Sound Design Live

Build Your Career As A Sound Engineer

Guerrilla Mixing

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In this episode of Sound Design Live I have curated some of the best highlights from Aleš Štefančič’s presentation from Live Sound Summit. Aleš shares his best tips for getting great results under the worst circumstances. Plus, a lively Q&A section at the end where he is asked:

      • Can everyone learn to mix well or is there an inherent base line of talent necessary?
      • What advice do you have for working with a band that is being difficult, especially in a one-off situation where you won’t be able to build a lasting relationship?
      • Is there an appropriate way of telling another engineer that their mix just isn’t right?
      • More and more bands are showing up with IEMs without prior notice. What is the guerrilla mixing response?

sound-design-live-everything-feared-digico-consoles-wrong-ales-stefancic-headshotIf someone is being insulting on personal level, my support doesn’t go diminished. I am here to do a job.

Notes

  1. If you can’t prevent guerrilla mixing:
    1. Verification & console prep
    2. Focus on the stage first
    3. Keep it simple
  2. Quotes
    1. Guerrilla mixing is mixing against all odds. You have no time for advanced preparation. You are lacking all relevant information. It’s the ultimate test for your speed, focus, and mixing ability.
    2. If you have a chance, try to prevent it from happening.
    3. I might use faders at zero mixing if I am mixing FOH only.
    4. You cannot influence the way other people treat you. You can influence the way you treat other people.
    5. If someone is being insulting on personal level, my support doesn’t go diminished. I am here to do a job. Do your job and let Karma do its.
    6. IEMs in mono are crap.
    7. You can train this with virtual soundcheck.

 

 

 

Why Touring Sound Engineers Are Getting Paid Less

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In this episode of Sound Design Live, I speak with touring FOH sound engineer, author, and fashion entrepreneur, Dave Swallow, during his stop in Minneapolis on tour with Erasure. We discuss using timecode to trigger scenes on a Venue Profile console, starting a clothing line, why touring sound engineers are working more, but getting paid less, and what to do about it. I ask:

      • How did you get the job touring with Erasure?
      • How do you use the wireless Lake controller to tune the sound system?
      • What are some ways you used plugins to recreate specific sounds from the album?
      • What did you want to start a clothing brand?
      • Why should I care about the speed of sound?

sound-design-live-touring-foh-sound-engineer-job-dave-swallowOur wages haven’t gone up in 10-15 year in some cases and there are less shows. When you think about the future of the industry, there is a big question mark.

Notes

  1. All music in this episode by Meathook and Butler Boyz.
  2. Dave’s clothing line – Audio Architect Apparel
  3. Software: Waves H-Delay, True Verb, C6 Multi-band Compressor
  4. Hardware: Venue Profile, D&B B2, FunktionOne 221, D&B Y system
  5. Books: Live Audio
  6.  Quotes
    1. What [triggering the scenes with timecode] has allowed me to do is focus on sonically how they are sitting in the room. This is especially important when you are stuck mixing at the back of the room.
    2. The problem with putting big reverbs into big rooms, is they are twice as big. One of the things that is quite helpful is using the pre-delay. Getting it up to somewhere between 70-100ms, you give the vocal time to form the words and then you have the extension.
    3. One of the biggest problems with theatres in the US is that they lack bottom end.
    4. My self and my contemporaries are probably the first generation of touring sound engineers that have had to think about having another career. [When you set out on this path] you just think, “Let’s have fun!” But there comes that point when you think, actually, I don’t want to be 60 and living by myself in a rented flat somewhere in north London.
    5. To earn a decent living you need to be out of the house [on tour] for the whole year, to pay for the house that you’re not living in.
    6. You’re losing out to gigs because there is someone younger and cheaper than you are. Experience doesn’t seem to count for as much as it used to because it’s all budget controlled.
    7. When my son was born I only worked six months and we weren’t struggling for cash. These days, if I only work six months, we’ll have a bit of a problem.

sound-design-live-touring-sound-engineers-getting-paid-less-dave-swallow-erasure-stage sound-design-live-touring-sound-engineers-getting-paid-less-dave-swallow-erasure-mixing sound-design-live-touring-sound-engineers-getting-paid-less-dave-swallow-erasure-bus

 

 

9 Tips for Easy In-Ear Monitor Setup

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In this episode of Sound Design Live, I speak with monitor mixer, educator, writer, and musician Nicholas Radina from Cincinnati, OH. We discuss his best tips for easy in-ear monitor setup and get deep into wireless frequency coordination and strategies for mixing wireless IEMs(in-ear monitors). I ask:

  • How did you get your first job in audio?
  • Looking back on your career so far, what’s one of the best decisions you made to get more of the work that you really love?
  • What are some of the biggest mistakes you see people making who are new to mixing wireless IEMs?
  • Could you walk us through your process of wireless frequency coordination?
  • What are some of the specific challenges of working with O.A.R.?
  • From Facebook
    • ANDY: How necessary are audience mics?
    • ANDY: Corporate RF vs rock-n-roll RF
    • ANDY: Advice for mixing monitors from FOH, especially 6 or more mixes
    • STEVE: What console are you talking about with OAR and riding the fader?
    • STEVE: What do you bring to eat on long gigs?

9-tips-for-easy-in-ear-monitor-setup-nicholas-radina-headshotThe idea is to make the tuning situation as close as how it will be for the end user.

