Front of House Mix Engineer

• Responsibilities of a FOH engineer

• Writing a Channel List and PA Spec
• Voicing The Rig
• Placing The Microphones
• Calling the Line Check
• Calling The Sound Check
• Putting A Mix Together/Tricks And Techniques
• Show Etiquette
• Festivals
• Tools Of The Trade

Page 1 of 29
FOH Mixing
Responsibilities Of A FOH Engineer
As a Front Of House Engineer you are not just responsible for doing the mix. You’re
almost like an ambassador for the band you’re working for. You are responsible for
everything that will be heard by the public and therefore responsible for the way in which
the band will be perceived. If you do a good job then those fans will love that band even
more, and want the next album. If you do a bad job then the band’s potential money walks
out the door and you’ll be doing yourself out of a job. You’ll need to understand the music
so you can represent it well.
So lets look at some of the important things that need to be done as an FOH Engineer that
will lead up to a great mix.

Writing a Channel List and PA Spec

Before you even approach a mixing console there’s a little bit of preparation and
paperwork to be done. No matter how big or small the band is it’s very important (but not
always possible) for any FOH Engineer at any level to meet the band in rehearsals, and
listen through the whole set of songs that are going to be played. This will also be the point
at which the Engineer can hear the individual sounds and make some decisions about
how to “mic up” the band and what kind of mics you are going to choose.
In an ideal situation a FOH Engineer together with the Monitor Engineer will have a couple
of months rehearsal in a production rehearsal space with all the mic’s and mixing desks
that they’re are going to be using on the tour. This is where the Engineers can try out
different mics and techniques before the tour starts. This is also the time that the
engineers can put together the information for the bands spec. This is a document
containing all the bands technical information that will become part of much bigger
document called the “Ryder”. The Ryder contains all the information regarding the band,
from what kind of sweets they like in their dressing room to how much power is required
for the show. From an engineer’s point of view though the technical information that needs
to be included is:
• An equipment specification, listing the equipment that is expected to be in the
venue and what equipment the band will be bringing with them.
• A list of any radio frequencies the band will be using and the licenses for these
(radio mics, in ear monitors, com systems and walkie talkies)

Page 2 of 29
FOH Mixing
 • A channel list, containing a list of instruments, their respective channels, what, if
anything, needs to be inserted, which mic is to be used and on what sort of stand.
• A stage plan showing where each instrument will appear on the stage.

Here is an example of what kind of things you might find on a band spec. This is from
Doves USA summer tour 2005.

FOH PA System
PA System must be a stereo four way active capable of providing
clear non distorted even coverage of sound throughout the audience
area at levels up to 120db, 30hz to 18khz. The processors for the
system should be at FOH and Doves’s engineer has complete control
over the system at all times. The PA should be flown whenever
possible with ground stacks, infills, outfills and delays as
required to give even courage of sound.
Preferred systems are:- L Acoustic V-DOSC/DV-DOSC & Arcs, Adamson
Y Axis, JBL Vertec, D&B C4/B2.
Totally unacceptable systems are - Peavey, Old Martin and home
made boxes.

FOH Desk
Must not be on a riser, on or under a balcony and ideally just off
centre.
It must have at least 48 mono channels and 4 stereo channels with
fully parametric EQ on all channels, 8 VCA’s, 8 audio sub groups
and 8 mute groups.
One of these following desks please in order of preferred choice:-
Digico D5 56 EX, Midas XL4, Midas Heritage 3000/2000.
Absolutely no way desks :- Allen & Heath, TAC, Crest, Mackie, any
desk with less than 56 inputs.

Page 3 of 29
FOH Mixing
FOH Drive
Lake Contors on all outputs to speaker system or XTA DP 226 (will
require separate control for flown, ground, delays and infills)
1 Wireless Tablet to control processors
Klark Tecknic DN6000 with calibrated microphone
CD Player, Tascam or Sony
CDR set up to record, Tascam or Sony
DAT machine Tascam or Sony
Intercom between FOH and monitors with headsets and beacons

FOH Effects
1 TC M6000 with remote
1 TC 2290
1 Lexicon PCM 91 (will not require this if provide D5)
1 Yamaha SPX 990 (will not require this if provide D5)

FOH Insert
1 Manley Vox Box
1 Summit DCL 200
1 Tube Tech LCA2B
1 Empirical Labs EL8 Distressor
1 XTA D2
3 x Drawmer DS201 (will not require these if provide D5)
3 x DBX 160SL or 3 x DBXRM160 or 6 x DBX160 (will not require
these if provide D5)

