Different Venue every week .... is EQing the FOH "Mains" rather than the individual inputs a shortcut ..... or heresy?

[Aliwobble]

I've done 100s of "set up and go" pub gigs. The sort where a proper PA tuning is just not possible. My key tips would be:

1. Shiny room = lots of treble reflections. Think glass or polished wood. Trim some highs out.

2. Floor <-> ceiling reflections typically create a room node around 160-180Hz, (unless the ceiling is higher). Putting an eq dip in here somewhere usually cleans up the sound a lot.

3. Can't hear the vocal? Put a towel over the snare drum.

[Chienmortbb]

On 09/11/2025 at 09:07, Aliwobble said:

Can't hear the vocal? Put a towel over the snare drum.

I am not sure if I would like to be near the drummer when I suggest this.🎆

[Stub Mandrel]

The one PA we have uses a reference microphone and white noise through each, then both sides of the PA. Not perfect as it doesn't compensate for the place filling with punters, but it speeds everything up.

[JPJ]

9 hours ago, Stub Mandrel said:

The one PA we have uses a reference microphone and white noise through each, then both sides of the PA. Not perfect as it doesn't compensate for the place filling with punters, but it speeds everything up.

If I can get in early enough ie before the punters, and if the venue doesn’t complain, then this is what I do with the DriveRack auto eq feature. But, as the majority of our gigs are pub gigs, this rarely happens.

[LawrenceH]

Thinking from the perspective of smaller venues where lots of room modes and reflective surfaces can interact in a relatively small space...

 

I've never found that settings on individual channels transfer all that well from one venue to the next even when eq-ing the room. It's a very useful starting point, but since the room effects have position-dependent components with respect to individual instruments, and a lot of musicians adapt how they play to the room, some further tweaking of the individual channels always seems to be necessary.

[Phil Starr]

On 19/11/2025 at 09:34, JPJ said:

If I can get in early enough ie before the punters, and if the venue doesn’t complain, then this is what I do with the DriveRack auto eq feature. But, as the majority of our gigs are pub gigs, this rarely happens.

This quote reminds us all about the reality of what we do. We’ve probably all played venues where there is no sound check.Food venues are the worst, I’ve been told no noise until the punters finish eating and had to wait half an hour for ‘Uncle Albert’ to finish his pud on more than one occasion.

 

The other issue is how you are amplifying the band. If most of what the audience hear is from back line you are pretty much stuffed in acoustically poor venues. You can re eq the bass , maybe damp the drums but good luck with trying to get the guitarist to make adjustments 😀

 

If you are silent stage and using a digital mixer then using your saved settings and global eq for the PA is the only option that makes sense. The room interactions are with just two speakers. You know what you are sending to the speakers is what you want the audience to hear so the master eq is the tool for getting that as good as possible.

 

I suspect most people are doing something in between these approaches, some proportion of the sound coming from backline with PA backup filling in the gaps. In some ways the worst of all worlds. I’d still be using global eq for the PA though as a first resort, In the end you are stuck with the situation on the night and just have to do the best you can,

[Chienmortbb]

Last week’s gig for my band was in an almost square room with the stage in the corner. It really was the easiest sound check we have ever had. The sound out front seemed well balanced everywhere and especially on stage, despite us using the passive mains and monitors. 
 

As some will know, I have a shiny new system waiting in the wings but my shoulder injury means I cannot lift the Subs until the New Year. 
 

I wonder whether the positioning of the stage has as much to do with the sound as anything else. With the corner stage, the wall reflections are quite different to a central stage in a square/rectangle. Of course these corner stage setups are not the norm but as this was the first time at this venue for us, I am hopeful we can return next year. The nice touch was that we were paid more than the agreed fee .