@@DaveRat do you have any interest in doing a lifestyle interview? Think of it as a talk you leave for your family & friends for generations to come. I’m not famous, my channel isn’t famous, but I feel like the episodes let folks know what it was like to know me and share oxygen with me for a few hours. That’s how my few guests have treated it.
#7 (reverb) - big thumbs up. #10 (FOH location) - is it all about the ego? I have always wondered why the guy in the mixing booth needs to be in a "king's throne". I can understand the possible need to be isolated from some of the clowns in the crowd but they are in the optimum listening position and they are blanking out many of the best seats in the house. Thanks for your efforts Dave, I will be saving this episode for sure.
When I'm mixing a band that is gonna be louder than people expect in traditionally quieter venues, I slowly raise the house music to a somewhat uncomfortable level to train their ears.
@@soundped I started getting a whole lot less loudness complaints from patrons when I started doing that. Though I'm not sure if it's just because they left before the band started lol
YES. i’ll be the first to admit i mostly did the opposite when i first started out. almost like showing off how proud i am of the PA tuning with the preshow tunes lol. i had one experience where the band sounded far worse than the preshow and it made me realize my error. now i high pass and carefully sculpt that preshow sound to tee up the band perfectly, but the REVERB trick is genius!! everything is contextual. i love it.
On fiddling, he is correct. Always listen. If i'm fiddling, it is switching the PFL to constantly check the quality of individual mics as sometimes something goes south and not easily noticed right away. Had a lower tom stand getting kicked, and managed to mute it before it started buzzing against a mic. Sometimes a rented stage does not provide a drum kit carpet. Be a hero and pack one. By noticing the change in sound as it moved, I could see the reason it was moving. Love the reverb. I'll try that. The reverse of compression in reverberate rooms, do the reverse for open outdoors. Remove most of the compression for a clean dynamic performance. You don't want an outdoor performance to sound like a radio station with compressed sound. Utilize the dynamics especially for acoustic acts. A classic Spanish guitar on a live stage uncompressed is live and dynamic. Use compressor for unintended excessive peaks only.
I often roll off some bass and trebble to the house music to make the live act sound more full when they go on, and now I'm eager to try putting some reverb on it too!! Thanks for this tip! I also like the "imagine there's a camera"-tip.
Hi! I have been mixing in churches for 30+ years. Glad to hear from you I’m doing some things right! Eg. Hand signals, let your ears be your guide, fiddling, pre-show audience ear warm up..
I’m an old school analog guy. # 4 is pure genius! I wish I knew that back in the day and also wish I had enough channels. Kind of got used to changing my ACP88 up,and down.
Yes, I got frustrated changing the thresholds and bypassing and one day I was like, wait a minute, I can solve this and it worked great until I filled up the console a few tours later and had to stop. With modern digital, it would be very helpful.
Dude, you are so brilliant. I LOVE all your advice, especially the house music reverb trick! LOL!!! And I can tell there's so much knowledge you've accumulated over the years of doing your thing. Big thanks for taking your time to make these videos.
Lovely tip about reverbing the house music....on a similar tip I often pick music that has a reduced bandwidth(often music from the middle of last century actually) or high pass filter it so when your band come on it sounds like they are larger than life in full dynamic and frequency range ..same for outro when people’s ears need to decompress creating a sense of aural relaxation. Great work on the vids fella
Great reference to top fuel engines haha. I have never plugged my ears at a concert. First experience with a top fuel dragster had my hands on my ears while they had foam plugs and cups on lol.
Dave you ROCK! I hit 45 years mixing live soon and I have a similar story for how I got started. Everything you say in this video I agree with and makes total sense to me.
Wow. These are ace tips. I do worry about gig volume. Over the last 20 years for all the brilliant advances which aid really good mixes, things have got steadily louder. The last rock gig I went to in Hammersmith Apollo the sound was so loud that I left my seat after 2 songs and listened to the show in the bar. It was frightening! But oh my these tips here are superb. Thanks Dave.
Thinking about #6, when I'm in a crappy room the first thing I do is pull down my effects VCA if it cleans up the mix then I leave it down except for the songs where I know I'm going to really need that wet sound, I see no harm leaving the effects reduced when they're not needed, seems like some people add them when they're not needed, kind of like making changes when they're not needed. I only make a change when I hear something that is wrong and needs to be corrected. Love you series Dave... things that make you think.... truly a business where you can never stop learning or exploring...
that reverb on the house music trick is the best thing ive heard in years... i imagine you can study this stuff in your studio as much as you want. that's something that you only learn on the job :D
Just found your channel, Dave. Wow. I'm a 59 year old that "retired" from FOH Pro Sound in the 90s. I absolutely loved the work but at that time the "party" got the best of me and I had to get out. Your philosophy about connecting the artist with the crowd was paramount for me and of course, back then things were mostly analog so there weren't as many rabbit holes of tech to fall into. Watching this video (and a lot of your other ones) really took me back and made me miss it. Favorite moment? When the house lights would go down and that nervous anticipation would really kick in. There was no UA-cam back then and you might get a little mentoring here and there but a large part was just learning, learning and more learning on your own. Thanks for taking me back to what I loved about Sound Reinforcement.
