Mixing sound from the stage

[charlie]

First of all, let me say I am not a sound engineer. But, I have been mixing sound from the stage for many, many years and there are several things I have found to be true.
1. The sound is always brighter out front than you imagine. That's because by standing behind or off to the side of the PA cabinets the highs are somewhat muffled. Therefore, it's important not to overdue the highs so people won't get their heads sawed off as they walk past the PA. Another good indication that the highs are too strong is to watch their faces as they walk by. If they're grimmacing with pain as they walk by, then chances are the highs are too strong.
2. Overall volume is subject to change as the room fills up or empties. Even without changing a single knob on the PA mixer, the "perceived" volume will decrease and the room fills up. People aborb sound waves and therefore the tendency is to turn it up when the room fills up. Conversely, as the room empties the "perceived" volume will increase and so therefore the tendency is to turn it down.
3. Concrete floors and low ceilings will accentuaute bass response and could cause problems with low rumble feedback through open mics. Also, in extremely high ceilings such as in gymnasiums, low frequencies can run a muck and compromise the overall mix.
4. Glass and mirrors accenuate high resonance and could possibly cause problems with high end feedback through open mics.
5. Curtains, drapes, and carpet can "deaden" the overall sound and make it sound muddy. The trick is to not over compensate too much on the high end. Otherwise, people's heads will begin to roll...lol.
6. And finally, too many brewskies can affect your ability to maintain a pleasing sound to the audience. It's funny, but for me at least, when I've had a couple of brewskies....it's just not loud enough...LOL...so word to the wise...save the drinking for after the gig.

I know most of the items listed above are commonplace place knowledge for those of us mixing sound from stage. It just does me good to refresh my own memory about these issues so that I can feel comfortable knowing how to mix a room from the stage. Let me know what you think and how you handle your mixing situations.

Charlie

[weegeo]

Hi again charlie
This is another 1 that is easy for me lol lol i do the `sound`from stage as well and everything you have said is true,but the answer to your query isn`t easy to resolve simply because every room,club,bar and marquee tent are different and i think it`s just down to your own particular sound.I know the sound that i have is crystal clear and not to top end and i pride myself on having the same sound in every gig i always get there early and set up then do a song run thru before anyone comes in.Anyway thats how i do my set up it seems to work

Regards

weegeo

[charlie]

Yes Weego,

That's what I strive for too...consistency. Often times I don't have the luxury of a sound check, and that makes it hard to find the "sweet spot" in the room. It is also true that every room, club,bar,etc. is different and has its own issues that have to be dealt with. One thing I didn't mention about mixing sound from stage is having to deal with wannabe sound engineer lounge managers. There was an occassion I remember when I was on the road traveling where this lounge manager insisted on having the sound go no further than the dance floor. Even at the lowest volume we could play at, he stood at the edge of the dance floor with his Radio Shack DB meter and said the meter was still pegging over 90 db. He said I want your sound to be contained on the dance floor like the DJ's sound system does. We pointed out to him that the DJ's speakers were hung from the ceiling and pointed down to the dance floor, thus limiting the amount of sound that would travel throughout the rest of the lounge. He said that didnt matter and that we were just too loud. So, we thought about it and the next day we turned our PA speakers back toward the stage, played about half volume, and he said "now, that's what I want...great job!" LOL....It wasn't so funny then, but now that I look back...it's hilarious. The audience couldn't understand a word we were singing, but they kept on having their business meetings and we thoroughly enjoyed hearing ourselves up front and close...LOL. So, it just goes to show...many adjustments have to be made regarding mixing from stage...even dealing with wannabe sound engineer lounge managers...LOL!

[Stephanie]

Here's a tale of woe, just to underscore the importance of a sound check...

We recently played a gig in a completely impossible room, to an impossible crowd. We're a vocal group of 10 voices plus keyboard and midis, so good miking and balance is vital to our sound. The room was architecturally beautiful but an acoustic minefield. The gently curving panelled walls not only reflected our sound back to us, they actually focused it, particularly at vocal frequencies. The high ceiling swallowed up the highs, the dance floor played havoc with standing waves - you get the idea. We were playing for an annual Nurses' Union dinner and pretty much everyone was there to schmooze and eat and drink. We arrived early along with the decorators who hadn't realised we were coming, so we had to carve out a space for ourselves at the end of the buffet table. By the time we were set up the early drinkers had started to arrive so our sound check was cut short - just long enough for me (mixing sound from beside my keyboard) to realise that we had several problems.

1. Feedback was going to limit our volume. (No time to fix it, just realise it.) I ended up having to equalise the vocals almost beyond recognition.

2. We wouldn't be audible beyond about 20 feet. This turned into a plus, actually, as the schmoozers and drinkers moved back and those who actually wanted to hear us could move up.

3. We really should have had more mikes. We can usually arrange our 10 singers among four mikes but being crowded in as we were there just wasn't space to do that, so everyone was too far away from the mikes. Another minus in the gain-before-feedback game. Our vocal balance was pretty much gone at that point.

That said, we learned a lot about playing to tough crowds and in tough rooms. The crowd wasn't there to be sung to, so we just sang because we love to sing. Some of the folks there really picked up on that, and the comments we heard as we were packing up were all positive.

Live and learn - and keep on singing!

[charlie]

Hey Stephanie,
Wow...10 vocalists & four mics! I can certainly see why a good sound check would be advantageous. I played a similar room such as the one you're describing. Beautiful architecture...but a nightmare to mix. As it turned out, all they wanted from us was to be a drone in the background. We turned off the main PA and sang through floor monitors. Everyone was walking around hob-knobing and waiting to be seen by the right people. Later on in the evening, the lounge manager came up to us and congratulated us for such a wonderful performance. We just smiled and collected the check and went home. Two weeks later he calls back and wants us to play again...and so we did, but without our PA, just floor monitors...and he loved it...LOL...go figure.