Bob, I understand what you're saying, I really do. I'm not saying it's totally wrong. I read the story you referred to and in one paragraph (which I quoted above) they talk about doing the thing you are advocating. Mixing on small speakers and playing back on a PA with larger speakers and of course if you are converting stereo tracks in the mix to mono.... yes it's always a good idea to check the mix in a club.... during the sound check.

I have already said previously that this is OK to do under a very narrow set of conditions. Mostly due to the extensive labor and time involved for the negligible return regarding sound quality, on that time. Most sound quality issues that would be introduced from this issue are fixable with a decent EQ in the rack.

You do have, arguably, a valid point of view on this. The question would be, is it practical to do at every gig? The answer to that is probably "no" for most musicians and artists.

If you are a house band and play the same exact venue all the time, it might be worth doing the mixes at the venue, on the system, and thus you can account for most of the variables....I say most because the tonal characteristics of the room will change based on the number of people in attendance. Empty rooms always sound different than rooms that are half full vs rooms that are packed. I have never played a single club or venue where we were able to leave the EQ set the same as the last gig. In addition, I have seen our FOH guy adjust the EQ throughout the night as the audience numbers increased.

My point is that for most bands/artists, the time it takes to remix and check your 4+hr set list to achieve the "perfect" sound in a given room is simply unreasonable for a working band to do at every gig. If they are using backing tracks on CD or hard disk, a good basic, balanced studio mix will nail it every time. If they have a FOH guy, that person handles the job in real time. If the artist sets the mixer on stage as many solo artists tend to do, a simple walk around with the tracks playing at level before the crowd arrives will normally expose any idiosyncrasies in the room and they can be accounted for and then simply let the show roll on.

Most studio mixes, if well balanced and EQ'd properly, will translate well on a PA system. The reverse is not likely to be true. I also frequent the Sonar recording forum and topics like this come up often enough. It's generally from someone who mixed on some stereo speakers and "man it sounds really good" but then takes the mix to a buddy's house or plays it in his car and it's crap. I've heard very few PA systems in my time that are "studio quality" sound systems. Some were close but most are not. We'd often use a commercial recording to "get our system" in the EQ ballpark quickly in a club. Nothing, and I mean nothing was ever perfect when it came to sound in the venues we played.

Hence the expression that I know everyone has heard: "Close enough for rock and roll"

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www.herbhartley.com
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