I'll turn it off". I would pretend to be shocked, but I'm really not. We guested my wife on vocals after a very obvious introduction. She gets up there, starts singing on verse2 and mic is off. Thankfully she's pro enough to immediately grab my mic (I'm just singing backup harmony). Again, not surprised. My wife is training to run sound now, seeing how terrible the local scruds are has inspired her to do it better. The best bands self-mix, can run their own sound when need-be. And any house sound-guy is just there to drink beer and make minor adjustments. Quote Puck Funk! Equipment: Laptop running lots of nerdy software, some keyboards, noise makersâ¦yada yada yadaâ¦maybe a cat? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stokely Posted March 27, 2023 Share Posted March 27, 2023 Oh I agree about some of the house engineers...though we also get some very good ones. I'd almost prefer the bad ones just drink that beer, as when they take action it usually isn't good... Ideally you'd have your own pet engineer that does all your gigs, my old late 80s frat band traveled with one He set up way out front with a big mixer, our mixer these days is on stage with us (but has tablet control). We do our best with self-mixing, but with four lead vocalists that also sing tons of harmony this can be touchy. Granted once you set levels the vox should be ok, and we know how to work the mics. We don't use amps so we don't get "stage creep". It can be tough with the slower/dynamic songs mixed with the full-on rock ones...like doing "Drift Away" right after "Flirtin' with Disaster", everyone brings it down but it's hard to know by exactly how much. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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