The reverb on the house music is an interesting idea. I do something similar, especially on smaller rigs with no gas. I roll off the lows and highs, and add a touch of 2khz-4khz in there. This makes the background music sound kind of weak, no punch, etc. It's just there and it sounds 'OK'. It's easy to make that music sound great because of how it's produced. Then when my main act hits the stage, the subs come to life, there's sizzle in the highs and the system sounds more "in your face". And my pre-show music didn't steal the show away inadvertently.
Dave, I’ve been working professionally in the audio world for almost 10 years now. I started as a studio rat, and lucked my way into live sound for extra money. Your videos have been more informative, and entertaining than all of the Sound on Sound and Tape Ops I’ve read this past decade combined. Thanks for sharing your thoughts, tips, and keeping me sharp and passionate! Much love brotha!
Some great observations there Dave. Much respect to you. Drums grouped onto 2 separate VCA's one sound ungated... what a great trick! The "Ego Platform" ...exactly. I guess mainly to keep punters away form the gear, but not so advantageous for sound at the crowd level. I had once gigged with the actual board on the ground (like a picnic) and I just used a low beach chair. The event was in a venue where everyone just had pillows, beanbags, towels, rugs and small foam mattresses. So I just thought, thats where I'll mix from... and it was great! It has always been said that "a great band knows how to connect with the audience" true enough, as it was told to me from way back that the board is just like an "instrument" too. Play it well and the crowd may be clapping and cheering the band, but the band will book YOU again! True! ;)
@@DaveRat Dude, You look fabulous. Plus you really present this stuff so naturally and easy as if you can do it in your sleep..... Maybe you did run a few systems in your sleep over the years.. 😅 Anyway, Very nice seeing you Rockin and Stompin. The Nasty reverb room reminded me of the Maui High school gym we went to shortly after our tour ended. You might have heard about it.. 😅 😅 It was horrible stuff. Ok. Keep Staying healthy and spreading the excellent easy to understand sensible education here. 🤗🙏
Dave, I have long said...well for the last 20 years or so...get it in the pocket and leave it in the pocket. In regards to rule 5. I want to get the mix sounding the way it should in the venue we are in and then only adjust for song changes and solos. I never did/do understand those who have to be changing something the entire time or as I like to refer to them as fiddlers. They can't keep their hands off the knobs. My first rule of any show is that if the audience has a great time and they don't know that I am there then I have done my job as a FoH engineer. Rule 2 for me is: It's not about the equipment it is about the band and I am here just to amplify and channel what they are doing for the audiences sake. This year I have been traveling with a band that had a few hits in the 70's and 80's and we have been fortunate enough to open several times for REO, STYX, BOC and a few others. At 60 it is a real pleasure to work in-front of bands like those. We generally have between 7,000 - 11,000 per show and it is a blast. Can't imagine how it feels for you and your crowds. Safe Travels and keep you the Yeoman's work!!
I love your comments about reverb on house music. psychoacoustics are very powerful. Like when someone asks for something and you don’t really want to give it to them and you reach for a knob and pretend to turn it and they thank you. The reverb on House music is brilliant.
Thank you so much. As a gigging musician and we are often responsible for our own sound, your advice is invaluable. Especially about the high reverb rooms. I play a lot of small venues with really bad acoustics. Your advice will help greatly. Thank you.
10:55 Dave is spouting truth as pure as gold but when he mentioned the Top Fuel drag race he just went to next level real. You don't hear the cars go by. You feel them punch across your chest. This dude is a pure audiophile who has the power we all wish we had!
Brilliant, simple stuff like the hand signals are perfect if shit goes wrong. The splitter on the main vocal is awesome. and yes get down with the punters, at minimum take a stroll around if you can. You know your stuff man, thanks.
Working as a Soundengineer and sometimes Systemtec for the big french "L" Speaker Systems for 10 years now and sharing your Knowledge is really lifesaving for us! Looking foreward for more of these Videos! Cheers from germany 👋
Tip 1: I've always thought Y-cables on outputs are kosher, but y-cables on inputs are no bueno. That's why they make those little 2-channel to mono summing boxes, because you need to sneak a resistor in there for correct impedance matching. I know it works, but does it narrow the frequency range of your lead vox in the monitors? Also, I know dynamic mics are the norm for this situation, but might splitting the phantom power to multiple condenser mics cause issues? On another topic, thanks for getting me on the "everything" over Cat5e bandwagon. I'm running cable everywhere. You're the man!
