FOH Mixing: EQ it till it sounds good

Subscribe on iTunes, SoundCloud, Google Play or Stitcher.

Support Sound Design Live on Patreon.

In this episode of Sound Design Live, I speak with FOH mixer Scott Adamson who has toured with some of my favorite bands including Passion Pit, Haim, Matt Kim, St. Vincent, and Sleater-Kinney. I ask:

• How do I become the next Scott Adamson and pursue a career touring as a FOH concert sound mixer? What would be your first steps if you had to start all over again?
• What are some of the biggest mistakes you see people making who are new to FOH mixing?
• What’s one thing that you wish everyone understood better that would make show set up so much easier?
• What’s in your work bag?

If it doesn’t sound good, EQ it till it does.

Notes

1. All music in this episode by Daniel Mintseris.
2. Scott’s free courses: The Top 5 Live Sound Tips for Stage, How to Use a Mixer – the Master Control for Live Sound
3. The biggest mistakes by people who are new to FOH mixing:
   1. Volume: There’s a big difference between making it sound big, and it being loud.
   2. EQ, especially on outputs (tuning a PA). Tip: Look at your system EQ in the high-mids.
   3. Pushing the outputs of the console super super hot.
4. Quotes
   1. A lot of sound engineers want to share their information with people that are interested.
   2. The hardest thing to do was to stick with it.
   3. More than anything, what I feel has helped me is to just focus on being nice to people.
   4. If you are on top of your patching, everything goes fine from there.
   5. You always have to use your ear and do what sounds good and not what looks good on the screen.
   6. EQ it till it sounds good.