Set the table…

Here’s another gem, this time from Joel Paige, formerly the tech director at Kensington. This is from the “Excellence in audio through pre-production” breakout in 2005. Again, it’s so well stated that here’s an exact quote…

“Why is it important to be prepared technically? The value of “having the table set”. When you have guests over for dinner, your goal is to have the table set for them when they arrive. You don’t want to be vacuuming or still picking up…you’re prepared for them. Our goal in production is also to have the table set for our artists…when they walk in the door we want to be prepared to do whatever we need to do for them to create their art. Otherwise, not only could it be catastrophic in regards to missing cues and not being prepared technically, it’s also not going to be a great environment to create art. Our job is to be the facilitator and enabler for the creation of excellent art through the creation of the proper environment.”

I learned a long time ago the importance of having the table set before the artists arrive and now do it subconsciously, but I never stopped and thought about why. This is another quality that I think sets audio engineers apart.  My philosophy has always been to take care of my artists – whether making sure the stage is ready and tested for rehearsal, or helping our speakers put on their headset mics and packs.  It’s cool to hear a deliberate perspective on the why.

People skills keep the gig…

So I’m working my way through discs of Willow tech breakouts from this year and the past several and taking notes as I go of things worth remembering. Robert Scovill gave this “pearl” in passing during his class last year and I think it is worth a post all it’s own. It’s so masterfully stated that I’m going to quote it word for word. So much is made of gear skills and the ability to mix, but there’s more to it than that…

“There are better mix engineers on this planet no doubt about it. But they don’t have the people skills and they don’t keep the gig. The best thing going for me is that the artist believes in me and believes that it is never going to get out of hand when I step behind the console. That, for them, is way beyond my mixing skills. Don’t make yourself this mysterious entity at the back of the room…interact, be their ally.”

In my experience, that “it” factor really has earned me more gigs and helped me keep them than anything else. I don’t know how you teach that confidence/knowledge/peace…it seems through failures and growing, you just develop it. For me, one of the highest compliments I have been paid is that someone knows when I’m behind the console, everything will go well and that it is under control.  I think that “it” factor is something every audio engineer, and technical artist for that matter, should strive for.

Resist Level Managing…

(WARNING: rant coming…this post is a result of more notes, conclusions, and action steps from audio breakout classes at the Willow Arts Conference this year. Proceed at your own risk. You’re about to discover one of my big hot buttons!)

I’m extremely passionate about the value of a great live mix. ESPECIALLY in the church world, you must make the best mix you possibly can – people’s souls are at stake for pete’s sake! Unfortunately, there is no such thing as a single sweeping move you can make to accomplish a great mix. Mixing audio is the result of a quadrillion itty bitty moves and really is a black art. It is impossible to just “teach” someone to mix. It has to be in their bones – it’s as important of a calling as that placed on an artist or a pastor.

MIXING IS A SKILL!!! Thriving at FOH requires continually learning the skill of mixing. You have never arrived…there is always new perspectives and techniques that will make you better and better.

I’m tired of seeing people “coast” through mixing. Many “engineers” I have seen aren’t actually mixing – they’re level managing! If you want to be a better engineer, learn your craft! Get somewhere (in the studio, in rehearsal, at a bar – I don’t care) and learn how to mix. It is a developed skill and requires practice. It’s easy to fall into the trap of watching great engineers and thinking that it really is as easy as they make it look. IT’S NOT! They didn’t get where they are, creating their art, by accident. It took years of HARD WORK! Your journey will require the same work ethic if you expect to be successful.

This is important: resist the temptation to become a “paint by numbers” engineer. It’s easy to read books and watch other engineers work and borrow their techniques because if they do it, it must work for you too. I learned a long time ago that it is more important to learn the “why” than the “how” in someone’s technique. The reality is that one approach does not work for all styles of music.

Simple stuff is often the source of the biggest improvements. As I was coming up in my professional life, I was constantly driven to understand the basic tools (eq, compression/expansion, gating, verb, delay), learn what they do and how to use them to make things sound good. There is no excuse for not knowing how the various ratios on a compressor change your sound, what pre-delay does to your reverbs, or what EQ bands affect which elements of an instrument or vocal tone. Don’t keep having to ask someone what frequency is ringing or missing – come in on your own time with a mic and a RTA and learn your frequencies.

Finally, know the music. Know what works for the style (should the B3 be prevalent as it is in gospel or just ear candy, should this be guitar heavy or percussion heavy, etc) and hit your cues! I am being challenged to be more accurate in my cues. A beat or two late is still late on a guitar solo. The audience knows if its right and they know if you miss it. So don’t miss it. Challenge yourself to raise your bar.

MIX AS IF HEAVEN IS ON THE LINE FOR EVERYONE WHO’S LISTENING BECAUSE IT IS!