Dave Rat Thanks, Dave. I know I over complicated this issue. We are just talking about a switched dynamic mic used on monitors during emergency situations.
I've been running my own live sound service, 'Avenue 44 Audio' for about 7 years now. I have my dad work for/with me and we've built up quite a good reputation and have some very loyal bands that we work with regularly. A lot of that success in the last couple of years is thanks to your videos Dave! You're a friggin legend, man! Although I could have done to watch this three days ago. We just did a show in a 700 capacity hall where everything was made from good, old fashioned hard wood, with a balcony and seriously high ceiling. Quite an interesting challenge!
Dave, always love your videos. I love tip #4. Digico consoles make this really easy since you can create macros that enable/disable drum gates with a single macro without having to double patch channels.
Great stuff. I'm the type of guy who likes to mix on the ground/floor. Also, once soundcheck is complete, I make very few changes to the mix. Ride faders for the random things that need to be punched up or such, the vocal developed some nasty scratch or whatever. But on the whole, minimal changes to the mix. As you said, be able to articulate why you made the change.
Hand signals forever! with my boss in the 90s we had a ton of them because.... no extra channels for talkback! Also the no fidgeting, I get asked why I don't move stuff all the time, if it sounds inteligible (I do mostly AV now), I leave it. The sneaky rev on the music is so good!! \m/
Thank you and to you as well. Personally and family is good. Not the best time to own a sound rental company though. But hey, without challenge life would be boring.
This series is a great idea. Thank you for your knowledge. You are really good at this! On the subject of volume: I’m not a hater of loud, aaaaaand yes I’ve been to a drag race! Painfully loud... and I was 10, so my ears were new... such a drag I instantly learned how they named em! Yet... so many times I’ve been to shows that were a waste of my money and time, because the sound guy took it up so high, everything became lost. Lost was tone, definition and ruthenium.... uuuuum, I mean rhythm! Ha ha!!! Auto spell came up with one I liked, so I left it for you. Lol I really do think some people just turn it up, thinking that’s how you do it. In the short time I’ve been watching you, I think you would not fall in to this volume is the answer category. Even though you made certain comparisons of other ear killing events. Tone and clarity, combined with enough volume to remind you of where you are, is my cup of tea. Thanks again, man!
Dave Rat See... I knew you knew that. I know the Artists, with in ear monitors and all the goodies, sometimes had no idea how bad the room sounded. Man... speaking of bouncy... I saw Coheed and Cambria in a brick building in Sac, Ca... and I’m pretty sure there was not a good spot in the house. They could have used every trick in your bag that night! Sheesh!! Thanks for the kind responses, man. I appreciate you. Chuk
Thankx for sharing your knowledge and experience ! Really helpful tips here from years of professional experience. I like the way you bring it across !! .......
The house music tip is awesome and you could pretty much use that effect in any venue-make the house music sound like shit so the mix sounds even tighter
I'm going to start doing that. We play at this one place a lot and it's an absolute nightmare when it comes to reflective surfaces and everything is just loud and muddy in there, namely drums. I have a parametric EQ on my house music input where I have a low shelf and drop the bass frequencies from 300hz and lower by -12dB. That way it sounds thin and then when the first song from the band comes on and that kick drum hits, it's just like BAM, and you're off and running with an impact, even if you're in a room where you can't have a big sub sound whirling around and making things muddy. It's all relative, so use that to your advantage! Also if you're in a boomy room don't be afraid to drop the Effects fader way down on the vocals, even if you don't normally do that, or get rid of the reverb effect and use only delay instead. It might not be this super crystalline shimmery heavenly vocal sound, but you'll be able to hear it.
thank you for sharing dave. we are in an industry where too many engineers, due to their egos or competitiveness, fail to be as generous with sharing knowledge from their experiences. cheers!
Dave hands over so much knowledge from experience, you can immediately apply it without all the theoretical, singled out topics you get from all the "mix schooling how-to video guides" that are all over UA-cam but help you sh*t when you're actually doing live mixing. Thanks a bunch, Dave.
Honestly, the best sounding band I've ever heard in a small venue was a country band (I despise country) and the guy who was mixing them was on his phone all the time and barely even paid attention to the band lol. Maybe there's something to that.
Great tips Dave. Very cool to see one of the best in the industry sharing real world practical advice. So many engineers are often very arrogant, but You are so down to earth. Again, thank you for taking the time to create these videos that will hopefully help us all be better at this craft.
