Running Sound Well During An Event
After good preparation you still have to run the system well during the event which is where the real skill comes in.
The key is knowing what the goals of the event is and then what you need to do sound-wise, that is whether sound re-inforcement, amplification or a balance.
When to tweak?
You'll always find something to change, the biggest question is whether it's worth doing it, and particularly how big a change it'll be in the room.
Some changes don't matter, like increasing the lead singer's guitar in their monitor only affects the musician, not the main mix. Others are obviously vital like when asking the public to speaking into a mic and they are inaudible you need to instantly increase the volume.
Be very careful of messing with gain, it is a change of sensitivity, not volume and can cause feedback and a bunch of other things. If you can't do raise the volume using the slider then do a very small change to the gain while they are taking a breath.
Other tweaks, especially equaliser changes might not be worth doing during one song but between them as you're not trying to alert people to the change, rather improve things sonically as it continues.
Look Around
Don't think things will really run to the event plan, you need to keep your eyes open. The church scenario is a good example:
- don't close your eyes to pray or worship for any length of time
- keep looking at the band for visual signals to change cables or monitor levels
- try to always know who has the wireless mic so you can unmute it a second they speak or pre-position your hands to change the gain for a public speaker
Also try to gauge how the audience is perceiving the sound. The easiest thing is to see how much they are engaging with the event and if anyone is looking back at the desk a lot which signals something isn't quite right.
Listen
It sounds obvious but the ideal best sound technicians are those who don't just sing along and get completely absorbed but they stop and listen. Ask yourself a few questions:
- Can I identify every voice and instrument in the mix?
- How well do the backing vocals fit with the leads? Does it feel 'warm' enough or if something is missing perhaps use a backing vocalist to fill the gap
- Are there any hissing, humming or popping noises? Try to then isolate them using the board and a pair of headphones until you find it.
Sound Helper
Because sound is perceived as a bit 'special' you shouldn't have too much trouble finding someone who is willing to help out before and during. in exchange for a little training (or just sitting at the desk with you) they could be the kind of person who can run and change a cable for you while you run the desk.
There are several minor tasks that having someone who can rove around with you really helps.
Third Party Suggestions
Everyone will receive 'helpful suggestions' from members of the audience to the event leaders. It is necessary to have a good deal of grace to listen and humility, this is often how you find out about a problem, eg. the speaker you can't directly hear has issues by being too quiet or someone who knows a bit about sound.
Don't forget that you are in control of the system and have the ability to say 'no' even if they are in charge as your real duty is to the audience and if you can't do it without causing an issue then say so. However it's also quite a lot of fun to sort out difficult challenges but don't sacrifice the present for the future.
Of course its probably not your system so there is an element of needing to submit to authority but only where reasonable and if you explain why something might not be possible (even if another team member could) then you'll be ok.
