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FOH Lisa Affenzeller – Chasing the Magic

Lisa Affenzeller is an independent FOH Engineer, who works mainly with Heavy Metal bands, such as Butcher Babies, TesseracT, Kobra & the Lotus, Devin Townsend Project, Overkill, Annihilator. She has been working in the industry for over ten years.

Growing up Lisa had always wanted to work and be a part of live shows “Every show you do has that little magic that lies within that kicks you, and you know that you love what you do.” She had a love for music growing up, although she never had much interest in actually playing an instrument. Lisa would attend SAE in Vienna and graduate with a degree in Music Production and had the full support of her parents. She says, “they love the technical aspect of my job as well as the traveling.”

After graduating she moved between a few cities across Europe before ending in Hamburg, Germany. Lisa would make ends meet with office work, stage managing, soldering, anything to get a chance to mix some smaller shows or opening bands. Allowing her to start working in small and mid-sized clubs all over Repperbahn and give her confidence in mixing live sound. It would also put her in the right place at the right time.

Starting in the clubs taught Lisa the ropes. First, she interned, then assisted, and then got to mix a few bands. From there she would start working at various clubs where she learned system engineering, mixing FOH and Monitors, stage managing, patching. And maybe more importantly how to put in long hours, fix broken equipment, and how to deal with artists and characters from all over the world.

Lisa would find herself in the right place at the right time and was able to start touring on the club level where she would learn how to mix on every possible console and PA, and how to get it set up quickly, and sound good. Although she found it intimidating at first, she now finds it fun.

Some of the challenges Lisa has faced while touring are gear breaking or failing. She says, “it sucks for sure, but it happens to the best of us, and it can happen at any time. It’s just a matter of how you deal with it and how fast you can troubleshoot, and that – again – comes with experience.

She elaborates “One time I had a massive show stopper happen on a big club show in Germany during a tour through Europe. One of the photographers in the pit accidentally broke one of the main Cat5e lines, and I was using the spare CAT5e connection to run my show on 96kHz (which, in hindsight, was super unnecessary). I had no backup and after six songs into the set and the cable broke, more than two-thirds of my input channels were not passing audio anymore — almost a total blackout. After we found out what exactly had happened, the audio team and I rearranged the patch together. We trimmed down the channel count and moved on with the show on a spare CAT5e line that we had with us.
I overcame the situation by staying focused (luckily during that time I had so many shows under my belt already I could remain calm), the team effort within the crew, support from my tour manager and indeed a lot of love and understanding from the fans around me. One of the guys in the audience even thanked me and bought me a drink.”

Lisa also finds festivals bring unique challenges. “Very often you don’t get a soundcheck and sometimes even just a 20-30min changeover time in which you have to set up the stage and line check the show and then go for it and fix a solid mix in the first couple of minutes of the show. It’s stressful for sure and challenging, but it’s possible. The upside to festivals is enjoying the other acts and getting to hang out with roadies and friends from around the world.

What do you like best about touring?

The fans, for sure! And also, the bonding you experience when you work and travel with a terrific group of people is priceless.

What do you like least?

White bread & cheese.

What is your favorite day off activity?

Exploring local bars & restaurants!

What if any obstacles or barriers have you faced?

I think the biggest obstacle that I have faced in my career was my constant fear of failure and lack of trust in myself.

How have you dealt with them?

I have been fortunate with having had people in my life who believed in me more than I did and gave me chances. There might be a grain of truth in it when they say you have to work twice as hard being a woman, but when you do, and you cut your teeth on it, and you are willing to make some sacrifices, it’s absolutely worth it in the end.

The advice you have for other women and young women who wish to enter the field?

You will eventually need to take that leap of faith and leave your safe haven back home to enter the touring world.

It sounds like a platitude, but you have to believe in yourself, it’s really true. You will work with a lot of shitty bands, and you will have a lot of bad shows, but you will also have A LOT of perfect shows, and they will love you for it.

You will make mistakes, and you will learn from them. Your ability to troubleshoot will get better, and so will your confidence. You will hit rock bottom, and you will stand up again. And before you know it, you’ll become a kick-ass sound engineer.

Must have skills?

Apart from the obvious, such as knowing your gear, I’d say being communicative is a big plus. And confidence & thick skin.

