In Defense of Live Sound Engineers

Image by Flickr user Ville Hyvönen.

I would suspect that all of us have been to a concert and have experienced less-than-stellar sound.

I know that this happens quite a bit because concertgoers are quick to point it out:

“Dude! Did you go to the show?”

“Yeah, it was killer but it sounded awful. The sound guy had no idea what he was doing. They should hire a new one.”

There used to be a running joke amongst sound techs: Everybody knows two things: Their job, and sound.

This sentiment is often borne out of the need that some audience members feel to offer detailed advice to the band’s mixer during the show, or immediately afterwards, so that perhaps, this poor, unqualified soundperson will figure out how to do his or her job properly before the next show.

This is especially interesting, because no audience member ever seems to give the lighting guy notes during or after the show.

Having been a live sound engineer for many years (though not anymore) I understand the challenges that every music venue present to both the mixer and the band. So before offering your expert advice to the soundperson at the next concert you go to, make sure that you have considered some of the factors that contribute to a bad-sounding show. As they say: “Don’t judge a man until you’ve walked a mile in his shoes…”

I offer these complicating factors that impact the sound of many shows in no particular order:

1. Bad Room Acoustics

When I was a FOH system tech, I was always surprised when a visiting touring mixer would comment on how bad the acoustics in a particular arena were. “Of course it has crappy acoustics; it’s a hockey arena”, I would think.

Very few large venues are purpose-built for live, amplified music performance. This is especially true for big touring acts that are playing in arenas that were designed for basketball or hockey. These buildings are built to allow as many people as possible to have a good view of the court or rink without regard for the acoustic performance of the building.

While many venues do address the acoustic design and do what they can to make the room sound better, that is not the primary focus of the building designer. These are cavernous, mostly-empty structures, often with reverb times well over 3 seconds long. These are not positive attributes for a music venue.

Because of this, the most obvious contributor to bad concert sound is often the acoustic signature of the venue, or in other words, the sound of the room.

Every venue has “a sound”, and just like any other enclosed space, the sound changes as you move around the room. For example: the third row in the center of the house sounds different than the ninth row in the balcony, house left. This is dictated by the immutable laws of physics, so there’s no way to eliminate this effect. Even a great band with the newest sound system operated by the most qualified techs will still be governed by this reality.

To try and minimize the effects of this phenomenon, modern PA systems are designed to deliver a consistent, predictable coverage pattern with a balanced frequency response throughout their coverage area. Sound system designers also take care to make sure that the speakers are aimed at the audience and not aimed at the sidewalls or the ceiling. This reduces the level of the audible reflections from these flat surfaces so their effects are not as noticeable. But even with all of this attention and care, the sound of the band’s mix may still be fraught with nonlinearities in a concert setting.

These nonlinearities are magnified by the fact that the sound coming from the stage and the sound coming from the PA interact with the room in different and unrelated ways, yet they both contribute to the quality of the mix as it is perceived by the audience. (More on that in m moment.)

Mix decisions are usually made from the FOH mix position, and since the mix position is stationary, the mixer is effectively mixing for that position, and not for the whole room. What makes sense at the console may not make sense at your spot in the venue.

At some shows, you may observe a sound tech walking around the room during the performance to hear how the mix is translating to other parts of the room. Making mental notes about how the sound changes in different parts of the venue allows the mixer to make relative adjustments that are better for the audience as a whole. This is helpful, to be sure, but it doesn’t really account for the entire audience. While this at least shows a level of concern for consistent sound it doesn’t mean that the mixer can deliver the same exact sound quality to every seat in the house. It’s just not possible.

Sometimes, the mix that sounds terrible in your position may sound excellent elsewhere in the room. You poor sonic experience could have a lot more to do with the unlucky seat you picked in the room, and a lot less to do with the skill or performance of the FOH mixer.

2. Excessive Stage Volume

This can be an absolute mix killer and usually leads to a painful concert experience for the audience—especially those who happen to be closest to the PA. The mixer has few options available to solve the problem of excessive stage volume.

He or she can either have the band turn down (good luck with that) or can turn the PA up. The mixer could leave the loudest instruments out of the PA and let them blend naturally in the room with the rest of the mix. But this creates a different kind of problem: This method often creates a disjointed or incoherent mix, since part of the mix is present and clear (the stuff in the PA) and the rest of the mix is more ambient and distant. The relative perspectives of the various instruments in the mix just don’t add up.

This is not good for the audience, the mixer, or the band (who really want to sound like they do on the record). And keep in mind that in larger concerts, it’s often the band that signs the sound tech’s paycheck!

This problem can be even worse in theaters. If you consider that a theatre, which is designed for theatrical plays and live acoustic music, is usually built in such a way that sound projection from the stage is enhanced, it would stand to reason that something that is already loud to begin with, like a guitar amp or drum kit, could get out of hand very quickly.

