When a band starts playing around town for the first time--and it doesn't matter which town--there are going to be some glitches. Personnel, song choice, which guitar to use, (etc.) are all going to raise their heads. There is not a lot to be done about such issues. You learn as you go. Some mistakes, however, you can cut off at the pass. To that end Gearwire is going to, over time, chat with sound engineers, at venues large and small, around the country. Our aim is to help bands to stay on the right side of the sound person (and don't say sound man either, more and more women are at the boards).

The first engineer we spoke with was South Florida based Bill Duncan. Duncan, also a musician and owner of Green Fog Studios. Green Fog Studios, apropos of nothing, features a 3M M79 two-inch 16-track and it is the very one that Foghat used to record Slowride.

As live sound engineer, Duncan has run into an issue he has faced before with less-than-experienced bands. And keep in mind we are talking about bands that have played maybe 200 shows. These are not completely clueless folks in their first foray outside the garage.

"This past weekend a band wanted to sound check their mics," says Duncan. "The singer gets up by himself and tells me to turn it up. I am going to have to adjust this again when the band is playing."

So why waste your time and the engineer's time doing this? A singer, on stage alone, is not going to be representative of the sound that results when the whole band is playing. No way, no how. End of story.

"Sometimes they don't understand the difference between a monitor mix and what is coming out of the front of house." says Duncan. "They kind of think it is all coming out of the same speaker."

Not to get too rudimentary, but the monitors are on the stage and the monitor mix is for the band. They will need to have different sounds at different levels from the front of house.. Drummers, when they have a monitor of their own, will often want to hear the bass louder. Vocalists want themself higher in the mix. Sometimes it what goes where and at what volume is peculiar to the band and how they work. The front of house sound is what is in the room and therefore what the audience hears.

Another problem that sometimes arises, according to Duncan, is with low frequencies--especially the bass.

"Sometimes they mess with their amp settings and it can be a little quiet," says Duncan. "If you are standing in front of the amp it sounds loud. But is there enough volume to carry 20 feet into the audience? "

This is why you'll see small room sound engineers walking around when you sound check. This isn't just to check the bass, of course, but it is one of the things they are doing. Different frequencies have different cycles and will sound different at the same distance.

Another issue Duncan brought up, for the small rooms he generally works, is sound check.

"In a club you often don't get half an hour or 45 minute sound check." says Duncan.

In many cases you do not get a sound check at all but wind up working out the levels by jamming a bit at the start of a set or in the first song. Being prepared for this when you get to the venue. Adjusting your set accordingly is one step you can take. Another is to be flexible. Finally, if possible, talk to the sound person before the gig (and not an hour before).

Another irritation is when musicians unplug their gear before the mains are turned off. Duncan uses EAW 15 FRZ three-way 15 mains and two 15 inch wedges as monitors. He uses Crown power amps for the EAW and Legion power amps for the monitors. Most of the rooms Duncan works need a PA brought in and if you damage any of his gear he is not going to be happy. Duncan concedes that how much damage this done can be debated.