A BASIC INTRODUCTION TO CONCERT SOUND ENGINEERING Compiled by Lou Gross - Jubilee Community Arts Modified March 1996 Comments and suggestions welcome - mail to gross@math.utk.edu Copyright 1996 - L. J. Gross (Note: This document may be copied for individual use or for use by non-profit organizations in training staff and volunteers. Any other use requires written consent from the author.) This is a brief basic guide to running sound with an emphasis on non-technical details, and oriented towards acoustic settings. It is based upon my experiences with sound at the Laurel Theatre and a few other venues over the past 15 years and is meant mostly as just an introduction to the social aspects of being a good sound tech, rather than the tech aspects. I give some technical suggestions, but these are not designed to provide anything other than complementary material to what you would learn by reading a good guide to sound or the manuals for whatever sound system you are using. Even more important is hands-on experience, and watching over the shoulders of experts. Your main responsibilities: 1. Do what the artist wants. 2. Get the best sound in the hall you can with the equipment available. Sometimes these are not totally compatible, in which case you must trade-off some of the artists desires with what you feel is best for the audience. In general though, most artists would agree that you have responsibility for sound in the hall, and they won't try to control it but rather give you suggestions. Artist Relations: You may be the one individual in the venue whom the artist deals with in any extensive manner, so you should remember that you are representing the hall, and the artist may well remember the experience there based in part upon how you dealt with them. Therefore, be friendly, courteous, treat the artist with respect, and be sure to listen attentively to their requests and suggestions. Start by introducing yourself, asking them if they have any particular suggestions, and then get into details such as: (a) What kind of mix do they want in the monitors? (b) Are there any particular suggestions they have for the house mix (e.g. one particular vocal or instrument out front, an even mix, EQ settings for any instruments, etc.)? (c) How do they want the stage arranged (if they haven't provided a stage plot - if they have you should have already had the stage arranged before the sound check)? (d) Do they prefer to hear the monitor mix first, then bring in the front of house mix, or the reverse (this is a matter of artist preference and also depends upon the size of the hall)? Audience Relations: Again, you are often the most readily visible person in the hall who "looks official". Thus it's expected that you be courteous to audience members, and be able to direct them to rest rooms, water fountains, refreshments, etc. It is not unusual at all to get requests from audience members for changes in the sound during a performance (if you don't get many of these, you either have a very laid back audience, or you are doing a great job). Be as polite as possible to these individuals, and do listen to their comments, particularly if they are sitting in a part of the hall that you are not able to get to, and which could require some changes. Then do as you feel best, but remember that the audience are paying customers and a regular stream of requests from them probably means you should make some changes. Setting up the stage: The stage arrangement is critical for several reasons: (a) Mic placement can be very important in some venues and for some artists. Generally the artist will have a very good idea as to how to best set up the mics for their instrumentation - follow their suggestions. If the artist is inexperienced, inform them as to the best way to use the mics you have available, and offer suggestions about both singing into them as well as placement for their instruments. Be aware that any mic which is out in front of the stage offers the potential for feedback problems in the house, so keep them back far enough that this doesn't occur. If the artist is going to walk around with a mic in the hall, this requires a specialized mic (note that it's not a problem with most direct pickups inside instruments, but can be if it's an internal mic). (b) I will say a bit about speaker placement in the hall but for much of this guide I've assumed the venue of concern to you has a fixed speaker and sound system. If it does not, you should be guided by past experience in the hall, and if you don't have any, you soon will! So much of speaker placement depends upon the specifics of the hall acoustics and the speakers properties, that there's little general advice I can give. One is to not be afraid to move the speakers around a bit if the current arrangement doesn't sound as you'd like. Small changes in just the vertical or horizontal angle of speakers can make big differences in clarity in the hall as well as turning a major feedback problem into a minor one. (c) Monitor placement is critical not only to ensure the artist can hear what they want to hear, but also because a large number of monitor feedback problems can be reduced by appropriately placing the monitors relative to the mic placement. The general rule is that no mic should be pointed towards a monitor, and preferably they should all be aligned perpendicular to the plane of the monitor speaker. Note that very loud monitors, particularly if any are angled towards the audience, may well interfere with sound in the hall. Loud monitor systems typical of