I have been in situations like this, where the simplest solution is to only put the vocals in the PA to start, and then slowly add what you can as the show progresses—maybe a hint of kick drum to add some low frequency support; or perhaps an acoustic guitar or the keyboards since they don’t often have much amplification on stage.

This again may lead to a tonally disjointed-sounding mix, which is not the best light in which to present the band. And the audience has little choice other than to think that the mixer must not know how to mix! Not exactly fair, is it?

3. Excessive Room Reverberation

“Reverb” is the phenomenon that occurs when sound waves bounce off all of the reflective surfaces in a room multiple times. These reflections mix with each other and create a (usually) steady decay over time that can be expressed as the reverb time, which is also notated in RT60— a number that defines how long the reverb decay takes to drop in volume by by 60 dB. (For example an RT60 of 3 seconds means that once the original signal ends it will take 3 seconds for the reverb of that original signal to fade away by 60 decibels.)

Larger spaces have longer reverb times because it takes longer for the sound waves to reach the furthest reflective surfaces and in turn, to bounce off of all of the other reflective surfaces. This is worth understanding because most big-name concerts are held in very large spaces.

If you dump a whole lot of sound into a large room—like the kind that is created when a a band plays at 110db—it stands to reason that there will also be a lot of reverb hanging around thereafter. This is no small detail Because most music fans are familiar with hearing the artist’s music in controlled environments—like on headphones, in a car, or on a home stereo system.

Headphones and earbuds have no added reverb, and a car stereo is practically the same. Even a home stereo is usually in a small room without much reverb of any consequence. In other words, they never hear an artist in a boomy, noisy, uncontrolled environment. Any time they hear reverb on their favorite recordings, it’s because it was put there deliberately by the people who made the record.

But during a show, everything has reverb on it. It doesn’t change to suit the mood or tempo of each song, and the mixer can’t determine how much is applied to each element of the mix. Everything gets reverb and plenty of it. This issue is exacerbated by the fact that room reverb times are not linear across the whole frequency spectrum. Rather, the reverb in a large room is weighted toward the low end and low-mid areas of the mix and can be much, much longer there than they are in the upper-midrange and high frequencies.

Once you realize that there is typically an excess of low frequency information in most popular music you’ll hear in a concert hall, you can surmise that this can become a mess in a hurry. Since the mixer cannot simply turn down the reverb in the hall, he or she must combat it by reducing or eliminating all artificial ambience in the mix.

The mixer can also reduce some low-mid and low frequency energy as not to over-excite the room in that frequency range, thus reducing the effect on the room reverb. But doing this makes everything sound thin and small and harsh—which is arguably worse than having everything swimming in reverb! Not to mention, it is a further distortion of what the band sounds like on stage. So much for “sounding like the record”.

4. Inadequate Sound System

This probably doesn’t happen much anymore, particularly at larger venues and on national tours, but it can be more prevalent in small venues and clubs. A sound system can be deemed “inadequate” by a few metrics.

First, it may not have power to cover the room sufficiently at the desired SPL (sound pressure level). Most major artists’ riders will specify what they need to deliver the type of show they want to give their audience. For example: “Sound System must be capable of delivering 108dB SPL distortion-free sound over a 40Hz to 16kHz frequency range throughout the room with enough speaker cabinets to properly cover every seat in the venue”…or something like that.

If the sound company providing the PA system is more geared towards doing shows in clubs and theaters, but is tasked with providing a sound system for Slayer at The Enormodome, there’s a good chance that the PA system is going to fall short of the requirements. This could be a failure on the part of the promoter, who didn’t want to pay for a larger sound system, or of the sound company, who misrepresented what they were able to provide for the show. Either way, no one wins in this situation.

The audience must then sit through 108 dB of pure distortion and aural abuse for 2 hours. The band can tell that the PA is inadequate by the reaction of the audience, as it affects their enthusiasm for the performance. In this scenario, the band’s mixer (who clearly specified what was needed for the show) can only turn up the PA so much before causing damage or failure to portions of the sound system (which would make it even quieter). The sound company tech then has to become combative against the band’s mixer to preserve the tools of his livelihood (the PA system). It’s really quite an ugly scene.

5. Bands That Are Crummy Live

Artists often spend inordinate amounts of time making their records. Making recordings that are interesting, exciting and compelling enough for listeners to want to buy it and come see the band live is hard work and requires copious amounts of time.

During the recording process, the production team is usually getting the artist at their absolute best. The funny thing about that is that “their best” sometimes sounds much better than what the artist is really capable of in a live performance. (Smoke and mirrors, some may say.)

In the studio, a person who sings quietly doesn’t pose any great impediment to capturing a well-recorded vocal. The engineer can choose a mic with low self-noise, a low noise mic preamp, and a quiet room and achieve good results. However, when you take the same singer and plop them in the middle of a stage, in an arena with 15,000 screaming fans, you suddenly have a problem.

