300. Info & Wisdom Nuggets From The STN Discord Server

In Episode 300, the hosts take listeners on a trip over to the Signal to Noise Discord Server and dig into a grab bag of tips and tricks from the “Info and Wisdom Nuggets” thread. It’s a lighting round of great advice for anybody in the live audio field, from mixing to troubleshooting to career advice — there’s something useful for everybody! This episode is sponsored by Allen & Heath and RCF.

There’s way more in the thread than could possibly fit in one episode, so if you’re not already on the server, come join us, and then check out the entire discussion here.

Episode Links:
Discorder Server: Info & Wisdom Nuggets to Pass On
STN Episode 280: Tips & Tricks For A Speedy Mix
STN Episode 236: Pat Brown Of SynAudCon & Pro Sound Testing
Sennheiser MD 421 KOMPAKT
Episode 300 Transcript

Connect with the community on the Signal To Noise Facebook Group and Discord Server. Both are spaces for listeners to create to generate conversations around the people and topics covered in the podcast — we want your questions and comments!

Also please check out and support The Roadie Clinic, Their mission is simple. “We exist to empower & heal roadies and their families by providing resources & services tailored to the struggles of the touring lifestyle.”

The Signal To Noise Podcast on ProSoundWeb is co-hosted by pro audio veterans Andy Leviss and Sean Walker.

Want to be a part of the show? If you have a quick tip to share, or a question for the hosts, past or future guests, or listeners at home, we’d love to include it in a future episode. You can send it to us one of two ways:

1) If you want to send it in as text and have us read it, or record your own short audio file, send it to signal2noise@prosoundweb.com with the subject “Tips” or “Questions”

2) If you want a quick easy way to do a short (90s or less) audio recording, go to https://www.speakpipe.com/S2N and leave us a voicemail there

Transcript

Episode 300 - Tips and Tricks Grabbag

Note: This is an automatically generated transcript, so there might be mistakes--if you have any notes or feedback on it, please send them to us at signal2noise@prosoundweb.com so we can improve the transcripts for those who use them!

Voiceover: You’re listening to Signal to Noise, part of the ProSoundWeb podcast network, proudly brought to you this week by the following sponsors:

Allen & Heath, whose new dLive RackUltra FX upgrade levels up your console with 8 next-generation FX racks – putting powerful tools like vocal tuning, harmonizing, and amp simulation right at your fingertips. Learn more at allen-heath.com 

RCF and TT+ AUDIO.... Delivering premium audio solutions designed for tour sound and music professionals for over 75 years.  Visit RCF at RCF-USA.com for the latest news and product information.

Music: “Break Free” by Mike Green

[00:00:54] Andy Leviss: Yeah, see, my mind just went blank again. I had a thing in my mind, just went like, fuck.

welcome to another episode of Signal to Noise. I'm your host, Andy Leviss, and with me as always the bad to my joke, Mr. Sean Walker. That one was just terrible,

[00:01:20] Sean Walker: All right, dad,

[00:01:21] Andy Leviss: right?

[00:01:23] Sean Walker: how are you this week, buddy?

[00:01:25] Andy Leviss: I'm, I'm, um, I'm rough, if I'm gonna be

honest. It's the, the, the, the constant, uh, trickle of daycare, sicknesses going around and, and there's definitely a bit of a stomach thing, tap dancing.

Its way around my household right now,

[00:01:40] Sean Walker: lame. That's, that's never fun, dude.

it's easy when it's you. It's tough when it's the kiddo. You know?

[00:01:46] Andy Leviss: Yeah. And I, I think everybody else is getting better right now. I think it might've come around to me, so We'll, we'll see if I suddenly tap out halfway through this episode.

[00:01:55] Sean Walker: Just keel over thump.

[00:01:57] Andy Leviss: Yeah. I, I, I, I, that, that is probably where the joke that I had formed went away and my brain was just like, oh, okay, let's sit down and slow down.

[00:02:04] Sean Walker: Oh my God, that's, that's rough,

[00:02:06] Andy Leviss: well, so, you know, it's, it's, today is one of those weird, it's sort of a milestone and it's sort of not for us. 'cause this is episode 300, it turns out. Um, yeah, which is, which is, because it's episode 300 for the show, but it's not, it's like episode like 80 something for you and me.

So it's a little, you know, it's, it's a a, it's a little, little mixed bag of a, of a thing here in terms of like, uh, like celebrating it with a large thing feels weird to me. Is that, is that fair?

[00:02:36] Sean Walker: Yeah. Totally.

Totally.

[00:02:37] Andy Leviss: it, it's, um, but like we, we do wanna acknowledge every, like, Hey, y'all have been here for 300 episodes and keep coming back and that's awesome.

And we're gonna,

[00:02:46] Sean Walker: Gluttons for punishment. The lot of you.

[00:02:48] Andy Leviss: right. What does that say about you and me? Um, but now, and we'll, I've, I've got some thoughts on like, we, you know, we talked about doing like a big live thing, like doing it in person, like for 200, just like it's, it's busy season for everybody. I've got the little one at home, like, it, it, the logistics, were not there for that.

So maybe we'll look at like episode three 50 or 400 dunes or just maybe we'll find some time during the down season and just for no excuse at all, do like signal to noise con, who knows?

[00:03:16] Sean Walker: Ooh, that'd be fun. I don't actually get a down season if I'm being really candid, which is a blessing and a curse. Right. Uh, it's a blessing. It's not a

[00:03:22] Andy Leviss: Yeah,

[00:03:23] Sean Walker: blessing. but but I'll make time to go to, you know,

let, I mean, let's go to Vegas or something, dude, where we can just

[00:03:28] Andy Leviss: yeah.

[00:03:29] Sean Walker: like leave, leave it all there.

Like, don't, you know what I mean? Don't bring it back. We won't talk about it. Like what happens

in Vegas, stays in Vegas kind of a situation. Nashville was awesome and it's one of my favorite cities, candidly, but, uh, you know, Vegas would be fucking sick.

[00:03:42] Andy Leviss: Yeah, I could, I could. I, I mean,

[00:03:45] Sean Walker: Or something.

[00:03:46] Andy Leviss: a, yeah, no, it's been a few. I actually just met the T-S-D-C-A, the Theater Sound Designers and Composers association that, you know, we've talked about with a bunch of guests before. Just had their annual meeting in Vegas, which I did not go to 'cause I had enough other stuff going on here.

But, uh, I've been, I've been seeing all the posts from friends there and, and missing out on that a little bit. So it's, you, you're, you're not making an awful case.

[00:04:09] Sean Walker: Right, right.

Totally. I mean, I'm, I'm down, I'm down for anywhere. That's cool. If y y'all out there got suggestions, hit us up in the discord and let us know where we should, where we should make a, make an event,

some kind of event. It doesn't even have to be for an episode. Just

like, you know, let's, let's freaking plan

something.

Go hang out and smoke cigars, drink beers and fucking eat dinner, y'all. You know what

I mean?

[00:04:30] Andy Leviss: And, and see how many minutes the group can go without actually talking about audio.

[00:04:34] Sean Walker: Hell no. That won't even happen. Not even

one, not even one minute, dude.

[00:04:37] Andy Leviss: Um, but yeah, so, uh, we're, we're just gonna hang, kinda like catch up a little bit. We, we had a guest scheduled for today that is, uh, they are, uh, world traveling right now and had some internet issues, so we're gonna reschedule with them.

But Sean and I didn't wanna leave you guys hanging and I had a couple things on my list for stuff we were gonna do the next couple weeks, so we figured we'd kind of bump that up.

[00:04:58] Sean Walker: be honest. Andy was the responsible and didn't wanna leave you hanging. I wanted to go back to bed. It's early here.

[00:05:02] Andy Leviss: it is, it is, it is, it is 11, 11:00 AM for me, 8:00 AM for Sean. I did offer to let him sleep in and come back a few hours

[00:05:09] Sean Walker: I was already caffeinated. I'm, uh, I'm fired up.

[00:05:11] Andy Leviss: Yeah. He is like, I'm going, I'm going. Um, well, you know what? In, in, in, in the lieu of it being episode 300 and Traditions and all, you know what we haven't done in a while.

We haven't done coolest thing in arm's reach. So you, you got anything Sean,

[00:05:26] Sean Walker: Let me

see

[00:05:26] Andy Leviss: do you wanna think while I go?

[00:05:28] Sean Walker: Coolest thing in arm's reach is a, is a little, um, like. Like a Popsicle stick or tongue depressor kind of thing that my daughter made for me. That just is all the reasons I love you for Father's Day,

[00:05:42] Andy Leviss: Duh

[00:05:42] Sean Walker: I It's awesome, dude. So I just keep it here in the office to remind me that why I'm, why I'm doing all

this fricking hard, crazy work.

[00:05:50] Andy Leviss: That's, oh, that's, that's as now that I've joined the parent club. I feel that a lot. So

[00:05:55] Sean Walker: But don't tell anybody that I've got a soft side. I've, I really work on this whole like, you know, egotistical prick thing.

[00:06:01] Andy Leviss: Sean, you know we're recording right?

[00:06:02] Sean Walker: Oh, oh, sorry. Sorry.

