There are some audio techs out there that just don’t know when to leave the controls alone; they hear phantom sounds and frequencies that don’t really exist. I’m not sure what causes this but a good tech will know when the mix sounds great and will leave it alone until something changes and needs to be adjusted. It’s a subtle skill to master and not one that’s easy to teach because it’s all about your ears.
Do You Hear What I Hear?
As an audio tech, it’s certainly your job to listen for and control feedback, provide FX (if appropriate) to the mix, and to provide a mix that is intelligible and pleasant to the vast majority. One of the ways that I gauge how well the mix is during music is watching the crowd to see how many are getting into the song by moving to the beat. This is arbitrary, sure, but it helps me know if people are digging it or if they are hearing something that maybe I’m not. If I see people disengaged, covering their ears, or leaning forward because they either can’t hear well enough or they can’t make out what’s being said/sung, then I know the mix is wrong and I need to do what I can to make it better. In this way, I rely not as much on my own hearing, but on the group as a whole because crowd’s don’t tend to lie whereas my ears can play tricks on me.
However, if people are paying attention, are into the service and generally engaged, there’s probably no reason to start playing with the EQ, or engaging a compressor (unless necessary) or some of the other “fidgeting” I’ve seen techs get into the habit of doing. I think part of this tendency is driven by the sudden shift from mixing for music, which usually requires active participation and engagement by the tech to the fairly boring task of riding a single fader with the occasional video clip thrown in for variety. Other techs swear that they hear a frequency that is feeding back or they are convinced that they can make the sound better. This latter attitude can have its benefits in that the motivation can be to provide the best sound possible, but I have to ask that if the audience is engaged and you’re searching for frequencies other techs can’t hear or you’re trying to reach perfection, are you yourself inhibiting the experience of others?
Unseen and Unheard
Our jobs as techs is to be invisible; if we do our jobs right then tech is completely transparent and draws no notice or attention. When we are constantly fiddling with controls, particularly one as noticeable as audio, then it can distract the audience, disrupt the speaker, and become an annoyance to everyone. We need to understand that good enough is truly good enough in most of these cases. If the general opinion is that the sound is good and your other sound techs think it sounds fine, perhaps you should be satisfied with how it sounds. This is not an open invitation to settle for poor sound. High-quality sound consists of solid, full-range sound with a nicely rounded low end (bass) to provide a presence to the speaker. However, if your equipment is not capable of providing this, then figure out the best the system can sound by consensus of the tech team and be satisfied with that consensus. Plan for upgrading the system, but realize your limitations. If you have a good system, then do the same thing.
Here’s an example: I attend a mobile church which means we are in and out of a trailer every weekend, setting up in the commons area of a local elementary school. Linoleum floor, brick walls…an absolutely terrible location for quality sound. We have powered EV speakers on stands and a single 12″ subwoofer controlled via a subgroup on the sound board. Because the environment is filled with reflective surfaces, we have to be very careful about how loud we drive the system. There are two primary reasons why the reflective surfaces make us cautious: first, it’s much easier for feedback to occur because the amplified sound from the speakers is bouncing everywhere in the room and can get back into the microphones without much difficulty. Secondly, the reflective surfaces have an amplification effect to the sound and driving it too loud will cause hearing damage to our audience, which is not conducive to them returning often, right? We have decided to employ a decibel meter to ensure that we are staying below 90dB in the space and this has worked really well. This still provides some flexibility to our audio techs to boost the volume or cut the volume a bit, based on their individual tastes; but it also provides a fairly consistent max volume cap to protect our audience as well.
In terms of the mix, there are usually two of us audio techs present on any given weekend, providing feedback and suggestions and generally supporting the tech who is on duty. We learn from each other, we have a great time and we’re all good friends.
Remember, it’s about creating community and we can’t do that if we’re constantly changing the sound; it’s unsettling because the crowd doesn’t know what to expect. Create a standard, coach others to that standard and you’ll find yourself leaving the audio board alone rather than constantly fiddling with it to achieve some arbitrary standard in your head.
[Blurry sound mixer image vai Texas.713 via Compfight cc, Wearing headphones and mixing via Niklas via Compfight cc & Image of sound adjustments via e_monk via Compfight cc]
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