Recounting the Sound

Levels Links

Until I sat down to actually write this column, I didn't realize that this is the last Setting Levels of the year, nay 'true' millenium. I want a recount. I disbelieve that the entire year has passed. I disbelieve the snow and cold that has turned Omaha into a temporary tundra. Did Phish really 'retire', or are we waiting for the courts to decide? Somebody actually recognized Santana for his work, or is eminem requesting a recanvassing? We're lucky there wasn't this kind of controversy at the Jammy's...

Often as I'm turning in these columns late at night on the day they are due, I wonder if anyone actually reads them or whether they are collecting electron dust in some server. Apart from the occasional email, the writer exists in a vacuum. This month's column is devoted to one of those emails, from an experienced sound engineer and Dead Head that has been reading faithfully. Phil Johnson sent me a few pointers for both novice and experienced engineers, and then answered a few of my favorite questions. I hope you find some nuggets of advice that help you make everything sound better.

Speaking of nuggets, I am officially retiring the "Newbie Nuggets" portion of Setting Levels. However, I encourage you to keep taping and trading, and feel free to send me something tasty. Also, as part of your Christmas shopping, I encourage you to buy jamband cd's and give them to your fellow 'enlightened' friends. As much as the bands give to us each year, we need to pay them back. Spread the love and pay the bands that deserve it...

As the curtain drops on 2000, I hope you have someone beautiful in your arms and something kind in your ears...until next millenium,

Pro

Sound Advice-Phil Johnson, sound engineer

Hello, my name is Phil Johnson. I recently contacted Pro by e-mail to thank him for his great articles on jambands.com. Pro got back to me and, as luck would have it, asked me if I would write something for his column. So I figured what the heck, here goes.

First off, a little bit about me. I have been doing sound for about ten years now. I got my start by just sort of being in the right place at the right time as well as being the only one willing to give it a go. After a couple of years of experimenting and learning, I decided that this is what I wanted to do for a living so I dove in full force. I'm still mixing, and things are going great. I have had the pleasure of working with many big name acts not only in the "jamband" world but with some of the greats in Blues, Jazz, Funk, and Rock. What great people! What a great job!

Anyway, what I want to talk about are some basic suggestions for a novice sound person to take in to account when learning how to mix.

First of all, the number one most important thing to remember is to not damage peoples hearing. Exposure to high sound pressure levels over even short periods of time can cause permanent damage. Work with your band to establish a tolerable stage volume and try to keep it down. This is true not only in small clubs but also on bigger stages, so the sooner your band gets this drilled in to their head the better off they will be. This is usually a very daunting task that could take quite a long time to sink in, but persistence usually pays off. Remember you have the power to really hurt some ones ears, try very hard not to let this happen.

Second, work with what you have to establish a good, even mix. A lot of times in smaller clubs all that's needed in the main p.a. is kick drum and vocals. Don't worry about running everything through the board if you don't have to. Use the band's stage volume and keep it simple. Experiment with just these inputs and find out what makes them sound good. Then maybe, at a little bit bigger place, add some keys or rhythm guitar to the mix and play around with them. Try and master whatever level you are at, but don't be afraid to jump up to the next plateau. Just remember to ask questions and be accommodating you will find most people are willing to help.

This brings me to the next point, establishing a good report not only with your band, but with the house engineer and the other employees of the venue. Don't underestimate the importance of being gracious and polite. Not only will this make your job easier, it will also make people more willing to help you, in turn helping you learn quicker. It is much nicer to leave a room full of friends, not enemies, at the end of the night. You may not realize it yet, but this is some times very difficult to do, just try to keep your head up, have a positive attitude, and remember to have fun, as well as do a good job and you should be o.k.

Next I would like to talk about respect for equipment. Whether it is yours, the band's, or the house system at the venue, try to treat the gear with the respect it deserves. Don't peak the meters too hard, don't throw microphones around, wrap cables the right way, etc. Whether it's top of the line or budget equipment doesn't matter. Somebody has to pay for it. Accidents will happen, but try and keep them to a minimum. Remember, reckless engineers don't get gigs, plain and simple.

Finally, the last thing that I want to talk about is recording your shows. When ever possible try to get an audience AND a board tape/c.d. of your mix. The audience mics will let you go back and reference how the room actually sounded (or pretty close, depending on the mics.). The board tape will help you to understand what affect you actually had on the mix. Go back and dissect these recordings, listening as many times as you can stand it. This will really help you to understand what worked and what didn't for that particular show. Learn from the tapes, don't be afraid to hear some of the mistakes you made, just try and learn from them.

Phil Johnson audioeng@hotmail.com

SL Pro
PJ Phil Johnson

SL-Phil, I know you've got a lot more knowledge there than you've shared so far...What's your background in sound? Any formal training, informal training, mentors along the way.?