[00:06:05] Andy Leviss: I'm, you don't, you don't pay me enough to edit that out. Um, I'll, and I've actually, I am talking on a different mic than normal. 'cause I got a cool new toy to play with, which is the Sennheiser MD 4 21 Compact. You have to pronounce it that way 'cause it's German with all the Ks.

Um,

and

[00:06:22] Sean Walker: there be no mistakes,

[00:06:24] Andy Leviss: Yeah. Yeah, it is. And I'll like pan dance can see it. It is the most adorable thing ever.

[00:06:30] Sean Walker: man? Things you hope she never says to

[00:06:31] Andy Leviss: Uh Right.

Um, but pr proving that, that, uh, the size doesn't matter. It, I mean, I think it's, I I think it sounds pretty. In fact, I think it sounds pretty good. It's, so, it turns out that most of the bulk and most of the weight of the classic 4 21 is the rotary switch to do the, like, the different vo like the music or speech voicings on it.

So they went ahead and took one and were like, what if we make it just flat? 'cause for music, that's what 90% of the people use it in that flat music setting. If we take that out though, let's then make it smaller and lighter weight. And it's like, it's literally like half the length of a normal 4 21. And that's, I mean, that's cool.

That's handy. You put a right angle connector on it, it fits real nice on top of a tom, but also. We've spent however many decades it is giving them some gentle, sometimes not so gentle ribbing about the clip. Which to be fair, it was designed as a radio announcer mic, that quick release clip on it made sense there 'cause it was gonna get installed on a desk and like rarely taken off.

It was not designed to get tossed around a work box and thrown on drum kits all the time. But when they redesigned this new 4 21 compact, they got rid of that detachable clip. And the clip is just a regular swivel mic clip that is permanently attached to the microphone.

[00:07:53] Sean Walker: Yes.

[00:07:54] Andy Leviss: And it is, it is awesome. It's, and I mean, you're, you're listening to it, it sounds, I think it sounds pretty decent.

It sounds like like a 4 21 in flat mode pretty much. Um, yeah, the clip is not going anywhere. It's fits in the palm of my hand and it is so shockingly lightweight. So yeah, I'm kind of kicking the tires on that this week and figure I'd throw it on here and listen to it too. Um,

[00:08:17] Sean Walker: Nice. Well, it sounds great, buddy.

[00:08:19] Andy Leviss: yeah. Yeah. That's my coolest thing in arm's reach, I think.

Um, yeah, otherwise it's all like medicines and like cough drops and stuff.

[00:08:27] Sean Walker: Don't die,

[00:08:28] Andy Leviss: Yeah.

Um, well, like what, what's new with you?

[00:08:32] Sean Walker: I, uh. I'm on an m and a kick. If I'm being real candid, I've, uh, made two offers out to other companies to

[00:08:38] Andy Leviss: Yeah. And say define for the audio nerds among us.

[00:08:42] Sean Walker: mergers and acquisitions.

I'm buying more companies and taking over the world, you know, kinda like Claire's doing, but on a smaller scale,

[00:08:48] Andy Leviss: seeing this is where I should have started the episode with the, the brain to my pinky.

[00:08:54] Sean Walker: right? Totally.

[00:08:55] Andy Leviss: You know, I'm realizing, looking at our photos and this, have you ever seen the meme that like to have any, have a TV show you need one orange shaped man and one banana shaped man.

[00:09:03] Sean Walker: Mm.

[00:09:04] Andy Leviss: And then they always show like, it's like Bernard, Ernie, George and Jerry's, um, Seinfeld,

[00:09:09] Sean Walker: I'm orange. Your banana? Is that where you're going

[00:09:10] Andy Leviss: think so, yeah.

As I'm looking at the screenshot here, like my head is kind of, yeah.

[00:09:14] Sean Walker: Yeah, yeah. All right. All

[00:09:16] Andy Leviss: Um,

[00:09:16] Sean Walker: you calling me? Are you calling me round, Andy? Is that what you're saying? I'm round

[00:09:20] Andy Leviss: Just your

[00:09:20] Sean Walker: because round's of shape, I'm in shape, bro. Round's of

[00:09:22] Andy Leviss: I, it is. I'm, I'm not gonna stand up and show off my baby belly,

[00:09:27] Sean Walker: Yeah. Right. Sympathy weight. Is that what it

is?

[00:09:31] Andy Leviss: I, you know, um, yeah, I'm, I'm merging and acquiring food.

[00:09:38] Sean Walker: Yeah, right. Totally.

[00:09:42] Andy Leviss: Um, no. Well that's also like, I hope that's going well for you. I am.

[00:09:45] Sean Walker: It's going awesome, man.

I'm just, uh, looking for general managers to, you know, run said companies so I can be in one place at a time and not 10 places across the country at a time, but

[00:09:55] Andy Leviss: I gonna say, is this like local to your area or like other area?

[00:09:58] Sean Walker: Nope. All over the country.

[00:10:00] Andy Leviss: Nice.

So yeah, if there's, if there's folks who have management experience and, and wanna work for this crazy guy, hit him up.

[00:10:07] Sean Walker: Who wants to get paid? Call

me

[00:10:09] Andy Leviss: Is it, uh, Shauna, what, what's the email address?

[00:10:11] Sean Walker: Your mom@yourmom.com? No, uh, sean@audioengineersnw.com.

[00:10:16] Andy Leviss: So yeah, maybe, maybe somebody out there listening will be the, the perfect match for you

guys. Dude, we should do the interviews as like a dating show episode.

[00:10:24] Sean Walker: Oh, snap.

[00:10:25] Andy Leviss: Yeah. Bachelor number one.

[00:10:27] Sean Walker: Yeah. Right.

[00:10:28] Andy Leviss: If Sean called you and said,

[00:10:30] Sean Walker: Right. If Sean called you and offered you six figures run a company, what would

you say?

[00:10:35] Andy Leviss: Uh, cool. Well

[00:10:37] Sean Walker: yeah. It's been fun. It's been, you know what, man, it's been cool to learn something new, right? Like we

spent so long like obsessing about audio and how to like get, get better at that. And it's been cool to do the same thing on something else. You know what I mean?

So it's been a nice much needed break from like, you know, what compressor do I love on my snare drum? You know,

[00:10:56] Andy Leviss: Yep.

That's awesome.

[00:10:58] Sean Walker: you compress your snare drum.

[00:10:59] Andy Leviss: yeah. So, you know, I've definitely had times where like, I, I spent a while chasing a snare drum sound, particularly on a monitor gig, only to eventually realize, wait a second, this tremor iss just good enough that any compression I do on it is gonna fuck it up.

[00:11:13] Sean Walker: Totally,

[00:11:14] Andy Leviss: And that's, that's, uh, I feel that's one of, one of those important pieces of advice, I think, is to know when to not do too much.

[00:11:22] Sean Walker: For sure. I wish I had known that advice. In my younger years,

'cause I used to just throw the kitchen sink at that

motherfucker, bro.

[00:11:31] Andy Leviss: Yep, yep. You, me and everybody

else.

[00:11:33] Sean Walker: right. Totally.

[00:11:34] Andy Leviss: well, you know, on that ticket, what I, uh, one of the things that I had been kicking around in a thing to do on an episode that I think would be a, a solid, you know, here for, for this, uh, official unofficial episode 300 is dipping into the discord for folks.

And I know some of the folks listening are, you know, well familiar and, and regular denizens of the discord. And that's my big word for the day.

[00:11:56] Sean Walker: Ooh, who's a big boy?

Who's a big boy?

[00:11:59] Andy Leviss: I am, I am. Um, uh, but I know there's some folks who aren't and there's, it's, so Discord iss a chat server for those who haven't ever joined in.

And generally we have a bunch of different channels with different topics that are just random fire streams of conversation. But there's also a forums section on it that is more like dedicated threads of certain topics that folks can come back to. And it, it's not exactly like a web forum 'cause it's just not a forum website format, but it's a fixed.

Topic conversation that's like a little more streamlined and just dropping conversation on the topic and leave other things outside. And one of the very early ones going back to like, started in like 2023 was uh, our buddy Tyler Space Cowboy, for those who, uh, who are on the discord, uh, started one on info and wisdom nuggets to pass on, which, uh, the, the pitch Tyler had for, for this thread was, let's try something.

Pretend you just got a new intern apprentice, green hire in any job involving audio, trying to not repeat what somebody else has already said here in one sentence, what is something you would teach them about the job? Fact, opinion, knowledge, wisdom, advice, technical, professional, personal, whatever. Thrown as many as you want.

So this thread bubbles up again occasionally, and folks will throw stuff in when, you know, when they remember it's there, have something to think. Or sometimes, like somebody will say something in another, uh, thread in the discord and I'll forward it into there to kind of keep it for posterity. So I thought maybe we could run through some of those and share some of those and talk about 'em and, and maybe throw in some new ones of our own as, as we think of them and kind of both give folks a handy little tips and trips, tips and tricks and wisdom, uh, extravaganza Buffet to go and, uh, also give folks a taste of what sometimes goes on on the discord.

[00:13:45] Sean Walker: Sweet. I.