Whether you mix for 50 or 5,000, make the most of the opportunities the Lord has given you and challenge yourself to take your mixes to the next level. Excellence matters.

DON’T WAIT – START NOW!

Sound Check Process…

Some of you know I’ve been actively working towards learning and implementing a consistent sound check process for Kensington at the urging of our music director a few months ago. Remember that we do not have monitor engineers at KCC, so everything is done from FOH at all of our campuses. While my personal process has worked, based on my time spent as a monitor engineer on the road a few years ago, many of our campus engineers or guys who mix when I’m off weren’t having the same luck getting monitor mixes up and going fast and effectively. Sometimes it took as long as 45 minutes to get a 5 piece band checked and in our fast-paced world, this just isn’t acceptable.

I’ve been so focused on the importance of effective leadership from the engineer lately and a lot of that came out of the creation of this process. Here it is and it really is pretty simple. Are you ready?

LEAD.

Talk one on one with each band member as they arrive for rehearsal, help them setup and get comfortable, then go out to FOH and set their preliminary gain and signal integrity while they noodle by informally asking each to play a bit as they come online.

Then once you know everyone is ready to go, tell them where you’re going, then do it. My words are this:

“Ok guys, we’re going to get our check done and your mixes up quickly so you can get started rehearsing. Here’s the plan: I’m going to have each of you play for me one at a time. Once you start playing, everybody motion to me up, down, or stop with your hand when you have enough of the player in your monitor. Once we’re good with the first guy, we’ll move on until we’re through everybody. Ok? Here we go, let’s start with the…”

That’s it. Then do it. There are a couple tricks I’ve found that I think are helpful to making it work from here:

1. You have to be fast. If this takes too long to get through building the mixes, you’re no better off. So know your console, know where your mixes are located, have them labeled, and move fast.

2. Bring up the input in the house first before you put it in everybody’s monitors. Don’t worry about tone in the house, just get the level in a place where the fader is in the range you want it, tweak the gain so you’ll be comfortable creating your house mix since once you commit to channel gain and build mixes, you have to live with it. Then put it into everybody’s monitors. I missed this for a while and if you do, you end up with hotter monitor mixes than is normally needed since they don’t have the reference of what the house will add to the equation.

3. Think for your musicians so you can move fast. Assume someone is going to need a little bit of everything and let them tell you when they don’t. This is much faster in practice than asking everyone who wants each input before you actually start bringing it up in their mix. Same goes for the kit…assume everyone is going to want some kick/snare/hat and treat them as a group. You’ll waste gobs of time if you have to ask everyone who wants kick, then who wants snare, etc etc.

With some practice, you should be able to sound check a band in no more than 10 or 15 minutes. Bands you work with all the time will be even less than that. The most amazing part I’ve found is that, especially when working with new guys you’ve never been with before, at the end of the day when you’re wrapping up, you’ll be very surprised at the feedback you hear. Countless times, band members do not tell me about how great their mix was on stage (although it was) or that so and so said it sounded great in the house (although it usually does). They thank me for a smooth sound check and getting them what they need so quickly because it set the tone for the entire day, made everyone feel comfortable and set them off on the right track from the getgo.

Try it. It takes guts to be willing to take charge and lead, but I promise you it works. I’m watching some of our other engineers start implementing and it’s going to work for them too. Thanks Danny for the advice!

UPDATE: The question came up about not really dealing with rough EQ before starting monitor mixes.  First, for some channels, like kick and snare, the rough EQ is a part of my default scene on our console, so it is already roughed in when we start the day.  For guitars, acoustics, and bass, I’ve been running our monitor mixes for these channels pre-EQ as well as pre-fader.  That way, what the player hears on stage is exactly what the mic is picking up and I can do whatever I need to do for the house without effecting him.  Our guys have really liked this because it makes it easier for them to turn down their guitar amps when necessary and still trust their tone coming from the wedge.  If the tone doesn’t sound right in the wedge, we need to address mic placement, mic choice, or their settings because what they’re hearing is what I’m starting with in the house as well.

Willow Creek Arts Conference

The Arts conference has come and gone and it was a great trip. I have lots of thoughts to process and lots of ideas to implement at KCC. I also had the opportunity to write a bunch of blog posts on the way home today as I translated my various notes into action steps and things I want to remember.

I’ll gradually post this stuff over the next week or two so that others on my team who weren’t able to attend can share in what I learned and experienced. The first three posts come tonight…check it out!

To check out a really cool production website that outlines all of Willow’s main auditorium systems, budget, production documents, etc…go HERE. Trust me, if you’re a gear head, this site is pretty cool. I’m definitely going to get something like this set up for us before our Arts Conference this fall.

For some cool photos of the conference, especially if you weren’t able to check it out in person, are available HERE and HERE from Willow. There are some great shots!

For the official conference blog with session summaries and other cool stuff, go HERE.