Quiet singers are sometimes drowned out by the audience noise—in their own mic! So if the mixer needs more vocal and turns up the singer’s mic, he or she is instead greeted with more crowd noise (through the PA!) Unless I’m mistaken, I’m pretty sure the audience came to listen to the artist, not themselves screaming at the artist.

The same goes for drummers: Some drummers can play well enough to record a good drum track, provided there is a bit of post-production and editing to bring it up to snuff. Whether it’s the timing, consistency, or even the tuning of their drums, most any of these shortcomings can be manipulated into submission in the studio.

In a live performance there is no such luxury. If the drummer speeds up and slows down, then that’s what the audience hears. If he is inconsistent in the way he hits the drums then, the mixer has to choose an average level to make sure you can hear everything, but still leaves room for the loud hits so they don’t blow up the PA system before the third song. Sounds easy, right? The same basic concept applies for bass players, guitarists, keyboardists, horn players, percussionists…whomever.

Any individual inadequacies are only one part of the problem. Imagine an entire band made up of mediocre players. There is no “tighten up” button on the console that can magically transform the din into listenable music. (Though many audience members are certain that there’s indeed a “suck” button.) Nope, whatever they give the mixer is what he or she gets. They can EQ it, and compress it, and make it louder or quieter, but they can’t make it good. That has to start on stage.

6. Sometimes, it Really is The Mixers’ Fault

I don’t want to throw anyone under the bus, but let’s be honest: Some people who are mixing shows should not be mixing shows.

In a live show, the mixer’s first and most important task is to quickly get a mix together with the vocal on top. Most good live sound engineers will easily have a mix together that sounds passable by the end of the first song (but usually quicker than that).

This “quick mix” is never a finished product, and is usually rudimentary and simple. But it fulfills the requirement that the audience can basically hear the band in balance.

Once this task is complete, the mixer can move on to the details of the mix: Making things sound better, applying effects, and giving the show a sonic thumbprint. The problem arises when the mixer decides that the details are more important than the big picture, before the big picture has even been painted! In this situation, the fault lies squarely on the mixer’s shoulders.

Mixing a live show in an arena is a pretty specialized skill and doesn’t have much in common with mixing in a club, mixing monitors, or for that matter, mixing in a recording studio. I have done both live sound and recording and, while there are parallels, the two disciplines are more different than you might realize.

Some less-experienced bands will love what an engineer did for them in the studio, and assume that those studio mixing skills will dovetail perfectly into the live experience for the audience. This sometimes happens, but it’s rare. In my 20 years of doing live sound I probably worked with 3-5 “studio guys” who were exceptional live sound mixers as well. Both skills take specialized practice.

When an engineer who makes their living in the studio ventures into the live sound world, it doesn’t always go well. While the basic concept of balance, using effects and processing are largely similar, there are still pretty significant differences in focus and operation.

In the studio, it’s easier to manage a complex session because there’s time to sort through all of the details and minutiae without an expectant audience waiting on the next song. In the live world, things need to happen, right now.

The level of complexity that is available in modern live consoles exacerbates this issue and a complex mix can test the mixer’s priorities and obscure their basic obligation to the audience who paid to be there. In fact, there is almost no difference between a full Pro Tools session in a studio and a full show on an Avid Venue console. It can have the same number of inputs and outputs, the same plugins, and the same way of managing gain structure. If the mixer is busy obsessing over whether the tape emulation on the lead vocal should be at 15ips rather than 30ips before making sure that the lead vocal is loud enough, then you can see how it could lead to problems!

Give ‘em a Break!

So sometimes, yes, it really is the mixer’s fault. But the pressures of live sound have a way of culling out those who aren’t suited to the task early on and often.

Before you point fingers, consider the variables: Is the mix bad everywhere, or just at your seat? Is there a chance that the soundperson is making the most of a bad situation or could someone else really improve matters much? And how would you know the difference?

Summing it Up

The next time you are at a show and feel that the sound guy is ruining it for everyone, walk yourself through this checklist and try to figure out who (or what) is really to blame for a bad sounding show.

I am not saying that the mixer is never at fault, because—oh yes—there are some bad mixers out there. But it’s hard to know all the variables if you’re not involved in the show and as an audience member, it behooves you to show a little empathy for the person with the bull’s-eye on their back, who happens to be sitting at the front-of-house console. They might be shaking their head at the situation just as much as you are.

Mike Major is a Mixer/Producer/Recording and Mastering engineer from Dunedin, FL. He has worked with At The Drive-In, Coheed and Cambria, Sparta, Gone is Gone, As Tall as Lions, and hundreds of other artists over the last 30 years.

Major is the author of the book Recording Drums: The Complete Guide.

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