[00:13:47] Andy Leviss: So, yeah, so, and, and Tyler just started out, started nice and nice and basic, which was, uh, learn to use good game structure, which you and I have talked about extensively. We've, in fact, we will, I will try and, uh, remember to put link in the show notes to the episode you and I did, you know, a couple months ago that kind of dug into gain structure and getting a mix up quick.

[00:14:07] Sean Walker: Totally.

[00:14:08] Andy Leviss: Um,

[00:14:09] Sean Walker: I mean, that applies to your whole rig, not just to your mix. Right. But

it's, it's paramount through the whole thing, man.

[00:14:14] Andy Leviss: Yep. Yeah, I mean, like, we've talked about that with Pat Brown. We talked about it, you know, amongst ourselves.

[00:14:19] Sean Walker: Literally, almost everybody has mentioned it at some point.

It's that important.

[00:14:23] Andy Leviss: yep, yep. You gotta get those big gains. Wait, no, that's a different thing. I love that. As I said that Sean just pounded a can of whatever was in his,

[00:14:33] Sean Walker: I, it's Pamper Moose, bro.

The

[00:14:36] Andy Leviss: Oh, Lara. Or the, the, uh, low battery grapefruit.

[00:14:40] Sean Walker: a hundred percent bro. Like it went by the grapefruit farm on its way and it's freaking

delicious.

[00:14:45] Andy Leviss: of Hint of Lime,

[00:14:46] Sean Walker: Yeah. Hell yes.

[00:14:48] Andy Leviss: that that meme that went around is one of my, one of my all time favorites. The different honest, honest descriptions of the CR flavors or the Croix or the Crocs, depending on who you ask.

[00:14:57] Sean Walker: Yeah, man.

[00:14:58] Andy Leviss: Um,

alright,

[00:14:59] Sean Walker: I'm on that Sparkle Water flop. I

had to, I had to ditch the drinking years ago, and so I've, I got on the cigars and Sparkle water flop and it's, you know,

[00:15:07] Andy Leviss: So we are, yeah, we're, depending on who you ask in our house, we're either a Spindrift house or a Topo Chico's like version of a Spindrift,

[00:15:14] Sean Walker: All right. All right.

[00:15:15] Andy Leviss: Yeah, a spindrift. Like it's a little juice. It's, it's,

[00:15:17] Sean Walker: It's awesome.

[00:15:18] Andy Leviss: yeah, they do like a, like a tea, lemonade, sparkling water. So it's like, it's got the flavor of like an Arnold Palmer, but it's not very sweet and it's, it's sparkly seltzer.

[00:15:27] Sean Walker: It's,

not 40 grams of shirt to

[00:15:28] Andy Leviss: yeah. And they do, they do, they do a no heto, which is pretty salt. Like a mint and lime. Yeah. They also, they just came out with a Cosmopolitan, which I have not had,

[00:15:37] Sean Walker: All right.

[00:15:38] Andy Leviss: um,

yeah.

[00:15:39] Sean Walker: What do you wanna get fancy when you, when you're at Pinky's up for the night?

Yeah.

[00:15:44] Andy Leviss: Uh hmm. Oh, okay. So then, uh, Tyler's other tip was if something sounds bad, fix that as close to the sources you can,

[00:15:53] Sean Walker: To

Totally,

[00:15:54] Andy Leviss: 90% of cases is move the mic or put a different mic on it.

[00:15:58] Sean Walker: totally,

[00:15:59] Andy Leviss: Like, we'll, yeah, it's easy to sit there at front of house and, and try and e cue yourself out of a hole, but at a certain point, if the mic's in the wrong place, the mic's in the wrong place.

Um, I, I feel like, I mean, that happens with a lot of things. I feel like that's especially a big one on drums and on guitar Amps.

[00:16:17] Sean Walker: totally. Dude.

Where do you, uh, where do you think the right place is on drums and guitars

[00:16:22] Andy Leviss: um,

[00:16:23] Sean Walker: to start? I

[00:16:24] Andy Leviss: I, I mean it, I mean, I was gonna say Guitar amp, it depends 'cause what tone am I going for? 'cause you know, if, if I'm moving more to the edge of the cone for some more meat or going into the center for a little more bite,

[00:16:35] Sean Walker: right, right, right.

Totally.

[00:16:37] Andy Leviss: uh, yeah. And I mean. Drums. Yeah. It's, it's finding that, you know, that angle of, you know, an inch or two off the side and making sure I'm getting enough attack, that's, I feel like that's the biggest thing that, that's gonna, you know, mess up your day on drums, is that, that angle and the combination, depending on what mic you have of how much, like off axis won't you're getting, uh, versus how much attack, and I mean, that's almost like three Q knobs in one, depending on how close you are to the drum head and, and what angle you're at.

[00:17:05] Sean Walker: I've found, I've found about three fingers off the drum head has been a really good starting place for me for most things. For, you know, when I'm talking about like top microphones or even bottom

microphones, but like about three fingers off the drum head pointed at the middle is a real good place to start for not like, for like a general, I don't know what I'm getting into, you know what I

mean?

As you're just going moving quick. And I found that like where the dust cap meets the cone straight on for a guitar cab as close to the grill as I can without physically touching the grill. So I don't hear that wiggling around

is a good place to start and then again move to taste or slide around as needed.

But those have been great places to, for people that are like.

You know, just kicking it off going, what do you mean where to start? Like the, the, that's what we're talking about. And for those of you, you know, season pros out there, you know, you know good and Well, I had to say something.

[00:17:53] Andy Leviss: Yeah. Yeah. I mean, like snare bottom's, a whole bigger conversation. 'cause we know I to, to, you know, invoke the drinking game. You know, 15 minutes into the episode, I've,

I've copped, I've copped a trick from Ryan and I tend to put a, these days in a bear, I'm 88, uh, below it, but further backed off like six to eight inches rather than right on the snares to give it a little more room and body.

And I think the way Ryan described it when he suggested it in, in the Discord at one point, was it, it makes it sound like a drum again as opposed to just some snares.

[00:18:25] Sean Walker: All right. All

[00:18:26] Andy Leviss: Um, and I, it, that was one of those that's crazy enough. I'm gonna try it and it, it, it is like the first s narrow bottom sound I really, really like.

So,

[00:18:36] Sean Walker: That's awesome, dude. I gotta, I have to try that. I haven't done it live. The snare

bottom sound I found that I like the most is a. Four 14 in wide cart in the studio,

and it's already many inches off the snare because of the shock mount. You know

[00:18:48] Andy Leviss: Yep, yep.

[00:18:49] Sean Walker: Uh, but the, the first time that, that, I did that, uh, actually I didn't do it.

Chuck Ainley did it and I was watching, I went, holy shit. 'cause it sounded like a drum because said you were like, wow, that thing sounds awesome. What is that? He's like,

snare bottom. I was like, get outta

here. then he brought the whole thing and I was like, oh man, that thing takes over the world. I love

[00:19:06] Andy Leviss: yeah. Nice. Um, I actually was thinking that I might actually, the, the 4 21 compact, I might actually try as a

[00:19:11] Sean Walker: Oh

[00:19:11] Andy Leviss: some point because it's like, again, it's like half the size of my MAD eight and similarly one of those like, you know, classic like Tom kick drum, like full, full range, but not too mpy. So that might, that might do the same vibe.

Um,

[00:19:28] Sean Walker: totally. Yeah. Let us know. Report back

[00:19:31] Andy Leviss: And then I guess the, the other placement thing that people have strong, strong and varied opinions on would be, uh, grand piano.

[00:19:39] Sean Walker: 49, 9.

[00:19:40] Andy Leviss: Yeah. I'm, I'm a pair of 40, 90 nines, and I'm weirdly, I don't think it's in the printed documentation, but DPA has a video about it where they put the two of them about six to eight inches apart, roughly 90 degrees pointed from each other in the curve of the piano.

And then basically shift the one, you know, to match the gains, match the EQs totally flat, and basically just shift the aim of the one pointed more towards the lows or more towards the highs to balance it out. And like, if you're going for a fairly natural piano sound like 90% of the time you don't need any eq.

And it's like, it's a far like more coherent piano sound than I've ever gotten with a space pair

[00:20:18] Sean Walker: Dope.

[00:20:19] Andy Leviss: and I don't have to deal with sagging gaff tape

[00:20:21] Sean Walker: I was just gonna say, you don't have to deal with four fourteens on K 50 Bridges.

[00:20:25] Andy Leviss: Oh my god. That like that. You that, that the reverb sound of a four 14 slowly settling into place on the strings halfway through it show is a thing you only only have to hear once in your life to, if you know, you know,

[00:20:44] Sean Walker: Right.

[00:20:46] Andy Leviss: that's, that was the point where I started using the little, the Petco, like mini alter clamp jammies.

You know, the, You know, what I'm talking about? The little, the little petco clamp with the double, the double swivel.

[00:20:57] Sean Walker: Nope.

