Live Sound Mixing Tips

I watch the search terms that bring traffic to the site and pay attention to the comments both on the blog and on the main site. There have been questions regarding sound in small venues. One of the searchers today used ‘drums too loud in small venue’ as a search term. Drums are always loud, but can become a problem in confined spaces. In addition, the loudness of the drums often makes the other players need to play louder in order to hear themselves.

What can be done about volume in the small venue? The best available answer is to use a drum screen to reduce the direct sound from the drums. A drum screen is constructed of Plexiglas, usually in three sections with hinges or clips. They fold for transport and are free standing around the drum kit on stage. A drum screen will cut down on the direct sound of the drums into the room. The Plexiglas allows for visibility both for your crowd and for communication with the other players. Not only is the direct sound blocked to some extent but also bleed into vocal mikes and other instrument mikes is reduced. This can help a good deal with the sound in the room.

As far as amplified instruments in the small venue, placing the amps at the side of the stage can allow the musicians to hear without so much direct sound into the room. If the guitar player is using a combo amp a tilt stand can be of value, and if a tilt stand is not available at least put the rig on top of a box or case to get it up nearer ear level. These tricks along with a sensible approach to stage volume will help the band to sound better in a small venue. Stage volume should always be kept as low as possible. Stage amplification should be so that the musician hears the notes that he is playing. The sound in the room should be from the PA.

In a small venue the levels in the PA should be used to balance the sound. It is best to add only what is needed to the PA to get a full range sound in the room. The higher the stage volume the less there needs to be in the PA.

The PA should have better coverage than the stage amps. Guitar and keyboard amps tend to be fairly directional. Bass is not so directional especially in the lower octaves. It is better to keep the stage volume under control and allow the PA to set the volume in the room.

A combination of these hints will allow your band and music to sound better in a small venue.

Have you used any of these tricks or have you found other things that have helped your small venue sound?

The best position for your amplification is as close to your speakers as possible. The world seems to be moving to powered cabinets even in the concert world. This is the ideal as far as amp positioning is concerned. In a multiple amp active system it is best to have an amp rack close to each speaker stack.

There are losses in any wire. The longer the wire the greater the loss. Also the greater the current the greater the loss. Powering speakers requires high current, so shorter wires will deliver more of your available power to your speaker cabinets. In addition, speakers are low impedance devices. If your speakers are four ohm and the resistance in your speaker wire is one ohm twenty per cent of your available power will be absorbed within your speaker wire. The resistance of the wire includes both conductors, so if the wire were to measure a half ohm on one conductor the total resistance would be one ohm.

There is not as much signal loss in low level wiring for two reasons. Since the power formula uses the square of the current, low current levels do not incur as much penalty. In addition to that the impedance of the input that you are driving is much higher, so the relationship is different. Where one ohm of resistance in the wire driving a four ohm load would equal a twenty per cent loss if that same one ohm line resistance is driving a one thousand ohm load the loss would be only point one per cent.

Smaller PAs for bands working in clubs may not lend themselves to multiple amp racks. If you must run wires for longer distances it is important to use heavier gauge wire. The lower the gauge number the thicker the wire. For speakers it is important to use heavier gauge wire for high power or longer distances to get the best performance from your sound system.

The post following this is about mixing sound outdoors. I wrote the post and it looked good so I submitted it to Ezine Articles. I have just received word that the article was accepted for publication and can be found at:  Live Sound Mixing Outdoors The article promotes this blog and the main Mixing Live Sound site. If you have a website perhaps you could reprint the article.

Live Sound Mixing weather it be a small outdoor gig or a major concert has some advantages and disadvantages. The situation is different when you get to the great outdoors. While the reflections that you must deal with are less of a problem more of your sound may need to be reinforced to maintain a proper balance.

Some of the problems of live sound mixing inside are reflections and the standing waves created by the dimensions and shape of the rooms and the position of the stage in the room. This changes with an outdoor venue. There may be few or no reflections with an outdoor stage. If there are reflections there is usually a much longer delay before they return to the stage. Sometimes specific frequencies will reflect from some surface but other frequencies will not be reflected to the same extent.

There are likely to be cancellation and reinforced areas that are dependent on speaker location. These will be more predictable with outdoor sound. If you use a stack on either side of the stage including subs there will be strong low end in the center of the venue but there will also be cancellation points off center on each side, usually between the center-line and the stacks. From a position directly in front of either stack you may hear the actual balance of the mix.

Depending on the style of music and the volume desired a sound system may require more power and more speakers for an outdoor show. You may also need to mike some things that are not needed in a club venue. Outdoor stages are often bigger than the stages in clubs, so you will not have as much bleed into the vocal mikes and other live mikes on stage. If you have the proper equipment it is easier to mix outdoors because you are not fighting the sound problems inherit in a room.

You may need to have an input from each instrument as well as your vocal mikes. You may also find benefit when working out doors to put up overhead mikes on the drum kit. Cymbals may bleed into vocal mikes on a club stage but may be lost on an outdoor stage. Also miking each individual drum will give you more control if you have the mikes and channels available. Guitars and keyboards may need to be in the mix for balance and dispersion. Many guitar cabinets tend to be beamy and the sound can drop often dependent on frequency off axis.

The monitor system may also need to be stronger for a large outdoor stage. Musicians may need more things in their monitors for timing. More monitor mixes are also desirable for outdoor venues. Usually for events other than concerts four mixes will work well. A stage right, center stage, stage left, and drum mix will allow you to give the musicians what they need to hear in most cases.

I have heard many people say that they think outdoor gigs are hard. The real secret is to have enough PA for the gig and venue. I much prefer to mix outdoors, but I have the necessary level of equipment available for the jobs that I take. A live stereo recording of an outdoor gig with enough mikes and equipment can be very good.

A microphone has a property called proximity effect. The closer that the mike is to the sound source the more low and low mid frequencies are reproduced.

Proximity effect can be enhanced or reduced by the physical engineering of the microphone. Some are designed to minimize the proximity effect and some are designed to include more proximity effect. Many vocal mikes are designed with a fairly strong proximity effect while instrument mikes may be designed to minimize the proximity effect.

Proximity effect can give some added warmth to vocals. The singer needs to understand how to use the property of the microphone to the best advantage. If the singer backs off of the microphone the sound will be thin and as they get closer to the microphone the voice will fatten up. Mike technique is something that is important for a vocalist to learn.

Have you noticed the proximity effect in vocal mikes?

I am putting up this blog to post mixing tips for live sound technicians. I will try to post a tip at least once a week, so check in often or, better yet, subscribe to the RSS feed for the blog and see new posts in your rss aggregator.

I would like to see some comments on these posts. If you have something to add or if you think that the tip is not good, either way, leave a comment. Feel free to ask questions in the comment box as well. You can also make suggestions about posts that you would like to see.

For those of you with websites I have installed a couple of plug-ins to give commenting a greater value to you. I have the KeywordLuv plug-in installed with a do follow plug-in. If you leave a comment you will get a link back to your site. External links back to your site can help your site to improve its search page position. So get busy and write a comment!

I will also be pleased to offer a guest post to anyone who would like to make a post that is on subject. I will be happy to include a resource box with your guest post.

I have a bit more work to do on the blog and then I need to put the announcement and link up on the main site, so I will close this post for now. If you have questions or need to contact me email for this site is: wink@mixinglivesound.com