Favorite gear?

DiGiCo SD Series
DPA 4099 & 2011
Waves SSL G-Master Bus Compressor
Waves C6 & F6
Waves H-Delay
MANLEY Voxbox
BAE 1073
JH Audio In Ears
And a very special shout out to my Leatherman and my pink Peli

Find More Profiles on The Five Percent

Profiles of Women in Audio

Missed this Week’s Top Stories? Read Our Quick Round-up!

It’s easy to miss the SoundGirls news and blogs, so we have put together a round-up of the blogs, articles, and news from the past week. You can keep up to date and read more at SoundGirls.org

August Feature Profile

https://soundgirls.org/rising-producer-engineer-lauren-deakin-davies/

Transitioning in the Music Industry

The Blogs

IEM Maintenance & Troubleshooting

Impulse Response Testing and Field Recording 

Moving to London to Pursue Media

Internet Round-Up

SoundGirls Events

 

An Evening with Lenise Bent

 

Bay Area Chapter Monthly Meetings

Ableton Live for Anybody – 4 Session Online Course

SoundGirls Opportunities

SoundGirls and SoundGym

Sound Particles Licenses Available

Meyer Sound Supports SoundGirls

SoundGirls Resources

Spotify and SoundGirls Team Up – EQL Directory

SoundGirls – Gaston-Bird Travel Fund

Letter for Trades and Manufacturers

Women-Owned Businesses

A More Inclusive Industry

Events

Sexual Harassment

https://soundgirls.org/about-us/soundgirls-chapters/

Jobs and Internships

Women in the Professional Audio

Member Benefits

Moving to London to Pursue Media

On the 1st of July, I moved from Newcastle to London to pursue the media dream. I had been applying for multiple different jobs in many locations, including Barcelona, Edinburgh, Bristol, and Brighton. I had no real desire or desperate need to move to London as I had never lived there before. It can often seem at UK universities that the obvious thing to do straight after graduation is to move to London to start a grad job on Sep 1st. I had only ever traveled through busy airports and train stations in London to transfer elsewhere or had been there and back in a day for interviews and assessment centres. I visited London for the first time at age 18, which can be seen to be rare for someone UK based.

It all happened relatively quickly; I’ll give a short break-down of my application process below:

I am working in an exciting industry in a company I have been aware of for around eight years. It is not directly associated with audio, but there will be elements for me to learn more about podcasting and music production hopefully. I am five weeks in, and I love it. I learn something new each day and have a great team around me that have such a vast range of knowledge and skills regarding TV, advertising, social media, film, music, theatre, podcasts, radio, law – and so much more!

The physical move down to London, however, was quite stressful. I thought finding somewhere to live for my year abroad in Bordeaux, France was difficult, but this may have been worse, or more disheartening at least. I used SpareRoom.co.uk to start looking for properties a few weeks before I was planning to move down. I was met with many responses stating that I was too early to be getting in touch. I contacted 64 people on the website, got around 30 replies, and visited 20 properties. The way I did it was staying in an Airbnb for four days in London to find a place. I went to seven viewings on my first day and was at the point of moving back home at the end of the day. I had never experienced so many out of date or misleading advertisements. I realised how lucky I was to have had a relatively easy university experience in terms of first-year halls and second and fourth year housing. This was next level.

I spent every evening contacting different people, scouring search results for something in my budget, with as short a commute to work as possible. I also wanted to live with other people and preferably those that spoke French and/or Spanish to keep up my language skills (I’m aware I was probably asking for too much!). I then resorted to Facebook pages to enquire about renting rooms. I kept notes about every property in my red notebook so that I could analyse and make decisions at the end of the day. I rated each place out of 10.

 

 

In the end, I got lucky. I found a nice big room in a 3-floor house with two other really nice girls. We have a garden and I have a direct tube route to work. It’s all going so well so far! I would recommend anyone moving to London, or any other city that is known for it’s “housing crisis” to not take the first thing you see. I know I had the privilege of being able to stay in an Airbnb for a few days, but I can’t imagine if I had felt pressured to take the first property I saw. I understand now why there is such an issue in large urban cities with landlords that take advantage of tenants and tenants feeling unable to do anything about it.