[00:20:58] Andy Leviss: Um, I'll, I'll drop, I'll drop a photo in the show notes. I don't have one within arms reach, but it's the little, it's like the little, a little clamp and then it's got the two ball joints with the screw in the middle and the mic thread on the top so you can kind of angle it any

[00:21:11] Sean Walker: Oh, yes, I know what you're talking

[00:21:13] Andy Leviss: Yeah. Yeah. The little, like Petco, I think it's called the Ultra Clamp. I think that's the, um,

[00:21:17] Sean Walker: I don't know the name, but I can visualize what you're talking about.

[00:21:19] Andy Leviss: yeah, like that's, I started using those for the, the first time I had the,

[00:21:23] Sean Walker: Ball clamps. Got it.

[00:21:24] Andy Leviss: gaff type, uh, slipping onto the string sound. I immediately was like, cool. I'm throwing two of those in my bag every show now.

[00:21:30] Sean Walker: There you go.

[00:21:31] Andy Leviss: Um, yeah.

Uh, ba um, I mean, I could go off on a tangent on pianos and we could talk about whole mics and pickups, but we'll save that for another, we could do, we, we should get a couple folks on and we could do a whole episode on, on pianos

[00:21:45] Sean Walker: Let's do it. Yeah.

[00:21:46] Andy Leviss: Um, okay. Let's see. Going through, uh, fix that as Okay. We, yeah. So something sounds bad.

Fix those as close to the source as we can. Um, yeah, I mean, new folks learn to over under, I don't think there's anybody listening here who doesn't. No how to over under, although if there is like just Yeah. Yep. Coiling cables. And if there is like, no shame on that. Like we, we love having new folks listening.

That's great. And so I, if I give you one piece of homework for this episode, there's a bunch of good videos on YouTube on how to over under, like hit us up. We'll, I mean, I'll, I'll record you a video on my phone showing you how to do it. It won't make your life so much easier. Um, there's a, there's a couple here, uh, that, uh, you know, either phrased as the next in is better if you do a well organized out the, uh, is the way that Tyler put it, Eric, uh, known as cable evangelist in the Discord.

Then counter that with the out is better if you do a well organized in. Uh, and then our, our, uh, former co-host, uh, Katie then summarized it well as load in for the out and load out for the in. And I think that's. And so I think those, those couple sentiments all balled up are, are pretty solid advice that folks sometimes don't remember

[00:23:03] Sean Walker: I mean, that's, that's assuming you're not going back to the shop to de prep and rere between, right?

[00:23:09] Andy Leviss: for sure. And, but even, I mean, technically one could argue that going back into the shop is, isn't in, into the shop. And there's about like, I having worked as the shop guy and worked on the show. I, I see. But like, I never wanna see somebody on the show be totally like, f it. That's what there's, you know, returns folks at the shop for, unless they're the person doing it.

But even if you're the person doing it, like, you know, treat, treat the gear and the pack with a little bit of respect to make your life easier. 'cause at a certain point, even if it's you doing it, unless you're the one paying the bills, you're wasting your boss's time. If you're making your life hard on the, you know, if you've got a UNM 50, you know, 50 XLRs.

[00:23:49] Sean Walker: A hundred percent. A hundred percent. Yeah. I wasn't,

I wasn't

[00:23:53] Andy Leviss: No, I, I was, I wasn't saying that you were, I Not at all. I'm, I'm throwing that out there for folks 'cause it is unfortunately an attitude I still see in the field more often than I'd like to.

[00:24:02] Sean Walker: You know what? We get those reports from the shop.

Hey, every time this person or these people are on shows, it comes back a disaster. Or every time these people are on shows, it comes back fricking pristine.

[00:24:14] Andy Leviss: Mm-hmm.

[00:24:15] Sean Walker: who do you think gets more work?

Who do you think I'm calling again? Right. You do

a great job and the pack comes back.

Awesome. Shoot. You're number no call number one.

[00:24:23] Andy Leviss: Absolutely. Um, and like, and there's within reason, like, I don't expect, like, I don't necessarily expect, you know, anybody on a show to like peel all the labels off. Like, I, I think there should be lots of labels to peel off. 'cause even it's a one off. If you take the 20 seconds to label a cable before you run it, it will make your troubleshooting so much faster.

Um, but yeah, I don't, I don't necessarily need, you know, the person packing it up on and out at the end of a long day to like, sit there peeling every bit of gaff tape back off like that. I'm totally fine with, with, you know, folks at the shop

[00:24:53] Sean Walker: No, we're just saying don't make it the spaghetti mess when you get outta the

[00:24:55] Andy Leviss: Yeah. And like, I don't even care, like I don't need all the XLR in that box and all the like NL four in that box.

Like, unless, I mean, even if it's a kit, if it's a kit, like if you're doing the shop prep and D prep, right, you're recounting the kit every time anyway. So it's just put it in a box and put it in a way that somebody's not gonna curse your name when they unpack it.

[00:25:12] Sean Walker: a hundred percent.

[00:25:14] Andy Leviss: Uh, okay. Go down the list more. Uh, uh, another one from Tyler coming in.

You can make good be louder. Good, but louder bad is just worse.

[00:25:25] Sean Walker: Make it louder. Give a lighter,

[00:25:27] Andy Leviss: Like if, if, if the source is good, you can make it louder and, and gooder, but if it's bad and you make it louder, it's just gonna sound worse. Um, which again gets back to that whole, you know, if something sounds bad, try and fix it at the source. Um, but also there's a certain point where like the bad stuff coming in, at a certain point it might be a thing you can do nothing about.

And I think it's, it's important to understand that sometimes our job is damage control and sometimes it's making the best of what we've got and trying to get, you know, what's coming into you fixed. But at a certain point, if that's what the, what an artist is giving you, do what you can with it. That's a, is that the Serenity Prayer?

Is that

[00:26:07] Sean Walker: Probably

[00:26:09] Andy Leviss: Yeah, the, the, you know, to change the things I can and accept the things I can't. I'm sure somebody's gonna drop into the, the comments later and, and, and actually quote it properly for me.

[00:26:20] Sean Walker: Or the AE version. Sometimes things are great and sometimes it's all fucked. But do the best you can

anyway.

[00:26:25] Andy Leviss: Yeah. That's like, you know, o O'Tooles commentary on Murphy's Law. I mean, we know what Murphy's Law is,

[00:26:30] Sean Walker: Yeah, yeah.

[00:26:31] Andy Leviss: Everything that can go wrong will go wrong. O O'Tooles commentary on Murphy Law is, Murphy was an incurable optimist.

[00:26:38] Sean Walker: All right. All right.

[00:26:40] Andy Leviss: Uh, what else? Uh, uh, bring snacks We've talked about many, many times on the show.

Don't Be a Dick. Could be our unofficial show motto.

[00:26:49] Sean Walker: It's the official show model, bro.

Yeah.

[00:26:51] Andy Leviss: all right? We gotta get it on sticker. We gotta see if, see if the home office will approve that on a sticker.

[00:26:55] Sean Walker: Not a chance they're gonna approve that on a sticker, but it's, but it's our show motto.

[00:26:59] Andy Leviss: Fair enough. Fair enough.

[00:27:01] Sean Walker: We just have to do a better job of living that motto sometimes

handy.

[00:27:04] Andy Leviss: Yep. Uh, what else? So, um, Arne, our Icelandic friend, uh, he, he threw into the thread. Um, troubleshooting and solving issues is like the most important. It doesn't matter if you're the best mix engineer in the world, if you can't get the show running.

[00:27:19] Sean Walker: A hundred percent.

[00:27:21] Andy Leviss: And then, um, uh, going back, we had one from Katie, which we do, the, those of you who remember is Katie had a, has a, a deep seated interest in, in the history of road cases.

And, uh, she threw in the, if it's not on wheels, put it on wheels. And, and more broadly zooming that out to work smarter, not harder.

[00:27:41] Sean Walker: totally.

If it don't roll it, don't go. Is that where you're at?

[00:27:45] Andy Leviss: I, I like that. Yeah. That, see that, that's, that's how we phrase it for a bumper sticker.

[00:27:49] Sean Walker: There you go.

[00:27:50] Andy Leviss: Um, and then, uh, another one from Tyler was, uh, remember why you got into this in the first place?

Wait,

[00:27:57] Sean Walker: I can't, I can't remember. Too

many, too many whiskeys

[00:28:02] Andy Leviss: we'll have to have, we'll have to have an intervention for you, but I think that's it. Like, it's the, we, we do all get caught up in that. Like the show must go on vibe and like on the, on the days that are rough or even on the days when we're doing just a gig, that's not very fun. It can be easy to, like, I.

It just becomes a job or it just becomes a slog and forget that like there's a reason we're doing audio and there's a re, like there's a re there's a reason you gotta do it in the first place. And I think, I think it's, it's good to have that perspective and remind yourself and be aware of when it's not fun anymore and take that as a sign that maybe, maybe you need to do like Sean did with his family, like, you know, a year or two ago and like, fuck off to Italy for a vacation for a week or two.

'cause you're overdue.

[00:28:45] Sean Walker: A hundred percent. A hundred percent

[00:28:47] Andy Leviss: while you're there, visit our friends at RCF.

[00:28:49] Sean Walker: right. Totally.