highly amplified bands automatically require higher sound levels in the hall than might be preferable otherwise. Thus it is preferable to maintain a monitor level high enough that the artist hears what they want, but not so high that it causes problems with sound in the hall. How much interference occurs with the hall sound is greatly affected by the on- stage acoustics, and whether any stage monitor sound is bounced back to the hall from loud monitors. Any onstage instrument amplifiers (typically for electric bass or guitar) also have the same potential interference with sound in the hall. Again, don't be afraid to make changes in positioning of monitors if you are having difficulties, particularly feedback problems. (d) You don't want to unnecessarily block the audiences view of the artist, but this often takes secondary consideration to mic and monitor placement. So be aware of the way the stage looks, particularly with any stage lighting you have. I often find it best to have the stage lights set up as they would be for the show during the sound check to allow the artist to get a feel for the light level on stage. (e) When the stage is set, and you are done with the sound check (thus you are certain all cables and lines are functioning correctly), carefully dress all cables on stage and in the hall so that audience members and artists won't trip on them. Typically this means you coil excess lines in locations that are out of the way, and tape down with gaffers tape any lines that people could trip over. I typically coil excess mic lines at the base of each mic stand. Dressing the cables appropriately adds to the perceived neatness of the stage for both audience and artist, and is an additional measure to both as to how important the concert producer views the performance. A messy stage detracts from the overall ambience of the performance. Doing the Mix - The House: First, pay attention to what the artists instruments sound like acoustically, if they're acoustic, or what is coming out of any on-stage amps, if they're electric. Generally, you want to make the instrument sound like that in the hall. Secondly, if the artist has recordings available, listen to them prior to the performance to get some idea as to how they might prefer a mix. At the same time remember that artists may not at all want a live performance to sound just the same as a recording. It is typical that an artist will give you very little guidance as to how to make the house sound. If possible, after a basic mix is down, I suggest that you request a band member, manager, or other person who is travelling with the artist give you some feedback on how the mix sounds. Artists with pickups in their instruments may well walk into the hall and request changes based upon how they prefer the sound. There are three basic components to the house mix: (i) the overall level, (ii) the relative levels of various instruments and vocals and their channel EQs and (iii) the graphic EQ and any other effects in the mix (e.g. reverb units). The overall level is mostly determined by the size of the hall, the type of music, and how rowdy the audience is. It can also be affected in part by how loud a monitor mix there is. In general, the level set during a sound check will be changed when the audience is in the hall - people in the hall tend to dampen out alot of the sound you will hear during the sound check. If you have experience in the hall you will probably automatically accentuate certain components of the mix during the check because you are taking this into account. It is important to walk around the hall during the sound check to listen for any hot spots, as well as to hear how the mix sounds in different parts of the hall. This is particularly important if you are doing a stereo mix in the hall. If possible, I suggest you walk around the hall a bit during the performance as well - don't just stay at the board and assume the sound everywhere in the hall will be the same as it is there. In general, in the house mix you ought to be able to pick out each instrument clearly, and all vocals should be distinct. If the mix sounds "muddy", a basic start to getting it fixed is to turn down the overall level in the house, and adjust the EQ and level on each channel so that each instrument becomes clearly defined. This is easier to do if the overall level is reduced, but is also made easier if you can "solo" each channel and hear it in the headset as you adjust the EQ. Keep in mind that the headset sound will be quite different from how the hall sounds for that instrument, and the channel EQ should be adjusted for the hall. You can also solo an instrument to the house, but I have found that most artists do not particularly like you to spend any extensive time running just a single instrument through the house while a whole group is playing. Therefore, before the entire band does a piece, I request a run through of each channel for just a brief time to get a basic level (e.g. adjust the gain pot on each channel), and a very rough channel EQ. A house graphic EQ is used to accentuate certain response frequencies in the hall that might be absorbed due to the hall acoustics as well as to reduce particular frequencies that arise due to the hall harmonics or due to feedback. Generally you tend to reduce rather than boost particular frequencies, but it is not at all atypical to start out with a W-looking setup - boosting the lows, reducing slightly the mid lows, raising the mids, lowering the hi mids, and boosting the hi's. This is only a starting