Monitor Speakers
We require ten two way active wedges on five sends capable of
providing clear non-distorted sound at level up to 120db A
weighted. Wedges loaded with either 2 x 12-inch drivers and a 2-
inch horn or 1 x 15-inch driver and 2-inch horn. All wedges must
be run

Page 4 of 29
FOH Mixing
on same type of crossovers and amps. We also require a further amp
and processor terminating on a NL4 (connectors 1+ and 1-) caperble
of delivering 1kw into 2ohms to run our Buttkicker seat.
Preferred choice of monitors:- D&B M2, Turobsound 450s, L’Acoustic
or FM115s.

Sub bass speaker with processor and amp for drum fill (no top
required). Example:- L Acoustic DV Sub or D&B C7 Sub. No home made
or non professional quality wedges will be acceptable at all.

Monitor Desk
Monitor desk must have at least 48 mono channels and 4 stereo
channels with fully parametric eq on every channel, at least 16
sends with all graphic eq’s inserted on outputs.
Please provide one of these desks in order of preferred choice:-
Yamaha PM5D, Midas Heritage 3000, Midas XL4.

Monitor Insert Rack & FX (non of below required if provide

PM5D)
3 Klark Tecknic DN3600/DN360 (6 channels)
3 Drawmer DS 201 (6 channels of gates)
5 DBX 160SL or 6 DBX 160 (10 channels of compressors)
4 x Yamaha SPX990s or 1000s

Microphones and DI’s

Please provide microphones exactly as per channel list no
alternatives accepted. If unable to provide a certain microphone
please contact production manager to see if alternative
acceptable.

PLEASE NOTE THAT WE CANNOT SHARE ANY FOH or MONITOR CHANNELS

OR INSERTS WITH OTHER ACTS.

Page 5 of 29
FOH Mixing
PA TECHNICIANS
1 Sober English speaking front of house technician with full and
accurate knowledge of the system being supplied, to assist with
set up and during the show.
1 Experienced sober English speaking monitor technician to assist
with set up and during the show.

These technicians will be expected to remain at their stations

throughout Dove’s performance.

Page 6 of 29
FOH Mixing
Ch Item Mic/DI Stand 48
FOH Insert v
1 Kick Drum 1 Shure SM 91 DS 201 Yes
2 Kick Drum 2 Beymer M 88 Small boom
3 Snare Top Shure SM 57 DS 201 Small boom
4 Snare Bottom Neumann KM 84i LP Claw Yes
5 Hi- Hat Neumann KM 84i Short boom Yes
6 Rack Tom Shure SM 98 DS 201 Clamp Yes
7 Floor Tom Shure SM 98 DS 201 Clamp Yes
8 Kit Ambient Shure MC50B Distressor Clamp Yes
9 O/H S.R Shure KSM 32 Tall boom Yes
10 O/H S.L Shure KSM 32 Tall boom Yes
11 Bass DI Avalon U5 DCL 200
12 Bass Mic AT 4050 Small boom Yes
13 VK 7 Left Own DI
14 VK 7 Right Own DI
15 Korg Left Own DI
16 Korg Right Own DI
17 Sampler 1 Left Own DI
18 Sampler 1 Right Own DI
19 Sampler 2 Left Own DI
20 Sampler 2 Right Own DI
21 Jez Sampler 1 DI
22 Jez Sampler 2 DI
23 Sequencer 1 DI
24 Sequencer 2 DI
25 Sequencer 3 DI
26 Sequencer 4 DI
27 Sequencer 5 DI
28 Back up Jez Sampler 1 DI
29 Back up Jez Sampler 2 DI
30 Back Up Sequencer 1 DI
31 Back Up Sequencer 2 DI
32 Back up Sequencer 3 DI
33 Back Up Sequencer 4 DI
34 Back Up Sequencer 5 DI
35 Guitar Fender AT 4050 Tube Tech Small boom Yes
36 Guitar Line 6 AT 4050 Small boom Yes
37 Guitar Marshall Senn MD 409 Small boom
38 Acoustic Avalon U5 DCL 200
39 Vocal S.R Shure Beta 58A D2 & Manley Tall boom
40 Vocal S.L Shure Beta 58A Tube Tech Tall boom
41 Vocal Keys Shure Beta 58A 160 Tall boom
42 Vocal Kit Audix OM 7 160 Tall boom
43 Bullet Mic Bullet Mic 160 Tall boom
44 Spare Vocal Shure Beta 58A 160
45 Percussion Shure SM 98 Clamp Yes
46 Click DI
47 Ambient S.R Shure SM 81 Short boom Yes
48 Ambient Centre AKG C 414 Short boom Yes
49 Ambient S.L Shure SM 81 Short boom Yes