[00:28:51] Andy Leviss: Um, oh, there's a couple, a couple good ones that are similar, which, um, Hannah Goodine, who's, who's, you know, a good friend of ours over at Rational Acoustic said, don't be afraid of the people that you look up to. And then Dom kind of, uh, pivoted off that and said, there's nothing wrong with asking questions at the right time.

[00:29:09] Sean Walker: What about my MO of asking questions at the wrong time?

[00:29:14] Andy Leviss: That's just your role on this podcast. We accept

it.

[00:29:17] Sean Walker: great. Perfect, perfect.

[00:29:18] Andy Leviss: I mean, that, that is definitely what you and I do. Most of this is like, we hang out with some cool people, like we look up to and we ask them silly questions.

[00:29:25] Sean Walker: I just do it for y'all, dude. I just do it so that you guys don't have to be embarrassed and you can get all the answers you really want.

[00:29:30] Andy Leviss: Yeah. But no, go ahead. And I know like folks, I mean, folks on the Discord DM me all the time and like, I mean, I don't think I'm, I'm, I'm that exciting a person to look up to, but like I'm smart about the things I'm smart about and I'm always happy to answer questions. Um, and yeah, I mean like I'll, like, I'll reach out to like guys like Ryan that are like, I mean, in a totally different class of mixer than like you or I mean, I think is fair to say.

[00:29:54] Sean Walker: Fair to say?

[00:29:55] Andy Leviss: And, and uh, and like I'll reach out to them all the time and ask real stupid questions sometimes. And that's how you learn. That's how you get better.

[00:30:02] Sean Walker: a hundred percent.

[00:30:04] Andy Leviss: So this is, I, so one coming in from Tom was, uh, stay focused. We're not the main thing we support by enhancing the main thing and, and that there's communication inherent in the production.

So, and I think that's a, it's, it's definitely, I see a lot of, like a lot of the Sanz engineers that we don't like hanging around with are the ones who are like, it's all about me. What I want goes. And I, I think that is a valuable thing, especially as you're growing in your career to remember that, that we're there to, we're there to make, you know, particularly in, in music and concert work, we're there to make them sound good.

You know, in corporate work we're there to get a message across or in church work and it's, it's not really about us.

[00:30:45] Sean Walker: Totally, dude.

Totally.

[00:30:49] Andy Leviss: yeah. Um, what else? Uh, Tyler throughout, nobody died from embarrassment or a bad mix. So shake it off, fix it, and have some fun. Which, which ties, I think back into that same, like, remembering why you got into this in the first place. And that's, I've talked before about the, the book, the, the Inner Game of Tennis, which is a, it's a book about tennis, but anybody in our industry should read it.

'cause it applies broadly to many, many things. And the whole general vibe of it is when you get caught up on the mistake you just made, that's when you make the next mistake or the next two or three mistakes. So like, you know, if you fuck something up in the opening number of the song, cool. What? I shrug it off, move on, make the next number sound, you know, great.

Don't get caught up kicking yourself over that and then miss, you know, three more solos in the next song. Um, uh, yeah, and likewise. Um, Chris Mets, you know, a good friend of ours said, a, a cool head under pressure is what'll make you shine bright. Which again, I, I think, ties into a lot of the things we've already, like, ties into troubleshooting, ties into not getting hung up on mistakes or, or things beyond your control and just rocking with it.

Um, what else? I'm gonna skip some of it. 'cause like we could, we could literally spend like three hours going through this whole thread. So we're gonna, I'm gonna pick some highlights out and then link everybody to the whole thing. Um, yeah, I'm gonna, I'm gonna rephrase one that Tyler through in which is that, uh, the bypass buttons are there for a reason, um, which is, uh, you know, bypass buttons are there.

So you can decide if you made it better or worse just because you. Have an EQ or a compressor or whatever doesn't mean you need to use it. And like, I think we've all done that thing where we're like, we're e I'll, I'll use the classic, your snare sucks. But, um, we've all had that, like EQing a snare drum, and we kind of EQ ourselves into a hole, you know, and, and just like keep twiddling those knobs on an EQ and like, you're just, this isn't sounding good and everything I do makes it sound differently wrong.

So, you know, bypass it. If it sounds better bypassed, maybe leave it out. Maybe flatten things out and start back over.

[00:32:59] Sean Walker: Totally.

[00:33:00] Andy Leviss: Um, yeah. Uh, Chris, which I, this I think we talked about in one of our like tips and tricks for throwing a mix together. Things is knowing where to die or high pass filter and main and Yep.

Gain staging we talked about already. Um, oh, here's a good man. Tyler had some like, fire suggestions in this thread. Like I, I, I almost feel bad for everything. Anybody else in this thread that I keep going back to, like his tips, but like, dude, you were rocking it on this, which, uh, and this one I've lived on a gig and watched somebody get fired from a major artist because they didn't understand this, which is, don't worry about the tap tempo or the reverb tail.

If guitars are smashing vocals or if something else is going wrong on stage, prioritize what to optimize. Like at a certain point, no effects is better than, than, you know, shit going wrong on stage. And like a reverb tail that's a little too short or a little too long is, is better than, you know. Yeah.

Like a guitar solo that's, you know, that's killing your, your lead vocal or, you

[00:34:01] Sean Walker: Or not working at all.

[00:34:02] Andy Leviss: Yep. Um, or, you know, somebody who's got the wrong in ear pack, uh, frequency dialed in and is trying to signal their front of house engineer who is overly focused on nailing that tap tempo. Not to be weirdly specific anything, but I'm not gonna name names.

[00:34:18] Sean Walker: I said I was sorry. It was one

time, Andy.

[00:34:20] Andy Leviss: yeah. No, this was, this was long before I knew you. And I literally watched a guy on his second night with an artist whose name we all recognize, turned it into his last night because he was so focused on making sure the effects were Chef Kiss that he missed major issues with, with, uh, in ears he was doing from front of house.

[00:34:39] Sean Walker: Oh, lame

[00:34:41] Andy Leviss: Yeah. And, and it's an artist that I, I don't think he did in this case, but it's an artist who has been known to throw a punch or two as well. So not an artist you want to piss off.

[00:34:49] Sean Walker: Fair enough.

[00:34:51] Andy Leviss: Yeah. Um, yeah, and, and again, this is one of those tips that will, will vary depending on the artist in the genre, but generally speaking, as a rule of thumb, if you don't know the act, focals are king, focals, reign supreme, everything else serves the king.

[00:35:06] Sean Walker: A hundred percent.

[00:35:07] Andy Leviss: Like, there are definitely genres where the vocal is not important. Those are the exception. And generally you'll either know the band well enough to know, or they will tell you, don't put my vocal on top

[00:35:17] Sean Walker: Totally.

[00:35:18] Andy Leviss: that

[00:35:18] Sean Walker: it's the exception, not the rule for sure.

[00:35:21] Andy Leviss: And

then,

[00:35:22] Sean Walker: is whoever's name is on the marquee is the most important input of the whole fucking show.

[00:35:26] Andy Leviss: yep.

[00:35:27] Sean Walker: Right. If it's like an artist's name, then you're like, okay, what do we do? Blah, blah, blah. But if it's like so and so, like that's the fucking input.

[00:35:33] Andy Leviss: Yeah, e even if that's the guitar player and they don't sing and like they've got guest vocalists singing lead vocals, that guitar still matters. 'cause that's the name that's on the

[00:35:41] Sean Walker: exactly. If it's clapped in or satriani, that guitar better sound like fucking

a golden God. You know what I mean?

[00:35:48] Andy Leviss: Um, yeah. Vocal vocals on top of everything else. Um, and then past that is the, if they're, if you're doing a show that's large enough to have, I mag, if it's on the screen, you damn well should hear.

[00:35:59] Sean Walker: A hundred percent.

[00:36:00] Andy Leviss: Um, and likewise, just like watch for solos, if you see, if you see an artist step two steps forward towards the front of the stage, you should probably push that fader.

[00:36:08] Sean Walker: A hundred percent. If dude's foot is on the, on the monitor and he's wailing away at that guitar and you can't hear it, you're

fired, bro.

[00:36:15] Andy Leviss: yep, Um, yeah. Uh, oh. Okay. Here's so, um, Steven p our, our, our now Australian friend, a transplant from the us. Uh, he, he's throughout, um, think of frequencies as ranges, and don't be intimidated by the fact that you may not know precise numerical values yet. Which I think that's, that's some solid 'cause you, it is like that's always the thing that scare, like as you're training your ears, you know, folks are like, ah, it's somewhere in the mids.

Great. So start somewhere in the mids and then yeah, as, as, as Tyler threw on the, as I would tell folks too, then make a narrow filter around the range you think is bad. Sweep a little bit of a booster around to find what's annoying and then cut and maybe widen it. Like there, you, you gotta learn to do that subtly.

'cause you don't want to just like send like the nasty frequency right into the audience's head. It's also certainly a trick you can get away with a little more of during a sound check than you can during a show. But particularly when you're training yourself on frequencies, that's a real solid way to like, hone in quick and, and then learn what the, what those numbers are.

[00:37:21] Sean Walker: Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.

