Worship Musician January 2019 | Page 40

house speakers. Your ears will adjust! Then when it’s time to bring up your monitors, only put in the bare minimum of STP (Self, Time and Pitch). Never hesitate to ask your sound tech to come onto the platform and stand where you’re standing to listen to what you’re hearing. This will give them a better understanding of what you need. And pay attention during soundcheck- no talking! Make sure that regardless of what you hear, you don’t over sing. Let the sound techs deal with the problem, don’t hurt yourself trying. But always make sure you are using proper microphone technique. This can make a world of difference to both you and your sound techs. [WM] What advice do you have for getting a great vocal mix for IEM’s as well as floor monitors? [Sheri] I still recommend doing a sound check with the house first. This helps to acclimate your ears to relying on less. Trying to get a good mix in your personal IEM is not as easy as it may seem! Mixing sound is a skill that takes time to learn. Don’t look for a ‘CD quality’ mix, just get what you need to stay in tune and on time. It’s important to put all of your vocalists, except perhaps the leader, on one channel (or a stereo pair). It’s tempting to put each singer in his own channel, but background vocalists should be functioning as one and therefore should technique. Learn how to relax your larynx as a team member asking for help? and keep it low/neutral in the throat. Always use proper tone placement (usually higher [Sheri] Make sure you place yourself as when hitting big notes) and always use breath far away from the drums as possible. Often support to reach those notes. Do not scream. what looks the best isn’t what is the best for everyone sound wise. All too often we place [WM] There are a lot of teams who aren’t singers directly in front of the drums and that using in-ear monitors, and the vocalists can creates a host of problems. a loud band, drummers frequently being the When doing a soundcheck, work to get the biggest culprits. What suggestions do you have room right first with no monitors. Get used on how to approach this, both as a singer, and to singing to only what is going through the January 2019 also forces the singers to blend as one and listen to each other. This is how they should be rehearsing offstage when preparing their songs, so when they step onto the platform and hear all the vocalists on one track, it will be the most similar to their rehearsal. [WM] Is there any lingo you’d suggest using really hurt themselves when trying to sing over 40 be treated as one instrument in the mix. This to make sure that vocal-centric requests don’t get lost in translation when communicating with the sound team? [Sheri] I would suggest a couple of things. Subscribe for Free...