point however, and you will have to adjust any graphic to suit the particular room. During a mix, the graphic can be used to remove "harshness" in particular frequency ranges, as well as boost the clarity of some. However, since the graphic is typically used to affect the entire house mix, if the problem is with a particular channel it is preferable to first try to fix the problem by adjusting the EQ on that channel. Having a graphic EQ on a particular channel allows a great deal of flexibility as to how that channel sounds, but this is rare in my experience except when an artist has a small number of instruments and wants alot of control over these. Of course, many artists have small graphic EQs with a few frequency bands on stage with their instruments, particularly if they are using pickups. You can ask them to change these if you feel it appropriate. Doing the Mix - Monitors: The purpose of monitors is to allow the artist to hear what they want to hear, and should complement whatever on-stage sound there is from the house system. The onstage mix - or mixes if there's more than one - is whatever the artist wants. The basic two choices are having the monitors the same as the house mix or having a mix that accentuates particular instrumentation or vocals. There are few general rules of thumb here, as this is very much artist dependent. Typically it's not necessary to have any instrument which onstage is very loud to be in the monitor mix - such as drums and bass - but this depends on the size and arrangement of the stage. As monitor speakers are typically quite different in sound from the hall speakers (generally the hall speakers will be of higher overall sound quality), it's important to keep in mind that what the artist hears will not be the same as what is heard in the hall, even if you are using the same mix on stage and in the hall. For this reason, and because it is the monitors that often give any feedback problems, it is preferable to have a good graphic EQ available for the monitor mix, even if this means you can't use it for the hall or have to run the hall in mono so you can use one side of a stereo graphic for the monitor mix. A good graphic can solve lots of onstage problems with overall "feel" as well, since you may well not have channel EQ controls (e.g. Hi, Mid and Lo) for the monitor mix separate from that for the house mix. If the monitor mix is the same as the hall, you typically have two options: pre-fader and channel EQ or post-fader and channel EQ. Most mixing consoles "Monitor" send will be pre-fader and EQ, which means that the monitor send is not affected by changes you make to either that channels level in the house or its channel EQ. This is typically what artists want, since the channel EQ setting you are using for the hall will not in general be the same as what you'd want in the monitors. Additionally, artists would get quite confused onstage if the monitor level for the instruments kept changing, as they would if you used a post-fader monitor send and you modified the house mix during the show. Only high-end mixing consoles (or having a separate console on stage as is used for large venues), typically allow you to do a separate EQ for each channel for the monitor mix. Thus, making the monitor mix the same as the house is really a misnomer - you don't want to do this. What you want to do is set the monitor level for each channel approximately the same as you have for the house mix, and then modify this as requested by the artist. If possible to set up, it is very useful to have a way for you to hear the monitor mix, using a headset, at the mixing console. Some mixing boards make this easy - you just switch amongst various inputs for the headset. For other boards you may have to route the monitor mix to a particular channel and monitor that channel in the headset. Whatever way you do this, it makes it much easier during the sound check to make the changes the artist requests, and provides the opportunity during the performance to make modifications (if a signal from the artist tells you to do so) in the monitors which don't go beyond what the artist may want. If the monitor mix is appropriately complex (e.g. if there are several band members, or several separate monitor mixes), it's a good idea to check with the artist before hand about any typical signals they might give you during the performance about changes they'd like in the monitor mix. Most artists don't want to interrupt the flow of the performance to give you instructions for monitor changes, so typical signals are look at you, point to an instrument and give a thumbs up or thumbs down. If there is an intermission, be sure to check with the artist about how the monitor mix is, and whether they'd like any changes. At the End of the Show: Thank the artist and ask them if they have any suggestions about the sound arrangements. If necessary keep out of the artists way during breakdown, and let them remove their instruments and equipment first before unplugging all mics, etc. Clean up your mess, and check with the hall managers about any problems before leaving. You may find it useful to maintain a list of artists you have run sound for, and the basics of the setup and channel EQs you used, in case you have to run sound for them again. Last Revised: March 21, 1996 Louis J. Gross Departments of Mathematics and Ecology and Evolutionary Biology University of Tennessee Knoxville, TN 37996-1300 423-974-4295 423-974-6576 (FAX) 423-974-2461 (Secretary) gross@math.utk.edu http://www.math.utk.edu/~gross/