[00:37:23] Andy Leviss: Uh, what else? Uh, troubleshooting, I think we've talked about this. We should do like a whole episode on like troubleshooting approaches and tactics. But I, this, this tip came into the chat from some Andy Leviss guy. I, I don't know who that guy was, but, um, he dropped in. Um, you're gonna pick one end of the signal chain and work your way one step at a time towards the other end in order without jumping around or starting in the middle, although I'm gonna make a footnote on that and say that actually what you should do is divide your signal chain into sub chains to where you think the issue likely is.

So you don't necessarily need to start the mic and work all the way to the speaker if you're pretty confident. The problem's on the output end, you can start at, you know, the input to the amp. Work your way onto the speaker and then if that doesn't narrow the problem down, then you can start another chunk further back.

But it's the not jumping around is key. 'cause that's where you miss things or where you don't find the actual problem. And likewise, you want to, you wanna change one thing at a time. 'cause if you change like four things at a time, like look at a certain point, if we're running outta time to troubleshoot, yeah, swap the mic out, swap the cable out, swap the di out all at once, make it work.

But at that point then set those pieces aside so you can test 'em later. But if you have the time to troubleshoot more systematically one piece at a time so you actually know you found and fix the problem.

[00:38:39] Sean Walker: Totally. And then for God's sake, mark the fricking bad. The culprit, mark the culprit.

[00:38:46] Andy Leviss: And, and if you can mark what's wrong with it, don't just say bad question mark.

[00:38:52] Sean Walker: Right. Totally.

[00:38:53] Andy Leviss: Like get help. Help. Like we were saying before, same thing as like, you know, not packing up like a rabid raccoon, you know, help, help the folks with the shop out. You know, say buzzing, pretty sure it was this DI or intermittent auto.

Yeah, no output. Like some something to give them a hint to troubleshoot. Um, let's see, what, what, uh, um, yeah, no, we, we then have like a whole little, little deeper conversation in that thread on, on how to choose where to subdivide troubleshooting. Um, oh, here's, okay, another one from Tyler is speak up and engage Even at the risk of being wrong.

Staying wrong is what is to be feared. And I, I think that's valid. I think it's important to remember like, there is a moment to speak up. There's a moment to not, and that engaging in speaking up doesn't always mean insisting your right or you know, better. Sometimes it's just flagging an issue for other folks, sometimes it's asking a question.

Um, and, but like you said, like, yeah, like it's okay to be wrong. What, what matters is admitting you were wrong and, and learning why you were wrong. Uh.

[00:40:03] Sean Walker: Andy, I've been married 10 fricking years. I've got that down to a science at this

point.

[00:40:07] Andy Leviss: enough. Fair enough. Um, yeah. Uh, uh, Nick, Nick Teel. What up Nick? Um, suggested, uh, wait for the drummer to finish setting up before bringing in mics and stands. Yeah. And that's, it's hard to do sometimes 'cause sometimes you'll have attack or a st in come in and roughen the drum kit and you can, you can get stuff close and lay it around the kit.

But yeah, if you're clamping everything onto the drums, which whether to clamp onto drums or not is a conversation for another day. Strong opinions abound, but like, as soon as you do that, drummers gonna come in and be like, oh man, no, I'm left-handed. Or just like, need to change the angle on the snare and everything's off.

Just like make your life easier.

[00:40:48] Sean Walker: Or while you're hanging microphones, they'll start blasting away at the drums.

[00:40:51] Andy Leviss: Oh yeah. Yep. Just kick from right into your ear. Love it. It's the best. Um. And, and like Tyler's comment on that was that the musician who's been made comfortable that you're on their side can worry less and give a better performance, which then in turn makes your life easier. yeah. And then, uh, I don't actually know his real name, but, um, he, he goes on Discord by apu.

Is it a name I actually haven't seen in a little bit. Um, if you're, if you're still around there, like drop in and say, Hey bud. Um, but uh, throughout that, uh, a straight up, I don't know, is always better than a guess, which I think comes back to that like admitting when you're wrong. And I know I've, I've gotten jobs in my career by admitting I don't actually know what that is that you're asking me about.

And that was the second best answer or arguably the best answer I could have given because either I knew or I admitted I didn't know as long as I wasn't making up an answer confidently wrong.

[00:41:46] Sean Walker: A hundred percent because then if you're, if you're

BSing about that, what else are you BSing about? Right? Like, if, if you're like, Hey, oh, blah, blah, blah, blah. You're like, okay, what else do you have no fricking idea what you're talking about? Right?

[00:41:59] Andy Leviss: Yep. Yeah. And then adding onto that like Nick Teal and expanded, like, I don't know, but let's find out the answer together or I'm willing to learn are perfectly valid. Um, yeah, and like pook expanded, like, uh, yeah, I don't know. Is the start of a conversation, not the end of

[00:42:16] Sean Walker: Totally.

[00:42:17] Andy Leviss: Um, uh, I mean, digging back into EQ stuff, if two sources are competing at the levels, you want them look at making complimentary EQs to help them sit together.

If we wanna make everybody drink, I could throw, I could throw in the crazy Ryan S six L macro approach to that, which is, he's got the little macro that when he boosts the guitar solo, it puts a little mid high boost into the guitar and a complimentary mid high cut into the keyboards. So they make room for each other.

But if you're not on an S six L, like you can certainly do that yourself on the Q knobs. Either dialing it in for a solo or just by default, you know, scoop a little bit out of the, outta the keys to make room for the guitars, you know, scoop a little out of the guitars to make room for the vocals.

[00:42:59] Sean Walker: Yeah,

[00:43:01] Andy Leviss: Uh, what else?

What are some other, I'm trying to,

[00:43:03] Sean Walker: you know what? Don't make room for the vocals. Fucking make room for the drums. As long as the drums are banging, who cares about anything else? That's it. Kick and snare to take over the world. That's all that matters. Andy, don't you know this yet?

[00:43:15] Andy Leviss: Sean, you're, you're snare sound still sucks.

[00:43:20] Sean Walker: Ah,

totally.

[00:43:23] Andy Leviss: Here's what, so, um, Kim Watson is another, another name, another name we haven't heard from in far too long. But, uh, if, if you're listening, we, we love you. We miss you, Kim. Uh, said, uh, order of operations gain, high pest filter, fader up or augs up. Don't eq to start EQ as you go, but the quicker you can get it out of the system or the wedge, the less time the artist is waiting and getting bored and cranky.

[00:43:45] Sean Walker: Totally dude.

[00:43:46] Andy Leviss: That's, um, yep. Oh, Raffi Singer threw in the same thing I was saying earlier. Label everything, even if your memory is that good when something hits the fan, you want a hundred percent of your brain on the problem not remembering what you did. And if you are taken outta the equation, even by having to direct somebody else, you need to make it easy for

[00:44:03] Sean Walker: Totally.

[00:44:04] Andy Leviss: And that's, that's the thing. Like I, I said the same thing earlier in this episode. You know, our good buddy Brian Maddox is, that's his religion, is label all the things every time. Um. And then, um, and, and Dom throughout, think about what your label should say. You often want your label to say what's at the far end of the cable as well as the end you're looking at.

And sometimes you care just as much about what the signal is as to where it's plugged in. So think about the problem you're trying to help rather than just blindly scrolling, you know, something on the label.

[00:44:32] Sean Walker: Totally

[00:44:33] Andy Leviss: Yeah. Like if you're labeling it and all you're doing is putting the number of the box that it's plugging into, that's not gonna help you all that much.

[00:44:39] Sean Walker: no, but kick in snare top

or you know, handheld one or RF three or whatever you wanna call it. Just something that makes sense to you. Right?

[00:44:46] Andy Leviss: Yep. Yep. That is, um, yeah. Uh, to another one from Tyler. There's a bunch of ways you can bend and break the rules and they're there for a reason, but in the end, if it sounds good, it is good. I feel like that's a very Sean Walker vibe.

[00:45:00] Sean Walker: Totally,

[00:45:01] Andy Leviss: Yeah, that's, I, I like, I, I feel, I remember you talk like early, early on in one of our episodes about like EQing the shit outta stuff where like people are afraid to EQ and I thi I I, is it fair to say you're a solid, the God gave us those knobs for a reason.

[00:45:14] Sean Walker: Absolutely. And they go plus and minus 15 for a fucking reason, bro.

[00:45:19] Andy Leviss: Yep.

[00:45:19] Sean Walker: Yeah, most a lot. I would, I would say. Having looked at a lot of show files over my life, the majority of people would gasp at the EQ on my drums,

bro. They would be like, what are you doing with your life? Except when I go over it with, uh, you know, I, I don't want to, I, I, I gave up drinking, so I'm not gonna, but when I go over with other people that are, you know, doing, doing mixes, they're like, no, no, no, that, that's where I'm at too.

I'm like, okay, great. Yeah, good. Cool.

[00:45:50] Andy Leviss: yep. Uh oh. Ooh, here's, here's a good, so, um, our buddy Cameron Tre hook from up north in, in Canadian, uh, said, avoid the phrase. Say it with me everybody. Well this is how we've always done it.

[00:46:03] Sean Walker: Yeah, right. Totally

[00:46:04] Andy Leviss: That is pretty much the worst reason to do it. Now, mind you, the opposite is true too. I don't wanna do it that way.