Great vid! I don't like mixing on a riser because the bass gets underneath it and transmits up through your feet, making it seem like there's more low end. Step off the riser and your awesome kick drum thump vanishes!
DAVE loving your wisdom. Love the playback adding reverb trick before the live act. Brilliant. One trick i do with reverb is, as the music gets faster (and to a lesser degree louder) i reduce the amount of reverb from the master return so all channels become drier, with more clarity with the busier transient peaks, and if the song returns to being slower and quieter i start nudging the return back up for that spacial sound. Another thing i like doing, is nudging the FOH master up as a song is progressing, then i bring it back at the end of that song and slowly do it again during the next song. I find it not only adds to the dynamics of a live show, it gives the audiences ears a breather. So starting again from a quieter point, the audiences ears are ready for another go. This technique i have noticed encourages the band to "fly" with their music as the song progresses. Being a drummer too, i get a buzz watching the audience go just a little more crazy (or a lot) when a tad more juice is added. I will stop this technique the day a musician on stage tells me not too, but thats never happened so far.
![Lp. Сердце Вселенной #60 РОЖДЕНИЕ ЛОЛОЛОШКИ [Финал] • Майнкрафт](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/YoR0pAV9FVQ/mqdefault.jpg)
"... you connect the artist to the audience, you don´t have to be seen..." What a phrase!! I love it!
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The reverb on the house music tip is just pure gold.
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Dave, the value you’ve brought to the world through this sharing of knowledge………. It’s impossible to quantify. But it’s real.
Thank you Darius!!
@@DaveRat do you have any interest in doing a lifestyle interview? Think of it as a talk you leave for your family & friends for generations to come. I’m not famous, my channel isn’t famous, but I feel like the episodes let folks know what it was like to know me and share oxygen with me for a few hours. That’s how my few guests have treated it.
Cool cool Darius supposed to link so I can take a look and consider
Sweet! ua-cam.com/channels/4OOts1rfXiZRx_AAksoTPg.html
I really dig your videos brother. Thanks for sharing so much hard earned knowledge.
Awesome and thank you
Gated and non-gated sets! Genius! 😎🎵👌
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#7 (reverb) - big thumbs up. #10 (FOH location) - is it all about the ego? I have always wondered why the guy in the mixing booth needs to be in a "king's throne". I can understand the possible need to be isolated from some of the clowns in the crowd but they are in the optimum listening position and they are blanking out many of the best seats in the house.
Thanks for your efforts Dave, I will be saving this episode for sure.
So agreed!
I wish I had thought of the "reverb on house music"-thing before! Have definitely had my struggles in reverberant venues. Thanks!
or high pass the house music. Band sounds fuller by comparison
When I'm mixing a band that is gonna be louder than people expect in traditionally quieter venues, I slowly raise the house music to a somewhat uncomfortable level to train their ears.
@@soundped I started getting a whole lot less loudness complaints from patrons when I started doing that. Though I'm not sure if it's just because they left before the band started lol
YES. i’ll be the first to admit i mostly did the opposite when i first started out. almost like showing off how proud i am of the PA tuning with the preshow tunes lol. i had one experience where the band sounded far worse than the preshow and it made me realize my error. now i high pass and carefully sculpt that preshow sound to tee up the band perfectly, but the REVERB trick is genius!! everything is contextual. i love it.
cant wait to use this in like a year and a half
On fiddling, he is correct. Always listen. If i'm fiddling, it is switching the PFL to constantly check the quality of individual mics as sometimes something goes south and not easily noticed right away. Had a lower tom stand getting kicked, and managed to mute it before it started buzzing against a mic. Sometimes a rented stage does not provide a drum kit carpet. Be a hero and pack one. By noticing the change in sound as it moved, I could see the reason it was moving. Love the reverb. I'll try that. The reverse of compression in reverberate rooms, do the reverse for open outdoors. Remove most of the compression for a clean dynamic performance. You don't want an outdoor performance to sound like a radio station with compressed sound. Utilize the dynamics especially for acoustic acts. A classic Spanish guitar on a live stage uncompressed is live and dynamic. Use compressor for unintended excessive peaks only.
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I laughed loud on tip number 6, reverb on house music, I'll remember that one, you're a wise soundguy !
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I often roll off some bass and trebble to the house music to make the live act sound more full when they go on, and now I'm eager to try putting some reverb on it too!! Thanks for this tip! I also like the "imagine there's a camera"-tip.
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Thanks for the massive amount of knowledge and experience you're sharing with us for free, Dave!
Amazing insight!!!....
Shhhhhhhh! ! ! !
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Holy hell. Jam-packed indeed. Very helpful video!
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Hi! I have been mixing in churches for 30+ years. Glad to hear from you I’m doing some things right! Eg. Hand signals, let your ears be your guide, fiddling, pre-show audience ear warm up..
