Gig School: Jump up and Jam
Dodging Train Wrecks and Public Humiliation
Festival season is here, at least in the northern hemisphere. With festivals, come various interesting challenges, especially for everyone except the headliners. In addition, since most of us are NOT working for the headliner, most of us eventually face the issue of avoiding a musical train wreck when you have no time to sound check.
If you’ve mixed for very long, you have probably already taken that short end of the gig stick. Inevitably, you have had to get the band onstage without the proper time to set-up their gear, much less sound check. These kinds of situations make for great war stories, and for gig days you wish you could forget.
BEEN THERE, FOUGHT THAT
Once you’ve been through enough of these battles, you learn how to fight them. In maybe a sick way, I’ve become a nominal mixing mercenary over the years. Hand me microphones and cables, tell the band they are on in five and point me towards the FOH in three.
I’m on a mission, to see that the band gets to rock and the crowd gets to enjoy it! All right maybe I’m over zealous here. Let me first say that I would never put myself in this situation if it can be avoided. Unfortunately, it’s part of our vocation. As such, I’ve come to the point where I except, plan and then can actually enjoy the challenge.
Most of the bands and musicians I’ve had the pleasure to work with felt pretty much the same way. As an opening act, it can be a way of life. At festivals, it actually helps fuel the fun and excitement of the day.
Basically, when a Jump up and Jam situation appears, you are a victim of either circumstances or pre-meditated torture. The biggest difference between the two is simple, whether or not (or how much time prior to) you’ve been given a heads up.
If a bus broke down and you are running late, you are certainly scrambling. If you’re working a festival, you usually have a reasonable idea of what is going to happen well in advance. This warning gives you time to better plan your scramble.
THE BOY SCOUT WAY
Either way, preparation is the key to turning a less-than- deal situation into one that you can manage. With realistic forethought you can, at the very least, minimize the worst variables.
Remember, any good plan will not only be based on what helps you put their sound (your mix) together quickly. One major pro-active strategy is for you and your band to organize a plan based on efficient movement of people and gear. Such strategic responsibilities usually rely on you, the plucky engineer. To do this the musicians must be able to get their stuff together on stage as quickly as possible.
One thing the band can help you with is by having a set list that allows you to dial up your mix incrementally. Nothing quite like having the lead vocal line start in the first few bars of the first song, especially with a loud complex band.
Your musicians can also help by starting their set with a thinner instrumental that might allow you to establish the rhythm section, and then general instrumental balance, leaving you free to concentrate on the vocals when they do hit.
GO WITH WHAT YOU KNOW
Next, if you are not the first act on for the day, common sense dictates that you use as many of the previous/current settings as possible. This means do not automatically re-set the mix desk and outboard gear. Just make sure you pay strict attention to the act on stage before you. When possible, watch the gain structure established by the engineer before you.
If the gain structure is already usable, you can assume that the lines have been checked and confirmed. You will be in the ballpark with input gains, and if there is any outboard gear patched in on the channels, you know they are also properly inserted and functional. Don’t be afraid to ask the engineer in front of you if anything seemed mis-patched or out of the ordinary.
One of the more labor intensive and time-consuming things to deal with during a set change is a drum kit. If it’s possible, it never hurts to see if your drummer can (will) use the kit being used prior to your set. This can be a big time-saver.
Although different drummers can make the same set of drums sound quite a bit different, by the way they strike the skins, it’s still the difference between maybe making a few adjustments opposed to starting from scratch. On the other hand, if sharing a kit is out of the question, there are ways to minimize the your troubles during the transition. Begin by using a drum rack so that your drummer can have his kit pretty well together and generally adjusted before it reaches the stage.
Always put guitar amps on wheels so they can be quickly rolled on and off-stage. This way you can place your mics without waiting for available manpower to lift those amps.
@MIX-SITE.REALITY
If you are sharing channels, it’s usually best to use as many of the existing microphones as possible, even if you have your own mics with you. It is acceptable to apply a few special mics, if you are already very familiar with the gain structure of that particular mix desk using with the microphones you’ve brought. Still, before you make this request, make sure the sonic benefit outweighs the time spent and the risk of introducing a variable into an otherwise stable system.