PJ-There have been quite a few people along the way that have helped me out. The first person that taught me anything about how to hook up and run a p.a. was Ted Tesoriero, lead guitar player and singer of Southern Cal. Dead cover band Delilah Jones. Ted gave me all the leeway in the world to experiment and figure out what works best in any given situation. He was very supportive and it was through him and his band that I realized this was something I could do for the rest of my life. Next was Blake Beeman, head engineer at Humpty's in Tahoe City. He gave me the job as second engineer at Humpty's basically sight unseen. Blake was also responsible for introducing me to Jim Gamble, who taught me more about mixing and electronics than I ever would have known otherwise. Gamble is an amazing man, with inteligence and creativity far beyond anyone I've ever known. The three years I spent working in his shop in Tahoe were invaluable in my continuing education. For those of you who don't know about Gamble, he is one of the original pioneers of sound reinforcement. I liken being around him every day to a guitar player hanging out with Garcia or Hendrix or Clapton. I invite anyone who's serious about live sound to check out his web site (link below). As far as schooling, I have taken a couple classes on recording as well as a basic reinforcement class.

SL-What's your philosophy of mixing?

PJ- My main thing, is to try and keep it simple. Remember tools like comps, gates, effects and e.q.'s are there to help you fix problems, not just to use because they're there. Don't be afraid to use these things, but don't feel obligated either.

SL-What do you listen for, or what are the hallmarks of a good mix to you? Anything that 'kills' a band's mix for you?

PJ-.Well, there's the obvious things like 'can you hear all the instruments?', 'is there too much feedback?', 'are all the speakers working?' Beyond that, what I really look for in a quality mix is for the p.a. to virtually "disappear". I want everything coming through the p.a. to be duplicated as closely as possible to the original signal coming from the stage. I want to hear each individual instrument as clearly as possible without losing the cohesiveness of the band. I also look to cover as much of the audio spectrum as possible. I want the bass player to be giving me a signal that drops down to 50 or 60 hz and I want those cymbals to sizzle. Full range audio is what I'm looking for, low to hi and everything in between. However, if the band is not giving me these tones I don't try to fight it by adding a lot of low end or whatever is missing. I think this is what can kill a mix as much as anything. Over e.q.ing can be a big problem.

SL-What techniques, including comps, gates and effects, do you like to use?

PJ- As far as actual mixing I prefer, in most cases, to keep it as simple as possible. Remember, the more signal processing that is used the more the actual signal has to travel creating more possibility for phase problems as well as distortion. I was house eng. at a jazz festival this past summer. It was 4 days long with about 5 bands a day. All but two bands had their own engineer so I got to see a lot of different styles and techniques. Most of the guys used ALL the comps, gates and effects we provided for them, as well as jacking the shit out of the strip e.q.'s. Then when Lee Ritenour played, the only processing his sound man Rob Melman used were gates on the kick and snare and very little e.q. His mix was absolutely amazing. By far the best of the whole festival. That said I do prefer to gate my rack toms and kick drum, I will occasionaly compress a bass player that likes to drop a lot of bombs (high threshold at about 7:1 depending on the player of course) or a dynamic lead singer.

SL-You mentioned listening to both audience and soundboard tapes to improve your mixing skills? What do you gain from either source?

PJ- The best thing about doing both at once is that after listening to the board mix (which everyone always wants to hear first anyway) if something is missing you can put on the room tape and say: "See I told you you could hear the bass in the house! Ha ha!" Listening to the board mix will help you to understand what affect you had over the actual signal vs. the perceived effect in the room. A good example of this is vocal reverb in a reflective room. When you go back and listen to the board mix the vocals should be relatively dry, because the room has it's own natural reverberation. Then you can listen to the room mix and hear that verb that you knew was there all along. This also applies to eq, if a room is real "boomy" then invariably the board mix will be thin.

SL-One of the toughest things, especially for new engineers, is getting the vocals on "top" of the mix. What strategies do you use?

PJ- In smaller venues this is one of the most difficult things to do. The most important thing is to try and keep the stage volume down. The more control you have from the board the easier it is to bring out anything in the mix. Also, be sure that the band understands that when someone is singing their job as instrumentalists is to compliment the singer, not to rock out as hard as they would be if no one was singing. One of the most important things for young bands to understand is the concept of dynamics. If your band hasn't quite figured this out yet, there are a couple of little tricks that I've learned. One is the use of stereo sub-groups. Try to assign the vox to two adjacent subgroups by pressing the assignment button on the channel strip, but leave the pan pot in the center. If you still aren't getting enough, try and assign straight to the main mix as well. However, I would avoid assigning vox solely to the main mix. This is personal preference here, but in most instances I like the vocals to be routed seperately from the rest of the band.