Page 7 of 29
FOH Mixing
Voicing the Rig
Once you’re in the venue and the PA is up and working, the first thing that needs to be
done is “voicing” the rig. This where the FOH Engineer will check that the system is

Page 8 of 29
FOH Mixing
working properly and balance the sound to suit the room. Some Engineers use a CD of a
familiar well-balanced song. Some engineers use the sound of their voice with a vocal mic.
Some use a bit of both.
What an engineer is looking to do is cut out any boomy or harsh frequencies and make
sure that all areas of the auditorium are being properly covered by the PA system. This is
an important part of the engineer’s day because if he gets this bit right the gig will almost
mix itself. If he gets this bit wrong he’ll be EQ’ing the channels all night and chasing his
tail.

Using The Graphic Equaliser

Before using the graphic it’s a good idea to make sure that the crossovers and amps
settings are correct and all the drivers are working. However, some amps and crossovers
should not be touched at all and because different PA systems can vary considerably, it’s
best to check this with the House or System Engineer. If you don’t have an engineer at
hand you should check with the manufactures. Once you’re sure you are all good here
then you can start on the graphics.

Start with both the left and right graphics flat and play your CD through two adjacent
channels on the desk. You should bypass the EQ on the CD channels, pan the two
channels central and check that both sides of the PA are working.

Then we need to check if both sides sound the same. We do this by panning both
channels of the CD to the left and listening to the left side of the PA.

Page 9 of 29
FOH Mixing
Then we pan both sides of the CD to the right and listen to the right side of the PA and
compare this to the sound of the left side.

Do not pan one CD channel to the left and one to the right as you normally would!
There may well be different signals on the CD’s left and right side that will make the PA’s
left and right side sound different. We need to be sure the same signal is going to both
sides of the PA so this is why we pan both sides of the CD together.

If both sides of the rig are working properly but the left and right sound a little different from
each other we need to use the EQ to level this out. We need to make the PA sound good
and balanced, and to cut out any excessive boom whilst making sure there’s enough
bottom end, and to cut down on any harshness in the rig whilst maintaining intelligibility.

Page 10 of 29
FOH Mixing
Start with the graphic flat on the left side and work from the bottom up, searching for
problem frequencies by pushing up suspected frequency band faders on the graphics and
listening for an increase of that particular problem. So if the PA sounds “boomy” we need
to find which frequencies are making it sound like that and cut them until it sounds flatter in
that area of the spectrum. Start with the frequency band you suspect most and push the
fader up a little.

If the “boominess” seems to increase then cut that frequency until the “boominess” ceases
to be a problem.

If it doesn’t seem to increase then take that fader back to 0dB and try an adjacent
frequency.
If it seems like you’ve chosen the correct frequency but the problem doesn’t go away when
you cut it, try a harmonic of that frequency as well. A harmonic is a multiple of the
fundamental frequency. For example, if your fundamental frequency is 200Hz your closest
harmonics are 100Hz and 400Hz. So if you’ve pushed up 200Hz and it seems to be where
the problem is but when you cut it the problem gets better but not good enough, try cutting
a little 100Hz and 400Hz.

Page 11 of 29
FOH Mixing
Moving up the audio spectrum continue to do this until the left side sounds good.
Be aware of two things:
• Too much “hacking” of the graphic is not a good thing. You will be chasing your tail.
If you find you have cut too much it’s best to start again from flat.
• If you are doing this in an empty venue try to imagine how it will sound when it is full
of the audience. A rule of thumb is that, you will probably not need to cut so much
high mid frequencies. It’s a good idea to ask the tour manager how many advance
tickets have been sold to give you an idea how full/empty the venue will be for the
show.

Repeat this with the right side and then run the two sides together. When you compare the
two we will be looking out for phase problems. One way to check this is to run one side of
the CD. Pan it hard left and then hard right to check that they sound similar, then slowly
swing the pan to centre. When you’re at centre point both sides of the PA should be
working together. If you get a drop in volume when running the same signal through both
sides you will have a phase problem.