Cool cool Doug!
I’m an old school analog guy. # 4 is pure genius! I wish I knew that back in the day and also wish I had enough channels. Kind of got used to changing my ACP88 up,and down.
Yes, I got frustrated changing the thresholds and bypassing and one day I was like, wait a minute, I can solve this and it worked great until I filled up the console a few tours later and had to stop. With modern digital, it would be very helpful.
Great tips from a legend! Loved the house music reverb tip! Mind blown. Thanks Dave!
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Thanks Dave, listening to you talk about mixing makes me feel better about not mixing. Much obliged.
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Dude, you are so brilliant. I LOVE all your advice, especially the house music reverb trick! LOL!!! And I can tell there's so much knowledge you've accumulated over the years of doing your thing. Big thanks for taking your time to make these videos.
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Same haha I work primarily in a venue with terrible acoustics, so this tip was awesome 😂
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Lots of great tips. Thanks for sharing Dave.
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I very much appreciate you giving us the benefit of your experience. Little things can make a big difference.
Thank you!
Really profound tips, can't believe I got this for free thank you
Greetings from Zimbabwe
Thank you!!
Lovely tip about reverbing the house music....on a similar tip I often pick music that has a reduced bandwidth(often music from the middle of last century actually) or high pass filter it so when your band come on it sounds like they are larger than life in full dynamic and frequency range ..same for outro when people’s ears need to decompress creating a sense of aural relaxation. Great work on the vids fella
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The tips here are GOLD! Thanks Dave.
Great reference to top fuel engines haha. I have never plugged my ears at a concert. First experience with a top fuel dragster had my hands on my ears while they had foam plugs and cups on lol.
Exactly!
"Every motion you make should have a reason behind it." ~Dave Rat -> Golden.
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Dave you ROCK! I hit 45 years mixing live soon and I have a similar story for how I got started. Everything you say in this video I agree with and makes total sense to me.
So co and thank you
@@DaveRat I would love to sit and chat with you some day!
Awesome. I used to travel around doing seminars. Pondering doing that again at some point
Great advice! That last one is the best!
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Dave, you are a BAD man! Thanks for sharing your wisdom.
Awesome
Wow. These are ace tips. I do worry about gig volume. Over the last 20 years for all the brilliant advances which aid really good mixes, things have got steadily louder. The last rock gig I went to in Hammersmith Apollo the sound was so loud that I left my seat after 2 songs and listened to the show in the bar. It was frightening! But oh my these tips here are superb. Thanks Dave.
Yeah, earplugs are a good idea to bring and I have no issue rocking them if the sound hurts
@@DaveRat Thanks Dave. I'm loving your site and blog. Great tips and proper advice here. All good wishes!
Thinking about #6, when I'm in a crappy room the first thing I do is pull down my effects VCA if it cleans up the mix then I leave it down except for the songs where I know I'm going to really need that wet sound, I see no harm leaving the effects reduced when they're not needed, seems like some people add them when they're not needed, kind of like making changes when they're not needed. I only make a change when I hear something that is wrong and needs to be corrected.
Love you series Dave... things that make you think.... truly a business where you can never stop learning or exploring...
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Amazing tips Dave! Please more
Yes!!
that reverb on the house music trick is the best thing ive heard in years... i imagine you can study this stuff in your studio as much as you want. that's something that you only learn on the job :D
Fun stuff to address real world challenges
Just found your channel, Dave. Wow. I'm a 59 year old that "retired" from FOH Pro Sound in the 90s. I absolutely loved the work but at that time the "party" got the best of me and I had to get out. Your philosophy about connecting the artist with the crowd was paramount for me and of course, back then things were mostly analog so there weren't as many rabbit holes of tech to fall into. Watching this video (and a lot of your other ones) really took me back and made me miss it. Favorite moment? When the house lights would go down and that nervous anticipation would really kick in. There was no UA-cam back then and you might get a little mentoring here and there but a large part was just learning, learning and more learning on your own. Thanks for taking me back to what I loved about Sound Reinforcement.
Thank you e w!
0:30 - tip 1
1:40 - tip 2
3:15 - tip 3
4:30 - tip 4
5:47 - tip 5
7:19 - tip 6
9:12 - tip 7
10:20 - tip 8
10:54 - tip 9
11:29 - tip 10
Thank you!
The reverb on the house music is an interesting idea. I do something similar, especially on smaller rigs with no gas. I roll off the lows and highs, and add a touch of 2khz-4khz in there. This makes the background music sound kind of weak, no punch, etc. It's just there and it sounds 'OK'. It's easy to make that music sound great because of how it's produced. Then when my main act hits the stage, the subs come to life, there's sizzle in the highs and the system sounds more "in your face". And my pre-show music didn't steal the show away inadvertently.