SL-You mentioned to me that you feel a 'dedicated' sound engineer is a key ingredient to the sound of a band. Care to elaborate?

PJ- I think that having a sound person that knows the band is hugely important. Getting that guitar turned up just before the solo as opposed to a few seconds after may not sound like that big of a deal but in reality it's the little things that end up counting just as much as anything else. A good sound man can usually do a good job of making a band sound good without being familiar with the tunes, but he will be reacting a second or two too late as opposed to a second or two early. Also, knowing your band can make things like load-in, load-out and sound check, go much more smoothly. I could go on forever on this topic. I really feel that every band, regardless of size, should have their own sound person.

SL-Switching to more 'technical matters,' give me a rundown on the types of mics and miking techniques you prefer to use.

PJ- I guess I'll go right down the line here. Kick drum; Shure SM 91, Sennheiser 421, A.K.G. D-112 any of these will do. Snare; SM-57, or Beta 57. Hi-Hat; SM-81, A.K.G. 414. Rack toms; Sennheiser 421, Shure SM-98. Overheads; A.K.G. 414, Shure SM-81, Audio Technica 4051. Bass mic; E.V. RE-20, Senn. 421. Gtr; Senn. 409 (absolutely the best gtr. Mic ever made, but hard to find) SM-57. Vocals; I still usually use SM or Beta58's, but I recently worked a vocal oriented R&B show where the band had some Audio Technica vocal condensers that were the cleanest most natural sounding vocal mics I've ever heard. I guess I should talk about a Leslie speaker too since there seems to be so many B-3's in the "jamband" world. On top I really like to put a beta 57 on either side of the cutout to get that good vibrato affect. On the bottom I use a single 421.

SL-With the variety of bands you've worked with, you've probably run into occasions when you are dealing with acoustic instruments like violins, mandolins, acoustic guitars. From my limited experience, this can be a feedback nightmare. How do deal with them?

PJ- I have worked with acoustic instruments quite a bit and it's a whole different world than an all electric band. With acoustic guitars the sound hole can create lots of problems. Sound waves coming from the monitors go right in to the hole turning the guitar into a feedback machine. The obvious fix for this is a plug in the sound hole. Not every guitar player will agree to this however. I have also worked with violins, horns, mandolins, upright basses, acoustic pianos (In my opinion the hardest instrument to deal with in a live situation) and virtually every other acoustic instrument. All I can say is be sure to spend enough time at soundcheck making sure the main p.a. and the monitors are rung out as well as possible.

SL-Finally, do you tape or trade? What bands do you get into?

PJ-I personally don't tape any shows that I go to for fun only, because it seems too much like work to me. However, I have been collecting tapes/c.d.'s for longer than I've been doing sound and I really do love listening to them. I went to my first Dead show in '86 and really got in to the whole scene of listening to and trading tapes shortly after that. As far as favorite bands, I will always love the Dead. For me nothing else comes close to what Jerry and the boys did. I still think about Garcia and how much fun I had at those shows on a daily basis. I just can't describe how much I miss him. Sorry if I sound a bit sappy about this but it's all true. As far as other bands there are really too many to mention but here's a few. Some of the older bands I like are The Allman Bros., The Who, and Santana. As far as newer stuff, Phish, moe., and Phil and Friends (Especially the current line-up with Warren and Jimmy Herring. I just saw them at the Wiltern in L.A. and man were they smokin'). I'm also really in to jazz-Miles, Coltrane, Charlie Parker, Mingus, and just about anything else that came out of the be-bop era I really dig.

SL-Phil, thanks again for reading and for sharing your experience...

Comments? Have a topic for 'Setting Levels'? Remember that your opinions and expertise are always welcome for a future issue of Jambands.com. Taping? Trading? Mixing? Recording? Lights? PA? Working with bands? Links? Anything's fair game...

Pro
Pro@jambands.com
Editor-Setting Levels ©2000/2001, www.strangepleasures.com

Levels Links

Phil provides the following resources and sites for your consideration:

I have a couple of books that are good research tools that I would suggest anyone who's involved with pro audio should check out. The first one is The Sound Reinforcement Handbook put out by Yamaha. The other one is called simply Live Sound Reinforcement and is a little bit easier reading.

As far as websites go, any product site is always good for specs and technical info. E.A.W., Meyer Sound Labs, Cox Audio (V-Dosc), and Jim Gamble Assoc. all have great sites that I've visited recently.-Phil J.

Jim Gamble Assoc. www.gambleboards.com
EAW www.eaw.com
Meyer Sound Labs www.meyersound.com
Cox Audio (V-DOSC) www.coxaudio.com