Phase Problems:
It is possible that during the set up of the PA you’re using that someone connected up one
of the cabinets wrong or repaired a cable incorrectly. This may have left one or more of the
components of the PA out of phase with the rest of it. Lets say for instance that this is a
cable that was repaired incorrectly in the Charlie Jones Live Venue. Someone connected
the terminals the wrong way round, leaving the left side sub cabinet out of phase. What
this would mean in real terms is that when any signal was sent to the subs, instead of the
drivers moving forward together, the left driver would move backwards in the opposite
direction to the right driver.

Page 12 of 29
FOH Mixing
This would not make much of a difference if only one was played but if the two are played
together then the wave from one will cancel out the wave from the other out. Well not
completely, we will hear some signal form each driver but there will be a marked decrease
of sub bass in the middle of the room.

Using Your Voice

Next you will need to connect up a vocal mic. Ideally the one which will be used for centre
vocals and use this to check your graphic EQ settings with your own voice. This will take
some getting used to but soon enough you will become accustomed to how your voice
should sound through a rig. Using the channel you intend to use for your lead vocal and
the channel EQ bypassed, you will need to say a few different words to emphasise
different potential problem areas in the audio spectrum. It’s up to you how you do this and
different engineers have different words they use, but here’s a list of some of the specific
words that might help.

• With the word “Check” the “ch” will help with high mid frequencies while the “eh”
sound will help with mid frequencies.
• With “One” the “wor” sound will help you with low mid frequencies.
• Two the “T” sound will help you with high frequencies while the “ooh” will help with
low mids

Page 13 of 29
FOH Mixing
 • Uh-hu will help will low end

With all the above together gives us “check one two uh-uh” and you’ve got it covered.
Try to get the rig sounding good and balanced just with your voice.
Remember to put your bypassed channel EQ back in, you might need it later.
The Walk Around
Once you’re happy with how the rig sounds you should put your CD track back on and
have a walk around the room to make sure that the P.A. is covering every part of the
venue that there may be an audience.

Placing The Microphones

Providing that the back-line instruments are in place, the next item on the FOH Engineers
list of jobs for the day is to place the right mics in the right positions. This might sound
obvious but there may well be somebody on stage; a House Engineer or Monitor
Engineer, who have placed the mics for you. As the FOH Engineer you are responsible for
representing the bands sound correctly and you will not be doing this if the wrong mic is on
the wrong instrument. Because it will be you as the FOH Engineer that puts the channel
list together, it is only you who will know exactly how to place the mics, it’s a very personal
thing. No matter how good the person on stage is it is always worth checking. More often
than not you will find something wrong. If you are touring with mics etc is good practice to
label all the mics and mic stands. This will stop them getting mixed up and also mean you
can let a local crew person to put the mics on the stands for you and save you a job. You
will still need to check them though; you’ll be surprised how many people can get it wrong.

Calling the Line Check

Once the mics are in position it’s time to sound check but before we do it is good practise
to do a line check or “tap around” first. This is kind of a preliminary sound check where the
Engineers at their desks together with a person on stage will go through each line to make
sure all the connections are good and all the mics/DIs are coming down the right channels,
before a sound check is started. It’s un-professional and it can be annoying to get half way
through the sound check only to find that the bass DI has not been plugged in properly.
The line check works like this:

Page 14 of 29
FOH Mixing
 • The FOH Engineer will call the lines to be checked, using a talk to stage mic,
starting from channel 1 and working up.
• The person on stage will use a drumstick or a spare mic to gently tap each mic.
Doing this it’s easier to be certain that it is the right mic that is being gently tapped.
If we use the actual intrument, a drum for instance, to check the line, we may hear
the drum but cannot be sure if it is the right mic we are hearing.
• The person on stage will continue to tap the mic until both the FOH and Monitor
Engineer have said that they have a good line.
• When it comes to checking a DI line the person on stage will need a mic and a XLR
to 1/4” jack lead. The instrument can be unplugged from the DI and the mic plugged
in. The person on stage can then talk into that DI saying which instrument it is. For
instance, “keyboard 1 left”. This takes the back-line out of the signal path and
therefore takes the possibility of the back-line not working out of the equation.
Calling The Sound Check
Once we are certain that we have all the lines it’s time to do the sound check. Each
engineer has his/her own way of doing this but here is a guideline of how it should run.

