Sound Engineering for live band

This page provides information on how Classique present

it's performance to small and medium sized audiences. Concerts and performances in larger audtoriums have the resources through ticket sales etc. to buy in the best equipment and expertise. Have does one cope on a budget?

I've never seen any sound engineering information on a band or entertainment agent publicity. Since the Public Address (PA) System is the link between the musicianship / vocal performance of the entertainers and the audience, surely it is of vital importance?

Well the answer is absolutely yes and equally mystifying to me, is why nobody, including the booking agents, ever ask about this whilst we are in the booking process.

I think the whole matter is such a specialised field that it is most often left unsaid to avoid the revelation of ignorance or is best left to some elusive expert. At best, the presumption can be made that the artists will have taken the appropriate consultations or learning curve and, of equal and of paramount importance, has made the requisite investment in the equipment.

Sadly, this is just not the case as most artists are preoccupied with performance and dare I say - image. Audiences, are left to make the perception that it just doesnt sound good, regardless of the talent on the stage, for whatever mysterious reason.

I'm afraid as we move further away from the golden age of live music that an appropriate level of live sound engineering expertise becomes harder (and expensive) to find. Singers in ensembles describing themselves as a 'band' try to overcome this by the use of computer generated backing tracks and offering themslves as "live acts" - we view them as karaoke singers who have perverted the meaning of 'live' into merely being there. Not only have they perverted the meaning of a live band but they deny the audience the opportunity of a true musical experience where the grooves and exhilarating experience of real music can only generated by musicians who have practised and learnt the craft associated with their instrument.

Sound Engineering is the applied science of sound - I'm afraid it's all too easy for it to go radically wrong if you dont know what you are doing. I first became interested in Sound Engineering in 1972 (OK I'm showing my age now) when I did my first recording studio session - it became clear to me , as a performing and recording musician, that this was essential knowledge that I had to have - a poor grasp of the fundamentals of sound engineering means that no matter how good the input into the Public Address or Recording System, it could be all too easily corrupted by incompetence.

Sound Engineering also has it's camp in the field of room acoustics when the physical parameters and the reflective capability of surfaces and the multitude of shapes within performance areas alter the sound after it comes out of the speakers. This results in some audio frequencies being boosted or cut, dependant on the absorption or reflective properties of the room - this of course is again presuming that the output from the band has a good balance to begin with. The audible performance of each member of the band must bear an intimate consideration for what the audience wants; which is a good mix between all the vocals and instrumention as are produced in recordings where the recording process allows for more considered decision making. If these matters are left to each member of the band, in a live performance situation, it requires an unrealistic level of acumen that is rarely found in a multiple ensemble.

So how does Classique address these matters? I spent most of the late 70s all of the 80s and some of the 90s fine tuning my sound engineering expertise. The major influence on my live work was the period I spent gigging in the states in the early 1980s. All the club bands sounded great - it is because they adopted the same principles of professional sound enginerring that major artists employ when they do concerts:

A well balance 3 way speaker system - this uses the principles of frequency cross-over where the total output of the band is spilt and into three broad audio bands of Bass, Midrange and Highs. As the output of the various instrumentation feeds into the PA it is divided and directed to the most appropriate speaker according to frequency content.

Since the PA can be set up to handle all the different frequencies you must not make the presumption that all is necessarily well. The question has to be asked; is all the different instruments actually fed into the PA and if so who is controlling it? Is there a Sound Engineer part of the booking? - if not who is doing it, if at all? What PA will be provided as part of the booking arrangement?

The level of expertise is such that there is a modest number of musicians capable of functioning as an engineer whilst they are performing. A solution would be to hire in a PA with an Engineer (hope and pray he knows what he is doing) - this of course is a considerable expense that the client will ultimately have to bear.

Classique are completely self contained and own and carry all their own sound and light systems: we have a full range 3 way speaker system powered to 4.5 kilowatts and all the vocals and instrumentation are fed into it via a Yamaha 01V 24 Channel Digital Mixer. We arrive early and set everything up and soundcheck ourselves:

5 Vocal Microphones each fed into their own channel.

4 specialist Microphones for the Drum Kit: Bass Drum, High Hat, Snare Drum and Overhead - (to pick up toms and cymbals)
Lead Guitar - microphone the onstage Guitar Amp/ Speakers - Dave governs the levels between Lead and Rhythm Guitar
Bass Guitar - Direct Injection (DI) from the Bass Amp
Keyboards - the 3 keyboards have stereo outputs which are fed into 3 stereo channels
Monitors - we have a seperate onstage monitor mix feeding into 2 JBL active speakers primarily for vocals - if we didnt have this our vocalists wouldn't be able to hear themselves and could sing out of tune. It also enables each vocalist to mix there output levels to achieve a good blend of vocal mixes - you need to ensure that the lead vocal is not overwhelmed by backing vocals.
Drum Headphone mix - Rich uses headphones into which is input his own mix so that he can hear everything.
Sound to Light - we take an output of the drum mix to a bank of lights so they flash in time with the music.

The Yamaha Digital Mixer is totally progammable - you can save all the settings in it's internal memory. This saves us having to set it up from scratch at each venue meaning that soundchecks take just a few minutes instead of hours. As all the instrumentation goes through the mixer, I can quickly achieve a professional balance between the vocals and different instrumentation and equalise the frequencies, plug in automated signal processors such as compressors (detect and prevents sudden peaks of sound ) and noise gates (detect when micphones are not being used and turns them off). At the master output I can make global frequency adjustments to eliminate dominant audio frequencies generated by room acoustics, which cause the harshness, poor sound quality / balance and howling feedback associated with amateur set ups.

This is why Classique always 'sound good' and allow us to concentrate on our performance. It's not just the technical expertise, it is also very reliant on the professionalism and co-operation of all the members of the band. Many of our bookers insist on coming to see us - as they have observed that mediocracy prevales - regardless of whether you book us or not, take my advice: check the band out for yourself - studio recordings are easy to doctor in the studio and create a sound / arrangements which cannot be produced live. There are 2 videos of us playing live for you to check out under 'Demos'

If you are interested further I have included a Technical Specifications area for your information.

Classique

Live Function Band for Weddings, Parties, Corporate Events. Based in Manchester we perform in Cheshire, Lancashire, Yorkshire and all over the Northwest and Midlands.