Running Sound From Stage

Fuzrock

Silver Member
I personally see this is a last resort. In my opinion it's always best practice to have a sound guy out front listening to what the audience hears. I can see the point of view that it is cheaper not having to pay a guy to do that, especially if you own your own sound gear. How do you know what adjustments need to be made when you can't hear what's coming out of the front of house speakers?
 
i usually try to find a knowledgeable volunteer among our fans to be the informal "sound guy". i don't let them make adjustments, but before the show i ask them to pay special attention to the mix during our first song. after the first song i walk down and ask them how it sounded and then we adjust the mix according to what they said. sometimes that works, but not always.
 
i usually try to find a knowledgeable volunteer among our fans to be the informal "sound guy". i don't let them make adjustments, but before the show i ask them to pay special attention to the mix during our first song. after the first song i walk down and ask them how it sounded and then we adjust the mix according to what they said. sometimes that works, but not always.

Are you not paying a sound guy simply as a cost saving measure or do you really think it isn't necessary? Do you have everything including drums mic'd up and going through the PA or just vocals?
 
i usually try to find a knowledgeable volunteer among our fans to be the informal "sound guy". i don't let them make adjustments, but before the show i ask them to pay special attention to the mix during our first song. after the first song i walk down and ask them how it sounded and then we adjust the mix according to what they said. sometimes that works, but not always.

Thats just what I do! Works fine for low profile stuff.
 
I personally see this is a last resort. In my opinion it's always best practice to have a sound guy out front listening to what the audience hears. I can see the point of view that it is cheaper not having to pay a guy to do that, especially if you own your own sound gear. How do you know what adjustments need to be made when you can't hear what's coming out of the front of house speakers?

As a guy who drums and makes a living as the front of house guy (time permitting) it is impossible to know what it sounds like in the house. However, you can learn your gear well enough, and play your system during soundcheck to put yourself in the ballpark. I've done that enough times too.

At Disneyland, you learn to mix from strange places. One gig I did there was to mix a jazz band floating by on the Rivers of America on a raft. The mixer obviously can't be seen, so I'm behind the band next to the engine and raft driver, left of the drummer. I solved this by getting some of those GK Ultraphones and listening to the headphone out on the console (Yamaha O1v). Not only do the headphones cancel all outside noise, I'm hearing a semi-accurate picture of what's going out into the house (the headphone out is the same as the wirelessly transmitted sound I'm mixing). It's rare when you get to really mix from in front of the stage out there.
 
I run sound from behind the drum set with one of my bands. I set the monitors how people want them, then check to see what it sounds like from the audience. I'll usually only have to add the vocals and maybe some keyboard to the mains, as the guitarist's and bassist's amps are plenty loud on their own. Sometimes (especially in small hotel banquet rooms) the sound of the amps and monitors together negates the use of the mains (they like their vocals loud in the monitors). Then, I drum accordingly, mixed with the monitors with a "little extra" to carry to the crowd. I also designate somebody (usually the coordinator who put the gig together) to give some feedback on the sound and the mix, but it's usually pretty spot-on by the time we start playing (we've been doing it a while...)
 
I run sound from behind the drum set with one of my bands. I set the monitors how people want them, then check to see what it sounds like from the audience. I'll usually only have to add the vocals and maybe some keyboard to the mains, as the guitarist's and bassist's amps are plenty loud on their own. Sometimes (especially in small hotel banquet rooms) the sound of the amps and monitors together negates the use of the mains (they like their vocals loud in the monitors). Then, I drum accordingly, mixed with the monitors with a "little extra" to carry to the crowd. I also designate somebody (usually the coordinator who put the gig together) to give some feedback on the sound and the mix, but it's usually pretty spot-on by the time we start playing (we've been doing it a while...)

Sounds like you've got it down. It still doesn't seem ideal. You can't walk out front and listen and hear the music like a guitarist could with their wireless unit. As drummers we'll never really know what it sounds like out there. How do you go about dialing in the drums?
 
Are you not paying a sound guy simply as a cost saving measure or do you really think it isn't necessary? Do you have everything including drums mic'd up and going through the PA or just vocals?

we don't make enough money to pay a dedicated sound guy, as much as i'd like to. last weekend we were at a big music festival and had everything miced up with a professional sound guy handling the mixing board, but that's rare for us. normally we're just in a bar with our own PA and no one mixing for us. i usually mic my bass drum, but other than that we only have vocals miced.
 
Our singer, guitarist and bassist use wireless systems. We set the stage volume, then they set the house levels with the mixer out in the front of the house. Works like a champ. Periodically one of them goes out into the crowd to make sure the levels are still good and adjusts as necessary.

We used a sound guy once and were not satisfied with the results. Since then, we have just done it ourselves.
 
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