Sound Engineer For Live Sound, just want to bounce questions off you. Options

[soon2be]

I'm very interested in making music but right now live sound is more important for me to know. And even though Im learning the baby of basics when it comes to making music and sounds on the computer I want to be able to focus more on live performances. So I need to be able to bounce some simple questions and have them anwered in simple terms.

What (to you, the answerer) is the most important quality in a live sound engineer? What is the first thing I need to focus on?

I know things here and there from listening and watching but I dont have a starting point, so therefor I dont know which way is up. I dont know if there is a way up really because the more you know the better huh?

[boilerblues]

The most important thing is your ear. You have to train your ear to know what sounds good, what doesn't, and if it doesn't what needs to change. You have to develop the ability to listen to a band and sort out each instrument and know what adjustments need to be made to make it sound like you think it should sound like. You also have to be able to hear what an overall mix should sound like, not just for your own preference but for the audience and the band you are running sound for. I've been running sound at church for a few years now, I've learned a lot. Anyone can learn the equipment, it's not as complicated as it looks. The hard part is training your ear to know what it should sound like and how to adjust things to sound like that. I'm sitll working on that. The same thing transfers over to recording.

[soon2be]

Thank you for the tips.
Anybody else?
Anything. Any information for me to know, the better.

[soon2be]

Can anyone also point me in the direction of basic troubleshooting tips? Equipment-wise. Any trouble shooting would be helpful. Any info? or websites?

[tunetwister]

On doing sound yes your ears are the most importent thing. You also must understand gain structure and E.Q.ing.
When something gose wrong with the equipment you need to know where to look first and fix it fast. Most problems are operator error, then bad cords, ground faults ect. You need to learn to isolate the offending equipment, by looking at your system as a hole and as smaller parts, anything is simple when broken into smaller parts. Best to keep extra cords around you will most likely not have time to fix them at a gig.

[soon2be]

Ive definately run into that a few times. Cord faults ect... but do you know of any thing I can do to get my hands on some sort of "something" like a website or manual or something that helps break down "How To's", or help break down isolating?

[tunetwister]

I do not know of one book that will tell you every thing. I went to collage for electronics and that helped me with the hardware side.
The biggest thing is to learn are the paths for your signal, this way you will know where to look. Test the signal path to see where the signal stops or becomes a problem. Also make sure you understand your gain structure. Basicaly you do not want to turn one thing way up to have to turn another thing down. If you can run everything at norminal that is best, you will get the most headroom and the cleanest signal path this way. Some times adjustments have to be made allthough. Most distortion comes from bad gain structure or eq.ing.
Chasing down ground faults is a bit of a job, if you use ballenced outs and ins it cuts them down alot. You have to try to isolate the offending component to find it. some times the fix is as easy as turning a power plug around in the outlet. Good power conditioners can help also.

[boilerblues]

Read the manuals on your equipment, that's the best way to find a problem. If you don't know the gear and how things are routed then "Live Sound For Dummies" won't help much. If you go to Guitar Center or look through amazon.com you'll find some live sound books, but I think most of the learning comes from reading the manuals, working next to someone who knows what they are doing, and doing it.

[tunetwister]

Yes read the manuals and anything else. The tearms used alot is RTFM.
It also helps to read about electronics. you want to understand impedence, ohms law, and how to trouble shoot at least simple things.

This post has been edited by tunetwister: Mon 9 Aug 2004, 07:52

[Meganini]

Meganini [/QUOTE]
What (to you, the answerer) is the most important quality in a live sound engineer? What is the first thing I need to focus on?

I know things here and there from listening and watching but I dont have a starting point, so therefor I dont know which way is up. I dont know if there is a way up really because the more you know the better huh?

OK Soon2Be,

This is Meganini.

I have about 25 years experience in audio engineering, live and studio (recording). Now, listen that does not makes me a god of audio, but I do know my fair share.

Your ears, are very important. But most important if you have to do the sound live for a band, make sure you can go to their practices. Don't forget to bring a pair of ear plugs. Some guys even in practice play really loud. This you must do if you want to know their sound. Just sit in a corner and listen to them, don't interviene in anything, let them be themselves.

Try to know your microphones. If the singer insist to use a certain mike because its the mike that fits his voice better, then believe him, at least for the first time and try it.

If everything is miked with SM-57 and SM-58 you won't have much trouble. Its bottom line but you'll get a good sound very close to "their sound" in no time.

Refuse to mix on a Yamaha mixer, they're the shit!

If you want to avoid cable problems as in "suddently faulty cables" just learn how to roll them properly, and explain to the band leader that you're the one that takes care of this. Speaker cables are rolled a certain way, while shielded cables are rolled differently.

I could type on and on until 5:00 a.m. here, but Soon2be be confident in yourself, but not overconfident. Set and wire the P.A. system yourself, that way you will not have to face disappointment from newbies who don't know what they do, or from jealous people (yes, grasshopper, in music there are a lot of those people)

One secret from the ol' pro. On the mixer don't play with the volume like crazy, you're not a D.J., you're a soundman. If the tune they play sounds just fine, then adjust nothing. That's your job

Meganini

This post has been edited by Meganini: Tue 10 Aug 2004, 04:34