'cause that's how we always do it is also not nec. Like if you're gonna do it a way that's different from the way you always do it, have a do it intentionally.

[00:46:17] Sean Walker: have a reason, dude,

[00:46:19] Andy Leviss: Yeah. But, but there are, there are good reasons and, and that's the way we always do it usually isn't a good reason. It's that that should be the start of a conversation and a thought process of, well why do we always do it that

way?

And does that, does that make sense?

[00:46:34] Sean Walker: Totally,

[00:46:35] Andy Leviss: Um. And then, and Eric, uh, uh, kind of expanded off that and said, if you're referencing something that was done previously, explain how you understand that. Don't just say how we did it last time. 'cause not everyone knows how it was done last time. And even if they don't, they don't have your point of view of understanding it.

So if you are doing something the way we always do it, it's still worth explaining to folks in a little more detail. And I mean, that's the thing, like, look, it is sort of like we had a conversation about where to put mics on a guitar or a drum and uh, you know, it's, it's really easy to be like, to just throw it at somebody and be like, you know, just like snare top mic.

But like, take the minute to be specific. Let us know how you want it if you're the one making that call.

[00:47:16] Sean Walker: totally.

[00:47:17] Andy Leviss: Um, what else? There's a couple, I'm not reading but I'm laughing at, um. Read the manuals for your gear. Software is included in gear. It's manuals are boring. Manuals help, you'll both learn faster ways to do things or learn things you didn't know your gear could do.

Um, I mean, I have made a significant chunk of my career based on the fact of being the nerd who will read the manual.

[00:47:42] Sean Walker: Is that, how that goes

[00:47:43] Andy Leviss: I, you know, it's, and that gives me mixed feelings then, because part of me is like, well then don't read the manual. 'cause that's what keeps guys like me working. But on the other hand, like, read the manual, it'll make your life easier.

Um,

[00:47:56] Sean Walker: to those of you writing manuals? Could, could we have just, just, a little

[00:48:02] Andy Leviss: spice,

[00:48:03] Sean Walker: something in that little humor, a little spice, a little,

maybe quite, not quite, quite so dry in most

cases.

[00:48:09] Andy Leviss: Mackey. Mackey kinda nailed the manual. Like it's, you know, it's, say whatever else we want about their, their, you know, their Swiss Army knife consoles. They're still around for a reason, but one thing they do re they did really well back in the day, was writing manuals that were actually entertaining.

[00:48:23] Sean Walker: Mm-hmm.

[00:48:26] Andy Leviss: Um, but, but, uh, just broadly CareerWise, you'll learn more at the shop than on a gig. Uh, generally, although I would offer that the best education is splitting time between both. 'cause shop folks who never gig don't understand the implications of certain choices and requests that the folks on the gig will make.

But likewise, you get time to poke at things that, in a way that you don't get on the gig. So if you can get shop work, and I mean, you and I, and, and Karen and everybody have talked before about it's also getting work in a shop is a really great way to get yourself known to folks to get out on more gigs.

[00:49:01] Sean Walker: Totally, totally. And kind of it, it goes in in hand with RTFM. And the other thing is like, understand. or as completely as possible how the, the rig works, how the gear works, so that when you are on show site, you can expertly troubleshoot, right? You're not just like, oh, I don't know. That's just what everybody else said.

I should, I should order from the shop.

You're like, no, no, no. I, I understand how to use this console and this drive system and this RF and this whatever, right? Like, I know how to do this because I spent time RTFM and

in the shop fussing with it to make sure that I understood how it works, so that you are in fact the expert on site, because that's what you're being paid to do.

[00:49:41] Andy Leviss: Uh. Uh, let's see. Oh, here's a good, so Jeremy Spear, again, another name I haven't seen in a while. I, I hope you're doing, I hope you're doing all right, Jeremy. We miss you on the discord. Um, so don't compare yourself to others. Compare yourself now against yourself yesterday and reward yourself when you beat out yesterday's self and allow yourself the grace to learn and try again when you don't.

[00:50:02] Sean Walker: That is excellent advice that

I do not follow.

[00:50:07] Andy Leviss: I mean, I compare myself to you every day. That's how I get through.

[00:50:10] Sean Walker: There you go. I don't, I don't give myself any grace, unfortunately.

I, I just like, I see other people that are crushing it. I'm like, I gotta, I gotta do better every day. You know what I mean?

Keeps, keep you pushing.

[00:50:20] Andy Leviss: Uh, what else? And Jeremy also threw out, avoid saying, it's not my job unless you've been given good reason to, like safety or like sensitive issues. And in those cases, know whose job that is and where they're, and how to find them. And don't blow it off like. Or like, I've often sat on a gig. I'm not the person to help you with that, but hold on, let me find you so and so she'll take good care of you for that.

[00:50:43] Sean Walker: Totally.

[00:50:44] Andy Leviss: Uh, let's see. Trying to, I mean, we could, we could literally go for hours on this. Let me try and pull a couple more. Yeah, no. 'cause we're getting around on an hour. Let me try and pull out a couple more. Has Oh, okay. Pete Feely throughout. Pretend you paid for it is something said to me very early on when I was using four times as much electrical tape as I needed to, and I think that's, there's a valid approach in all sorts of things is like acting as if you are the one paying for everything you're using will make you think about if, if you really need to use this or not.

[00:51:11] Sean Walker: Oh my God, that'd be awesome. I mean, I don't know if you guys, I don't know where everybody else is in the world, but here, gaff tape was 20 bucks a roll, dude. Like it'd be sweet if it wasn't just getting burnt through like it was going outta style.

[00:51:23] Andy Leviss: Yep. Yep. Uh, oh. Okay. Here, here's two, two. Two halves of the same tip, uh, which from Tyler was if you make a change between soundcheck and showtime, make sure you save soundcheck before you make that change, but also just don't.

[00:51:39] Sean Walker: You're right. Just don't

[00:51:41] Andy Leviss: Um, and then in the same vein, wessel throughout, make sure your, you know, system like PA manager files after soundcheck are saved with the PA unmuted.

So if you have to for some reason, revert back to that post soundcheck because like shit's just gone off the rails and you need to reset, you don't load up a muted PA and make it very noticeable. And, uh, he offers that. He learned that the hard way. That is a don't ask me how I know. I just know. Yeah. Like

[00:52:06] Sean Walker: Haven't, haven't we? All

[00:52:07] Andy Leviss: Yep. Yeah, I mean there's, I mean, there's a bunch of folks in here being like, yep, I got burned heavy first day of one tour, making a change after soundcheck and not saving soundcheck to revert to, um. Yeah. And then, and Tyler wraps that up with their three types of changes that can happen there. The kind where there's no harm, no foul, the kind you'll notice and be embarrassed about, but can recover with a restore.

And the kind only musicians will notice, like muting click in their ears. Not that this just happened to me before I wrote this, or at least happened around me.

[00:52:40] Sean Walker: right. Totally.

[00:52:41] Andy Leviss: Um, and then I feel like we've talked about this before in talking about, uh, effects, but one of the more practical tips I threw is I, I'm a big advocate of write your reverb and delay sends not the returns.

[00:52:55] Sean Walker: Interesting.

[00:52:56] Andy Leviss: That is, that

[00:52:57] Sean Walker: Tell me about that

[00:52:58] Andy Leviss: so the, the idea being that you're, you're gonna set your level on the return so that you're getting the level you want and getting the gain structure you want and try and get your, get your. Send so that they're hitting at Unity, I usually do so that I can hit that reliably and quickly without looking at it, you know, like you went on a delay throw, but if you ride the send into the reverb or into the delay, you can cut it off cleanly and it'll naturally decay.

Whereas like if I'm trying to get the reverb to like cut off at the end of a song and I'm writing my return, I'm fading that reverb out unnaturally. Whereas if I am, you know, saying, Hey, hey, hey, hey, if I'm, if I fade the return out, I'm gonna, Hey, hey. Whereas if I'm fading the send, I'm gonna get, Hey, hey, and it's gonna taper out more naturally.

[00:53:46] Sean Walker: All right, makes sense

[00:53:47] Andy Leviss: So that is, that is my religion

[00:53:49] Sean Walker: then I will stop fucking it up.

[00:53:51] Andy Leviss: I mean there, there, there are cases, there are valid reasons to do it the other way, but again, that's the know why you're doing it and, and make that conscious choice

[00:53:58] Sean Walker: While we're on effects, for God's sake, please mute them between songs.

[00:54:02] Andy Leviss: Oh yeah.

[00:54:03] Sean Walker: Please,

[00:54:03] Andy Leviss: What you don't like hearing a slap echo on,

[00:54:05] Sean Walker: mute them between

[00:54:06] Andy Leviss: How you doing Chicago? Go, go.

[00:54:09] Sean Walker: Please, please mute them between songs

[00:54:11] Andy Leviss: Mm-hmm.

[00:54:11] Sean Walker: unless you've got the one, the one itty bitty little room reverb on the vocal to make it sound less, less tus, and more like a vocal. You don't have to mute that guy.

But the other ones the Giant hall, the

long plate, the 750 tap delay.

