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Live Audio: The Art of Mixing a Show (Focal Press) (Paperback) - Common Paperback

by unknown author (Author)
4.5 4.5 out of 5 stars 39 ratings
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  1. Print length
    256 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Publisher
    Focal Press
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Product details

  • ASIN ‏ : ‎ B00FKYS2HY
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Paperback ‏ : ‎ 256 pages
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.5 4.5 out of 5 stars 39 ratings

Customer reviews

4.5 out of 5 stars
4.5 out of 5
39 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

Oh! Nolan
5.0 out of 5 stars Great book!!
Reviewed in the United States on August 22, 2015
Verified Purchase
Im just starting off as live sound engineer and this book was great and packed with tons of great info to get you started!
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J. M. Jacobs
5.0 out of 5 stars Worth of this book is a matter of perspective
Reviewed in the United States on October 21, 2011
Vine Customer Review of Free Product( What's this? )
I must admit that I found this book to be both entertaining and very helpful as well as informative. I personally have never ran the LIVE sound at a show at the level of the author, but I have ran the mixing board for bands at local joints here in town on a number of occasions. In my situation, all the connections have already been made and all that's left to do is get the balance and tone right and keep the volume up enough to keep the place hopping but low enough to allow for conversation at the back of the dance floor without having to yell to be heard. My ears are the best tools I have.

I note that another reviewer did not like the fact that specific techniques on the board were not so much in evidence here. I would say that's a correct observation BUT look at the title: The ART of Mixing a Show.

I think the author deals more with your attitude towards the people you work with at the venue, how you approach working with the band to get the sound THEY WANT, and how to approach problems caused by acoustic properties of the room you're in. The sound mixer's ATTITUDE can have quite a bit to do with the end result and that's what I think the author was directing his attentions to more so than specific knobs and sliders and how to manipulate them. There is definitely an art to mixing LIVE sound and not everybody with a mixing board is an artist when it comes to sound.

Three things I'll point out that really jumped out at me:

1. Work with the people at the venue ahead of time to get the most info you can on the room and its quirks. This saves a lot of time during the sound check. Bands have short attention spans in many cases and dragging out the sound check any more than is necessary is bad for their attitude... and that doesn't help you at all.

2. Compressors - GREAT discussion of these Mother's Little Helpers and how they work. I have a pet peeve when I hear bad LIVE sound and it usually deals with the high frequencies being at 'sewing awl to the ears' level of volume. This can be caused by too much gain but it can also be caused by one channel with either too much gain on it or over emphasis of the highest frequencies you can control. A compressor limits how high a frequency a channel can produce, so this changes the sound. When a compressor is used judiciously you can protect the audience from that annoying, possibly harmful high frequency situation while they're listening.

3. Set Lists - they are good for everybody for a number of reasons. Guitar players know when they have to change tuning so they can get right on it when the previous song ends if a tuning change is required. You can place your slower-paced songs where the singers need them to get their breath back. And the biggest advantage to a set list... the band control the emotional tempo of the room. Not so much for a concert performance but definitely for a LIVE gig in a joint, a band needs to KNOW what the tempos are they're going to put out. If the audience is rowdy and in a party mood, avoid any slow tempo stuff unless you need it to get your wind back. Don't play any slow material in the first 4-5 songs at all. A set list allows the band to dictate the vibe (to some degree) for the audience that they will be playing to. Think of it sort of like how an attorney approaches questioning a witness. A good attorney never asks a question they don't already know the answer to. NOTE: when playing spontaneously and the guy calling out the songs has some personal issue dictating his mood, good luck with not having a set list in front of you.

It could be my current 'level of function' when it comes to mixing LIVE sound but the gigs I've worked since I got this book have garnered many positive comments on the sound the band produced. As long as the audience is happy and my musician friends can get another gig in that same venue, I'm happy. This book is certainly helping me to make that happen.
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David Field
5.0 out of 5 stars Well worth it
Reviewed in the United States on January 17, 2011
Vine Customer Review of Free Product( What's this? )
In a perfect world, to learn all about mixing a live show, all we'd need to do would be to jet over to London, take Dave Swallow down to his favorite pub, buy him a few pints, and listen to his words of wisdom. But this is the real and imperfect world, where you don't have several hundred dollars for the fare, or Heathrow is closed for a couple of days when it snows, or the pub has stopped selling pints and now will only sell you something called "a schooner," and the band playing in the pub is so badly mixed that you can't hear a word Dave says.

Luckily we have this book. I thought I knew something about the subject, but Dave shows that a great deal is involved, including a lot of things that will seem obvious after the gig but not during. In fact, of sixteen chapters, only one is actually devoted to the show. All the rest is planning to get things right ahead of time.

The book starts off with a guide to the basics, but the rest of it is about what happens at the venue. This section starts with "load-in" and goes through all kinds of things like microphone placement, setting up the mixing desk, and everything through to the sound check. Swallow writes clearly and in a friendly manner, and his book is full of home truths ("Never put anything in your ear smaller than your elbow.") And in case you're wondering, you can't put your elbow in your ear. (Just another service of Amazon reviews).

Dave has worked with people like Amy Whitehouse (who I would have thought was not too conscious about the quality of her sound) and a British band called La Roux. The Electropop act has performed in the U.S. at Lollapalooza and on the Jimmy Kimmel show, and it looks like Dave has been the soundman since the beginning.

He has words of caution for newcomers to the art of mixing, including both how to deal with equipment and how to deal with artists and managers. He shows you how to create a PA Spec, or a list of equipment that you're prepared to work with. I was somewhat concerned when Dave said that there are certain makes he will not work with, but on reflection these are beginner level and there is plenty of pro-level (and pro-price!) equipment that is less likely to break down in front of an audience of thousands.

Some people have expressed surprise at the price of the book, but if you just get one idea from the pages (and you'll get many) it will save you the cost of the book. Hopefully, it might even dissuade folks who think that they have the ability to mix music but pretty clearly don't. Not, of course, that I come into that group (hides head).

So I was very pleased to read this book. It does what it says it will, it covers vital areas that aren't obvious to outsiders, and hopefully it will make musicians a little more sympathetic to the sound staff in general. Buy it.
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Top reviews from other countries

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Andy Reynolds
4.0 out of 5 stars This is a great guide for aspiring
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on January 3, 2017
Verified Purchase
This is a great guide for aspiring, or just-started, touring live sound engineers. The author is a professional touring engineer, and writes not only on the technical considerations of mixing bands in concert, but also on the more esoteric points concerning the psychology of working with musicians.
There are numerous illustrations and figures, and the book is written in a no-nonsense, yet detailed manner. Recommended.
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PF
3.0 out of 5 stars Kompakte Beschreibung
Reviewed in Germany on December 2, 2012
Verified Purchase
Kompakte Beschreibung der analogen Welt, auf digitales Mixing wird leider nicht eingegangen, nur schwarz weiß mit antiquierten Bildern und Darstellungen.
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