EGO: Ryan Settee

Be Nice to The Soundman
The soundman can be a blessing and a burden to a band. A soundman can be great, when you're a fledgling band who knows hardly more than how to tune your guitars (if that, even), and want to concentrate on playing live, and nothing else. However, soundmen can cause alot of stress with bands who know how they want to sound in the audience, but have no control over, since they have to perform. Because either way you look at it, let's face it, you've got to accept that you're at the soundman's mercy.

A soundman can make you sound great, or just plain bad out in the audience. And considering that it's the audience that you want to win over, it's a fact that soundmen can kill bands dead on some nights. Bands can be playing the best gigs of their lives, only to have their instrument(s) sound like crap in the audience, or worse--not be heard at all! I've heard that some people couldn't hear my guitar on some nights, and the same is true about some other bands that i've heard. So who's to blame, then? The band? The soundman? Poor equipment? Your position in the club? Other factors? In reality, a nightmare sounding gig can involve all of those problems.

In defense of the soundman, alot of them know what they are doing, so it isn't really a problem, some of the time. These guys work hard to acquire equipment, because often they own the mics and stands that you use, and maybe some cables and bigger stuff, with the PA and boards being supplied by the club. They work hard to do what they do, night in and night out, and have to treat every band differently, because every band is different. Imagine how a soundguy gets a full sound out of a band with no bass player! And it's not easy to treat everyone differently, especially since the average house soundguy is there to mix live bands, usually without knowing who they are, or what they need, specifically. Unless you are hiring them, specifically, to come in for this show, bands can't expect the soundmen to know what the band wants or requires. That would be unfair.

But to be fair to the band, as well, many soundmen DON'T know what they're doing, and treat bands like numbers. When that happens, you know that you're bound to end up with problems. The thing is, alot of soundmen get jaded, and don't care to do a good job, or some of them lose their hearing, and assume that they're still doing a good job. Don't forget that alot of them don't wear earplugs, and have gone the way of Pete Townshend (no, not downloading kiddie porn, HAH!), in that they've burnt their ears out on years of overamped, loud concerts. It's what anyone can expect, really. The ear, like anything else, can only take so much abuse before it fails to work properly.

So what can a band do on their end, to make sure that they've done everything that they can do? Let's focus on what they can control. First of all, make sure that all of your cords and equipment are functioning correctly, because the soundman cannot help you if you blow out a vaccuum tube in your amp. Sometimes a bands' equipment is not always working properly, or up to the best conditions, and couple in the fact that the band that went on before you had a singer who was swinging a mic around (that was most likely not his/ hers, and was the soundguy's), and you have additional problems. Some mics might not be working correctly, and might be cutting out, which happens in the heat of a performance. Equipment gets damaged, and that's just a fact of gigging--and dealing with defective equipment in the middle of the song can often bring out the best improvisational performances out of bands.

Second of all, don't insult, or treat the soundman bad in any way. I've known and seen bands that have insulted the soundman up onstage, and they might think that they're funny, or something, but the fact remains that you don't want to piss off the soundman!. Buy him or her a beer before the gig, and thank them beforehand for their work on your show. While they may not actually do a good job, they're more likely to want to do a good job, and that's the best that you can do, really.

The sound also depends on where people are situated in the audience, as well. Some nightclub rooms have "blank spots", where the mix can sound weird, or vastly different from that of what is being heard at, say, the back of the club. These spots are usually from the front of the stage (where you're likely to hear more of the stage and stage monitor sound), or if you're situated beneath the PA speakers, and not in the direct range of the house's PA speakers. And this depends on the room--other rooms have other unique "tics" and "blank spots" in their rooms, and to be honest, there's no such thing as a perfect room.

Another factor is the room's acoustics. I'm sure that we've all been to a community centre all ages gig, where it's held in an auditorium or gym , where the reverb plays havoc with the mix and sound. Some arenas have poor sound, like the Winnipeg Arena, where the sound is notorious for being echo-ey and muddy sounding. So the room might be giving the soundman a hard time, and that's to be expected out of playing any place that was not specifically designed to hold music concerts.

One thing that is very overlooked with live sound problems, is the stage sound. Here's the problem--if musicians turn up their amps full blast onstage, then there will be "bleeding" into the vocal or drum mics, causing either feedback, or poor mixing separation. Here's a scenario--Johnny Fingers, an amazing guitarist, turns his amp up to ten, and gets a very good stage sound for himself and the people at the front of the stage. But Johhny doesn't realize that his great, massive stage guitar sound is bleeding into his singer's mic, which means that the soundman has both the guitar AND vocals going through the vocalist's mic. That proposes one of two solutions: turn down the amp onstage and sacrifice Johnny's live power and get more vocal control, or leave it as is, and have the audience wonder why no one can hear the singer. And this is why most soundboard recordings are heavy on vocals, and have an improper mix--because what's being heard by the specific mics is different than what's being heard on the stage.

So hopefully this information helps some people understand some of the problems and solutions to the live sound thing. It's never going to be perfect, but hopefully bands and soundmen can work together, instead of against each other, in order to look better. Remember, a great band with a poor soundman, and a great soundman with a poor band will look bad to the audience, either way. It doesn't matter who's fault it is, they both need each other to sound good to the audience, and that's what it's all about.