I am settled into my new house and job now, enjoying London life each day and trying not to get too busy or become too overwhelmed by it all. It feels like such a great time for me to have moved to London. I could never have done it when I was 18, or even last year straight out of uni.

 

 

I wish everyone else that is making big moves the best of luck!

Impulse Response Testing and Field Recording 

The Mine 

One of the things that piqued my interest with sound design was all of the magical tools and abilities sound designers have at their disposal. As a young sound designer, I am still surprised and excited by all of this.

I go to school in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, at Michigan Technological University. The area is called the Keweenaw Peninsula and is at the very top of the Upper Peninsula. The northern woods and waterfalls are both beautiful and great for field recording, but one part of the Keweenaw that goes relatively unexplored by sound enthusiasts, are the mines. Mining was a large part of the economy during the 19th and early 20th century and was still at large into the 1970s and ’80s. Abandoned mines dot the Keweenaw peninsula, but one mine, in particular, has been reopened and repurposed.

The Adventure Mining Company of Greenland Michigan seemed to appreciate my enthusiasm for their mine. Through a connection formed by one of my professors, and the owner of the mine, I was able to go and see the mine for myself. Early last fall, I drove down to take a small tour of the mine and to see what sights, and more importantly, sounds could be found within. It was a fun-filled day, but I was eager to come back with recording equipment.

Before coming back, I established some goals for this recording session. The most important goal was to record impulse responses of the many different chambers of the mine. I knew this would take the majority of my time, but I also wanted to do some field recording inside and outside of the mine.

My second trip to The Adventure Mine was a bit wetter. Fortunately, I had been careful to not bring moisture-sensitive equipment as working in these kinds of environments can be both damp and rough. The company was also kind enough to lend me an old metal wagon that I stored most of my recording equipment into pull around the many chambers. The gear that I brought with me was a laptop running Logic, an RME Babyface Pro interface, and an Earthworks condenser microphone. I also included a Zoom H5 with a mid-side capsule for any ambient recording that I might have time for. To generate the impulses, I used balloons and a pin to pop them. I decided upon this method because the mine was so far from any power source, which meant I could not generate a sine sweep from a speaker for my impulses. I used the entire pack of 25 balloons, and the whole recording process took nearly five hours, but it was well worth the physical and mental exhaustion.

Processing the impulses was relatively simple in the end as I simply trimmed the tracks to the balloon pin strike and uploaded the files into Logic’s Space Designer reverb plugin. There are many helpful articles and videos for this process online. Audio Ease’s Altiverb is also capable of processing custom IR samples, and they have some useful information on their website as well.

Since this project, I have been intrigued by acoustics and the unique sound of spaces and rooms.  I live in a fairly isolated part of the world with many unusual spots, some that you can easily access. Some may ask, why bother? Not only is the experience of trekking into a dark mine for your job exciting and unique, but in many ways, that hard work translates into the work you do as a designer. I now have many impressive, and unique reverbs that I can use in my designs.

Safety for yourself and your equipment is imperative though, so keep that in mind. I would also like to share the fruits of my labor and invite all to my website, where you will be able to download two of my impulse responses from this project for free. It has been such a fantastic experience, and I hope to inspire other sound designers and recordists with my work.

 

IEM Maintenance & Troubleshooting

The Glamour Starts Here

Special thanks to Josh Thomas for all his help with writing this article.

 

A few years ago, I went to a talk about mixing for in-ear monitors (IEMs), given by one of the top monitor engineers in the UK, Mr. Justin Grealy. As someone who mainly worked in-house, but had to accommodate more and more acts turning up with their own IEM systems, I was intrigued to learn as many tips and tricks as possible to give artists great mixes. I was not expecting most of the hour to be taken up with all the different ways to get earwax out of an IEM. Some were admittedly genius – hairdryers were mentioned at one point – but I didn’t understand at the time just how important good IEM hygiene and maintenance is for a successful mix. No amount of volume, pretty effects or space-creating trickery will make up for the sound being muffled by a wall of wax, or cutting out because of dirty connections.

IEMs can be the biggest purchase you make in your early career, so it’s worth taking the time to find the right ones for you. If you need them to work with the same act regularly, try to get the same make and model as they use (or the main person uses if they all have different ones). The goal is to get as close as possible to what they hear. Discuss with management whether their budget will cover part or all of the cost.

