Originally Posted by: hdoranI'm renting a soundboard and it is the first time we're using this. I have it rented for the night before the gig so we can practice with it. But, I could get it for longer so we could test it out longer.
In your experiences, is one night practicing with a sound board enough or should I practice with it more?
It's a very simple board with inputs for each instrument and the mics and doesn't have too many knobs.
Well, it's better than not having it for a spare day...
Literally, it's not enough time but the first time I ever ran sound, that's what I did too. One night. But I got pretty good after time. No your luxury. Still, you will probably do reasonably well.
A few things:
- Mixing is about frequencies and specifically competing frequencies. If they all overlap too much it gets muddy and dull. More below...
- Using a delay with the set up. If you are placing a delay in the chain that will apply to all instruments, set the decay by ear. If your doing the standard mic test of saying 'check', it should sound like: CHECK (check > check)....Just the word with a fast decaying repeat of two more checks.
- Reverb. be careful. If the room is empty and echo-y...Don't need much. Full room and not much echo going on, just a little more. Still less is better more so than having too much.
- Mixing: No matter how awesome your guitar tone is, you may need to sacrifice that in the final front mix to ensure the mix is clear and has punch. Most rock people tend to like hearing all guitar tone not realizing that the bass guitar is more prominent than they think it is. Listen to the bass placement in Alice in Chains bass placement, it illustrates how important bass guitar is to guitar tone. You should feel the bass guitar but also just ever so slightly hear it within the guitar mix.
- Mixing: Bass guitar and bass drums can overlap in frequency. Better to feel the bass drum and hear the bass guitar.
- Drum mixes are a pain. Watch this > Click
- To balance the above bass vs guitar vs bass drum etc, use the channel strip Lo/Mid/Hi to balance these frequencies. Don't know if you have an outboard EQ, but this should be a way to draw out the details you need. Watch this video , it speaks to this.
- If they don't hear the vocals well enough, you're DOA. No one sings along to a guitar solo. (usually...). Make sure the vocals are prominent and clear.
Those are few things. It's not easy or great but be mindful that what sounds good on any one instrument solo might not be that great when mixed together. Great mixes are a shared sacrifice and a great end result.
