how to rock

By Rich Wells

illustration by Elise Malmberg

In any case, unless you achieve instant rock royalty status or can otherwise afford to hire your own expert sound person, there will be times when you have to suck it up and help get the job done yourself.

Having played in plenty of dive bars and "nontraditional" venues (the obligatory warehouse spaces, living rooms, decrepit shoebox-shaped storefronts, and a defunct Woolworth's), I am accustomed to lax attitudes and low budgets when it comes to sound. Actually, when playing these types of venues I have come to find excitement at the prospect that the sound person is a) nonexistent, or b) clueless, by their own admission. Believe me, I have experienced each on more than one occasion.

WHY THE CLUB SOUND SUCKS Having discussed what to do when the club sound sucks, let's find out why it can sometimes go so horribly wrong. Longtime live sound engineer Tigi Coyle, who currently resides in the San Francisco Bay Area and has worked at several of its finest rock venues, was kind enough to provide some specifics about why the same problems arise and persist from venue to venue. Take it away, Tigi... Having worked in small venues for 14 years and as a head tech at a larger one for five, while continuing to tour worldwide with various acts, I've seen one fundamental issue at the root of all the other problems: money. Most small venues don't have the capital to reinvest into their sound systems, and that is usually the beginning of a whole host of related issues. I run into the same issues at every venue I have worked in, large or small, locally or nationally. My complaints are the same ones I hear from house techs throughout the world. The problems are fundamentally the same; resolving them is the issue, and that's why money is the great dictator. Lack of money leads to the following problems: 1. Equipment In smaller venues there usually isn't enough of what you need. This can include anything from mics and stands to cabling and outboard. (Not forgetting the PA and monitor system itself, of course.) 2. Repairs First, the equipment tends to be of lower quality from the outset and can be more prone to breaking — not to say expensive gear doesn't break too! A prime example is that small sound consoles are usually not modular, which means on-the-spot repairs are more difficult, if not impossible. This means that consoles have to be hauled off for repair and rentals brought in (versus simply bringing in a tech for three hours). As most venues cannot afford to take the console out of commission regularly, small consoles often accumulate several issues before they get repaired, so it's not uncommon to find bits of tape over bad channel strips and so forth. Also, someone at the venue has to be responsible enough to take care of the repairs (which are costly and time-consuming) on a regular basis. Which brings me to my next point. 3. Responsibility Because of budget constraints, it is extremely difficult to find and keep a dedicated head tech who is not only willing to work shows, but also schedule staff and do repairs (the latter two jobs are often expected to be performed free of charge). Additionally, continually having to go to the venue owner/manager for funds — "please sir, can I have some more?" — can be tiresome. This is especially true if said owner/manager is less experienced and doesn't understand that "yes, this stuff does break, and I know speakers are expensive, but if you had bought more in the first place, or maybe that nice compressor/limiter, then it wouldn't keep blowing up." I have witnessed the look of disbelief and horror on managers' faces as you explain to them that Y or Z is broken (again) and will cost about $X to fix or replace. So, qualified yet frustrated techs tend to move on to better positions, thus leaving the venue with less experienced staff. It's a vicious cycle: the less-experienced staff member is more likely to inadvertently break something through lack of knowledge, and less likely to want to deal with an irate or absent manager. As a result, equipment can quickly become run down. Small venues are often pipe-dream creations of one or two people, and the reality of overhead and day-to-day expenses can be financially crippling for the unprepared. A larger venue may be part of a chain, or have a larger management team, or outside investors. It too will probably have a larger budget, as it has the capacity, literally, to make more money in the first place, as well as an understanding that national and international touring acts will only return if the sound system is up to spec. With many small venues struggling to fill dates with local acts that can pull in a decent crowd, the money pot often runs dry very quickly. As a side note, it's a well-discussed topic among touring professionals that small venues in the US are by far the worst in the western world (with the UK following a close second), and that some of the best are to be found in northern Europe. Some countries in Europe actually support venues with direct financial sponsorship from government arts programs, and I have found that in countries where art and music are considered culturally important, and supported as such on a national level, this is reflected in the standard of music venues. – Tigi Coyle
	Mackie 1202VLZ3 12-Channel Mixer
	Shure SM57 Cardioid Dynamic Microphone
	Shure SM58 Dynamic Handheld Microphone

Familiarize Yourself with Yourself
In the last few years, you may have noticed a surge in performers creatively mixing elements of their sound onstage. A couple of trends have developed: Extremely small and inexpensive mixers came onto the market, and a more experimental approach has generally crept into various musical genres. As a result, many musicians have become increasingly self-sufficient in organizing their sound before it gets to the sound person. (Bands like Animal Collective and Black Dice immediately spring to mind.)

And if you get your sound right in the practice space, there will be less of a need to correct it with sound reinforcement in a club setting. The less you rely on the sound person to "punch up" your sound, the better off you'll be. You'll already know what general levels work, and you can make EQ adjustments so the sound person doesn't have to.

Idiot Check — Not Just for Idiots
If you harbor expectations of overcoming bad sound once you get to the club, you'd better try your darndest to fulfill a couple requirements: Get there early, and bring extra stuff. If you're able to get to the club early, you increase your chances of detecting and circumventing bad sound before the night begins. You can also describe your aesthetic to the sound person. As for the "extra stuff," determining what to bring should be based on a combination of your superior intellect and your investigative skills. That is to say, if you don't already know the club, give them a call and find out what they have (or don't have).

