Rooms and Live Sound Production

Often nothing much can be done about the stage or the performance space. However, as well as paying attention to speaker position, the following points can sometimes help:

•  Cover acoustically reflective surfaces. Highly reflective surfaces - stone or smooth plaster walls - can wreak havoc with the sound, increasing the risk of feedback and reducing intelligibility. Around the stage or performance area the reflected sound also adds to spill (the sound of one instrument being picked up by the microphone of another). Curtains - the heavier the better - or other absorbent material can make a noticeable difference. A relatively cheap option is to hang a curtain or blanket across the back wall (lighting or speaker stands can be used for this, if there isn't a handy picture rail). It may not be much, but every little helps*.

•  Put a piece of carpet under the drums. This helps to reduce reflection and spill (see above), and also helps to stop the drums - particularly the kick drum and hi-hat - from slipping. Offcuts large enough for this cost next to nothing. Get one, and make sure it travels with the drums.

•  Keep loud instruments as far as possible from quiet ones. Although most microphones used in live performance are "directional" what this actually means is that they are more sensitive to sound arriving from in front of them than they are to sound arriving from the back and sides. However, if the sound coming from the sides (e.g. a 100w guitar amplifier) is very much louder than the sound coming from in front (e.g. a singer with a quiet voice), the microphone will pick up both. Don't point guitar amps at the vocal mics. If the drums can be placed away from vocal microphones, there will be less spill, and the vocals will sound better.

•  Market the event effectively. People soak up room reflections, and a full venue will always sound better than an empty one.