See where volunteering gets you

[rikibeth]

I got sick of complaining that shadowflyer's band, Calley McGrane and the Exiles, really really REALLY needed someone to sit at the sound board during their shows and mix for the house.

shadowflyer pointed out that the trouble with that was that sound people typically wanted to get paid for doing that sort of thing, and the band wasn't exactly pulling in enough to support that yet.

I said, "Well, how hard can it be to learn to run your board?"

Looks like the answer is, "not very."

mcroft, feel free to tell me everything I'm doing wrong and how much of an idiot I am.

Calley's guitarist/manager/dad has a six-channel Yamaha mixer. He'd already neatly labeled the six channels with masking tape and a Sharpie with "Calley's Mic," "Fiddle," "shadowflyer's Mic," "Bodhran Mic," "Dave's Mic," and "Guitar," and everything was plugged in, so all I had to do was pay attention to the volume dials for each of them and the separate dials for "High," "Middle," and "Low." There were also dials for "Monitor" which is probably a lot more important on a real stage than in the McGranes' basement, and for "Effects," which, honestly, I don't think they ought to use, given what they're playing. Straightforward Irish trad and folk does not need echo or reverb on the vocals, not at all.

If the gadget were more sophisticated I probably wouldn't understand it. But as it stands, I felt pretty comfortable with it. I had fun turning up the high range on the bodhran for "Thousands Are Sailing" so the broom would sound a lot like a snare, and I solved the damned muddy vocals problem on "Johnny Jump Up" -- when shadowflyer is singing against full guitar and bass, instead of the scaled-back arrangements that they've got for "Raggle Taggle Gypsies" or "Off to Jerusalem," it helps to tweak the mid-range higher so it carries over the guitar. I cannot do anything at the mixer to fix flat vocals because Calley's still shaking a cold, but I can make the $10 Clarke whistle less painful on "Red Is The Rose" by pulling the high range waaaaaaay back.

They're playing on Saturday at the Audobon Society in Glastonbury, at 7:30 PM. I am probably going to spend more time looking over the house sound guy's shoulder than actually running it myself, but I am sure it will be educational. And we'll be out of there in time to make the Rathkeltair show at the Half Door!

eirehound, that takes precedence over the Attrition show. I listened to the CDs, and one of them was middling-good, and the other was pretty unimpressive, and I'm unlikely to want to flirt with their bass player, so... I'm sure you can find someone else who would be delighted to make use of that other ticket you lucked into.

Now, if I can just keep from sporking my boss in the eye...

Comments

[andrianna.livejournal.com]

It really isn't all that hard to learn how to run a sound board.. I learned while I was in high school.

Good luck!

[mcroft.livejournal.com]

honestly, I don't think they ought to use, given what they're playing. Straightforward Irish trad and folk does not need echo or reverb on the vocals, not at all.

While there's no need for Enya/Loreena McKinnett style drenching, the point of a little light reverb is to make amplified sound more natural. It fixes an unnaturalness that happens when you amplify voices. It also covers a range of timing sins. No serious singer would be happy with a FOH mix that didn't have a bit of wetness to it. The amount is up to you, but more for slower songs is the general rule of thumb.

The best book I know is the Yamaha Sound Reinforcement Handbook, second edition. It explains how everything you might get works (circa 1995 or so: it was pre-computer the last time I looked). It's not an easy read, but you know a lot when you're done.

Is "Dave's Mic" an instrument mic or a vocal mic? If it's for his amplifier, it's probably not worth doing too much with, since it's amplifying a low (and therefore omnidirectional) bass speaker already. Usually the only reason to feed it back into the head unit (that's what that kind of mixer is called) is so that you can add reverb or send it to monitors.

Here's my live mixing advice: listen. Go to several different places in the room and listen for 10-20 seconds. Hear the differences between spots in the room. Figure out what you want to hear more or less of (averaging across all the listens) and then go fix it in the mixer and then go back and listen again.

The biggest disadvantage to the Yamaha head unit style gear is that it means you have to separate listening from adjustment, which makes the process slower and less accurate.

Here's another piece of advice. Talk to whoever was the recording engineer for Taking Flight. Tell him you'll be mixing CMcG&tE and ask him for pointers. Tell him you're new at it, but that you're reading the Sound Reinforcement Handbook. :)

If you know other bands that play out that have an established engineer, especially one whose sound you like, offer to help. Go to the load-in, go to sound-check. Run cables, stand by the board, hold her drink, etc. Make sure she knows what you're trying to do and that she doesn't mind you asking questions, and then do it.

Have fun, and feel free to ask me questions any time.

[rikibeth.livejournal.com]

"Dave's Mic" is vocal, but he only does backing vocals. He's not crucial to the mix. His bass is not actually plugged into the mixer at all... I have no control over it. :(

Am I borrowing this book from you, or searching up a used copy, or what?

[mcroft.livejournal.com]

2:I'll hook you up.

1:It's OK for the most part not to have control over the bass, as long as you have "Dave, turn it down" control over the base.

[greeneyes-rpi.livejournal.com]

While there's no need for Enya/Loreena McKinnett style drenching, the point of a little light reverb is to make amplified sound more natural. It fixes an unnaturalness that happens when you amplify voices. It also covers a range of timing sins. No serious singer would be happy with a FOH mix that didn't have a bit of wetness to it.

Mucho agreement with this sentiment. Amplification eliminates the warm sound of the room, which the reverb will restore. Give me something, as long as it doesn't sound silly for the venue, but don't leave me completely dry.

[neilfein.livejournal.com]

Sometimes matfein runs the board at my gigs (when there's a board at all). I generally ask her for a little bit of reverb so I can hear myself sing. What you hear through bone conduction isn't very accurate, and generally sounds better than what's going out into the world. Reverb helps me stay on-pitch, or as close to it as I can get.

There are ways to fix flat vocals, but the processors aren't cheap, and that kind of processing is generally overkill for a live setup.

[eirehound.livejournal.com]

Hokey-dokey. I never made any great claims for them, and like I said, if I hadn't gotten tickets for nothing I probably wouldn't have crawled naked over a hundred yards of beautiful naked women to get to them. You just don't argue with the word "free", or at least I don't. :-)

[rikibeth.livejournal.com]

Heh. The big problem I had with the sucky album is that they didn't seem able to stay on pitch!

[eirehound.livejournal.com]

They were doing that for a certiain period. I think it was a sound they were deliberately looking for. And maybe not quite finding.

[ap-aelfwine.livejournal.com]

Hurrah for Riki on the soundboard!

Now, if I can just keep from sporking my boss in the eye...

You probably shouldn't, as it would be hard to pull it off without being caught. But it sounds as if she most thoroughly deserves someone sporking her.

Hmm... an army of chipmunks bearing sporks _would_ be a lovely albeit terrifying sight :-)