Imagine what it would be like to make love to your partner while they read a book or watched TV.... That's what it feels like when you're on stage playing your heart out and the soundman isn't catching what's going on. Recently, I stood out front during a Canadian country music recording artist's show and listened to the sound guy slaughter the band. It happens all too often. Here's the problem: some audio engineers understand music and some don't. The ones that do, understand the dynamic of what is happening on stage; they get that there is a relationship between the kick drum and the snare drum and the high hats for example, and how important it is that those relationships translate out front to make the "big picture" happen. Imagine what any popular music would sound like with no snare drum... Isn't it just as important that when the piano or guitar plays a fill, that it gets heard? If somebody took the time to write the music, produce it, engineer it, play it, record it, mix it, master it, manufacture it, hire a band to learn it, rehearse it and travel a great distance to play it, aren't you as the live audio guy, kind of obligated to do your part to see to it that it's represented properly in the P.A.?
How many mixers actually know the first thing about who or what they are mixing? Believe me, the good ones do and I've had the priveledge of working with a few of them. Sadly, I've worked with too many others that just don't get it. This guy had the solos nailed. Solos were one thing that he could put a label on. In all, I'd say he was catching about 40% of what was coming off the stage. That's an unacceptable average. The true sadness is that he was a member of the touring band, not just a guest mixer. So is he qualified to be doing what he's doing? Does he understand what mixing is and not just how to throw a mix together? Did he ever take a music lesson is his life? How can you mix music if you don't know the first thing about it? Isn't it important to know what "filling the second verse" means? Or what the difference between rhythm and melody is? Bottom line... owning a home stereo does not make you an audio engineer. So again I ask you: is it even worth taking your clothes off if your partner is just going to lay there like a lump while you passionately put everything you have into your performance? If mixing is his passion, he could have saved us all the trouble by going to bartending school. The world can always use more bartenders. Shitty soundmen we have enough of.
To all of you audio engineers that represent us well every time we play, thank you. To all the ones that consistently miss the fills in Verse 2, I'll have a tall gin and tonic with a lime squeeze. And while I'm at it, here's a couple tips for you:
-Harmony vocals were intended to be heard. They were NOT intended to be louder than the lead vocal (the one in the middle).
-The guitar is not an instrument that makes a murmuring sound. It's a melodic instrument that produces chords AND melodies. In other words, turn it the f*&k up. What are you afraid of? Think of a solo as a melody, just like the vocal but without lyrics. If it's not louder than that, then it's not too loud. Live a little.
-There's more to life than making people shit themselves with the kick drum. Check out the radio or a CD sometime if you're not sure.
-Common sense DOES apply in your situation. Let's just say the band is using tracks, like so many bands do these days. FYI, it's used for "thickener", not as a "feature". If there happens to be a synth pad on the track but no keyboard player on stage, it's a good idea NOT to make the synth be the loudest thing in the mix. Is it really so hard?
-Finally, think about this: a band can be the best band ever, but you have the power to diminsh all that just by forgetting to turn a channel on. It's kind of a big responsibility. If you're not trying every second to make it sound as good as it can, you're not helping.
