Decibel level

ICBM · April 2014

Cirrus said:
This goes back to the Live sound thread where I said I like the bands performance to define itself - Here.

The soundman shouldn't have to do that sort of stuff. He should be able to get you to play a section of song as a soundcheck, set the guitar level relative to the drums and vocals that makes sense, then all your other sounds fall into place because you've taken the time to get your relative volumes sorted - quiet bits are quiet, loud bits are loud, solos get their own boost. That way you're in charge of your performance, you're not leaving the musical impact in the hands of someone who's winging it.

Of course good soundmen will still ride the mix as they feel appropriate but you make their job so much easier when you incorporate the dynamic changes into your own performance.

Exactly.

The band should know how to mix themselves fairly accurately just using their own backline relative to the drums - and that includes amp EQ as well as volumes. In an ideal world the soundman should only need to mic everything, set the levels on the desk at the start and leave it like that for the whole set, and it should sound great. Relying on the soundman to fix your bad tone, volume or dynamics is just poor musicianship really.

MazzaG · April 2014

Wow this blew up! Thank you for all of the advice guys.

@Multingsaudio The gig hasn't happened yet, it's on Saturday.

I measured the db level of me practicing in my room (albeit using an iPhone app) and the practice volume was 90db+!

I have found this:

It's a young band playing the same room a couple of years ago, there's no way they were capped so there's either been a volume cap implemented since then, or they measure the 90db from a certain point in the venue.

chrispy108 · April 2014

Fully agree ICBM and Cirrus, the problem I'm talking about arises when the sound man sees your dynamics as "mistake" and tries to correct it from the desk. If you don't tell him that you've got deliberate quiet bits, he might try and smooth them out, thinking he's helping you out.

MazzaG · April 2014

chrispy108 said:

Fully agree ICBM and Cirrus, the problem I'm talking about arises when the sound man sees your dynamics as "mistake" and tries to correct it from the desk. If you don't tell him that you've got deliberate quiet bits, he might try and smooth them out, thinking he's helping you out.

I will make a point of telling him, it's actually more vital for our bassist to get the point across as he switches from a clean sound to his Big Muff quite a lot.

chrispy108 · April 2014

Defo worth mentioning about the bassist. If you've got anything other than the 'norm' going on mention it.

I always made a point of telling soundmen that although I had a four string bass, it was tuned down to C, so they were prepared for the low-end. Took a few lights out when the soundman didn't listen...

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Decibel level

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