Please mute between songs.

[00:54:30] Andy Leviss: Although a

[00:54:31] Sean Walker: Otherwise, it looks like your first rodeo.

[00:54:33] Andy Leviss: yeah. And, and there is an argument for even muting and in that case, 'cause then, then the banter between songs is drier and crisper and it makes the songs sound more song or there's, there's an argument either way, um, that indirectly reminds me of, of, uh, my, my rule of thumb, which is high pass.

All the things except for the vo mic. Don't high pass the vo mic. 'cause.

[00:54:53] Sean Walker: Okay.

[00:54:55] Andy Leviss: Having that nice beef, I mean this mic's not really gonna do it with this processing I have on it. But having that nice proximity effect is how you get people's attention when you, when you have to do a vo, particularly at like a corporate gig.

[00:55:07] Sean Walker: Okay.

[00:55:07] Andy Leviss: so that is, that is my general thumb. But otherwise, I mean, we talked a little bit about High Pass earlier, but don't be afraid of High Pass.

[00:55:15] Sean Walker: Yeah, get you

[00:55:16] Andy Leviss: Yeah. Yeah. I mean, don't, don't go crazy and make things sound too thin and brittle either, but dial it out and you can always dial a little more back in if you need it.

I think is a safer way to clean up your mix fast.

[00:55:26] Sean Walker: Totally. And I will add, it will change depending on the tilt of your pa, which is something I didn't learn and or realize until I joined this discord and got fucking learnt. By people way smarter than me.

'cause I didn't even know the PA tilt was a thing for a while, but like, you know, oh, start your high pass on vocals here, X, Y, Z, blah blah, blah, blah.

Okay, cool. Like we can give you some starting positions, but like if you have a ton of tilt in your PA, then it's gonna be a higher high pass to make the same effect. If you have very little tilt in your pa, it's gonna have a lower eye pass. Right. And that's why a lot of times people have challenges going from the settings they use for records or recording whatever to the settings they're using live. Like a vocal is a good example, right? On a recording you can get away with like high passing at 70 or a hundred or something and maybe a little bit of low shelf and that vocal is already clear and hammered sounds great. Whereas live, you're usually, depending on the tilt of the PA starting more in like 1 25, sometimes up to 200 or more because it's already that much chutzpah in the low end of the rig you're sending this to.

So, uh, you know, you gotta. Take that into consideration and, and also what does the pa that you wanna mix into sound like? Like it's, it's not, there's no right or wrong answer. Right. As long as it, it sounds good. It is good, but that's, it's, that's why it's so hard. That's why it always says it depends rather

than like, here's the numbers with the Q values to do the thing.

Right?

Like, we'd we'd love to do that. We all have ours pretty much memorized, but like, if you've got a hugely tilted pa, you can't just say like, this is the number.

Good luck. You know?

[00:57:09] Andy Leviss: I mean, I don't, I don't know if they still sell it, but sit Ocon, which is Pat Brown, who we had on the show, you know, like a year and change ago. They used to, when you took their in-person classes, one of the bits of swag was a coffee mug that just said, it depends

[00:57:22] Sean Walker: Ha,

[00:57:23] Andy Leviss: 'cause that is Pat's answer for just about any question about audio.

[00:57:26] Sean Walker: I hate that answer. I hate that answer.

It is it is the correct answer.

Like most of the time I understand the answer. I get it.

I just hate it because like when you're coming up, when you're trying to learn

things, you need definitive

places to go. You need breadcrumbs, right? So like,

it depends, sucks. Or

like high passing a vocal between 70 and 200, like fucking, how am I, how does that help me?

You know what

I

[00:57:49] Andy Leviss: would say, I think it depends, should be the, could be the end of the sentence. It can be the, generally you wanna start with X, Y, and z. But it depends and be willing to change that if it's

[00:58:00] Sean Walker: Yeah. There you go. Totally,

[00:58:01] Andy Leviss: think is a good way to put it. Um, I, I'm gonna, this one's like a really specific one and then I'm gonna find one more to wrap us up.

But I want to throw this out 'cause I feel like as, as, as shop folks, uh, at one time or another, you and I will both appreciate this, which is, um, that, uh, examine the pins of a multip pin connector with a flashlight and carefully straighten any bent pins before gently and carefully mating the connectors.

Don't just blindly smush your multip pin connector on there 'cause that's the way you make a day suck.

[00:58:31] Sean Walker: totally. Dude.

[00:58:32] Andy Leviss: Um, and I'll throw for the folks that do use whirlwind mask connectors, which have really, really thin, really brittle pins, I'll throw a lesson I've learned the very hard way is that if you do have bent pins in a whirlwind, mass connector, something else with really thin pins in it, you do not want to grab needle nose pliers or forceps and try and straighten them out with that 'cause you will snap them.

Like, it's not if, it's when, uh, instead, the trick for those is get yourself like a little, like greeny, you know, three 32nd, like two and a half millimeter flathead screwdriver. Lay it against the base of the bent pin on the side it's bent towards, and gently use the blade of the screwdriver to bend the pin back upwards against the base where it comes out of the connector.

Does that make sense?

[00:59:18] Sean Walker: No.

[00:59:19] Andy Leviss: So basically, instead of gr, so instead of grabbing the bent pin with a pair of pliers and

[00:59:23] Sean Walker: totally.

[00:59:24] Andy Leviss: digging straight, which will snap at what you're doing is if, if I'm, I'm showing you on my, i'll, I'll have to see if I can post photos with the episode or something. But if the pin is here and like bent, I'm gonna take my flathead screwdriver, put it against the base of the pin and lever it up to straighten it back out.

So that way I'm gently, gently, gently, gently pivoting the whole pin with the support of that screwdriver rather than trying to bend it straight. 'cause what happens with those really thin pins when you grab 'em with a pair of, you know,

[00:59:52] Sean Walker: They just snap off.

[00:59:54] Andy Leviss: Yeah. 'cause you're, you're putting all the force of the bend, you're trying to put in it, in that one point, which often isn't where the pin is bent anyway.

So if you just very, very gently lever it back to straight, you can usually get it straightened back out. Um, yeah. But those, those pins are the one weak spot of the mass connector. They're great because you can run the cable either direction and it doesn't matter 'cause they're, to use the fancy term, they're hermaphroditic connectors.

Um, they're basically,

yeah, it's, it's for those who haven't used them, it's a big round connector and half of it is female and half of it is male and they're pinned. Crossed. So whichever way the cable runs, it doesn't matter. It'll, it'll work either way. Um, which is really handy when you have a stupid day on a hot outdoor load in sometimes.

[01:00:38] Sean Walker: Or you could just label both ends of the cable and run it the same way

[01:00:41] Andy Leviss: Somebody will still make the mistake.

[01:00:43] Sean Walker: Hundred

percent.

[01:00:45] Andy Leviss: Or like when you're just dropping in, like, we need to drop in, you know, a, a 20 pair real quick to, you know, to, you know, patch in, you know, three extra keyboards that you didn't know about. It's nice to be able to just pull a cable outta the work box, throw and throw the right tails on which end you need.

[01:00:58] Sean Walker: Totally.

[01:00:59] Andy Leviss: Um, uh oh. Okay. Here, here's, here's the one I'll leave on. Um, so, um, temperature change and eq, particularly as we're doing outdoor gigs and festivals, it's. The place we most think about it is on PA that just remembering that like if the temperature is hot during the day and humid and if it cools down at night, it's gonna sound really fucking bright during the day.

And as it cools off and gets less humid, it's probably gonna dull up. So remember that and either, either be prepared to deal with it as we go, or just EQ a little more appropriately and let it be a little bright, you know, bef during soundcheck in the heat of noon, knowing that it's going to doll up a little bit as it cools off.

Um, and then Kim Watson throughout the adding to that where there's a big temp drop between daytime soundcheck and nighttime is that it can make your wedge high frequency want to take off a bit sometimes. So always recheck the vocal wedges at changeover to make sure they're not gonna take off the second you open them up.

[01:01:58] Sean Walker: Excellent tip.

[01:01:59] Andy Leviss: And I feel like that is a solid place to wrap this up. I'm gonna link to this whole thread 'cause there is so, so much more in this thread that people can do. But that's like a solid hour of like, hopefully some just practical advice for folks. 'cause we haven't done one like that in a while.

[01:02:13] Sean Walker: Yeah. So for those of you that were having a hard time sleeping, there you go. You're welcome.

[01:02:17] Andy Leviss: yeah. Come back next

week when we just

[01:02:21] Sean Walker: Cures by Sean and Andy.

[01:02:23] Andy Leviss: right. Come back next week when we read through input lists.

[01:02:25] Sean Walker: Oh God. Don't do it. Save us all.

[01:02:30] Andy Leviss: Um, I, do you have any, do you have any other tips you, you wanna throw out to wrap it, to take it home?

[01:02:34] Sean Walker: Nope. That's a great pla that's a great place to leave it. Thanks for Allen and Heath for, uh, you know, making rocking desks and DSPs and RCF for making some banging speakers and letting us yap. About audio. That's the pod y'all. See you next week. 

Music: “Break Free” by Mike Green