What follows is an awesomely painful story of a tiny technical problem that destroyed an entire concert. I share it with you to illustrate one of the most important points that Darryn De La Soul made in our interview: Don't panic. As sound engineers, you know that anyone working on live events has ample opportunity to lose their shit. Aside from the technical problems that can ruin a show, there are lots of egos bumping into each other and other elements that easily combine to create a … [Read more...]
Honestly, Live Audio Is Not Based On Science
Did you hear my interview with Dave Swallow? You should. In our conversation it was obvious that he has a ton of valuable information to share, but that information is kind of hidden in his book. Let's dig around in the dirt and pull out the gems. Your job as an engineer is to get the best out of what you are given, even when you are given the worst. Bored. Swallow spends a lot of time covering information that you can find in the user manuals for mixing consoles and outboard gear. It … [Read more...]
Mixing The Biggest Festivals In Europe with Dave Swallow
Subscribe on iTunes or SoundCloud. In this episode of Sound Design Live I interview Dave Swallow, the author of Live Audio: The Art Of Mixing A Show, about how he went from being the in-house sound engineer at a local music venue to mixing at the biggest festivals in Europe. We also discuss why graphic EQs are rubbish, time-aligning stage monitors for better vocal intelligibility, why lead singers use more than one stage monitor, how performers communicate with sound technicians, avoiding … [Read more...]