for the sound guys

This post is primarily for the sound guys. The set recordings from the last two weeks are linked to below, but I primarily want to talk about how well the sound seems to be going.

I recently had a conversation with Phillip about two particular things (that I can remember). One was stereo panning (again), and then thinking about the different instruments in terms of their tonal role. I'm going to talk about the latter first.

In the past, there has tended to be a predominance of acoustic guitar in the mixes. I think you sound guys may have been boosting this to hear the tonal parts of the acoustic. However, in a mix, the acoustic guitar's percussive properties are going to be more prominent, so we've ended up with some sounds that are a bit on the harsh side. (This may or may not be your experience.) I explained to Phillip that the acoustic needs to be mixed less for its notes and more for the click of the strings. The notes will be there plenty, so no worries.

The piano, electric guitar, and string instruments are more of the body of tone, and should be mixed as such. Then there are the voices, of course.

Now if you have a solo acoustic, then yeah, you're going to want to tailor the full spectrum of its sound.

Remember that panning is done for the purpose of separating sounds to make them clearer in the overall mix. We've started applying this a couple of ways on a more consistent basis, and it seems to be having a good effect. 1) If there is more than one acoustic guitar, hard pan them - i.e. one all the way left, the other all the way right. This allows the texture of the acoustics to be fuller and more distinct. 2) We've started running the piano stereo. There's a lot more depth to its sound when done this way. Now, you'd think that, since the piano is sitting in a single place somewhere onstage, that it would be mixed mono just like everything else. That's what I thought, but for whatever reason, having the range of the piano spread across the full stereo spectrum adds a lot of depth to its sound. To do this, hard pan the left and right channels, just like the guitars.

Props to Phillip for applying these two concepts well and consistently the last couple weeks. If you're a sound guy, please listen to the following tracks to listen for these applications. Let's continue these techniques.

Thanks for all your service!

09.06
You're Worthy Of My Praise
Jesus Paid It All
You Are My King
Amazing Grace
Jesus, Thank You

09.13
He Is Exalted
Praise To The Lord The Almighty
Revelation Song
Before The Throne Of God Above
There Is A Fountain