EQ the main PA, or leave the mains alone and only EQ each individual channel?

[touch33]

Old SoundMan says: "That's the silliest thing I've ever heard of. If you've got a good equalizer on the mains then use it, dummy."

Old SoundMand also says: "So, how does his end result sound? If he gets a great result consistently then who cares how he gets it?"
(but it SURE sounds like a lot of work to me...)

 

[touch33]

All that said – my time-honored FOH approach (that nobody asked for) is to:

1) Make sure the system is actually working. If I have an FFT setup like SysTune or Smaart (which I always do these days) I'll use it first – pink/sweeps, then a known-great audio source (my Fiio portable flac player) while looking for trouble-spots that may be room-structure related. If there are, decide if re-aiming the FOH speakers is warranted.

2) Then I feed the same flac source to both the mains AND to my IEMs so I can bounce between them while I use the system EQ to get the PA to sound as good as the IEMs. In short: Machines, Then Ears.

3) Do a mic "line check" with all channel EQ's flat, and if there's an actual soundcheck I ask the band to jam while I solo each channel into my IEMs (so I can make sure each mic placement is what I want). Make sure each channel's input gain structure is correct (popping the peak LEDs, then back it off a bit).

4) THEN I crank up the mains and work on channel EQ's – a little "salt and pepper" to taste, but usually concentrating on what I can TAKE OUT of each channel to keep them all from stepping on each other in the mix. Enjoy the ability to fiddle around with board/mix when it doesn't matter if I fuck up. FWIW – when I'm satisfied the mix sounds right I usually reset the channel input gains so that all of my faders are lined up at the "zero" mark (IYKYK).

5) One last snapshot of the FFT at the end of soundcheck so I can use it during pre-show as a reference to see what's different with a full house and tweak the FOH EQ if needed (it almost always is).

6) Get some food and a fresh shirt and MIX A GREAT SOUNDING BAND ON A GREAT SOUNDING SYSTEM! Sit back and enjoy having people tell me how good it sounded as they leave. It is good to be Old SoundMan...

 

[rushfan]

We use a Behringer XR18, same musicians each show. AC/DC tribute band, so it isn’t a very complicated setup instrument-wise. In-ear monitors. Our own PA. We only play medium to large venues or outdoors. (200+ patron room size). I just did not like a large boost at 2K making my dialed-in Angus tone sound shrill in my ears. Of the drums, I only put some kick drum and high-hat in my in-ears.

 

[giantslayer]

A couple more thoughts…

1. There is something to be said for letting the speakers be themselves. I’ve gone down the rabbit hole of trying dial in a perfect EQ on the mains and found that I had sucked out the life and character.

2. I would take an old-school sound guy who has a good ear, knows how to dial in EQ, and is making constant adjustments as the night progresses over someone who is overly reliant on an RTA or presets.

3. At the end of the day, if the audience is happy with the mix, it doesn’t matter if he EQs the mains.

 

[Bertotti]

I would suggest you eq to the room but if your new friend doesn’t like that perhaps he has never played in an environment where it doesn’t work. I’m not saying one way is right or wrong but there is a balance to all the eq and only the most experienced engineers seem to get that more so if they have played in the tuffest environments and then had to rethink how they do it. But I’m also going to say too many musicians have no clue how the engineer works. I’m no engineer but when a friend running a board had to take a break and run to the head he told me to watch the board. One of the band wanted me to adjust his tone better since the other guy couldn’t get it. So I twisted a knob to a very ugly sound them slowly twisted back to where it was. The guy was thrilled that I nailed his dreamed of tone. Until I broke it to him and the engineer what I did. Engineer laughs his ass off band guy is pissed and never believed it. There is so much to learn and sadly our ears can and do lie to us. Sorry I digress.

 

[RLD]

 

[touch33]

Dave Natale is the archetypical Old SoundMan. Has enough clout that he can demand The Stones deploy a 35yr. old PA (meaning 3 extra 18wheelers and double the rigging) and mixes on a 40ch. analog Yamaha PM3K with minimal outboard gear.

Mics/PM3K/Claire I-5s — my dream system.