CMU School of Drama


Monday, September 11, 2017

7 Crucial Mistakes Engineers Make Running Live Sound

The Pro Audio Files: Live sound is complicated. It’s a combination of art, science and customer service (nobody likes to admit that last part, but it’s true). There are dozens of channels, sends and settings to keep straight, and if anything does go wrong, all eyes in the room are on you.

We’ve all been there. We’ve all made mistakes, whether we’re fresh out of school or fresh off of our 25th tour. Sometimes, it’s no big deal and nobody notices, but occasionally, you ruin a wedding or two.

2 comments:

Ella R said...

While I know very little about sound design this was a really cool article to read to gain insight into something I want to learn more about. What is sort of weird is the list that they provide of crucial mistakes are just basic mistakes that any person can do, whether they are a sound engineer or not.

Mattox S. Reed said...

I think this is a perfect reminder for any sound mixer may they be on their first gig or their last. Sometimes sound technicians seem to try and do just to much with the console and lose the true purpose of what they are trying to do. Now I am not saying that they do a bad job its just that the world of sound mixing is complicated and sometimes the more complex stuff seems more interesting and therefore "more important." I felt that the mic placement and time management claims in this article were also extremely important to emphasize as they are two of the simplest things to control but yet often the easiest to overlook in a overcrowded system.