Ron Capik the and right, they you're nights, the well, Okay, I admit you've got a point. That doesn't excuse the performers, we expect them to know what they're doing out there on stage. But who's at fault if the baritone singer gets over-loud and realizes it, and backs away from the mic, just as the sound guy tweaks him back down?

The reason I said "I'm not sure how to respond" lies solely in the fact that while I know the audience deserves a good sound, and the soundman is an important part of that, I don't think it unreasonable to expect the performers to have learned some things about mic technique, and adjust the mix themselves using feedback from the monitors. Perhaps my upbringing skewed my outlook on things (I don't think anyone's ever said that bunch doesn't know what they're doing with a mic- for those new here, I'm a band brat of the original Scene, or for that matter, Gentlemen, but dad left them when I was somewhere around 5 or six months old), but I do think the band has at least as much responsibility for the blend as the soundman, and deserves at least a few seconds to adjust the mix themselves. If they have clue-immunity, and can't hear their imbalance, then by all means, step in and pot someone down or up I did watch a sound man get really frustrated once trying to ride gain on the trio of {can't recall whether it was the Gents, the Scene or the Osbornes, but it definitely was one of them three} and was moving sliders every half-second or so, because everytime he'd hear someone get too loud, he'd back them off at the same time the singer in question noticed it. After one chorus, he gave up, and let them work it themselves.

The same would probably *not* quite work for a bunch of inexperienced musicians. For those guys, absolutely ride gain on them. It would also be nice to have a secondary output that remains constant, so they could hear a tape, so they'd know what they were doing wrong.

I'd submit that in the presence of a *good* band, a *good* engineer-sound man can just sit back and enjoy the show, and add and subtract reverb as necessary for the mood of the song.

In the presence of a *bad* (or perhaps just an inexperienced one), a *good* engineer-sound man will have his hands full, and you've got my sympathies, and congratulations for making it so the audience has problems telling one from the other.

-- Lane Gray get the .lead out before replying (sorry for munging, I can only take so many copies of automat) Yes, I'm a minion of Satan, but my duties are largely ceremonial