If you need them for one-offs or working in-house, get the best quality that you can afford. It can make a massive difference to what you hear, and so how well you can react and make subtle adjustments in a mix. Generic IEMs are cheaper and quicker to buy than a custom moulded pair, but getting a custom fit will properly seal the IEMs against the ear canal, which helps with isolation from external noise and provides a better bass response. If possible, go to a local IEM dealer and demo a few different ones before you decide. Remember, you want the ones that will reproduce the signal most accurately, not the ones that sound nicest (e.g., if the pair you have are rounded off in the higher frequencies, your mixing could sound too harsh to people who have IEMs with a flatter frequency response).

Regular cleaning of your and your clients’ IEMs is essential. Small grains of dirt on an IEM can make their way into your ear, scratch the delicate skin in the canal and lead to infection and swelling. Dirt, sweat, and wax can block the drivers’ tubes, corrode the connections and even end up in the tiny and sensitive electronics, causing damage. I would like to say if you take good enough care of them, they can last you a lifetime, but custom moulded IEMs should be replaced about every four years. The shape of your ear canal changes subtly throughout your life, so after a few years, the fit won’t be as exact and will stop forming a seal. Specialist gels like Auragel or foam wraps like Comply can help to form the seal again, but they are only a stopgap solution. Once you notice your IEMs loosening it’s time to get a new pair, from a new fitting, not the measurements the IEM company may have kept on file (these are for replacing lost or damaged IEMs).

The central part of cleaning IEMs is removing wax from the tubes that lead from the drivers to your ears. Your IEMs should come with a loop of wire with a plastic handle for this, but if they didn’t, or you lost it, or the wax is further down the tube than it can reach, there are a few do’s and don’ts you should bear in mind.

First, be gentle. Keep a close eye on what you’re doing and be careful not to damage any filters or circuitry inside the IEM. Don’t use anything that might break off and get stuck in the tube! Mechanical pencils look kind of perfect for this task, but they are a terrible idea. Also, avoid using anything pointed or sharp, like a needle. You could scratch the moulding, making tiny grooves where more wax and dirt can build up, and potentially where bacteria can fester. Using a loop, optionally followed by a specialist earwax vacuum, is the way to go. I try as much as possible to hold the IEM upside down, so any wax that gets dislodged falls out instead of further into the tube, and I use a gentle scooping motion, at an angle, to get behind the wax and bring it back out instead of risking pushing it further in. Compacted wax blocking a driver can render an IEM useless, and it can be costly and time-consuming to send back to the manufacturer to fix. I then clean the outside of the moulds with alcohol swabs.

 

Cleaning an IEM with an earwax vacuum, nozzle inserted at an angle

 

If one ear keeps cutting out, look at the connections between the cable and the IEM. It might merely be loose, but check that there isn’t any green or black stuff at the pins or in the socket. Black is most likely dirt, but green is corroding copper, usually caused by sweat. Cleaning this off with a cotton bud (Q tip) dipped in alcohol or contact cleaner (being careful not to let any liquid get into the body of the IEM) can fix this, but you need to prevent it happening again. Leaving the IEMs to air out after use, keeping a small sachet of silica gel in the case, and checking them regularly can help. If the owner likes to wear their IEMs in the gym, tell them, it’s time to invest in standard earbuds, or it will become a costly habit!

Two different brands of IEM with their respective cables. On the left, the socket is recessed into the casing where two dots can be seen, on the right, it is the area in black. There is no evidence of dirt or corrosion.

 

If the ear connections are fine, the minijack connector or belt pack socket might be dirty or corroded and can be treated in the same way. The minijack has to be fully seated for both ears to work. If the right side is intermittent, but the left is fine, the jack might be pulling out of the socket slightly, so the right side’s ring no longer makes a connection. Leaving more slack on the cable or taping it in place should help. If it isn’t the jack, gently wiggle the cable as you’re sending signal, to see if there’s a weak spot. IEM cables can get abused, being yanked and pulled during costume changes, snagged on door handles, crushed in their cases. It is wise to carry spare cables for each type of IEM you have so you can swap them out straight away if there’s a problem. Don’t wait until you need one, because it can take weeks to get them, especially at busy times of the year.

