Teaching Sound Check

The only live mixing events I have been allowed to do in the past 6 months have been mixing school performances at the Music and Ballet Conservatory in Ljubljana, working with the students and teachers from their jazz department. It gave me an insight into how a person that does not have a lot of stage experience can be overwhelmed with the stress of being on stage and how we as sound engineers can help them.

Moments before the show…

The First Time

I was called to do the first show at the conservatory and when I got there, it quickly became much more challenging than I initially thought. The information I was given about my responsibilities and the crew that was to help me there was incomplete and we struggled to get everything ready for the show in terms of gear and connections. In that situation I was very anxious to get things back on track so we pushed through soundcheck very quickly, with the students running through the song once and me creating a snapshot on the console, then moving on to the next one. Being wrapped up in the commotion I failed to realize that the performers on stage are not seasoned professionals, but students, who (for the most part) might not have many shows behind them. I anticipated that they would voice their concerns about their monitoring needs during their runthrough, as is standard with touring artists, but they hadn’t. They were so focused on what they were playing and how the songs were to be performed that the prospect of thinking about sound came as a distant afterthought. Not realizing what was going on, I would create a mix in their monitors as I saw fit and wait for further instructions - which never came.

Combining the extremely reverberant room with live drums, acoustic piano and an insufficient number of monitors was a recipe for a less than ideal experience for the performers on that first show. We managed to push through it, and the only time I got a sense of something not working for them was after the show, when I heard some students complaining about not being able to hear themselves well. I was surprised since no issues were raised during the sound check process and went home analyzing the situation. 

Game Plan

In the next few days I received an email from one of the professors saying that the students complained about the sound on stage and wanted to know what could be done about it. I had already been in full prep mode for the next show which was scheduled in the next few days and was glad to propose a game plan. Besides the fact that I now knew about the acoustics of the room and the limitations of the gear available to me, I also came to the conclusion that students need to be taught how to have a productive and efficient sound check. I asked the professors to instruct the performers on being vocal about their monitoring needs while they were still on stage and working together with me to create the best possible soundscape for their shows. I changed some of my microphone choices to prioritize gain before feedback over sonic quality and planned my arrival about 2 hours earlier than the previous show to make sure I have everything ready before the backline was being set up.  

I took the time during the instrument setup to introduce myself to the students and talk to them about the soundcheck process. I advised them to play a few bars of the song, stop, let me know about any possible monitoring corrections and only then proceed with the rest of the song. We also found a few plexi glass separators, which allowed me to create a makeshift drum cage and get a bit more isolation from the piano microphones. All of that, combined with the fact that I was constantly telling them that there is no need to rush and that we can take the time to get it right, helped us achieve a much better experience for everyone involved. I also took the time to talk to some of the singers about how to hold the microphone, how to maintain an optimal distance between the microphone and the mouth, about the proximity effect and about their monitoring needs and what to listen for when on stage. 

Getting Everyone Involved

The realization about teaching students on how to behave during sound check was something I also discussed with their teachers. They played a massive part in creating a learning environment and helping their students achieve the best possible performance in the given situation, mainly by letting the students know that a soundcheck is not primarily a place to have a final run through of a song, but an opportunity to create the best possible listening environment for the band that can facilitate a great performance. This shift in mentality is possibly the most important thing we need to get across in new performers. Especially in the beginning of their performing path we need to let them know about the proper procedures for soundcheck, so that they can not only have a great experience of their own, but also influence others who might have never received such training. The second thing is knowing what they can ask for. In my experience, newcomers are only focused on level. “Not enough of this instrument, too much of that instrument” is the entire extent, because they only think in terms of volume. If we can also introduce the concept of frequency, that can be extremely helpful to them (and us) as well. In that case they can provide basic feedback on how bright or dark a monitor sounds to them or if a certain instrument needs additional attention - things that we as sound engineers that are possibly sitting on the other end of the room might not have a chance to hear in the moment.

Taking the time to implement the basic concepts of sound engineering and sound check protocol for those who are just starting in the performing world will not only help them on our way, but make our jobs as sound engineers easier. That little extra effort can potentially have a great impact, not only on the people you teach sound check to, but everyone they come into contact with later on.