Sound Essentials: How to Succeed in a Small Venue
Mixing sound in a small venue requires forethought, awareness and planning as well as execution. There are some basic elements of live sound in a small room that you should always consider beforehand: How large should your system be, and what instruments should you mix through it? Where are the best places to set up your speakers? How will you handle monitoring? How much volume can the room handle and what are the management's requirements? Here is a basic primer to get you started on the way to getting compliments instead of complaints in those smaller venues.
What Are the Management's Priorities?
Before you ever back up the equipment truck to the gig, you need to find out what priorities are important to the manager/promoter of the venue. Because a small room can put you right on top of both patrons and the bar, volume is usually the number one priority on every small gig. It is so difficult to find bands that can manage their volume (without sounding terrible), that the ones who can will find it isn't at all hard to stay busy in smaller rooms.
Find out how much volume the staff can handle before the band ever plays a note. If people are going to be conversing in the same room it will be extremely low. You may also find a dB meter is a useful tool for negotiating with clubs about volume. Being asked to keep the band below 75-80dB isn't uncommon.
Another request you will often get from small clubs is to offer flexible start times. These smaller venues often advertise pay-per-view or major league sports events that don't always have a precise ending time. Sometimes smaller gigs are in restaurants that want to let their dinner crowd linger to let drink sales accumulate and again they'll request a flexible start. Keeping a great attitude about requests that the band might find slightly annoying will also win over the hearts of the staff.
But What About Great Sound?
Start by taking a realistic appraisal of your tactical situation. Now that you know what the staff expects, ask yourself what needs to happen to make your music under those conditions. If you're a soloist or a duo, this might be as easy as setting up a portable PA and balancing a couple of levels. For a full band it is more complicated because a small PA may be all that fits the available space, but may be unable to reproduce all the instruments clearly. A system like this often lacks the power and drivers necessary to reproduce a full bass signal without muddying up everything else. A solution to this problem can be a small, portable powered column array system like the TRC200A, which does have the power and speakers to make a band sound great in a small venue.
If you're fortunate enough to get a soundcheck, run all your instruments through their individual amplifiers and adjust the level by sending someone out into the room to monitor the mix. Your wireless may not be crucial for showmanship in a small venue, but it can be indispensable in getting your sound adjusted if you're mixing yourself from onstage (small gigs rarely have budgets for sound techs). You can listen and give hand signals to the musicians in order to get a good mix. Obviously any egos will require additional sound pressure level that your continued employment may not survive, so get the buy-in of the band ahead of time. Remind them the goal is to not get fired and playing too loud is the number one reason that happens in small rooms.
What if the Band Doesn't Get a Soundcheck?
If the bartender is still feverishly trying hand signals (or worse) to get you to play more quietly, sacrifice some of your bottom end by turning down the bass, then have every other instrument dial back (once again to the minimal audible level). You shouldn't have to explain this to the band on stage. Everyone should automatically react appropriately when requested.
What Else Should I Consider?
Don't stop at merely downsizing your regular act to play at lower levels. Consider a scouting mission to visit the club on the same night of the week to evaluate the atmosphere of the room. Will your regular set-list come off with this crowd and at the levels you will need to play at? If not you might want to revise the list and put in more low-impact material that still sounds right at ultra-low levels. Look at your arrangements and see if you can have some of the band drop out at times to reduce overall volume.
With some creative problem-solving and an open mind towards solutions, you will find that smaller venues can be both challenging and rewarding. And with more and more of the available work being offered by clubs with smaller rooms you may find your band is busier than ever before. What tricks have you learned to help you get great sound in small venues? Let us know in the comments.
8 Responses
BUMPTOWN
Great article! We use volume discipline on stages both small or large. Some may feel the musical message is not being sent, but in reality the message is in the feel of the song, not necessarily the volume. So, turn it down and blow minds!
John Cleghorn
Great article, it is a scouting expedition for bigger gigs. Play sensible volumes. It’s not the size of the stage, It’s the size of the performance.
Demetrios
Really good advice / Pro Tips in the article above. We have a guitar duo. We only play covers, so it’s easier to bring on some casuals for a Trio or Quartet etc. We play mostly small rooms. I supply a XP 800L and 2 JBL passive 15’s for all of our shows. Guitar and bass amps are separate. I am the only singer (by design) and use IEM’s, the other guy/s can hear fine. I sing through a TC Helicon rig for subtle harmonies etc. We’re able to keep the volume pretty low (below 3) with a full sound. We get it, “it’s about the venue and the event, not us”. Being a small ensemble and over 10 yrs. in business, we put a lot of time (and $$) into our sound reinforcement to make it notable. (We love our little Carvin XP800L)
Amanda
Thank you again for a great write up.
Guy Live
All this…. at my 46yrs of playin live …plus Im. At same club off an on 17yrs. IS TRUE. Best I’ve ever heard
Phil L
Although the focus of the article is playing small venues, it could follow the same environment any wedding / society band has to deal with all the time.
Bottom line, how do you perform at a low level with limited space and then share the attention of the audience with the restaurant and bar and partyers. One method we’ve used for years is not use amps at all. So many effects pedals have cabinet modeling, an output into a DI box preserves much of the sound at a lower level. Couple that with a mixer box that has 2 monitor mixes and you can work on a cleaner stage with a more manageable mix on and off the stage.
richie
TURN EVERYTHING UP LOUDER THAN EVERYTHING ELSE THEY SHOULDNT CARE WHAT OR HOW LOUD YOU PLAY ALL THEY CARE ABOUT IS HOW MUCH THE CASH REGISTER IS RINGING I COULD GO UP ON STAGE BANG 2 POTS TOGETHER AND POKE A CHICKEN AND IT WOULD BE FINE IF I BROUGHT OVER 100 PEOPLE TO A PLACE WHICH USUALLY GETS 20 ON A GOOD NIGHT
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Steve Dallman
June 11, 2020
I’m in a three piece blues/Americana/roots rock band and we play anywhere from the smallest venues to outdoor gigs. We can size any gig easily…and that comes from more than 55 years of playing. We practice with only two small practice amps and a snare drum. We could do house “concerts” with that. I love them all, small to big.