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Thank you very much, Dave. Liking that you are posting videos on the regular now - subscribed!
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Dave, I’ve been working professionally in the audio world for almost 10 years now. I started as a studio rat, and lucked my way into live sound for extra money. Your videos have been more informative, and entertaining than all of the Sound on Sound and Tape Ops I’ve read this past decade combined. Thanks for sharing your thoughts, tips, and keeping me sharp and passionate! Much love brotha!
So cool and thank you Carter!
#5!!!!!! Amen my friend, I can't tell you how many times i've seen an engineer playing non stop with the console.
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Some great observations there Dave. Much respect to you. Drums grouped onto 2 separate VCA's one sound ungated... what a great trick! The "Ego Platform" ...exactly. I guess mainly to keep punters away form the gear, but not so advantageous for sound at the crowd level. I had once gigged with the actual board on the ground (like a picnic) and I just used a low beach chair. The event was in a venue where everyone just had pillows, beanbags, towels, rugs and small foam mattresses. So I just thought, thats where I'll mix from... and it was great! It has always been said that "a great band knows how to connect with the audience" true enough, as it was told to me from way back that the board is just like an "instrument" too. Play it well and the crowd may be clapping and cheering the band, but the band will book YOU again! True! ;)
👏👏👏 my trick when playing in hight reverberate venues was not go for the loudest.. set the band as close as possible to each other 😂
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Those tips for reverberant spaces are gold. Thanks, Dave.
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The highly reverberant room with reverb on the playback before show start is a trick I am so happy to have in my bag now. Very creative thank you!
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1:31 Do that a few times and that talkback mike will find its way to be on when you need it hopefully.
Now that's class!
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Thanks Dave, always full of comon sense ,real world advice.
Awesome and thank you!
YEA DAVE!!!!!!!! AWESOME DUDE!! Very cool stuff. Great to see you. Lookin good 🎚️🎺🎙️🎧🎤
Hey hey flano!
@@DaveRat Dude, You look fabulous. Plus you really present this stuff so naturally and easy as if you can do it in your sleep..... Maybe you did run a few systems in your sleep over the years.. 😅 Anyway, Very nice seeing you Rockin and Stompin. The Nasty reverb room reminded me of the Maui High school gym we went to shortly after our tour ended. You might have heard about it.. 😅 😅 It was horrible stuff. Ok. Keep Staying healthy and spreading the excellent easy to understand sensible education here. 🤗🙏
Dave, I have long said...well for the last 20 years or so...get it in the pocket and leave it in the pocket. In regards to rule 5. I want to get the mix sounding the way it should in the venue we are in and then only adjust for song changes and solos. I never did/do understand those who have to be changing something the entire time or as I like to refer to them as fiddlers. They can't keep their hands off the knobs.
My first rule of any show is that if the audience has a great time and they don't know that I am there then I have done my job as a FoH engineer. Rule 2 for me is: It's not about the equipment it is about the band and I am here just to amplify and channel what they are doing for the audiences sake.
This year I have been traveling with a band that had a few hits in the 70's and 80's and we have been fortunate enough to open several times for REO, STYX, BOC and a few others. At 60 it is a real pleasure to work in-front of bands like those. We generally have between 7,000 - 11,000 per show and it is a blast. Can't imagine how it feels for you and your crowds. Safe Travels and keep you the Yeoman's work!!
Good stuff and thank you Bill!
I fiddle more than a country band. Thanks for the sage advice, that's something I can pay attention to straightaway. Love your content, Dave.
Perfect and when things start up, let me know how it goes!
Tip1: "Do this a few times and you'll see the TB find it's way to be on again" : Legendary!
Life is a game of chess.
Almost spat my tea out when he said that
Brilliant! I get so furious when my TB mic gets shut off.
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like a fcking boss! (we’re not worthy) 😂
Wow! Thank you for sharing your wealth of knowledge and insight. It’s extremely helpful!!
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Using the support act for contrast! 🙂
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Perfect explanation of mix position! Put your ears where the audience is!
Awesome!
Thanks man!! You’re a game changer for the industry!
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we need to come up with more hand gestures to describe various cowbells :)
Hell yes!
I love your comments about reverb on house music. psychoacoustics are very powerful. Like when someone asks for something and you don’t really want to give it to them and you reach for a knob and pretend to turn it and
they thank you. The reverb on House music is brilliant.
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Thank you so much. As a gigging musician and we are often responsible for our own sound, your advice is invaluable. Especially about the high reverb rooms. I play a lot of small venues with really bad acoustics. Your advice will help greatly. Thank you.
