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[SoundPadawan]

Hey guys,

I'm new to this forum, and new-ish to the sound industry. I work at a few clubs in my town, I've been learning the ropes since October, and come quiet far. But my boss is leaving me in charge more and more. And in September, I take over as head/only Sound Tech for the clubs.

My problem, I haven't developed my ears as much as I'd like.

My 1st official mix was decent. No feed back (I never get feedback, my boss trained me well on that aspect, plus his Monitor EQ is godly). People danced, so it must have sounded half decent. But I wasn't satisfied with my mix. The Vocals were muddied by the guitar. The guitar didn't cut as much as I'd like it. And I think the Bluemax Compressor I was using killed the Kick drum.

So I'm looking for any advice, tips, or tricks that will develop my ears and help with my EQ. And any pointers on mixing.

Thanks guys

Ps. Sorry if this is the wrong Forum, I haven't quiet figured this site out yet

[archtop]

I doubt his monitor EQ is godly, unless it is fairly flat.


You learn a lot from feedback.

make some happen in the off hours.


jack the lows on a floor tom mic so much, that you can experience low end roll around.

use the low cut on the vox channels, and whatever else needs it (your guitars possibly according to your discription)

[SoundPadawan]

Well I have to say godly in case he reads this. lol

But I shall try that, thanks man

[Mo Facta]

The only advice I can give to someone getting into audio is...




































Don't.

Cheers

[Millice]

mo facta, thanks for nothing, asshole.

[Millice]

Moulton's Golden Ears is really good for teaching your ears the frequency spectrum.  not to cop out..... but hard work, determination and a passion for what you are doing will get you far.  read a lot, listen to everything.  you will do great Soundpadawan.  believe it.

[Bubba--Kron]

No need for GS style cheap drama here guys.   This place is mature and mellow!!!

Cheers

[rosshogarth]

My first advice is understanding signal flow and routing and patach
then as far a pa
get a few cd's of music you absolutely know from a frequency response stand point
when you play these into the pa
does the pa sound like music or is it very weird
poorly eq'd pa's are common
and
if you know what a cross over is
more often then not the cross over has been messed with
also
a room changes with people in it .. of course

this is my fast start

[rosshogarth]

also
get some real westone earplugs !!!!!

[ExcuseMe]

I pretty much did the above when I started trying to train my ears.  I listened to music I knew forwards and backwards from all my equipment, and eq'ed to that.  I also bought the most expensive headphones I could at the time, and made sure I wasn't screwing up my hearing. 

[SoundPadawan]

Thanks guys,

I have Golden Ears, but I just can't focus long enough to get through alot in one go.

I finally had a chance to experience un-gated Toms.. and man do Noise Gates make a difference.

I've got routing and Signal Flow down pretty good. A few things through me off for a while, like the giant snake I got to use once. I was like. 32 or 48 channels (can't remember) but it also had a splitter (To route signals to the FOH and Monitor mix I guess)

Much appreciation guys!

[Dan Meier]

And you might want to check the LAB forums... Incredible source of knowledge about live sound...
Good luck.

[ExcuseMe]

I just started digging through the LAB forums.  The information is really good.  I still stand by getting the best earphones you can, and listening as much as possible to every bit of live music you can find.  There are albums, artists and probably even venues you love listening to.  Dig into all those sources.  Find out what they do, and copy for a while. 

[Bodhi]

Some of the best advice I got starting out is to listen to lots and lots of CD's played through your board. Then adjust your EQ's, sweeping around to learn where different instruments are located in the frequency spectrum (fundamentals and harmonics) and how instruments and groups of instruments respond (timbre changes, etc.). And it's not always how an instrument sounds in isolation, but how it sounds in the mix! This was helpful in learning how to make each instrument stand out as much and as pleasingly as possible. I also would play around with compressor settings. I learned to deconstruct a mix using EQ and compression and to record a reverse-engineered multitrack recording from the original stereo mix. Then I would work on re-mixing that and compare it to the original — over and over and over again.

Everyone thinks they know about sound recording, editing and mixing, but to really understand what it is you're doing, you just have to practice practice practice - like anything you want to be good at. So don't ever quit  practicing — especially during long breaks between sessions.

[SoundPadawan]

Great advice man. I was actually going to get a case to hold a bunch of my fav CDs and play them and mess with the EQs.

I for one know I don't know much about mixing and such. But I know I'm learning, and well on my way. I just need more practice with my ears. Which is hard because I don't have access to the sound system on a regular basis. at least not during the summer.

I have golden ears. But I cant focus long enough to do much of it.

I'm planning on buying some studio headphones soon though. and then i'll start messing with sound more regularly because I won't be distracting others