scroll down

HOW IMPORTANT IS IT TO HAVE A GOOD LIVE ENGINEER ?

It would be like trying to swim the Bass straight without any arms or legs, youd probably not make it alive !!! A good live sound engineer is INCREDIBLY important to your band actually sounding any good to the many people that come and pay to see your live shows. Not having a good sound engineer or not taking that care to get a good sound engineer is like working out at the gym to get yourself an awesome buff body but you smoke drink and eat crap There would be no point!!! You need balance. You need to be a well rehearsed band that are well presented and have a good sound guy on board that will help accentuate the great aspects of your band and balance your sound through the means of many live PA systems.

WHER DO I FIND ONE ?

Good sound guys are a rare nocturnal breed of audiophile only found at night, they are never seen in direct daylight, so keep your eyes peeled. In all seriousness there are heaps of sound engineers in nearly every musical community around Australia, it's just finding the right one for you.

HOW MUCH SHOULD I EXPECT TO PAY ?

It depends on what sort of gig your'e doing and who is mixing you. There is no sound engineers union that I am aware of so most gigs are what you arrange on the particular night with the particular engineer. In Australia, expect to pay between 50 bucks if your'e just starting out to around 150-200 if you're touring the country for a sound tech.

GETTING YOUR OWN SOUND GURU

My thoughts are that when you find a good sound technician who mixes your band the way you want to hear it, hold onto that person with a tight yet affectionate grip. Unless your'e Johnny Cash in 1964 and you are doing 300 nights in a year, you have to realise that the sound guy has to be able to live and survive in their profession and they HAVE to mix other bands as well.

TETING 1, 2

If you want to play a gig you need to be able to tell a sound tech what you require on stage. Obviously this comes with experience and stage time, but if you know how to get a good stage balance within your band and you know how to talk into a mic. you understand what feedback is and how it is created and what the purpose of foldbacks are then the better you can translate your thoughts to the soundengineer the easier everyone's job is. Sound engineers are not mind readers; they can only help you if you tell them what you need.

HOUSE GUYS

Nearly every venue and PA supplies an in house tech who is employed by the venue to up keep the PA, make sure nights run smoothly and most of the time to mix the many bands that filter through the venues.

HOW DO I ACTUALLY KNOW IF THEY'RE AY BLODY GOOD?

Good Question !!!! You're on stage how the hell do you know if it even sounds any good out the front? Crowd reaction is always a decent indication. The majority of your mates may not be musicians and sound guys, but 95% know when things are balanced proeperly.

WORD OF MOUTH

A good reputation goes a long way, especially in the tight knit community that is the Australian Music Industry. Good engineers build good reps and thus get more work. Ask around and suss it out. If you've got regular work through good songs, good live performances your potential sound guy is putting food on the table. So be friendly and get your band tight and you watch the sound engineers that come offer their services to you.

REPUTATIONS

Always be friendly, sound guys very rarely respond well to cocky and demanding rock stars.Without good sound guys, most bands would sound like a strangled chicken. There ate plenty out there so hopefully some of thisramble will help you on your journey at getting a good live sound engineer and keeping them.