If the above steps don’t fix your problem, it might be an issue with the pack or radio frequencies, which is outside the scope of this post. If one ear has lost a big chunk of its frequency spectrum, or it sounds like it’s distorting at low levels, one of the drivers might have blown and will need to be sent for repair. Another reason to keep an eye on your bandmember’s pack volume levels and to mix responsibly!

There are all types of little gadgets and supplies you can keep with you to help with IEM maintenance and troubleshooting. IEMs and hearing aids have a lot in common, and it’s worth checking out audiologist suppliers as well as IEM specialists for things like cleaning loops, ear wax softener and earmould stetoclips (like a stethoscope for hearing aids). Always have plenty of alcohol/anti-bacterial wipes to hand, and thoroughly clean each piece of equipment between IEMs with a new swab to reduce the potential for cross-contamination and general grossness.

Whether the thought of dealing with other people’s earwax turns your stomach, or like me, you find cleaning IEMs strangely satisfying; it does more than keep your equipment at its best. It’s always good to get a reputation for being helpful and useful, and you can spot potential problems before they develop. It’s much easier and safer to deal with issues in your downtime than halfway through a show. It can also be an excellent opportunity to start the conversation with clients about anything they’ve noticed about their IEMs but hadn’t thought to mention, or how they’re dealing with volume levels and looking after their hearing in the long term. For example, increased earwax production can be the body’s defense against sustained, overly loud listening volumes. Showing that you’re interested in their hearing health now and in the future, and willing to go the extra mile, can cement your relationship and improve trust and communication, which will do more for your mixing than any effects unit ever could.

Missed this Week’s Top Stories? Read Our Quick Round-up!

It’s easy to miss the SoundGirls news and blogs, so we have put together a round-up of the blogs, articles, and news from the past week. You can keep up to date and read more at SoundGirls.org

August Feature Profile

https://soundgirls.org/rising-producer-engineer-lauren-deakin-davies/

Transitioning in the Music Industry

The Blogs

How Do You Go About Setting Up Your Console Workflow?

Production Communication

Community

Internet Round-Up

At home with Sheryl Crow, a widely beloved, and wildly underappreciated, rock star

Sheryl Crow ultimately self-produced the album at a time, she said, “when nobody would let a woman produce their own record, when it would be [viewed as] crazy to waste money on that.”Trina Shoemake won a GRAMMY for engineering the album.

 

Musiq Scene: Jess Fenton: Jess Fenton, Producer/Engineer/Mixer at Fenton Music Productions.

 

SoundGirls Events

 

An Evening with Lenise Bent

Bay Area Chapter Monthly Meetings

Ableton Live for Anybody – 4 Session Online Course

SoundGirls Opportunities

SoundGirls and SoundGym

Sound Particles Licenses Available

Meyer Sound Supports SoundGirls

SoundGirls Resources

Spotify and SoundGirls Team Up – EQL Directory

SoundGirls – Gaston-Bird Travel Fund

Letter for Trades and Manufacturers

Women-Owned Businesses

A More Inclusive Industry

Events

Sexual Harassment

https://soundgirls.org/about-us/soundgirls-chapters/

Jobs and Internships

Women in the Professional Audio

Member Benefits

Production Communication

Comms, a necessary evil

Comms are, without a doubt, integral to a production’s success. Whether it’s over a radio or full-duplex communications, comms are a necessary beast. As a sound engineer, A1, A2, production manager, producer, etc. I have worked extensively with various versions of communications technology. I will focus on tech that is not brand new, mostly because that is far more common than shiny new systems. New comms systems are as rare and magical as unicorns.

Comms systems allow a production crew to speak to each other instantly. Many of my students question, especially after seeing how the equipment LOOKS, why don’t we just use phones and text? Aside from service issues inside buildings, battery life, distractions of other apps while working, etc., the main reason for me is that using a mobile just isn’t practical or professional. How many times have you had issues with a text going through? Depending on your network, this can be a frequent and annoying issue. Portable communication systems allow me to set up a reliable network of people within minutes. Hard lines ensure fewer problems than wireless (although I’ve had my fair share of bad cables and mini fires). TEST EVERY COMPONENT before the show. Seriously. Do it. These devices are MADE to take a beating, but they are not immune to damage. They are hardy little boxes, especially compared to my glass-covered iPhone.

 

Handbook of Intercom Systems Engineering

This PDF guide, The Handbook of Intercom Systems Engineering, first edition, Copyright© 2007 by Telex Communications, Inc is your magic textbook to all things comms. I frequently refer this to my students as a resource, and although it was published some time ago, I still find it to be completely relevant in the scope of existing installations. This document is my BEST advice to learning comms, troubleshooting, and designing systems based on your needs. Clear-Com and RTS have been around since the 1970s, and I believe some of that original equipment is probably still in circulation. While petitioning for new comms systems, most of the responses I have personally received involve “if it ain’t broke why fix it?” or some variation of that phrase. Most times, I am cobbling together a system from half-functioning components, which is frustrating and not the most helpful for such an important system. Comms aren’t sexy though, so many people aren’t eager to replace them.

Party Lines

Party lines sound way more fun than they actually are in real life. A party-line system is probably what most of you have encountered already. This system allows a group of people to communicate and have conversations. There is no limit to who is allowed to talk at a specific time, aside from etiquette, and there is generally no privacy.  A typical setup will include a power supply, XLR cables, belt pack user station, and a headset. RTS comms are a two-wire system, meaning that you can have the same path for talk and listen, and two separate party lines. These are more commonly found in TV production and sporting events. Most user stations will be connected in parallel, although having a splitter can help when you need to go separate ways.

Equipment

There are so many options for comms equipment, and this will vary based on the manufacturer and your production needs.

A Power Supply is necessary for most comms equipment unless it comes with its own PS. For RTS, the PS20 is a standard power option.

Belt Pack User Stations are individual, portable comms stations. These require power from a power supply.

A Main Station is rack-mounted user station, which will also require power from a PS.

Master stations are rack-mounted stations, combined with a power supply.

A Biscuit Box is a portable speaker station, which will require power from a PS.

Headset types: Single Muff, Double Muff, Phone Handset, Biscuit box.

 

Source Assignment Panel (SAP) is integral for larger productions. This allows up to 6 sources (Party Lines) and 12 selectable outputs (to people). Each user station can have two PLs. An SAP will give your production more selective communications so that each department isn’t talking over each other. If you have a video team, they need their own PL for the Director, Producers, TD, Cameras, Floor Manager, etc. They don’t need to hear about any issues from monitor land.

Who needs to be on a headset?

Paperwork and organization is a big part of the job of an A2. Anyone who needs to execute a cue at a specific moment needs to be on a headset. Who needs which type of equipment? Where are they located? Who do they need to speak with while on a headset? TV Broadcast gigs will have a lot more people on a headset than a concert or theatre event. For larger portable events, I will employ additional equipment, including a Source Assignment Panel. An input list for comms will help keep track of everyone. I will label the BP for each person; keeping organized is key! Using their names/titles for labeling is a good practice. If you don’t know, you can ask them. Communication is key. (Obviously.)

 

 

 

Community

Community is the environment that is around us, and as individuals, we play a big part in the community we create and live in. Community is the places you live, work, the social media you produce and follow, the people around us, and the individual we are towards others. Community is our surroundings and attitude. It can be supportive, oppressive, creative, boring, ever-changing, or stagnant. Community is built by individuals but felt by the whole.

What community do you create?  Do you create a community of support and open communication or miss direction and negativity?  I’ve been a part of many communities, and I’ve found that positive communities with people learning, changing, and growing are the best to thrive in.  Communities allow us to question our ideas, gain different perspectives, socialize, find support, and allow us to vent frustrations without judgment. Communities allow us to be ourselves and challenge us in new ways.

Why are communities important? Communities are important because life would be lonely if they lived completely alone. Communities provide support and strength to people facing all sorts of challenges across the globe. Other communities like your town, provide support in your backyard. Communities allow useless barriers to be broken, needed walls to be built, doorways to be created for growth and change.

SoundGirls is a wonderful example of community. Sharing thoughts and ideas openly without threat of abusive responses or rejection is what many people need. People living the way we do, women experiencing what other women are experiencing, and our partners supporting us. We break down barriers that should no longer exist. Support each other and open doors for everyone’s future and share stories of success and failure along the way so we can learn from them too.  We are engaged and growing; we share our experiences, participate in discussions, and learn from each other. We encourage as well as challenge each other to build an active and broader community every day. How have you been engaged in SoundGirls?

