Less Is More
When mixing in a different venue, the first thing I do is flatten out all of the EQ, bypass all the plugins, raise the compressor thresholds and get the gain structure set correctly. Then, I listen. After putting together a basic mix, I’ll go walk the room and hear what it sounds like. Only then do I start touching EQ knobs and tweaking compressors.
Assuming the set list was provided in advance, I already know the music (because I’ve been listening to it all week), and I’ll know when the guitar needs to be boosted for that little riff after the chorus, when the big hit on the toms comes in, and how I’m going to tackle the vocals. Once the mix is established, if it’s justified, I’ll begin changing out compressors, or trying different reverbs as I have them.
If you find yourself using every filter on an EQ or making boosts or cuts of more than a few dB, and/or are seeing gain reduction meters showing 10 dB of reduction, something is probably wrong and needs to be corrected. Often moving a mic a few inches or changing the mic to something else helps in flattening out the EQ and thus producing a more natural sound.
It may sound like I’m opposed to plugins and onboard processing on every channel. I’m not — I think it’s great that we have all of this technology. We simply must remember that every alteration we do at every step of the mixing process is cumulative. If we’re not paying attention, all those phase and time shifts add up to a very unnatural and unclear sound.
Letting The Music Come Through
In one particular venue, I found myself behind a mixing console that I really like, with a decent house sound system and amazing musicians. But it never really sounded great.
Paging through the plugin rack, I discovered that nearly every channel had three to four plugins on it, most active, and there was often onboard processing happening as well. As I started bypassing more and more processing, the sound continued to open up. By the end of the weekend, people were coming out of the congregation at the end of service to compliment the mix. All I was doing was removing the barriers for the music to come through.
I’ve always considered it my job as a tech to make what is happening on stage louder. Using the technology available, I can make some artistic choices to enhance what the musicians are doing, but at the end of the day, they should be the focus, not me. I find this approach freeing as I don’t really care what I’m mixing on to achieve great results. Sure, some consoles make it easier or more fun, but if there are good musicians on stage, it’s going to sound good–and it’s going to sound like them.
A few years ago, I mixed a gig at a small local venue. The console was an inexpensive, 32-channel model with “one knob” compression, 3-band swept-mid EQ and two built-in effects. The house system was headed by a pair of tired, old loudspeakers. The mic locker housed Shure SM58s.
At the end of the show, the artist told me, “I’ve done a lot of shows here and I’ve never heard it sound this good.” I thanked him, as I’d worked really hard on that mix. The gear gave me no advantages — the only compression I employed were my fingers, and they never stopped moving. I was very happy with that mix, and it was not lost on me that I had done it with really basic gear.
Ultimately, it worked because the musicians were great. All I had to do was get out of the way and make it louder.