• The FOH Engineer will call the sound check starting from channel 1 (usually the
kick drum) and working up. The Monitor Engineer will follow along and set up his
mixes at the same time. He/she should stop the FOH Engineer if he/she has a
particular problem somewhere. This will allow both engineers to work on the same
instrument at the same time.
• Starting with the kick drum, get the drummer to repeatedly play it at a speed which
will allow you to hear the whole decay of each hit before the next hit begins. PFL
the channel and set the gain to peak at 0dB. Put the channel into the mix and push
up the fader to 0dB and have a listen.
• Use the EQ to get the kick sounding how you want it then set the controls of the
gate or compressor if you have them.
• Then do the same with the snare and then the hihats, spending enough time on
each to get them sounding how you want them.
• Then you should get the drummer to play a beat on just the kick snare and hats so
you can get the levels right.

Page 15 of 29
FOH Mixing
• Add a little reverb on the snare and see how it sounds.
• Now move on to the toms, get each one sounding right and then get them working
together and add a little reverb. It’s a good idea to pan the toms as you see them to
give some space and movement to the mix. Because the toms are not played all
the way through a set it’s good practise to gate them to cut down on cymbal and
drum spill coming down the open mics.
• Next will usually be the overhead mics for the cymbals. Not everyone will use
overheads in smaller venues but if you have the available mics and enough
channels it’s always a good idea to have them even if you don’t end up using them.
Remember to use the high pass filter (HPF) to cut down on any unwanted low end
spilling down these mics and pan them hard left and right as you see them.
• Bass will usually be next. It’s good practise to put a mic on the bass cab as well as
having a DI the sound from these can blended or one or the other used. As a rule of
thumb, the sound from the amp will be closest to the sound you will want, with a
little of the definition from the DI sound.
• You should get the drummer and the bass player to play together at this point. This
will give you an opportunity to hear the rhythm section play on their own, allowing
you to ‘marry’ together the sound of the kick with the bass. If you get this just right it
will give you the foundations for your mix.
• What comes next on the channel list will be dependant upon the band and how the
engineer has organised his channel list. It may well be guitars or keyboards. With
either it is good practise to get the musician to play his quietest and loudest sounds
so you can set the gain right and set any dynamic controllers.
• If you have any acoustic instruments, try to sound check these both on their own
and with the band. There may well be some low end frequencies that make the
instrument feed back or resonate.
• With vocals it is essential to get the artist to sing if you can. This will give you a
better idea of what to expect. If you have set the PA up properly and used your own
voice as explained earlier, the rig should sound pretty good straight off when your
singer starts to sing. Its just matter of getting the gain right and trying out any
effects you may have planned.

Page 16 of 29
FOH Mixing
 • Backing vocals should be heard both individually and then together with any other
singers, to allow you set the gain right and get the correct blend of the voices
without the band. This will also help your singers practise their harmonies.
• You should now be ready for the band to play a song and begin to get your mix
right. The band will need to get their sound right on stage before they play a song
all the way through.
• One important thing to remember is that you need to work quickly and
professionally through this. If you have the band hanging around they will get bored
and maybe loose faith in your abilities. Also, try not to keep the singers singing too
long; they will need their voices for the show.

Putting A Mix Together/Tricks And Techniques

If everything that we’ve discussed has been done right, e.g. the PA has been set up
correctly and voiced up properly, the source sounds are good, the mics are in the right
place, and the sound check has gone according to plan then the mix should already be
nearly there. If not here’s a few tips and tricks to help you on the way.

Drums: One way to get the drums sounding more like a kit rather than individual drums is
to send them all to a stereo group and then put a stereo compressor over this group.

Page 17 of 29
FOH Mixing
Using both a snare top and snare bottom mic can bring life to the drum but beware of the
mics being out of phase with each other.

Use the HPF on the cymbals to keep the mix clean. Run the toms quite hot in the mix and
pan them to bring excitement and movement to the drum fills, but watch out for the low
frequencies, they will muddy your mix. If you have VCA’s ,then use them. Try one for the
kick and snare and one for the toms. You can add dynamics to certain parts of set by
throwing in a little more drums here and there.

Bass: Basses can be difficult to get just right. Try cutting a little low mid, maybe around
300Hz and see if this brings more intelligibility to your bass sound.

