“Great mixes start with great sources. Period.”

“Great mixes start with great sources. Period. Great sounding sources can survive a bad mix, but bad sources can only be hidden, not helped, by a great mix.” – Robert Scovill, Willow Arts Conference 2006.

Scovi said that in his experience working with many of the greatest engineers in the world, they all have one common thread running through them – all know how to make sources sound right before they ever hit a microphone. Square pegs don’t fit in round holes. If it isn’t right in front of the microphone or between the source and the mic, how can it possibly improve further down the chain?  When was the last time you as the engineer stepped up on stage with or without the PA on to see what the sources were doing before you reached for the channel EQ?

The best chefs know exactly the right amount of seasoning to use in their dishes to create the desired result.  Too much seasoning ruins it.  Other engineers who look at my console settings are often surprised at the lack of much EQ I use on my band channels. A cut here, a boost there…just enough to make everything fit. Many times it is too easy to over-EQ and over-process a source that could have been corrected simply by just adjusting mic placement/selection or working with the musician to make changes on their end.

I was reminded again recently that in churches like the one in which I work, it is my job to accurately and faithfully reproduce the artistic vision that’s coming from the stage. Our musicians are so incredible and so deliberate in the tones they are creating with their instruments that it would often be a travesty to overly impose my personal sonic imprint on the excellence they are already creating but radically EQ’ing any particular instrument so that the nature of what the artist is trying to create is lost. My job is to serve the artist and help them communicate their vision. If one of their sounds isn’t gelling in the context I’m working with, I talk to them and have them fix it at the source. Granted this takes more work initially and it requires more interaction with the musicians, but as I’ve already established in previous posts, interacting more with the band is a GOOD thing!

SIDENOTE: Don’t get me wrong, when working with inexperienced or mediocre players, there’s a whole different set of rules. I’m not suggesting we as engineers should never embark on sound replacement rather than sound reinforcement – there is certainly a time and a place for many different techniques. However, in the context of the main stage at the main campus of Kensington Community Church, this is seldom necessary. It requires knowledge from experience, maturity, and humility to be able to make subtle tweaks here and there in order to maximize what you’re getting from the stage and remain true to what you’re being given to work with.