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[Rick Powell]

On the topic of mixing one's own sound (a side topic of the OT): Musicianship comes into play very much. I'm a professional audio person and a semi-pro musician. There are many things that make for a "good" musician. The basics are intonation, tonal quality & rhythmic sense but let's not forget the all important dynamics. A band with good internal dynamics will always self mix well. From the audio engineers perspective (both monitors and FOH), these are the easiest gigs in that, once you get the room tone & balance right, it's basically set & forget. The same is true if a band is self mixing.

It's always far better if the artists are actually LISTENING to each other and trying to blend. It think it's called "talent". OTOH I have mixed bands that had all of the other ingredients right but still had to be "ridden" all night long. As long as what they do is predictable, you can make it sound good BUT unless you're really familiar with their material, the chances for a mixing mistake go up.

Long story short. If musicians can't afford a sound person then they need to concentrate on their internal dynamics & tone (mic technique, patch normalization, etc.....).
Just my .02

This is so true. There are a handful of bands out there that you could "mix with a 2 x 4" - just push all the faders up equally and let the musicians do their magic. I did a remix of a live recording by a group who was captured on a 4-track reel to reel in the 70s, who later did a few records for MCA, and they were known as a great vocal group. All the vocals were recorded to one track, and I thought what an unbalanced mess it was going to be to try to make it sound coherent. Lo and behold, they were uncannily perfectly blended with each other and in tune without auto-tune, with the background vocals being just the right balance and blend underneath the lead vocal (which there were four lead vocalists and this was true no matter who was singing lead). There were slight imbalances in some of the instruments that had been grouped together on some tracks, but nothing blatant. That's the way to do it.

[Stu McDoniel]

This is so true. There are a handful of bands out there that you could "mix with a 2 x 4" - just push all the faders up equally and let the musicians do their magic. I did a remix of a live recording by a group who was captured on a 4-track reel to reel in the 70s, who later did a few records for MCA, and they were known as a great vocal group. All the vocals were recorded to one track, and I thought what an unbalanced mess it was going to be to try to make it sound coherent. Lo and behold, they were uncannily perfectly blended with each other and in tune without auto-tune, with the background vocals being just the right balance and blend underneath the lead vocal (which there were four lead vocalists and this was true no matter who was singing lead). There were slight imbalances in some of the instruments that had been grouped together on some tracks, but nothing blatant. That's the way to do it.

Singers knowing how to work a microphone properly for balance is a big plus. 

[Tim McCulloch]

This is so true. There are a handful of bands out there that you could "mix with a 2 x 4" - just push all the faders up equally and let the musicians do their magic. I did a remix of a live recording by a group who was captured on a 4-track reel to reel in the 70s, who later did a few records for MCA, and they were known as a great vocal group. All the vocals were recorded to one track, and I thought what an unbalanced mess it was going to be to try to make it sound coherent. Lo and behold, they were uncannily perfectly blended with each other and in tune without auto-tune, with the background vocals being just the right balance and blend underneath the lead vocal (which there were four lead vocalists and this was true no matter who was singing lead). There were slight imbalances in some of the instruments that had been grouped together on some tracks, but nothing blatant. That's the way to do it.

Back before multiple mics and after-session mixdowns that's how it was done - talent, skill, craftsmanship, rehearsal.  Those are things that separated folks who play instruments and/or sing from *musicians*.

[Jay Marr]

If the job actually paid what it's worth there would be fewer problems relating to competence...I think...

I very much agree.

It comes down to a matter of budget.
The lack of bar/club pay puts bands in a position that they cannot hire a high quality sound company (unless they want to sacrifice 50% of their pay check.
This has driven the bands to look at less expensive sound providers....and the quality they get from those providers then leads them to do their own sound.

Like I said early on, if I have a really important show, I hire my buddy Jim Roese (if he's not out on tour) and the band would sound the best we've ever sounded.
But there is no way I can afford him on a weekly basis.

[Steve Oldridge]

I very much agree.

It comes down to a matter of budget.
The lack of bar/club pay puts bands in a position that they cannot hire a high quality sound company (unless they want to sacrifice 50% of their pay check.
This has driven the bands to look at less expensive sound providers....and the quality they get from those providers then leads them to do their own sound.

Like I said early on, if I have a really important show, I hire my buddy Jim Roese (if he's not out on tour) and the band would sound the best we've ever sounded.
But there is no way I can afford him on a weekly basis.

Yikes.. in my neck of the woods, that would be closer to 80-100% of what they make.. It's the main reason I quit doing it..  No-one wants to pay for FOH any more. Many venues have bought their own due to cost reductions and either run FOH for you, or take a stereo feed into the house system. Seldom do we mix from stateg.  My current band doesn't even own a PA, because everywhere we play, the house has one..

[Brian_Henry]

Yikes.. in my neck of the woods, that would be closer to 80-100% of what they make.. It's the main reason I quit doing it..  No-one wants to pay for FOH any more. Many venues have bought their own due to cost reductions and either run FOH for you, or take a stereo feed into the house system. Seldom do we mix from stateg.  My current band doesn't even own a PA, because everywhere we play, the house has one..

I'd say more than 100% for a quality sound guy (if that person is also supplying gear). The better bar bands around here can get 5-600 on average and I can tell you I won't deploy my system AND mix for that. Makes me happy I'm not in the reinforcement business, although the studio recording business isn't a picnic either.


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[Scott Bolt]

Thanks Scott - I'm really not trying to blow my own trumpet here - I hope I haven't given that impression. I just wanted to point out my full commitment to 'getting it right every time'. I just hope I get close.

I am sure you are a very competent sound engineer

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