Speaking of microphones, don’t forget a couple of important things here concerning politics for the day. The mics, the gear and the audio crew are shared for the day, weekend, week….whatever. Making it harder for the festival crew will not make it easier for you.
Take other people into account. Be a pro, not a fool. Support your colleagues, don’t abuse them. Your job will get easier with their help. More likely than not, you will see these people again somewhere down the road. They will remember. Having established working rapport, we will assume that the festival system engineer will be helpful, and try to accommodate you as much as possible given time and logistic restraints.
If you have a good signal (and the right one) on your input channels, your primary challenge is probably your favorite and most rewarding task (i.e. putting together the mix). If the board is labeled using a festival style input list, make sure you use it.
This is a standard way for the system engineers to setup and test their lines for the day before you get there so as to minimize interconnect problems. Alternatively, if you can’t mix because you get confused when you’re not looking at your usual input list, you’re already out of your league. Take the day off and let someone familiar with the system do the work.
ART & SCIENCE
When using different microphones and/or patching into different channels then were previously being used, you not only start from scratch on the board, you also won’t have confidence about the mic lines or inserts.
This is where the gremlins commonly pop up and bite you. Nothing is more annoying than trying to dial in an on-the-fly mix, only to have to track down a miss-patch or a buzz on one or more of the lines. Hopefully, a system engineer (or two) will be present to help resolve such technical issues, so you can concentrate on your mix.
If you’re using your own microphones then the next thing to think about might be minimizing the placement time. Mounting your microphones in the toms or on the cage and using stand clamps for Hi-Hat and cymbals along with a custom loom allows you to preset all of it and leaves you only to patch in at the stage box.
Clean and simple and it leaves more time for you to attend to other items on your checklist. Getting on stage and set up as quickly as possible is the key to making time for you at the mix site.
With the number of festivals most Country bands do, some of them have this trick down to a science. Also with the usual Heavy Metal band attitude of making opening acts pay their dues by not letting them sound check, many crews have made an art form of getting on stage and set-up.
FIRST THINGS FIRST
Check your lines first! If they aren’t happening, then neither are you. Next, bypass any insert that does not enjoy your total confidence. If you’re comfortable knowing an insert works, then loosen the setting until you tweak your input levels to the board. Take care of fundamentals first.
The last, and least important immediate priority, are the FX. Establish your gain structure together and get your EQs happening before you worry about FX. This is not the time to forget good mix fundamentals. Otherwise you risk adding fuel to the sonic fire.
Venue size often determines the order in which you organize your mix. In smaller venues, you might not need to immediately dial in an instrument that is naturally loud off the stage and is also picked up in other instrument mics. Save such instruments for later.
AU NATURAL
Outdoor festival mixing is much more demanding and time critical. Musical type also dictates what deserves your immediate attention, but vocals are usually paramount. If an audience can’t make out the vocal, they will almost always condemn the entire mix. Remember, to most people, “the singer IS the song”.
As a rule of thumb, or index finger, when the point the band hits the stage, you should go for a rough mix across the board starting first with the gains. Assuming you have persuaded your band to give you some early instrumental elbow room, I suggest Kick, snare, Hat, Bass, Guitar and other instruments, depending on priority, until the vocals begin.
Make a point to leave yourself some headroom during this instrumental section. Without at least 6dB of headroom, you will inevitably paint yourself into a corner and waste time as you pull back parts of your previously established rough mix just to get those lyrics out in front.
Once the vocals come in, drop everything and go to work on them exclusively until your comfortable with them. At that point you should go into big picture balance and tweak mode. Finally, work your way back across the input channels, fine tuning the gain and adjusting the EQ and inserts as needed.
REMEMBER
Work with the band to organize a routine that is comfortable for both you and them. This can make any Jump Up and Jam situation not only tolerable, but also a pleasant adventure. And don’t forget that no matter how bad your situation seems, the problem never really matters. Instead, how you solve the problem is everything.
Todd Petersen is a road warrior and cyberstud living in Chicago and working worldwide as needed. He can be reached via e-mail at idealproductions@aol.com
May/June 2001 Live Sound International