Notes

  1. All music in this episode by ¡ZUMBA!, Salsa Caliente/Dan Barger, and Nicholas Radina.
  2. What do I do if a band comes in with a surprise IEM pack that they want me to mix for?
    1. Give them a stereo mix.
    2. Try to discourage them from using one plug in and one plug out.
    3. Find out how many outputs they need and if you can actually accommodate that.
    4. Make sure you have the right gain structure between your desk and the ears.
  3. 9 Tips for Easy In-Ear Monitor Setup.
    1. RF Coordination: Get it right. Using coordination software will keep everyone playing nice together and reveal local digital TV stations.
    2. Sonic Image: Pan instruments appropriately in relationship to where they are on stage.
    3. Gain staging: Make sure nothing looks crazy, for example the player’s pack volume is at 10, but your output is at 2.
    4. Don’t try to monitor at the same level as the musicians. Instead, check in at their level occasionally, then back it down. That’s why my right hand is always on the cue fader.
    5. Be careful with compression, especially on singers. Keep it light. Dynamics are where it’s at.
    6. Don’t leave microphones open that are not being used.
    7. Make sure your audience microphones are in phase.
    8. Make sure the pack settings are consistent from pack to pack.
    9. Always coordinate spare frequencies and keep a spare pack and wireless mic ready. Keep a spare output on a matrix so you can route any mix to the spare pack.
  4. Hardware: Midas Pro X, Pro 2, SC48, Profile, Yamaha CL, Yamaha QL, Yamaha PM5D, RF Explorer, Porter & Davies tactile monitoring system.
  5. Software: Shure Wireless Workbench, Flux Stereo Tool.
  6. 9-tips-for-easy-in-ear-monitor-setup-nicholas-radina-featuredMy Shure wireless coordination workflow–in 120 seconds!
    1. Turn off all wireless transmitters.
    2. Scan with an IEM pack at the performer’s position on stage.
    3. Sync that pack to the receiver.
    4. Repeat steps 2-3 with all IEMs.
    5. Scan with your instrument receivers.
  7. Quotes
    1. A lot of opportunities come up because you are available.
    2. Experience is it. You have to be in the belly of the beast and do the gigs.
    3. If what’s coming off the deck isn’t good, it’s hard to make it better, but it is your job to try.
    4. You feel like if you say no, the phone is going to stop ringing.
    5. Seek out the music that you like and the work you really want to do instead of the gigs that pay well that you don’t like.
    6. If you are always waiting for when you’re ready enough or good enough, you’re going to miss opportunities. Just trust yourself and do it.
    7. You need to have your own IEM.
    8. I do recommend that people buy stuff as low [in frequency] as possible because they keeping hacking off from the top down. So the lower you go, the safer you’ll be for the long term.
    9. #1 tip for mixing monitors from FOH: split channels.
  8. This interview was originally recorded live on FB. You can watch the video here.

My Shure wireless coordination workflow–in 120 seconds!

 

Mixing the most difficult musical on Broadway: Rock of Ages

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In this episode of the Sound Design Live podcast, I talk with Daryl Bornstein about Rock of Ages, the most difficult play he has ever mixed. We discuss:

  • How he first got work on Broadway.
  • How he got the gig with Rock of Ages.
  • The complicated setup procedure before every show.
  • The sound system design and tuning.
  • How to visualize sound in a room.
  • What it takes to learn an intense Broadway musical.
  • The moment of panic on every show.

People want to work with somebody who is a team player, who is going to do what they need to do to make sure their work isn’t compromised, but understands the big picture and approaches problems as a challenge as opposed to an annoyance.

Show notes:

  1. All music in this episode from Rock Of Ages (Original Broadway Cast Recording)
  2. Hardware/software: Avid Profile, LCS, Galileo, Sennheiser 5212 and HSP2 and MKE1, Ultimate Ears
  3. Quotes
    1. Think of it as light. How is it going to reflect off of walls and other surfaces?
    2. Rock of Ages is the most difficult show I’ve ever had to mix.
    3. It’s unlike any other show I’ve ever done, because you cannot make a mistake.
    4. The single most important decision I ever made was to approach a producer and lobby to be the production sound engineer on a musical…
    5. The only criteria [for hiring crew] was, “Is this somebody that you want to sit across from at dinner and have a fun time?” You want to be around people that you enjoy being around. And that’s probably what makes for success, aside from skills.
    6. This particular [Digidesign Profile] has more plugins on it than any other Profile in the world.

sound-design-live-podcast-mixing-musical-broadway-rock-of-ages-daryl-bornstein-set

The good, the bad, and the ugly of being a Tour Managing FOH Engineer

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In this episode of Sound Design Live I talk with Brian Adler about good and bad of being a tour managing FOH engineer and how he lost his passion for audio in the recording studio and rediscovered it in concert sound. We discuss:

  • Why getting fired was the best thing that ever happened to his career
  • The benefits of working at smaller concert venues
  • How to control your relationship with an artist (even if you work at a shitty club)
  • One important demand you should make when taking tour managing gigs
  • Staying healthy on tour
  • Brian’s industry secret for optimizing a sound system on tour 😉
  • Brian’s #1 trick for controlling stage volume
  • How to give guitarists and vocalist plenty of volume on stage
  • How to double a vocal channel at FOH for separate monitor control

And we answer these questions:

  • Do the places you work affect your reputation?
  • Should you go after tour managing jobs to get more audio work?
  • What are the responsibilities of a tour manager?
  • What’s it like working at a museum?
  • Where do you get the best burritos in San Francisco?

sound-design-live-tour-managing-foh-engineer-brian-adlerYou can’t control whether someone has a good time or a bad time with a venue. You can control whether someone has a good or bad time with you and your sound system.

Details from the podcast: