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Choose a Different Route

 

The other day I was on my way to work, and I always take the same route unless there are some disruptions on my tube line. There were, in fact, some disruptions this particular day so I had to take different trains, but luckily that route takes about the same amount of time for me to take me from my home to work.

I thought that I almost prefer this other route, it is mostly overground and you know, it is nice to change up your habits a bit. We tend to get stuck in the same routines. Mix a show in the same way you’ve always done, mic up a drum kit the same way as you always do, EQ monitors precisely the way you did yesterday. Sure it is tried and tested, but it gets a bit repetitive after a while.

Playing it safe:

In the live industry, you sort of have to play it safe most of the time, simply because there is no time to be adventurous. You got to make it sound good, and you have to do it fast.

However, if you are a venue engineer, you can easily get set in the same ways. But if you don’t challenge yourself, you’re not going to improve nor learn something new. It is like working out in the gym, if you work out a muscle the same way and not adding weight or variety to it you will not become stronger. You will simply just plateau.

The upside of being a venue engineer is that it is a safe environment. If you have been in a place for a little while, you probably feel relatively comfortable and will hopefully have a small bit of extra time to play around with things. This is a perfect environment to try and do things differently if you’ve got something that is tried and tested, you’ve always got that to fall back onto.

The ‘One-way’ route:

I work in a venue where the speakers are all hidden away and scattered around the building, surrounded by loads of marble. Not ideal for creating ‘the perfect sound.’ You just have to make it sound good with what you’ve got, and honestly, it is not that bad. However, anytime there is a visiting engineer they get entirely thrown off; because they are so set in the way they usually do things they can’t figure out a different route to get where they want to go..

The live sound industry is not a ‘one-way’ route. There are tons of roundabouts, disruptions, left turns, stops, and traffic lights. Some people work at 100mph and others are lingering around about 30mph. You have to adapt and treat every situation differently.

Very often you just have to work around it. With amazing gear nowadays, it is easy to forget the room and how critical it is for the overall sound of the show. Halls, venues, arenas, stadiums all sound different, there is not a ‘one-way route’ to mix a performance.

Challenge yourself:

We need to be thrown off in able to learn new things. Adapt the way you set up and tune to each venue, each artist. Work off the basics but work with space you are in vs. fighting it.  Ask engineers that work in that venue regularly, how they go about tuning the room. Always be willing to adapt, change, and learn new things.

So whenever you have any disruptions on your line, embrace it. Approach it with the right attitude, and you will see that it will not set you back as much as you might have thought it would. See it as a new learning experience, and hey, you might even find yourself enjoying the alternative route!

 

 

I Have Confidence in Me

 

So, let them bring on all their problems – I’ll do better than my best

I have confidence they’ll put me to the test – But I’ll make them see I have confidence in me

I Have Confidence, from The Sound of Music: Rodgers and Hammerstein, 1965

To succeed in audio, having the right amount of confidence is key. I struggle with a lack of confidence, and this post will mostly deal with how I counteract that. However, if you think you’re god’s gift to sound, you might want to take a minute to reflect on whether that’s true too, especially if your bragging is overcompensation for low-esteem. Being realistic about your abilities, and having a mindset somewhere between Marvin the Paranoid Android from the Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy and the average Pop Idol contestant is the goal.

Plenty of aspects of this job can knock your confidence: as a freelancer, it’s easy to constantly compare yourself to others. As I mentioned in my last post, social media can be toxic; when all you see is the best aspects of your peers’ lives, it’s easy to think you’re lagging far behind. If office workers get stressed out and jealous any time there’s a promotion to compete for; we can feel that way for every gig. “Why did they put him on that show?” “Why did they think she’d be good for that role?” “Why didn’t they ask me?” The politics of who gets hired are many and varied, and if you try to make sense of it or take it personally, you may well end up sobbing in a corner. Even if you try to abstain from it, your colleagues might loudly and rudely question your abilities for you, either to make themselves feel better or to advance their careers. Having the confidence to get on with your job and show them why they’re wrong to doubt you are the best way to fight back.

Lack of confidence can sabotage you while you’re in the middle of work. We often have to deal with complex issues while sticking to tight deadlines. We can’t wander off, read up on the topic then come back the next day feeling educated and refreshed; the gig has to happen today. And of course, what every sound person dreads: the announcement that there are “technical issues.” The entire audience turns around as one to stare at the front of house, even if it’s a dodgy connection on a guitar pedal. You didn’t even see that bus coming before they threw you under it!

A healthy level of confidence (not to be confused with arrogance) is essential to remain resilient and effective in the face of challenges. It benefits the gig, your career, and your well-being. Cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) is often recommended to treat depression and anxiety, but I think it can help everyone. Courses are freely available online and from your local library, and they help you to get perspective on things and break out of negative thought processes. For example, if you lost out on a job, imagine what you would say to a good friend if they were in your situation. You deserve as much faith and respect as anyone else, telling yourself you’re worthless or unemployable is not constructive.

I have referred to this blog post about caring about the opinion of others before, but I don’t think it’s an exaggeration to say it changed my life: Taming the Mammoth: Why You Should Stop Caring What Other People Think. The main point to take away is that people are far more interested in themselves than you, and it’s a waste of time to worry about what others think of you. Let’s take a classic rom-com cliche as an example: you pass a group of people who all smile at you. Wait, why did they do that? Are they just happy? Are they smiling at something behind you? What if they’re actually sniggering at you because you have something stuck in your teeth?

As you can see from the Punnet Square of Embarrassment, there are four main possible scenarios, and in each of them worrying that you have something stuck in your teeth achieves nothing. We all have teeth. We all eat food. Stuff sometimes gets stuck in our teeth; no one cares. If they are laughing at you, you can pity them for wasting their time caring about something so inconsequential. For a bonus tip: very occasionally, I go for a walk and pretend that anyone looking my way is simply awestruck by how incredibly amazing I am. Obviously, that isn’t the case, but it lifts my mood and makes me laugh anyway.

The Punnet Square of Embarrassment. Pink denotes a waste of all your energy to worrying, purple denotes a waste of some energy, and in the blue area, no energy is wasted.

Of course, messing up at work is a bit more important than dental greenery, and laughing it off like you don’t care is not the approach to take. The principle remains the same, though: it happens to everyone, even the best engineers in the world have bad days. By all means, learn from what happened and plan how to prevent it from happening again, but then brush yourself off and move on. Dwelling on it can ruin your focus for the rest of the day and lead to more silly mistakes.

A great way to have confidence is to genuinely have a solid understanding of the topics at hand, and I recommend learning all you can at every opportunity. However, no one can know everything about every piece of equipment, every band, every venue. It can take a bit of experience to know what’s normal to know, and what isn’t. If you’re not sure of something, don’t be afraid to admit it; we’ve all been there, and it’s how we all learn. Everyone needs to ask the internet, a friend, or a manufacturer’s tech support for help sometimes. It isn’t a sign of failure; it’s part of the job.

Finding a happy medium in self-confidence, and having an accurate idea of your competence is a constant growing exercise. Discuss it with colleagues you trust, as it is often easier to gauge from an outside, more experienced perspective. Ask for input from several sources, so you aren’t unduly influenced by one opinion. Knowing your worth can reduce stress at work, reassure your clients and colleagues, help you when negotiating pay and lead you ever closer to your goals. It also encourages you to help others: only people who are afraid of competition hoard their knowledge. People who are confident in their abilities are happy to share and raise everyone up, which increases their confidence too.

Shadowing Opportunity – Brad Madix and Annette Guilfoyle

Shadowing Opportunity with Brad Madix and Annette Guilfoyle

SoundGirls Members who are actively pursuing a career in Live Sound or Concert Production are invited to shadow FOH Engineer Brad Madix and Monitor Engineer Annette Guilfoyle on Florence and the Machine.

May 13, Santa Barbara Bowl
May 21, Red Rocks
May 23, Chicago
May 26 Toronto
May 28, Montreal
May 30, Boston
June 3, Columbia, MD
June 5, Raleigh, NC
June 8, Orlando

Please fill out this application. If you are selected to attend, information will be emailed to you.

About FOH Engineer Brad Madix: Award-winning, Grammy-nominated live, broadcast and recording engineer since 1984. Clients include: Florence + The Machine, Linkin Park, Rush, Jack White, Beck, Van Halen, Shakira, Alanis Morissette, Jane’s Addiction, Jessica Simpson, Rage Against the Machine, Shania Twain, Def Leppard, Bruce Hornsby, Queensryche, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Journey, Marilyn Manson, Mr. Big, Jerry Cantrell, Smashing Pumpkins, Veruca Salt, Suicidal Tendencies, Slayer, and Psychedelic Furs. FOH Interview with Brad Madix

Monitor Engineer Annette Guilfoyle:  Annette has been working in professional audio for over 20 years and is currently the monitor engineer for Florence and the Machine. Annette has worked as a FOH and Monitor Engineer, as well as system teching. She has mixed monitors for Paul Weller, Goldfrapp, Ocean Colour Scene, Editors, Elvis Live in Concert with Orchestra and more. SoundGirls Feature Profile on Annette

 

Live Sound – Do Not Be Afraid

How to prevent and prepare for the worst

A few months ago, I was having lunch with a friend who works in post-production and she mentioned that she did not have the nerves for live sound, that it in fact scared the hell out of her.  I remarked it scared the hell out of us too, and that is why we are always prepared for the worst case scenarios. She then asked what types of things, we did not have enough time to get into it at lunch, but I thought it would be helpful to interview a few engineers to get their advice and tips. Karrie

Kim Watson:  Freelance Audio Engineer. Monitor Engieer for The Subways

The lost art of fault-finding.

I have been noticing a shift within the industry as far as audio education is concerned. Engineers are entering our world from university courses and have the knowledge and experience to be able to mix shows; however, they lack one important part of our job that is gained from experience. The art of fault-finding seems to have been lost. A few years back you would have learned this skill working alongside other engineers, or with working with equipment that was all individually wired together rather than being nice multi-pinned systems that most companies use today.  These young engineers can walk straight on to mixing gigs and can find themselves flustered when something isn’t quite right. I’ve been thinking about ways of teaching fault finding.

I had an idea to teach the process by looking at the thought processes we go through and creating a little flow chart they could refer too to get them through situations like this.

Microphone not working.

Monitor not working (totally off)

Is the signal reaching the crossover/amp?

Does the Speaker work if plugged into another amp channel?

Monitor Missing Hf or low but something is working.

Is the Active/passive switch in the right mode? (Passive one amp channel / Active 2 amp channels + Crossover)

This usually means either a cable is broken OR you have lost blown a driver.

Swap the speaker onto another Speaker cable you know is working on another speaker. Does the speaker now work?

Yes It’s the cable
No, it’s a blown driver or the speakon in the box. (If the speaker has a link…. Try it in the link. It may be the speakon connection in the box)

We don’t have problems, We just have other things we need to sort out! 

When things go wrong it’s all down to your mindset. Seeing it as a problem can induce panic. Staying calm is the number one way of dealing with things when they arise. If you panic you freeze and your brain stops working. Take a deep breath and think. Have a strategy in place for dealing with each type of issue when it arises is important. Be it having a Spare lead vocal on the floor between the wedges ready to go, or a spare processor/amp channel in the rack ready to patch in. Prepare for the worst but expect the best.

Becky Pell: Freelance Monitor Engineer

Don’t be lazy about your ‘active’ spares such as IEM packs. They’re no use sitting in a drawer with a flat battery having last been checked three weeks ago – get them out every day, test them and have them ready to go

Be tidy with cabling and label EVERYTHING – it saves valuable time when there’s an issue.

Learn to stay calm. The more you want to panic and run round like a headless chicken, the more you need to slow down and be methodical. Sounds counterintuitive but freaking out NEVER helps!

Brad Madix: FOH for Rush, Florence and the Machine and more

There has to be redundant (or complimentary) inputs from every input you think of as critical to the mix. For example, two mics on the snare top & bottom is a great idea. Kick mics in and out, so you can combine the sounds for a more complete kick sound AND you at least have one if the other fails. Finally, EVERY input list should have backup handheld wireless on a stand (assuming you’re using wireless) AND a spare handheld ON A WIRED because wireless systems also fail.

I would highly suggest creating a macro or event on the console that routes your spare mics into the main mic channel at the touch of a button. This way you’re not readjusting a different channel (which might be on a different layer) to get back to the sound you had on the original channel.

Also a good idea: spin up a rudimentary FOH mix on the monitor console even if I’m mono. If the FOH console were ever to go down and you just can’t get it back, you will have a source in a pinch to get you through the show.

Ditto spinning up a rudimentary monitor mix or three in the FOH console in case the monitor desk goes kablooey. FYI, I have had to do both of the above things in my career. Also, this is not a digital vs. analog thing. I have watched analog consoles spew smoke before a show on several occasions, and I’ve seen digital desks decide not to cooperate as well.

On the subject of failure on a more personal level: it takes a bit of a thick skin to be a live engineer. I have mixed numerous pop tours where I went the entire run without a complaint. I can probably count on my fingers the number of shows I mixed for Rush over a twenty-year span where someone in the audience didn’t think they could do it better and was happy to tell me so. Remember: you are never going to make everyone happy all of the time. Do your best, apply and improve yourself every day, pack up your gear quickly and neatly at the end of the night and move on, regardless of how the show went.

Michelle Sabolchick Pettinato: FOH Mr. Big, Styx, and more

The important thing is to not panic.  Remain calm so you can think clearly. Focus on what is working and keep that going while you work on the problem.

Knowing signal flow is crucial in troubleshooting. This is a huge peeve of mine.  Many people do not understand the path of the audio signal from the source and through the entire system. If you don’t understand this, you have no idea where to start when a problem arises. If you understand signal flow, you can systematically work things out to find the source of the problem quickly.

Basic troubleshooting skills are a must. Know how to work through an input that’s gone bad to find the problem.  You need to start from one end and work through to the other in a logical order, not just randomly replacing pieces throughout the signal path.

Keeping things neat and labeled helps troubleshooting be efficient.

Doing another line check just prior to show time to make sure all inputs are still working.  You never know what the support act stepped on, kicked over, unplugged, etc. Even if there is no support act, it’s always a great idea to confirm things before the band hits the stage.

Having communication between the stage and FOH either via Clear-Com, Talkback, a tech who can move between the two. If you have a problem, you need a way of communicating to get it sorted out.

Christina Moon: Monitor Engineer LCD Sound System, Death Cab for Cutie, and more

First and foremost, pretend youʼre calm, however, youʼre not. Seconds feel like hours to both you and the artist. Iʼm fairly superstitious onstage, so I make sure the setup is the same every day. If something burns me once, it will never be back on the stage.

If youʼre ready for a problem, I believe, the likelihood of something happening goes way down.

Always have a spare main vocal, this can buy you some precious time. I label each end of every cable, sub snake, amp rack, etc. This will make chasing something down much easier in the middle of a show when itʼs dark and loud. I have backups of everything at the ready. IEM packs, wedges, cables, etc.

I keep a 100ʼ xlr cable next to me, so if a channel goes down, the first thing I do is home run that channel to the split. I find the path of least resistance for a fix in the middle of a show. Thereʼs no time for detailed troubleshooting.

Backline techs can be of big help figuring problems out in monitor world. Often theyʼre listening to the artistʼs mix and can help decipher if itʼs a gear issue, input, or mix problem. When something goes wrong Iʼll take all the help I can get.

Good luck out there!

Karrie Keyes: Monitor Engineer for Pearl Jam and Eddie Vedder

Agree with all of the above and also Don’t Panic.  I am a monitor engineer and nothing instills panic in musicians more than you looking back at them with a “Deer in the Headlights” Look.  Even if you are dying inside, you must look calm.

I always have a plan for when something goes wrong.  Spare Mixes, Spare Mics, Spare IEMS, Spare IEM Beltpacks

IEM Beltpacks:  We tour with production and the band use to own an IEM System, we now rent, but we own beltpacks for each of the musicians using ears.  They each have two. Main and Spare. These packs are marked and are always Mike Main or Mike Spare, etc. This way I have a history of the packs and can sort issues, quickly. The techs get the spares, in case they need to change out the pack during the show.

Always check the battery compartment each day, these tend to get loose, and if they are loose, they will shut off if they get bumped hard, etc.

You should be coordinating your RF daily.

Band Ears:  Always make sure you have spares, spare cables and that you check and clean ears daily.

Vocal Mics: You should have a spare vocal mic, wired, and ready to go.  You should have a spare mic stand ready to go as well.

Spare Microphone: Similar to what Brad recommended but I am in control of it, we have Main, Spare, and RF on a three-way switch.  Think of a 3-way Y on a switch. I can switch to the spare mic instantly if it goes down, FOH never knows, any changes we have made to the channel are still there.  Also, when my singer goes to the RF Mic, I see this instantly and can switch it to RF, again FOH does not have to be alerted. It doesn’t matter if you have a spare mic it is useless if you do not have it ready to go or the channel changes copied to your spare channel. Although our switches are custom made you can purchase similar ones here

Switching the Vocal Mic:  During the show – singers tend to get super sweaty, and the vocal mic tends to get wet, and this will start to affect the sound quality. On Pearl Jam we switch vocal mics, twice during the main set, and for both encores. You may want to consider this, heads off all sorts of problems. Of course, check with your singer to see if this acceptable.

Please Note: that microphones tend to drift in frequency response due to use and abuse. If you are going to switch your vocal mics, or use a spare mic, make sure these sound as close to the same as possible.

Vocal Mic Maintenance:  We carry and own several vocal microphones – We also send them back at the end of each leg to have new capsules put in. While this may be a luxury, I would suggest that you send your mics in for a tune-up at the end of each tour. Your artist should own their own vocal mics.

Larger Spare Items: Consoles

We run two DiGiCo SD5s at monitor world.  The primary SD5 is for the band and the second SD5 runs the tech mixes, opening band (if we have one), and acts as spare for either FOH or Monitors. At monitors, the boards are set up as a hybrid Primary/Secondary. Meaning the inputs/gain/eq are controlled from the primary console, after that the secondary console operates independently and Tom (tech engineer) can send as needed to the tech mixes. The Band Monitor File and next tour FOH File (FOH switched consoles in the middle of the last tour) are loaded on this secondary console and ready to go. We, in theory, had a plan of what we would do if the primary console went down during a show, but had not tested it fully, until the last tour (when the FOH console did go down during a show).  Needless to say, we ran through our theory, timed it, and wrote down step by step what we needed to do in case of failure. It took less than four minutes to have the secondary console running as the primary console. Please note – the band file needs to be updated on the secondary console daily (after soundcheck)..

And Always be prepared for the elements – Weather…..

 

 

 

What’s In Your Go Bag?

A guide to building your audio tool stock

Picture this:  You’ve just gotten a call for a contract you can’t turn down, but the gig is tomorrow morning in a city three hours away at a company that is new to you.  What do you bring? What will they already have? Is it worth it to load your car with all of your worldly possessions? To ease the stress of staying prepared while still trying to not turn into that cute little junkyard monster from the Labyrinth (where my 80s babies at), I’ve prepared a list of my favorite tools of the trade.

This is my go-bag.  There are many like it, but this one is mine

Alright, so my go bag isn’t a bag at all, it’s a case.  My case of choice is the Pelican 1510 Case, and I purchased mine for half price on nalpak.com.  Because I am obsessed with Konmari Method organization, I also use a divider that is specifically made for this case.  I also have the mesh zipper lid storage attachment. What can I say? I love boxes, bags, and compartments. I prefer the Pelican to a soft tool bag because I can throw it around, leave it outside, dunk it in a pool, and my things will all stay safe inside this watertight, crushproof, dustproof, lockable case.  It’s also the FAA maximum carry on size and features a retractable extension handle. Plus, you can put rad stickers on it. That’s the mark of a real pro.

If you can’t duck it, you might as well…pony up and buy a real roll of tape.   

That tape is gaff tape, the tape we all know and love.  I regularly work with a few companies that always have a steady supply of gaff tape in all colors and sizes, so it threw me off the first time I took on a job at a company that had no gaff tape to offer!  In a pinch, I have been able to find gaff tape in local camera shops at a ridiculous marked-up price, but generally speaking, the best place to find gaff tape is on the interwebz. I order all of my tape from shop.bmisupply.com, and I’m able to curate my tape box with different colors, widths, and even different kinds of tape.  My standard gaff tape of choice is 2” black. I also always make sure I have a few colors of electrical tape and a roll of white console tape.  All of this can be purchased through the aforementioned vendor.

Testers, testers, one, two, one two…

When starting a new gig, you never know what kind of system you’re going to walk into. You would also be surprised at how often the house crew answers your questions with a shrug of the shoulders, so it’s probably going to be on you to test all that ails you.  I never leave home without my dbx CT3 Cable Tester. This is, hands down, the best cable tester I have ever had. It supports testing of DMX, Speaker Twist, XLR, DIN, RJ45, RJ11, TRS, 1/8”, Phono, and BNC.  I still haven’t told you the best part. This thing splits in half so that you can check connections that are on opposites sides of the building! If that’s not magic, I don’t know what is. I also carry my whirlwind Qbox everywhere I go.  This will satisfy all of your TS/XLR testing needs, but also features a wee little speaker so you can send signal through your line and hear it out of the QBox. This comes in really handy for running monitor lines ahead of receiving speakers or setting up a line out for a video live feed.  I got both of these little lifesavers from fullcompass.com.

Microphones, adapters, and cables, oh my!

Ok, it’s not up to you to provide all of the gear for a space unless that’s what you’ve been hired to do, but, again, you never know what little odds and ends they might be missing.  I learned the hard way that it’s a good idea to keep a little stash of adapters with me; XLR M-M and F-F, TRS, NL4, BNC, and RCA barrels, and BNC-RCA. I also keep and spare XLR and TRS cable, a DI Box, and a SM58….just in case.  Trust me on this; I have been the hero many times for having one of these available.

I hate labels, except when I need them.

The only things I love more than compartments are printed labels.  I love how uniform they look, and I love how easy it is to read them in low light situations.  I’ve been carrying around the Brother P-Touch I picked up from Office Depot 8 years ago, and it’s never led me astray.  #Protip on applying printed labels to anything: Always use a piece of electrical tape under the label. When you’re ready to change out that label, you’ll need a lot of time and patience to peel that thing off tiny piece by tiny piece unless there’s a hearty strip of electrical tape underneath holding it all together.  You know what else you can label? Your pelican.

Tools!  

This is where I sometimes go overboard.  I have packed and repacked my go bag so many times because I guess I think I’m solely responsible for building a mansion when I get called for a load-in.  Surprisingly enough, I’ve never been asked to do so! When I’m able to think logically about packing tools, I pack a cordless drill/driver (mine is a Milwaukee M12), a pack of various bits, a precision screwdriver set, an Allen set, a crescent wrench, a headlamp, and a soldering iron with all necessary accessories.  Also, never leave home without your multitool. Mine is the Leatherman Wave, and I love it with all my heart. I don’t know where it came from; I got mine from Santa several years ago.

Safety First

Again, I tend to go overboard because what if I end up on the Titanic and I’m the only one that has any medical experience from all of my viewed episodes of Grey’s Anatomy, and I don’t have a suture kit or a defibrillator with me?!!!  Y’all are learning so much about me today. So obviously none of those things are going to happen at your gig, so really, just make sure you have what you need to stay safe. A small first aid kit, your earplugs, sunblock, and some work gloves should do it.  Maybe a mobile CT Scanner. But that’s it.

All of the other things

Don’t forget the things that make your job go smoothly.  Do you need in-ears on this gig? What about headphones? Flash drives are always useful.  A snack? An emergency twenty-dollar bill? I like to be a problem solver, so if I have something I think will be useful to another department in a pinch, I might pack that too.  My go bag has a few shackles rolling around in there, a safety cable, a small mixed box of screws, various apple adapters, and an IEC.

At the end of the day, your go-bag inventory is entirely up to you, but this is what works well for me.  I got to the point where I had some things in my car, some things in my closet, some things I would leave at various sites I would frequently work, and that just was not doing it for me.  Having everything in one super stickered-up, the rad little case is definitely my aesthetic. Give it a try; you won’t regret it.

 

The Importance of Saying Yes

It is so important to stay open to new opportunities while building a career in audio. Saying yes will often lead to one of two realizations: this opportunity is right for me; I want to continue to do more of this work! Or, this is wrong for me; I now know what to avoid. Both are valuable lessons for shaping an ideal career. Working in music is a lifelong journey – undoubtedly it will be full of unexpected and unpredictable twists and turns, so finding joy in both outcomes has to become an important practice.

Landing a dream job does not happen overnight, and if it did, my guess is that it probably would not be that rewarding. One of the best pieces of advice I ever received after I graduated college was that during your early career it is often more important to learn about what you do not want to be doing rather than worrying about doing precisely what you want. As someone who recently transitioned into full-time freelance, I am always trying to strike a balance between doing what I am passionate and excited about, and doing what makes practical sense, which sometimes means taking on gigs that are less than ideal.

I have accepted a lot of gigs that have turned out to be not quite right for me. It can be an unfortunate part of the process of figuring things out but is also highly valuable. I can say with certainty that the reason I am now doing what I am doing is due to a series of saying yes to opportunities that have come my way. This has allowed me to narrow my scope and better understand the type of work I do not want to do, behaviors I will not accept, and how to be most efficient when dealing with new clients and projects.

Occasionally I will get asked to help out running FOH on a show or festival around town, and even though live sound is not a career path I want to explore, I always say yes. It would be really easy to peg myself as only a studio engineer and say no, but something positive always comes out of it. For one, I get to listen to music and likely see some friends. It is also a really easy and genuine way to meet people and talk about what I enjoy doing in the audio realm. From picking up a few gigs like this around town, I have been able to join bands and start recording projects, just because I was present and doing my job.

When I worked at Welcome to 1979 all of the opportunities that arose for me came from me being open to new challenges and saying yes to things. When I was hired as an intern, I was asked to work in the office part-time, which was not something I was interested in pursuing long-term. I was clear that I wanted to be an engineer, but I said yes because I wanted to learn something new, diversify my skill set, and become a valuable member of the team. Later on, I became an assistant, and after about a year of doing that I was asked to learn how to do vinyl mastering, and then, be the studio manager. I said yes to every opportunity because I was trusting in the process of figuring out my path. I was also trusting in the fact that my bosses probably saw something in me that I did not see in myself at the time. Through this process, I grew tremendously as an individual, gained critical technical skills, and walked away with a better understanding of what I wanted to pursue.

I would love to get to the point where I can be extremely selective about which gigs to take on and only work with my favorite artists. I hope I am on my way to that point, but I think it’s a long process of saying yes and staying open to opportunities, even ones I don’t feel ready for. My imposter syndrome can be extreme, but I have found that trusting in the timing of life helps me value myself and understand my worth. Either way, I know I will learn something in the process regardless of the outcome. The fun part is not knowing where one “yes” might lead!

 

Head of Sound for the First Time

Saying out loud that I no longer need a babysitter and that my skills do not need to be watched or checked over was a scary thing. But it was time and it the bravest and most worthwhile thing that I’ve done during my career.

That’s basically how I got the head of sound and FOH position for the largest music festival in Lithuania. The festival took place over four days, but the production team was working on it for over a month. During that time I’ve faced a bunch of outside and inner demons. I learned a lot about myself and got to know more about others.

I am the only SoundGirl in Lithuania that freelances for festivals and massive productions at the moment. To be honest, it is tough, but possible with the right attitude. Furthermore, here in Lithuania, all production roles are a little bit mixed up. While my role was FOH engineer, I was also performing job duties that typically a tour director, stage manager or production manager usually do.

After the news became public that I would be the head of sound for the festival, a weird thing happened. I never felt watched through magnifying glass that much in my life. Nobody got in my way, but I knew that a lot of people were waiting or hoping for me to screw up, and that became an extra motivation to kick ass. It was essential for me to become known in the local market as a sound engineer again as I had spent the last year in the United States honing my skills.

Technical side

Location scouting was fun. There is a weight limit in venues on every rigging point, and the number is so low that it is impossible to hang a sound system on one rigging point. It was a pain in the arse to explain exactly where I wanted the system to hang, and the riggers weren’t happy because it was a lot of extra work for them to rig the system. Sometimes I question why people choose certain professions if they are so unhappy when they are asked to do their job. After lengthy discussions, I got the system where I wanted it.

The weekend of the festival there were a lot of tours and other events, and it became an issue in securing the equipment for the festival.  We used a Meyer Sound Leopard four tops and three subs per side, UPJ’s for side fills, UMP’s for front fills, and 2x UPA’s for delays serving VIP lounge. Tuning the PA is not my strongest skillset, so I asked for help on that. For FOH I had Midas PRO2 which crashed on the last day of the second to the final performance. And PRO1 for monitors.

Dealing with performers

There were 25 performances during the festival, so that is 25 riders to review, 25 acts to work with and explain how the festival runs, making sure they understand that there were volume restrictions and that the performance could not be longer than x minutes. Then put it all together and communicate it to the production team.

Try to imagine doing that with no authority and when one-third of 25 conversations with performers start with a question ‘wait… who are you…?’. I was expecting this because for most of my career I was ‘Dovile who works with…’ at the best, and at the worst, a girl who works with…’. But I did it, and it was exhausting as hell.

My team

The people that worked with I have known since day one of my careers as a sound engineer. We have had good and bad times along the way. During the early days, they were curious about me because having a woman on the team was unusual, but they were friendly and shared their knowledge with me. When my skills improved and I was able to do the same work as they did I was put under pressure to work harder and sometimes I was given tasks that they knew I would not be able to figure out. All to say that I should be doing something else instead of being a sound engineer. Five years later and I’m still here.

If I try to describe relationships between us this time, the best description would be ‘cold as fuck’ or try to imagine a couple that just broke up and both behave as stubborn bitches too cool to have a mature conversation. Can you imagine working for four days with people that you know only saying ‘good morning’ and ‘see you tomorrow,’ not having a single joke in four days and on the intercom having only ‘input 13 – guitar’, ‘thank you’ type of conversations. That’s a bummer. Nonetheless, they did an incredible job on stage. No mistakes at all, every changeover went well, and every performance started right on time. Every one of my requests, from FOH position like ‘could you move that mic closer to a double bass,’ was fulfilled and not questioned. As long as the primary goal for all of us is to make the festival great is the priority. I don’t care about all the dramas and any of their feelings about having a woman on top of everything. We can be friends or not. Doesn’t matter.

Photo Credit Dainius Cepla

Off-topic related to a topic. We had six women volunteer to work the festival. For the most part, they were completing random tasks, but there were times when they were helping technical departments, setting up something, or being a runner for me. Some of them said that they want to work in sound for live shows and when I asked have they tried to contact local rental companies for an internship; I was shocked about what they said. The first and the only question that rental companies asked them was if they can lift and carry 50 kilos  (110pounds)!!!! That was the only reason why they were rejected by every single rental company. What the f**k…. I promise I’ll do better research on that.

In conclusion, today everything to me seems as it was an easy and fun ride through all the obstacles. It wasn’t. It took me four days to mentally leave the festival after it was over. Starting with riggers and their ‘no we can’t hang anything here,’ rental companies ‘nah, we don’t have gear,’ performers and their management ‘why are you asking for our rider, you should know our band, we’re famous…’ And the team ‘..’ I don’t even have an ironic sentence for that. LOL. I have done a lot of hard work to make the festival sound good, and the feeling when everything is running smoothly because of you is the best satisfaction ever. I didn’t know what I was about to do when I said that I could deal with everything that takes to be head of sound for a festival. I took a risk and had proved to myself that ‘Hell yeah, I’m pretty good at what I am doing and what others think doesn’t matter.

I wish every SoundGirl has enough support to be brave and feel invincible to stand for herself as well as face and deal with challenges slightly higher than the skills acquired at the moment.

Dovile Bindokaite is currently based and working as a freelance sound engineer in Lithuania. She has an MA degree of sound engineering and started working in sound in 2012. Since 2014, she has worked in various positions in live sound including FOH, monitor engineer, sound engineer for broadcasting, RF coordinator, backline tech, stage tech, stage manager. For the past year, she was part of an audio team at Schubert Systems Group (USA). She has experience working in theatre as a sound designer and recording studios as a recording engineer.

 

Aspectos básicos sobre una mezcla de sonido en vivo

Para realizar sonorizaciones en vivo, es de suma importancia saber utilizar múltiples equipos relacionados con el sonido, así como tener claro el flujo de trabajo de los aparatos que utilizamos para trabajar. El tener conocimientos teóricos sobre los fundamentos del sonido, acústica, flujos de señal, nos ayudará a entender mucho mejor el proceso de realización de una mezcla para sonido en vivo. También debemos tener claros conceptos como estructura de ganancia, saber cómo funcionan los procesadores de frecuencia, dinámica, tiempo y dedicar mucho tiempo a cuestiones relacionadas con la fase, el diseño y la optimización de sistemas. Y, sin embargo, en ocasiones, nos olvidamos de lo fundamental: La Mezcla.

Introducción a la mezcla.

En grabaciones de estudio, la mezcla es un factor importantísimo (evidente: primero grabamos y luego mezclamos). Pero en las sonorizaciones en vivo, en ocasiones, se pierde un poco la perspectiva: Diseñamos el sistema de sonido, hacemos predicciones, se monta, se optimiza, se instala el monitoreo, se posicionan los micrófonos elegidos cuidadosamente, se hace el show y desmontamos.
Algo tan sencillo de decir como “hacer el show” o “sonorizar el concierto” es, realmente, un proceso de mezcla muy complejo que, como todo, se debe de aprender a desarrollar. Además, hay que aprender a hacer la mezcla rápidamente, pues las pruebas de sonido en vivo tienden a ser rápidas.

En estudio, podemos llegar a tener cierto margen de horario para completar la mezcla (en ocasiones, en el estudio, si no nos encontramos con el día inspirado, podemos cancelar la sesión y seguir mezclando en otro momento). Pero en el vivo no hay segundas oportunidades: hay que sacarlo adelante sí o sí.

Evidentemente, todos los conocimientos que hemos nombrado al principio del blog nos van a ayudar a hacer la mezcla (si no sabemos cómo funcionan nuestras herramientas, no conocemos los principios básicos del sonido y no tenemos el sistema bien ajustado, sería difícil sacar la mezcla adelante). Pero cuando nos ponemos frente la consola y tenemos al talento en el escenario, tenemos que ser capaces de responder a la siguiente pregunta: ¿Cómo debe sonar?, aquí entran en juego múltiples cuestiones.

La primera es que las mezclas son una cuestión subjetiva. Pon a 100 ingenieros de sonido a mezclar al mismo grupo y tendrás 100 mezclas diferentes. Algunas te gustarán más y otras menos, pero seguramente todas serán válidas, al menos para el que la ha realizado.

En un concierto con mucho público es complicado satisfacer el criterio de mezcla de todos los espectadores. Pero deberíamos intentar satisfacer a la gran mayoría. Básicamente, porque si tu mezcla (que para ti es estupenda) no es del agrado de la mayoría, normalmente no durarás mucho en este trabajo…

La otra cuestión, totalmente cierta, es que para mezclar se aprende mezclando. Cada uno debe seguir su propio proceso de aprendizaje, escuchar, corregir, tomar decisiones y equivocarse. Por mucho que leamos cuestiones teóricas que nos puedan ayudar, tenemos que pasar horas y horas mezclando para ir mejorando nuestra técnica.

En este blog, compartimos algunos aspectos importantes a la hora de plantear una mezcla.

Cómo debería sonar?

Para empezar, siempre que podamos, deberíamos tener información sobre lo que vamos a sonorizar. Saber qué tipo de música hacen, y tener cierta cultura musical.

De nada nos va a servir que un grupo nos diga que hace jazz si no hemos escuchado jazz. Así que, el primer paso es escuchar música de todo tipo, o por lo menos tener un concepto mental de cómo suenan diferentes estilos musicales, pudiera parecer una tontería, pero es algo fundamental.

Imagina hacer sonar un bombo con mucho click (reforzando la alta frecuencia) para un grupo de jazz, seguramente no funcionaría, por otro lado, ese bombo en una banda de metal podría encajar muy bien.

Si te encuentras en la posición en donde no conoces el genero de música que te pidieron mezclar, investiga su discografía y estilo, es una obligación prepararse lo mas que podamos, porque de lo contrario, ¿cómo vamos a poder proponer la mezcla?

Algo fundamental es escuchar la fuente que vamos a sonorizar. Acércate al escenario y escucha. El principio más importante de realizar una mezcla es capturar el sonido que ejecutan los músicos en el escenario y transmitirlo a los oyentes sin producir grandes cambios en la fuente sonora; A menos que nos lo pida el músico.

Planos y frecuencias.

De acuerdo, ya sabemos qué tipo de música hace la banda que sonorizamos, e incluso hemos escuchado los instrumentos desde el escenario. ¿Qué hacemos ahora?

Quizás puede ser un buen momento de plantearse los planos de la mezcla. Si tenemos, por ejemplo, una banda de rock con batería, bajo, guitarra y voz ¿en qué plano vamos a poner cada uno de esos elementos?

Es evidente que no podemos posicionar todo en el mismo plano sonoro. La mezcla trata, entre otras cosas, de eso: Algún elemento tiene que estar más alto y otros más bajos y en frecuencias pasa lo mismo: hay que repartir. Tenemos, en el mejor de los casos, de 20 Hz a 20Khz para distribuir nuestras señales. Si pretendo que todas compartan el mismo rango de frecuencias, se producirá nuestro querido fenómeno de enmascaramiento.

Debemos mezclar tomando diversas decisiones en nivel, así como contemplando la dinámica de las canciones, que normalmente los músicos son los encargados de matizar para generar desde la fuente estos cambios de nivel.

El siguiente paso es balancear, y ecualizar escuchando el conjunto.

La distribución de frecuencias realizando un mapa mental, donde hay que visualizar los distintos elementos sonoros, con esto se distribuyen dentro del espectro frecuencial. La experiencia te ira ayudando a delimitar dónde puede estar cada elemento con mayor rapidez y agilidad, por otro lado hay que revisar con detalle los elementos que pueden chocar con más facilidad entre sí por compartir rangos frecuenciales parecidos.

Por ejemplo, un bombo y un bajo. Sus frecuencias fundamentales comparten el rango de frecuencias bajas, por lo que se buscará conseguir que hagan un complemento entre ellos sin llegar a confundirse.

Para el balance, además de niveles, se utiliza también ecualización, dinámica y reverberación. La combinación de todos estos procesos es lo que nos permitirá crear mejores planos sonoros.

Para mayor detalle sobre los planos en la mezcla, uno de los libros que pueden consultar es

“The Art of Mixing”, de David Gibson, principalmente, por los gráficos en los que explica la distribución de los elementos sonoros en función del tipo de música.

LOS EFECTOS

Finalmente, comenzamos a preparar la mezcla con los procesadores de efectos que me permiten, en cierta manera, rematar ese proceso artístico, dándole el toque final.

Como punto de partida en cuestiones básicas, podemos colocar una reverb corta y una larga para crear planos, también se recomienda utilizar un efecto reverb plate y un delay para darle ese pequeño toque de magia, normalmente sutil y poco evidente, que sin embargo lleva la mezcla a un nivel superior.

Evidentemente, los efectos cambian en función del tipo de música y del espacio acústico donde nos encontremos o incluso en función de la canción, pues no todo sirve para todo. Antes de las pruebas de sonido, es recomendable probar los efectos con una voz o con una grabación que tengas en la computadora (virtual soundcheck), esto nos va a permitir elegir de forma más precisa el tipo de efecto que necesitamos de acuerdo del espacio donde nos encontremos, así podemos ajustar parámetros como el tiempo de caída o el predelay.

Conclusiones

Me gusta pensar que en la mayoría de las veces nuestro trabajo de mezcla en las sonorizaciones en vivo es tan sencillo (y a la vez, tan complicado) como capturar las señales del escenario de la forma más fiel a la original y transmitirlas al público con un poco (muy poco) de elaboración.