What other communities do you surround yourself with?  How are you involved and living in these communities?

How Do You Go About Setting Up Your Console Workflow?

Once you start mixing more than a few shows, you’ll start to find that you have some preferences in how your console is laid out.

Everyone has a particular way of doing things, and it’s all a matter of what works for you. For instance: How you do your input patch will determine where things show up on the surface.  It doesn’t have to be 1 to 1 with the snake patch; you can patch inputs to come up in whatever channels you like.

If you are mixing on a digital console with a limited number of faders available on the surface, you’ll have to think about how you want your inputs to populate them.  If you have 42 inputs and only 16 input faders/layer, how do you want to build your layers?

It’s a good idea to have all of your drums on the same layer or page so you can easily make adjustments to the overall drum mix. Likewise, if you have numerous inputs for keyboards and tracks, keeping them on the same layer or page makes for easier control.

Something I like to do is keep my most important inputs on the channels closest to the master section. For most of what I mix, this is the lead vocal or vocals. I rely heavily on VCAs/DCAs and do most of my mixing from the master section where they are found so having my most important inputs right next to the VCAs; they are always where I need them.

When I was mixing the bands Styx and Mr. Big, the music was heavy with 4 part vocal harmonies.  I would always lay out my console to make sure that the four vocal channels were right next to the master section and able to be pulled to the surface in an instant. It wasn’t a set it and forget kind of mix; there was constant massaging and blending of the vocals.

Keeping important inputs near the master section stems from the days of large frame analog consoles where inputs could be spread out over quite a distance.  But I find it still works well with digital boards and tends to keep things that need lots of attention close to that area of the console.

Other things to think about are your effects returns. You might want your effects returned in channels rather than the FX returns.  Using open channels instead of dedicated FX returns for your Effects will generally give you more flexibility in routing and better EQ options.

All of these things will be determined by your input patch, so give it some thought ahead of time.

Next, consider how you will designate your VCAs/DCAs and/or Groups. Think about how you can group things to make it easier to mix.  It’s much easier to mix from the 8 or so VCA faders than all of your individual channels, especially on smaller consoles that only give you eight input faders on the surface.

If you’ve got 42 inputs, you don’t want to have everything just assigned to L and R and be mixing on 42 faders jumping through layers or pages all night.

Things can be double assigned.  What I like to do is have one VCA,  that I label BAND for all of my instruments. I tend to set up my VCAs along these lines:

Every input goes to its intended VCA- drums to drums, bass to bass, etc., but is also assigned to the band VCA, except for the vocal channels.  This way, I have control of the overall level of the band with one fader, which is incredibly useful if I am having trouble getting the lead vocal above the music.  I can just grab the band fader and bring everything but the vocal back a bit.

Now if you have a four-piece band with 16 inputs total, this isn’t such a big issue.  But still, it’s much easier to mix on 4 VCAs than 16 channels. The more involved your show gets the more thought you’ll need to put into it.

Think about what your needs are?  What will help you be as efficient as possible, and what will give you the control you need?

Groups are great for processing multiple inputs at once.  Smaller analog consoles may only have Sub Groups available and no VCAs.  You can assign all of your drum inputs to a stereo group and insert a couple of compressors across your drum mix for a little added punch to your drum mix.  You can send multiple background vocals to a group and compress them so sit together nicely.

You’ll also want to consider AUX buses.  If you are doing monitors from FOH you’ll want the aux buses to be Pre Fader and depending on the console; you may only have the option of certain aux buses being Pre Fader.

Which Auxes will be for monitor sends and which will be for effects?  How many effects do you need? If there are enough available, it’s a good idea to have separate effects for different inputs.  For example, have one for drums, a different one for vocals and yet another for instruments like keys and guitars if needed. This gives you more control and allows for more clarity in the mix.

These are just a couple of things to think about when you are setting up your workflow on the console.  For me, I build my workflow around control and efficiency, but you may have other ideas, and I’m curious to hear what works for you.

For more from Michelle, check out Mixing Music Live

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