Have you ever experienced this? As soon as the band starts playing on some random Sunday morning, a concerned member of the congregation makes a bee-line for the sound booth, and you can tell by the look in their eyes, they are not happy. You quickly critique your mix trying to figure out what they are probably going to say. You think to yourself, “Can I hear the vocals?” and “Are the drums overpowering?” As soon as you start trying to zero in what your mix sounds like, the person arrives and demands your attention be pulled away from the audio! You don’t want to be rude, but you are doing a job and need to devote your attention to the band. 9 times out of 10, the complaint is always the same thing…

“THAT’S WAY TOOOO LOUD!”

We’ve discussed volume before. [side note: do you know each blog has 'tags' that tell what the blog entry is about? there is a 'tag cloud' in the sidebar and the size of each word shows you how popular each tag is. click on a word, and you'll see all of the blog entries about it!] Volume is not necessarily the enemy, but here’s my take on it.

When someone tells you to turn the volume down, they may not actually be complaining about the volume! They may hear something they don’t like, but have no idea how to describe it to you, so they just subconsciously figure out that if the volume comes down, they won’t be as bothered by the annoyance.

Think about this. Have you ever tried to discuss a piece of art (maybe a movie film, photo, sculpture or painting) with someone who was much more educated in that realm? Have you found yourself struggling to convey what your thoughts are on the piece? That is how the congregation feels when they try to tell you about the sound.

Don’t expect someone to tell you that they think the rhythm electric guitar sounds a bit piercing in the 6kHz range. You should be listening for that as you evaluate the quality of each input, but to the average listener, it’s just ‘too loud.’

So, don’t get upset or defensive when someone critiques your mix. Allow yourself the opportunity to improve the quality of the sound. Also, consider where the person is sitting in the room. Is the guitar amp facing off the stage right at this person? Are they close to a wall? Under a balcony? Close to the stage? The point is to always see the bigger picture while also improving your sound each time you’re behind the board.