View All Students
David Deines
It's been an exciting couple of weeks. Last Saturday, I was able to work as the "sound guy" for my friend's band. They do a bunch of Top 40's covers, everything from some classic rock to a few pop tunes. I believe this was their 8th show; they've had some pretty good success up to this point and have been invited back to most of the places they've played. However, without a dedicated sound guy they've had a lot of trouble getting the monitors set properly, and they are unable to mix or even really hear what the audience hears. My friend Jon has been in charge of the sound up to this point, and he basically hates doing it. So, they were very happy and appreciative to have me around.
The week prior to the show, I spent many hours studying the manual for the mixer they have (Yamaha MG16XU) as well as watching a lot of YouTube videos explaining how live sound is mixed and providing some tips and such. I was basically processing things in my mind 24/7 during that week in preparation... yes, I even had dreams about it. When the night finally came, I felt very prepared. We did a very professional, solid sound check - I set the gain for each individual instrument/vocal just right with enough headroom to work some EQ, compression, etc. They said that they were having issues like the vocals being unintelligible and the bass not punching through the mix, as well as the monitors not being set up properly. I was able to solve all of those problems and had a lot of room to play around with some EQ and put a little reverb on the vocals to help them stand out more. Additionally, it was crucial to mix some of the songs live - with the variety of tunes they play it's not really effective to "set it and forget it." I was definitely working the faders for most of the night, making sure the balance was good.
I was also careful to not make it incredibly loud like I've seen so many people do. My approach was basically to make it so the back of the room could still hear comfortably and clearly, while the middle of the room was the best sound. Up front was loud of course, but not like ear-bleeding loud. I was standing right next to one of the main speakers for most of the night, and my ears weren't ringing or anything afterwards - which has been a major problem in the past when I go to such shows. I had a ton of headroom, however; I could have cranked up the Master to at least double the volume without distortion, in theory - according to my meters. The coolest thing I experienced was that the band was having a ton of fun because they could actually hear themselves clearly for the first time!
In addition to that exciting night, I've been very successful so far with the other project I'm working on - the Even Stevens sandwich shop music program. They hare a business from my hometown (Salt Lake City, Utah) that is expanding out here to Seattle in December. My bother has worked for them for years and told me that they were setting up this music program and that I should get involved. Basically, I talked to the coordinators this week and my role is to find local musicians to send their way. Up to this point, I've sent them 10 solid contacts - before I've even got some contacts from Jason! They were hoping for like 15-20 musicians to start with, and I think I may be able to deliver that for them. At this point, I'm only getting a small fee per contact, but there are long-term opportunities possible if I prove myself.
So yeah, it's been super busy doing all this stuff while also working full-time - but hopefully I will be able to move into more of a career with this type of work in the near future. I need to move to a new place in January too... so my life will continue to be a whirlwind. But it keeps me busy and I think I'm definitely moving in the right direction.