10:55 Dave is spouting truth as pure as gold but when he mentioned the Top Fuel drag race he just went to next level real. You don't hear the cars go by. You feel them punch across your chest. This dude is a pure audiophile who has the power we all wish we had!
Brilliant, simple stuff like the hand signals are perfect if shit goes wrong. The splitter on the main vocal is awesome. and yes get down with the punters, at minimum take a stroll around if you can. You know your stuff man, thanks.
Cool cool Peter!
Definitely need more of these. Thank you.
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I'm honestly shocked that you only have 29K subscribers. Keep putting out content like this and watch this channel explode! Love your stuff, Dave!
Thank you Ryan!
Working as a Soundengineer and sometimes Systemtec for the big french "L" Speaker Systems for 10 years now and sharing your Knowledge is really lifesaving for us! Looking foreward for more of these Videos! Cheers from germany 👋
Awesome and thank you!!
Thanks Dave for your effort!
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Tip 1: I've always thought Y-cables on outputs are kosher, but y-cables on inputs are no bueno. That's why they make those little 2-channel to mono summing boxes, because you need to sneak a resistor in there for correct impedance matching. I know it works, but does it narrow the frequency range of your lead vox in the monitors? Also, I know dynamic mics are the norm for this situation, but might splitting the phantom power to multiple condenser mics cause issues? On another topic, thanks for getting me on the "everything" over Cat5e bandwagon. I'm running cable everywhere. You're the man!
Y'ing two mics is not an issue and can be done in a pinch.
Dave Rat Thanks, Dave. I know I over complicated this issue. We are just talking about a switched dynamic mic used on monitors during emergency situations.
Awesome Dave! Thanks a lot, very helpful tips
Thank you Victor
I’ve been mixing live and studio for close to 30yrs and still learning. Great advice in this video! Thank you!
Thank you Wade!
Thanks dave! Love your advice.
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Great stuff man! Rubber meets the road type info!
Thanks for helping us make the world sound better Dave!!
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I am not a sound engineer, I watch Dave’s videos just to check out the different small speakers Dave builds, plus he’s just a cool guy 😎
Awesome!
Great stuff in there Dave. Hope to see you soon again
Cool cool Jeff!
Once again... "Pure Gold, Jerry!"
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Love your content Dave
I'm not the sound guy, but i do want our band to sound our best. Your tips are great.
Awesome and thank you!
I've been running my own live sound service, 'Avenue 44 Audio' for about 7 years now. I have my dad work for/with me and we've built up quite a good reputation and have some very loyal bands that we work with regularly. A lot of that success in the last couple of years is thanks to your videos Dave! You're a friggin legend, man! Although I could have done to watch this three days ago. We just did a show in a 700 capacity hall where everything was made from good, old fashioned hard wood, with a balcony and seriously high ceiling. Quite an interesting challenge!
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Dave, always love your videos. I love tip #4. Digico consoles make this really easy since you can create macros that enable/disable drum gates with a single macro without having to double patch channels.
But can you slide between gated and ungated such that you are partially gated at any amount from full to none?
Great stuff. Thanks Dave!
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Great stuff. I'm the type of guy who likes to mix on the ground/floor. Also, once soundcheck is complete, I make very few changes to the mix. Ride faders for the random things that need to be punched up or such, the vocal developed some nasty scratch or whatever. But on the whole, minimal changes to the mix. As you said, be able to articulate why you made the change.
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Hand signals forever! with my boss in the 90s we had a ton of them because.... no extra channels for talkback! Also the no fidgeting, I get asked why I don't move stuff all the time, if it sounds inteligible (I do mostly AV now), I leave it. The sneaky rev on the music is so good!! \m/
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Best channel... I can't thank you enough for sharing all this wisdom!
Thank you michael!
Thank you for making these, Dave. Good vibes to ya
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Thanks Dave, really great Advise as always keep on
Awesome and thank you!
Man, I wish You Tube and Dave Rat were around when I was tech’ing in the 80’s and 90’s. Very generous of you DR to share your IP.
Thank you James!
Despite the current situation I hope everything is good for you and your family mister Rat....Amazing tips.....Thanks for sharing.
Thank you and to you as well. Personally and family is good. Not the best time to own a sound rental company though. But hey, without challenge life would be boring.
The compression on peak transients legit blew my mind. Thank you Dave
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Gigs are sounding better around the world thanks to your work,,,, certainly the ones where I'm at the desk. Thanks Dave.
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This series is a great idea. Thank you for your knowledge. You are really good at this!
