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Sound checks are all about getting a band's on-stage sound balance right, but with a crowd in you will need to make some further adjustments as two things will have changed. One, an audience alters the venue's acoustics, and two, the band will be running on adrenalin and likely, despite all the sound-check agreed balances and levels, to be playing louder than usual. The audience absorbs a lot of the sound especially the higher frequencies so you will have a different tonal balance than you did with an empty room.

Vocals are likely to be getting lost in these new dynamics so slowly turn them up a little at the mixing desk and adjust tone controls for more clarity. Slow and gradual adjustments mean the audience won't suffer sudden changes. You can turn the bass player up or down for a better overall balance without disturbing the band on-stage. Although he has The Final Word, the sound engineer should make technical adjustments and not artistic decisions but an inexperienced band will often forget the agreed sound check levels and be far too loud in a panicky response to the audience in front of them. If so, the engineer will need to reset their levels. There are also occasions when the band might need to be louder, too. Again changes need to be gradual - unless there is an obvious glitch such as a gain knob that's been brushed against and has turned itself to 11 or someone who hasn't flicked over a stand-by switch! It happens.

Other than problems like that, the engineer must not meddle with the sound on stage as the band have to be able to hear what they are playing; and unless the sound mix is awfully wrong, adjustments should be made songs so the audience only notices a gradual improvement and not a sudden dramatic change. The middle of a gig is not a good time to be asking band members to adjust their tone and other settings unless they have reneged on the agreements or there is some unexpected factor that is demanding a change (sometimes using back-up instruments or other technical issues can require this). An interval can be a vital chance to get 'under the bonnet' but don't try to re-engineer the gig completely; focus on simple adjustments to cope with unexpected problems. Issues can arise with power amps, with monitors, gear failure (my band's live 'check list' has over 100 items, plenty of scope for glitches).

Here are ways to approach the most common problems that arise during a gig:

Dealing with Feedback

I'm not referring here to the deliberate generation of individual instrument feedback by a guitarist, but when, at a whole band level, the volume rises, and the sound from the speakers reaches microphones, it is then amplified and goes round again, is literally "fed back", and then gets amplified again becoming a painful howl. This is the feedback issue that you need to avoid, prevention is far better than having to cure it! A first line of preventive defense is to use decent vocal mics (such as Shure SM58s). Have the mics well behind the PA speakers, which must not be pointed at the mics. Make sure the singer doesn't cover the rear mesh with their hand and get them as close to the mic as possible. Watch out for singers who start roaming the whole band area or charging forwards of the speakers.Pointing the rear of the vocal mic at the monitors helps as they are designed to be less sensitive in a direct line in this direction. Turn down volume controls one at a time to find out where the feedback is starting.Tweaking the tone controls may help.Try moving the mics to avoid any stubborn resonant areas.When all else fails,turn the volume down. Oddly, it's often not the main issue.

When its all a Bit of a Mush...

There's no real heading for this but you'll soon know when it all sounds a bit squashed and foggy. There are a couple of reasons that are most likely to be at the root of this. A high level of sound on stage: When onstage levels are high, the vocal mics will be picking up the instrument amps. If the onstage sound level exceeds 90dB, and it usually will, then some of that sound is going to be louder than the singer.Listen to the PA when the vocalist isn't singing and you can hear the sound that shouldn't be there.This turns your sound to mud and gets worse due to the slight time delay involved. Moving the back-line so it doesn't point directly at any vocal microphones will help. As with the feedback issue, good vocal mics also make a world of difference, not picking up that stray sound to the same extent as cheaper, inferior types. It doesn't pay to economise on vocal mics.

The issue of tone:

The aim is to separate the band's instruments in tone. Guitars with too much middle will fight with the vocals; and, if guitarists have their bass setting high, especially with an open backed cab, and the bass player has his lower mid range well up, this heavy energy will dominate the stage, especially if there is keyboards with lots of full left hand chords! This could be an artistic decision if you want to be exceptionally heavy, but experiment with all the options available to you and try for an optimised setting with light as well as shade if you want a cleaner sound. A fully mixed system gives you the option of separating all the instruments in space by using the pan controls. Ideally, this is one for the engineer to rehearse with the band or sound checks could take hours.

Jez Rogers is a guitarist/singer performing both solo and with several groups. His Sea Company project promotes local music with training and advice on setting up bands sound systems for live performance. Jez writes from hard earned experience, his newsletter for news, reviews, guitar tuition and advice on equipment for live performance and home recording is available free at http://sea-company.heart-shapedworld.com/index.html

(c) Jez Rogers 2009

The Professional Toilet Cleaner

I started my toilet cleaning career accidentally. It all began in a funeral parlor which was packed with former customers of a local prostitute; she had died of a heart attack while attempting to please the married members of a social club. I was in deep mourning for a woman who had become the most important part of my life; she was always there for me in my times of need. Tears started flowing from my eyes as I thought of how much I would miss her moist body and hot lips. I reached into my pocket for a handkerchief to wipe away my tears, but I had forgotten it. I then went into the men's room to use toilet paper to dry the tears that began flowing like a river. My life would never be the same without her, and I was hysterical. Things got even worse when I discovered the toilet paper dispenser empty. The tears had to be wiped away with my sleeves. I furiously marched to the funeral owner's office to complain about the poor maintenance of his toilet. He apologized to me and said his maintenance man had quit the job and he was now left without any help. We spoke about our problems and he told me that due to better health care less people were dying, and only five coffins were sold this week He then asked me if I could clean his three toilets for him until he retired and shut down his funeral parlor. The job sounded challenging, and I accepted his offer. He then handed me a roll of toilet paper and asked me if I would put it in the toilet paper dispenser. After a few weeks of working at his funeral parlor I applied for a job at an agency that cleaned toilets all over the city. I wanted to become a professional toilet cleaner, the references from my last job were accepted and I was hired immediately.

It takes a special type of person to be good at cleaning toilets. If a person does not enjoy the work, it is impossible to do a good job. That type of person must not be afraid of the smell or sight of feces. The main task of a professional toilet cleaner is to attack and destroy feces or urine where ever it is found. The nose and eyes should be fully open, human waste hides in the most unexpected places. Toilet paper dispensers should never be empty, without the availability of toilet paper a person's whole day can be ruined. The floors should be sparkling clean, and never smelling of urine. The toilets that I work in give comfort to the people that use them. I am proud to be a professional toilet cleaner, and that is why it has become my career.

melviiin1@verizon.net

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About the Author

retired and single recluse.

a better word for a cleaner?

i am writing a c.v and need to put down a period of cleaning work. it was within offices but CLEANER sounds pants. what's a better word? thanks in advance!

There is nothing wrong with the word cleaner, could use janitor

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