Los mejores resultados se obtienen primero pensando qué queremos hacer y después actuando y aplicando los procesos necesarios para llegar a nuestro objetivo. Puede parece obvio. Si logramos tener una imagen del sonido que queremos obtener en nuestra mente, siempre será mucho más fácil llegar a buen resultado.

 

Basic Aspects of a Live Sound Mix

To work in live sound, it is essential to know how to use various types of equipment, as well as the workflow of the devices we use to work. Having theoretical knowledge on the basics of sound, acoustics, and signal flow will help us to understand much better the process of mixing for live sound. We must also have clear concepts such as gain structure, frequencies, dynamics, and time processors work and dedicate a lot of time to issues related to the phase, design, and optimization of systems. And yet, sometimes, we forget the one fundamental: The Mix.

Introduction to the mix.

In-studio recordings, mixing is a significant factor (obviously: first we record and then we mix). But in the live sound, sometimes the perspective is lost a bit: We design the sound system, we make predictions, it is assembled, it is optimized, the monitoring is installed, the chosen microphones are positioned carefully, the show is done, and we dismantle. Something as simple to say as “doing the show” is, really, a very complex mixing process that, like everything else, one must learn to develop. Also, you have to learn to mix quickly, because live sound tests tend to be quick.

In the studio, we have time to complete the mix (sometimes, in the studio, if we do not find the inspiration, we can cancel the session and continue mixing at another time). But in the live audio, there are no second chances: you have to take it forward.

Obviously, all the knowledge we have listed at the beginning of the blog will help us mix (if we do not know how our tools work, we do not know the basic principles of sound, and we do not have the system well adjusted, it will be difficult to get a good mix). But when we put ourselves in front of the console and we have the talent on stage, we have to be able to answer the following question: How should it sound? Here, multiple issues come into play.

The first is that sound is subjective. Put 100 sound engineers to mix the same group, and you will have 100 different mixes. Some you will like more and others less, but surely all will be valid, at least for the one who has made it.

In a concert with a large audience, it is difficult to satisfy the criteria of mixing for all the spectators. But we should try to satisfy the vast majority. If your mix (which is excellent for you) is not liked by most, you will not last long in this job.

You learn to mix, by mixing. Everyone must follow their own learning process, listen, correct, make decisions and make mistakes. As much as we read about sound practices and theories, we have to spend hours and hours mixing to improve our technique.

In this blog, we share some important aspects when considering a mix.

How should it sound?

To begin with, whenever we can, we should have information about what we will be mixing. Knowing what kind of music and the musical culture is essential. So, the first step is to listen to music of all types or at least have a mental concept of how different musical styles sound, it may seem silly, but it is fundamental.

Imagine mixing a kick drum with a lot of clicks (reinforcing the high frequency) for a jazz band, it probably would not work, on the other hand, that would work well for a metal band.

If you find yourself in a position where you do not know the genre of music that you were asked to mix, investigate their discography and style, it is an obligation to prepare as much as we can, otherwise, how can we get a proper mix?

Something fundamental is to listen to the source. Get close to the stage and listen. The essential principle of mixing is to capture the sound played by the musicians on the stage and transmit it to the listeners without significant changes in the sound source; Unless the musician asks for it.

Plans and frequencies

Okay, we already know what type of music the band plays, and we’ve even listened to the instruments from the stage. What do we do now? Perhaps it is a good time to consider the plans for the mix. If we have, for example, a rock band with drums, bass, guitar, and voice, in what plane are we going to put each one of those elements?

It is evident that we can not position everything on the same sound plane. The mixture deals, among other things, with that: Some elements have to be higher and others lower and in frequencies. We have, in the best of cases, from 20 Hz to 20 kHz to distribute our signals. If I pretend that they all share the same frequency range, the masking phenomenon will occur.

We must mix by making different volume decisions, as well as contemplating the dynamics of the songs, which musicians are usually in charge of nuances to generate these level changes from the source.

The next step is to balance and equalize by listening to the whole.

The distribution of frequencies is like making a mental map, where you have to visualize the different sound elements, with this they are distributed within the frequency spectrum. The experience will help you to delimit where each element can be with higher speed and agility, on the other hand, you have to review in detail the elements that can more easily collide with each other by sharing similar frequency ranges.

For example, a bass drum and bass.  Both share fundamental frequencies share the range of low frequencies, so we will try to get them to complement each other without getting confused.

For the balance, in addition to levels, equalization, dynamics, and reverberation are also used. The combination of all these processes is what will allow us to create better sound planes.

For more detail about the plans in the mix, one of the books you can consult is
“The Art of Mixing“, by David Gibson, mainly for the graphics in which he explains the distribution of the sound elements according to the type of music.



The Effects

Finally, we began to prepare the mix with the effects processors are the final touch. As a starting point in basic questions, we can place a short and a long reverb to create planes; it is also recommended to use a reverb plate effect and a delay to give that little touch of magic, usually subtle and not very obvious, that nevertheless takes the mix to a higher level.

The effects change depending on the type of music and the acoustic space where we are or even depending on the song because not everything works for everything. Before the soundcheck, it is advisable to test the effects with a voice or with a recording that we have on the computer (virtual soundcheck), this will allow us to choose more precisely the type of effect we need according to the space where we meet, so we can adjust parameters such as the time of fall or the pre-delay.

Conclusions

I like to think that in most of the time our work of mixing in the live sound is as simple (and at the same time, as complicated) as capturing the signals of the stage in the most faithful way to the original and transmitting them to the public with a little bit of amplification.

The best results are obtained first by thinking about what we want to do and then acting and applying the necessary processes to reach our goal. It may seem obvious. If we manage to have an image of the sound we want to obtain in our mind, it will always be much easier to get a good mix.

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