On the subject of volume: I’m not a hater of loud, aaaaaand yes I’ve been to a drag race! Painfully loud... and I was 10, so my ears were new... such a drag I instantly learned how they named em! Yet... so many times I’ve been to shows that were a waste of my money and time, because the sound guy took it up so high, everything became lost. Lost was tone, definition and ruthenium.... uuuuum, I mean rhythm! Ha ha!!! Auto spell came up with one I liked, so I left it for you. Lol I really do think some people just turn it up, thinking that’s how you do it. In the short time I’ve been watching you, I think you would not fall in to this volume is the answer category. Even though you made certain comparisons of other ear killing events.
Tone and clarity, combined with enough volume to remind you of where you are, is my cup of tea.
Thanks again, man!
Very cool and volume levels should be tailored to the artist, audience and desired experience to present
Dave Rat See... I knew you knew that. I know the Artists, with in ear monitors and all the goodies, sometimes had no idea how bad the room sounded. Man... speaking of bouncy... I saw Coheed and Cambria in a brick building in Sac, Ca... and I’m pretty sure there was not a good spot in the house. They could have used every trick in your bag that night! Sheesh!!
Thanks for the kind responses, man. I appreciate you.
Chuk
Dave, I always enjoy all your videos and find your ideas and suggestions to be very helpful
Awesome and thank you!
Thankx for sharing your knowledge and experience ! Really helpful tips here from years of professional experience. I like the way you bring it across !! .......
Thank you Herbert!!
The house music tip is awesome and you could pretty much use that effect in any venue-make the house music sound like shit so the mix sounds even tighter
I'm going to start doing that. We play at this one place a lot and it's an absolute nightmare when it comes to reflective surfaces and everything is just loud and muddy in there, namely drums. I have a parametric EQ on my house music input where I have a low shelf and drop the bass frequencies from 300hz and lower by -12dB. That way it sounds thin and then when the first song from the band comes on and that kick drum hits, it's just like BAM, and you're off and running with an impact, even if you're in a room where you can't have a big sub sound whirling around and making things muddy. It's all relative, so use that to your advantage! Also if you're in a boomy room don't be afraid to drop the Effects fader way down on the vocals, even if you don't normally do that, or get rid of the reverb effect and use only delay instead. It might not be this super crystalline shimmery heavenly vocal sound, but you'll be able to hear it.
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Thanks Dave and keep em coming!!
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thank you for sharing dave. we are in an industry where too many engineers, due to their egos or competitiveness, fail to be as generous with sharing knowledge from their experiences. cheers!
Awesome thank you
Dave hands over so much knowledge from experience, you can immediately apply it without all the theoretical, singled out topics you get from all the "mix schooling how-to video guides" that are all over UA-cam but help you sh*t when you're actually doing live mixing. Thanks a bunch, Dave.
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I may be mis quoting, but listen, think, and adjust. That’s gold right there. I find myself fidgeting too much. I have to tell myself to chill a ton 😂
Honestly, the best sounding band I've ever heard in a small venue was a country band (I despise country) and the guy who was mixing them was on his phone all the time and barely even paid attention to the band lol. Maybe there's something to that.
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Great tips and tricks
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Always a joy to get some tips from you. Thanks Dave!
Thank you Mitchell!
Great tips Dave. Very cool to see one of the best in the industry sharing real world practical advice. So many engineers are often very arrogant, but You are so down to earth. Again, thank you for taking the time to create these videos that will hopefully help us all be better at this craft.
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Best video ever...Thanks for sharing I am a old sound engineer from the 70's
Awesome! Thank you!
Thank you Dave. Great information as usual. I love the reverb on the house music idea.
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Great vid! I don't like mixing on a riser because the bass gets underneath it and transmits up through your feet, making it seem like there's more low end. Step off the riser and your awesome kick drum thump vanishes!
Agreed
Great ideas and advice!
Thank you!
Super cool dave!!! Thanks heaps from new zealand
Thank you Lerryn!
Love it! Common sense derived from real experience! Thanks Boss!
Thank you Pete!
#10 totally agree. I like to use a tablet and go wireless. Walk around so I can hear what they are. Not always doable but like to when I can.
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DAVE loving your wisdom.
Love the playback adding reverb trick before the live act. Brilliant.
One trick i do with reverb is, as the music gets faster (and to a lesser degree louder) i reduce the amount of reverb from the master return so all channels become drier, with more clarity with the busier transient peaks, and if the song returns to being slower and quieter i start nudging the return back up for that spacial sound.
Another thing i like doing, is nudging the FOH master up as a song is progressing, then i bring it back at the end of that song and slowly do it again during the next song. I find it not only adds to the dynamics of a live show, it gives the audiences ears a breather. So starting again from a quieter point, the audiences ears are ready for another go. This technique i have noticed encourages the band to "fly" with their music as the song progresses. Being a drummer too, i get a buzz watching the audience go just a little more crazy (or a lot) when a tad more juice is added.
I will stop this technique the day a musician on stage tells me not too, but thats never happened so far.
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