Page 18 of 29
FOH Mixing
Use the DI channel to bring more attack to the bass mic sound if needs be. Be careful of
using too much sub bass because this can overpower your mix. If you have VCAs use one
to control both bass channel faders. This will maintain the balance between the two
channels and give you one fader.
Electric Guitars: It can be hard sometimes to get guitars really rocking. Try using a
condenser and a dynamic and blending them together. Another trick is to split a guitar
channel into two.

Pan one to the hard left and the other to the right then put a 20 millisecond delay on the
right channel this will thicken the sound. Adding a tape delay style effect such as Roland

Page 19 of 29
FOH Mixing
Space Echo to guitar solos can add interest to the sound instead of just turning it up. Use
the HPF to cut down on real low end. This will give your bass more space.

Acoustic Guitars: The trick mentioned above which involves splitting the channel and
adding delay works great to thicken acoustic guitars too. If this is not an option try a
Yamaha SPX “symphonic” patch. A little reverb can help bring out picked acoustic guitars
but you have to be careful it doesn’t muddy up a strummed acoustic. Remember that an
acoustic guitar’s body is designed to naturally boost sound and this can work against you
when using one on a loud stage.
Try using the HPF to cut out any low-end interference or a if that doesn’t work try a
“feedback buster”. This is a rubber bung that fits snugly into the sound hole. It can make
the guitar sound different but it cuts back on feedback and resonance.

Keyboards: If you can use a keyboard in stereo, rather than mono, do so. This will add
width and space to your mix. If a band has a lot of keys try compressing them all together
as a group.

Page 20 of 29
FOH Mixing
With piano sounds try taking a little mid out of the channel maybe around 1kHz. This will
give more space for the vocals.

Many engineers spend less time on the keys and concentrate on the vocals and guitars.
This is wrong and can upset the keyboard player. They’re there for a reason and can bring
another dimension to your mix.

Vocals: Try to train your singer to stay on the mic as much as possible. Remember the
proximity effect? Use a subtle valve compressor if you can. If you’re having trouble with

Page 21 of 29
FOH Mixing
getting the vocals heard over the band try sending them to a group as well as the mix. Use
the right FX but use them sparingly. If you can hear it it’s too much! Make sure any delay
or reverb is in time with the song. We will be looking at FX in more detail in a separate
module. Try double tracking the vocals by adding a short delay e.g. no more than 40
milliseconds. This can be good to add presence to a chorus.

The rest is up to you.

Remember to use you ears and have fun!

Show Etiquette
If you are the headline act and you’ve just sound checked, the last thing you are going to
want is the support act coming along and messing up all the settings that you’ve just spent
hours painstakingly getting right. Also you don’t want them shifting all your back-line to put
theirs on stage and moving all your perfectly placed mics.
It is the done thing that the support act will not touch any of the gear that the headline act
are using but this is not always possible. So how do we get round it?
On stage it is best to “spike” the mic stands, pedal boards, amps or monitors in fact
anything that needs to be moved. This means coloured tape is used to outline where the
gear sits (before it moves) allowing it to be put back exactly where it belongs.

It’s the done thing that a support engineer will not touch the headliner’s graphics but there
may be desk channels, compressors or gates that need to be shared. If you don’t have a
digital desk with total recall and this is the case, you as the headline engineer will need to
mark up these channels, comps and gates, so you can put them back exactly how you
need them. The best and most accurate way to do this is to use a high-resolution digital
camera with a large screen but the old school way is to use desk sheets. With a decent
camera you can quite easily take a picture of eight channels of a mixing desk or three or
four rack units and be able to zoom right in to a single knob or switch. With the old school
desk sheet way you’ll have to take your time to mark up every knob and button accurately.

Page 22 of 29
FOH Mixing
Whether you are the supporting engineer or the headline engineer remember to extend
the same courtesy to the other Engineers that you yourself would like to receive. In this
business you never know when the tables might be turned.

See the desk sheet for the Midas Verona below.

Page 23 of 29
FOH Mixing
Page 24 of 29
FOH Mixing
Festivals
Here follows a little guide as what to expect at festivals, as they tend to run very differently
from your average gig.

