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<\/h1>\n<\/h1>\nSounding great live is every act\u2019s goal\u2014and it\u2019s a challenge nearly all musicians face, from coffeehouse singer-songwriters to touring arena bands. Achieving perfect live sound can be complex, taking into account everything from room acoustics to microphone selection and placement, as well as the limitations of the house PA system. But with so many variables at play, what\u2019s an act to do?<\/p>\n
Getting vocals to soar and solos to sear off the stage isn\u2019t an impossible mission. And it doesn\u2019t require advanced training or degrees\u2014just practice, knowledge and a willingness to learn. The more you understand how live sound works and how to eliminate potential problems upfront, the more successful your live shows will be.<\/p>\n
We tapped two renowned front-of-house engineers, Robert \u201cVOiD\u201d Caprio and Sean \u201cSully\u201d Sullivan for their insights and expertise. Sully has worked with an array of artists including Beck, the Beastie Boys, Sheryl Crow, Thom Yorke and Norah Jones. VOiD is on tour with Cee Lo Green and has also worked with Vanessa Carlton, the Fray, Eve 6, and Nas, among others.<\/p>\n
What\u2019s the sound engineer\u2019s goal?<\/b><\/p>\n
SULLY: To reproduce what the band is playing accurately\u2014to every seat in the building\u2014as if you were standing there listening to them play.<\/p>\n
VOiD: The ultimate goal is always to make the audience happy. When people have paid money to see you, they\u2019re buying your product. So you want to give them a good product for what they paid.<\/p>\n
How about mic selection?<\/b><\/p>\n
VOiD: Mic selection is a very personal thing. The best thing to do is to experiment. Try everything you can and settle on what you like the best. That said, you can\u2019t go wrong with the SM58 and SM57 from Shure. If you\u2019re a singer, it makes sense to bring your own mic, in the same way guitar players bring their own guitars.<\/p>\n
SULLY: Picking mics that reject the outside stuff is crucial. I typically use cardioid dynamic mics onstage. They have a ton of rejection at the back and the sides. I pretty much use all Heil\u2014they\u2019re good, natural-sounding mics. People often ask, \u201cHow do you get detail and air with a dynamic mic?\u2019 My response is that the detail you get from a dynamic is far more usable than a condenser that lets sound in from all the other instruments.<\/p>\n
How do you work around bad room acoustics?<\/b><\/p>\n
SULLY: Start with mics that minimize picking up the room. You\u2019ll also find that you get better intelligibility in your vocal. Also, the level the band plays at has to be appropriate for the room size. If you\u2019re playing a small club there\u2019s no point turning up amps to arena volume levels.<\/p>\n
VOiD: You can do some things with high-frequency shading on the PA so you\u2019re not shooting high frequencies into the ceiling, which will bounce. Modern technology offers a lot more resources with digital processing. You have more available than your old 15- or 31-band graphic equalizer.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
What\u2019s vital to know about mixing?<\/b><\/p>\n
VOiD: It always starts with the vocals. If possible, make sure the entire band is onstage for the soundcheck. Everything needs to work together, and vocals get the most emphasis. I push the faders, check the meters, make sure I have decent gain, and have the band start playing. Seven times out of 10, you\u2019re in the ballpark.<\/p>\n
SULLY: There\u2019s a lot of trial and error involved. The gear and technology we have makes it easy to add dynamics and effects. You can put a gate, a compressor or a de-esser on every channel. But that adds a lot of confusion. I\u2019d start with a high-pass filter and EQ, a fader, and a bit of panning\u2014and don\u2019t even think about the advanced parts of the technology at first.<\/p>\n
Which mixers do you prefer?<\/b><\/p>\n
SULLY: For clubs or smaller venues, I like the Yamaha 01V\u2014it\u2019s kind of a Swiss Army knife mixer. It takes the place of a big analog mixer and a rack of effects. Sound quality is more than good enough for what they\u2019re used for.<\/p>\n
VOiD: For the money, you can\u2019t beat the Behringer X32 digital mixer. You\u2019re not going to get that many channels, output flexibility or recall-ability from others in that price range. You can recall the settings for the headliner or the opening act at the touch of a button, and it\u2019s got a good EQ and good reverb and effects.<\/p>\n
How do you get the best out of the house PA?<\/b><\/p>\n
VOiD: To maximize any PA, I start with the lead vocal and make sure it\u2019s as loud as I can get it before feedback. If I started soundcheck with every instrument separately, I might get halfway through before soundcheck\u2019s over, and I\u2019d never get to the vocal. In that case, I don\u2019t know if I\u2019ve got room to put that vocal out in front of that band.<\/p>\n
How to get a good monitor mix?<\/b><\/p>\n
SULLY: Know what you need in your mix. If you\u2019re standing next to the bass or keyboard player and you can hear those amps, then keep those sources out of your monitor mix. Also, know how to communicate with your sound guy. Most vocalists want to sound like themselves. Nobody wants a big, overblown sound with tons of bottom end. For instance, Beck wants to sound like himself up there. Atoms for Peace like to hear all the effects in the monitor rig. They\u2019re doing some of the effects themselves with pedalboards, but I send any effects that I do on the board to the monitors so they can hear those as well.<\/p>\n
What are some common mistakes?<\/b><\/p>\n
VOiD: Too many young bands just play too loud. If they have a screaming loud guitar amp behind them, then they\u2019re more likely going to need a louder monitor in front of them. That just creates havoc for everybody. And you don\u2019t play as well at that volume since you can\u2019t hear everything.<\/p>\n
SULLY: Singers need to be conscious of their surroundings. If you\u2019re moving around in front of a loud monitor, be aware of the fact that the FOH guy or monitor mixer may have to take drastic measures to combat feedback. Your sound quality can suffer because of that. Don\u2019t get too far off the mic. Don\u2019t wrap your hand around the mic capsule. Listen to what\u2019s going on around you.<\/p>\n
Keys to an effective soundcheck?<\/b><\/p>\n
SULLY: Try to play and sing during soundcheck the way you\u2019ll be performing. The FOH guy is trying to get your sound ready in a brief window of time, and if the way you play doesn\u2019t relate to what you\u2019re going to do when the audience shows up you might as well not even soundcheck.<\/p>\n
VOiD: Develop a routine and get organized, and you can turn what would have been a half-hour soundcheck or more into 15 minutes\u2014and you can get a slice of pizza.<\/p>\n
\u2013Mark Hutchins<\/p>\n
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LIVE LESSONS Our experts reveal their strategies for achieving pristine live sound Sounding great live is every act\u2019s goal\u2014and it\u2019s a challenge nearly all musicians face, from coffeehouse singer-songwriters to touring arena bands. Achieving perfect live sound can be complex, taking into account everything from room acoustics to microphone selection and placement, as well as […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[11],"tags":[4578,4805,4032,7093,4826,1178,4804,7186,1197,7187,3158,5978,4806],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10943"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10943"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10943\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10945,"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10943\/revisions\/10945"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10943"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10943"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10943"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}