AudioMedia - October 2008 - (Page 66)

10|08 AMSR Live Mixing Techniques: Bruce Johnston In his interview with Australian live sound engineer Bruce Johnston, ANDY STEWART delves into what makes his live shows tick. ustralian live sound engineer, Bruce Johnston, could talk the leg off a floor tom as he recounts a mic cabinet’s worth of stories from his illustrious mixing career. Here, Bruce delves into his own working methods and mix philosophies, to reveal some of his famously idiosyncratic and iconoclastic techniques. So without further ado, let’s head to front-of-house and get it straight from the horse’s mouth. Bruce… take it away. A Bruce Johnston: The very first gig I mix for a band tends to be the best sound I ever pull for them – oftentimes I don’t know who they are or what type of music they play, and as a result my ears tend to be ‘wide open’. I don’t have any preconceptions; I don’t know how they’ve previously been mixed and I’m generally a little bit nervous. Somehow that produces my best work. Others tend to be what I call ‘tone guys’. These guys (and girls) often create great-sounding mixes, but what they sometimes lack – from my perspective at least – is a sense of melody and movement. I tend to sit in the audience at these gigs going, ‘Well, that sounds great, but what’s going to happen now?’ But hey, each to their own. In reality, my approach is essentially the opposite of this. I’m all about the moment of a mix. Consequently, I might have the best gig in the world one night and the worst gig the next. It’s not necessarily the most consistent approach going around, but unfortunately some things come at a cost. Leaving Yourself Wide O pen Other than using a lot less effects than I did in the ’80s, I’ve essentially never deviated from the formula I’ve used since my early mixing days. For example, I still always tune the PA with my vocal and a Shure Beta 58a (I used an SM58 in the ’80s) – never with a CD. In the end the gain and tone of the PA are all about how the vocal sounds. I always make sure a PA is balanced somewhere between sounding right vocally and managing any little Changing The Formula > 66 AUDIO MEDIA OCTOBER 2008

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of AudioMedia - October 2008

Audio Media - October 2008 Content Recording Post Broadcast Geofocus:�Portugal &�Spain What's Up UK IBC Report Microtech Geffel UM 930 Steinberg Cubase 4.5 ADK�Hamburg &�Vienna Final Cut: House of Fallen Lexicon PCM96 Review The Conch Awards Feature Sound Devices 788T Review Lexicon PCM96 Allen &�Heath Zed R16 Power: Fact & Fiction, PT.2 Product Sampler Plug-ins Video Guide AMSR Plasa Report Audio Technica IEM�M3 Rushes Live Mixing Techniques:�Bruce Johnston Drawmer 4x4 Kickbox

AudioMedia - October 2008

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