Lately I've taken to bringing one of those plastic storage containers with the hinged lids full of stuff to the show. These are usually big, simple, translucent, and stackable: you can put plenty of items in them, and pack them loosely so it's easy to see what's in there. At the end of the set you can throw everything in haphazardly to make things move quickly, and sort it out later. I often take a mic, a Mackie 1202-VLZ compact mixer, and some effects to run my vocals through. That way, I can plug in at line level into whatever setup is there. This gets around potential issues pretty well, and I can work out the vocal sound I want well in advance of the show.

Oh yeah, and bring earplugs. In the tinier venues you can be forced to fit physically into all sorts of little nooks and recesses. These are sometimes perfectly designed to provide the kind of acoustics that will give your ears a thrashing over the course of 45 minutes or so. Earplugs are always good to have on hand anyway.

For other items particular to your band, make a checklist in advance. It's sort of like a pre-show idiot check. (Hopefully you're already well aware of the time-honored idiot check.)

Bad Acoustics, Crap Gear
If you're in a small venue and sound reinforcement is limited (that is, you have no monitors), you'll need to get creative in setting up your equipment. Facing your amps roughly down sightlines that hit the main melodic players (guitars, bass, keys) is better than nothing. How much you turn the amps away from the audience depends on whether the amps are miked, as well.

If you have no stage monitors, you might also want to elevate your amp and tilt it up slightly toward your head. For those who switch between different sound stylings with distortion, effects, or boost pedals, it's helpful to work through bits of each type of sound in quick succession, with an ear toward matching volume and EQ. You may want to avoid extremes and back off the distortion, the boost level, or the effects mix level just enough to keep really loud, pointy sounds from distracting the audience. (Unless, of course, it's your intention to do so; I'm not about to go on some tirade about what's acceptable. I love unacceptable sounds.)

For bass, and keyboard sounds with significant bass content, it's best to err on the side of caution and take out some of the very low frequency content using EQ. This helps avoid a muddy mix while retaining the general sound and clarity of pitch. Definition and body are the objective.

I'm hesitant to encourage the use of three- to two-prong ground lifts to discourage hum, as No Ground + Beer on Floor = Potential Zzzzzzzap. A direct-in (DI) box with a ground-lift switch gives you the option of running through the PA and provides extra insurance against excess buzz, without the safety issues of the three- to two-prong adapters.

The same thing goes for keys: Synth players can prepare a workaround (much like the previously mentioned vocal setup) by running all the keyboards and modules into a mini-mixer and sending the premixed signal at line level to the PA. This is helpful even if the keyboard player uses an amp, because it presents the option of turning the amp down and maneuvering it to become a stage monitor, while the main synth sound goes through the PA.

As for drums, your best precautions are to tune your drums before the show, and try to minimize the mics used, especially if you're experiencing feedback (ouch) or phase cancellation (which will be difficult to detect from the stage). If it's a tiny club, you don't need mics on the drums anyway.

In a perfect world, your band could work with the sound person for as long as it takes to set EQ and levels and get mic placement just right so there's maximum amplification without feedback or unwanted distortion. But in reality, you know it ain't gonna happen — at some clubs you're lucky to get a five-minute line check.

If you do have the opportunity to do a real soundcheck, step off the stage while playing so you can hear what you sound like from the audience's perspective. (Hint: it helps to have a long instrument cable for this.) If possible, enlist a friend to listen from different vantage points as well. You should also check for drum mic phase cancellation, which can cause low-end dropout and an unpleasant sound in general. Keep in mind this is only helpful in checking for obvious anomalies: the venue will sound different when it's full of bodies, so don't be too nitpicky.

Also, check to see if the club has a graphic EQ. According to veteran live sound engineer Dana Jae, "In any club, the difference between a pro PA system and a simple, thrown-together collection of PA gear is the presence of decent 31-band graphic EQs for the mains and each of the monitor mixes. Some places don't have the best quality speaker systems, and we know that the room acoustics of all clubs leave something to be desired, so the only way to compensate for these issues is to attenuate the bad resonant frequencies that muddy the sound. (This is especially the case in smaller clubs.) Also, I always start off with everything flat before I begin the night. Never leave the EQ the way it was from the night before!"

Last-Ditch Effort
So far we've covered things you can do to correct common problems with small club acoustics and sound systems. But sometimes all the preparatory checklists and quick-fix solutions in the world won't help. This is, after all, an article on what to do when the club sound sucks, and that includes those instances when things go terribly, unavoidably wrong in the middle of your set: The PA blows up, the stick goes through the snare head, the E and D strings on the bass both break. I believe that the most effective course of action in situations like these is to remain attentive, confident, and connected to your audience. Or brilliantly inattentive, lacking in confidence, and disconnected. And here's where we venture into the indescribable, unblueprintable world of charisma. For simplicity's sake, I'll just say that the best way to rise above these disasters is to rely on your irresistible, magnetic personality to carry you through.

Whatever you do, don't just stop and walk quietly off the stage. You've still got the chance to make lemonade, as it were, to turn catastrophic failure into something memorable. We are discussing "how to rock," after all. And as with charisma itself, it's impossible to simply define the nature of "entertainment," "performance," or "rocking out." Even if the sound system blows up and you're up there with nothing but your unadorned stage sound and your wits, it may still be possible to salvage the show by simply putting on a great performance. To borrow a phrase from stand-up comics (no strangers themselves to onstage disaster), you can either die or you can kill.

Posted July 2006

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