Firstly, there is very rarely a sound check at a festival. You’ll have to do a line check on
your headphones using the time between the band before you comes off stage, and you
going on. This might sound like a tall order but there are things you can do to make sure
things run smoothly.
One piece of advise is to go and listen to the band that is on before you. This will give you
an idea of how the PA sounds.
The people working the festival will be very busy at times but there should be a few
moments when they will be able to chat to you. Try not to get in their way though.
Try to arrive early and introduce yourself to the stage manager, shake his/her hand and
make friends with him/her. They will be your greatest ally. You’ll need to check with
him/her if they have your channel list and stage plan and check that he/she has the right
one and that it’s up to date. This is where your preparation comes in. The staff on stage
will have a lot to deal with and will have prepared for each band in advance. The Stage
Manager will be very pleased to hear your stage plan etc is correct, but he/she will be very
upset with you if he has to change any of his arrangements. Ask to be introduced to the
patch guy and monitor guy and check with them that they have the correct details. Make
friends with these people, you will need their co-operation.
Most festivals will allow you to set the back-line up back stage on risers, which can be
wheeled on to the stage during your change over time. You should find out from the Stage
Manager what time these risers become available for you to set up. You should definitely
put the drums on one and if you have a big keyboard rig you should set this up on another.
It’s a good idea to get as much stuff on wheels as possible. One trick is to take the amps
out of their cases, put the cases back together and place the amps on top of these. This
will allow you to wheel these on stage too. Get as much set up back-stage as possible.
The patch/mic person will set up the mics on the drum kit etc back-stage too so these will
need checking before you go FOH.

Page 25 of 29
FOH Mixing
It’s a good idea to go and visit the festival’s FOH guy/girl nice and early too. Find out
his/her name from the Stage Manager if you can and get him/her on your side. If you have
friendly way about you and are confident these people will more likely remember you and
what you need from them.
Ask the FOH system engineer if they have your channel list, which should have a list of
the inserts you require. You can have a look at the desk, discuss which gates/comps you’d
like to use at this point and have a look at what FX are available so you should start to
plan your mix. Make sure you know the set so you can prepare for the first song. If you
can try and set up some FX on your head phones before your line check starts.
Remember these people will be busy so try not to get in their way. Try to simplify things a
little. The easier you make it for them the easier it will be for you.
Some of the good festival stages will have flip/flop or A/B desks. This means that while
desk A is being used for the band on stage, desk B is there for the next engineer to set up
his/her mix. They then switch over so that desk B goes live and desk A is ready for the
next engineer to start his/her set up. This is by far the best way to do it because it usually
means that each desk comes with its own system engineer to help you get set up.
Hopefully the band you’re with will have a decent back-line crew to look after the change
over for you and a good Monitor Engineer to set up the sound on stage, because festivals
can be very busy if not.
When it comes to your line check, you’ll have to be swift but keep your head and don’t
panic. Make sure you know what the schedule of the stage is, and keep you eye on the
time. At some festivals they’ll fine you if you make the stage run over time. You really don’t
want the band to be dropping songs because you’re a bit slow do you?
You should call the line check using the talk to stage mic. It might be an idea for you to
announce how much time is left over the talk to stage occasionally but only if you don’t
wind anybody up.
You’ll have to use all your experience to put together a mix just on PFL. If you’re using a
group to compress the drums you could AFL the group to hear the drums as a kit, this will
give you a bit more of an idea of how it will sound. The real test will be when you un-mute
the desk and the band rip in to their first number. Use your ears, be ready and don’t loose
your head. If you’ve not forgotten anything and you’ve thought ahead, you should be
pleasantly surprised.

Page 26 of 29
FOH Mixing
Tools Of The Trade

A multi-meter:

For testing anything from batteries and fuses to 3 phase mains

supplies.

A multi-tool:

A Leatherman or a Gerber. These are robust tools for most jobs, they can be worn on your
belt, so they’re handy and will save space.

A torch:

A good, robust and bright torch with spare batteries.

Page 27 of 29
FOH Mixing
A get out of jail free card:

by this I mean a collection of audio adaptors e.g. female to

female and male to male XLRs, jack to XLRs, jack couplers,
NL4 couplers. Phono to jacks, stereo mini jack to 2x mono
phonos, Y-splits, W-splits etc. Basically a kit which will allow almost anything to be
connected to anything else.

A couple of Sharpies:

Good quality felt tip pens that will write on almost anything.
You will more than one because someone will almost
inevitably pinch them.

Page 28 of 29
FOH Mixing
PVC tape of various colours:
For various applications especially writing on desks.

Page 29 of 29
FOH Mixing