[Harp-L] feeling nosy

[R Kraft <hoosierdads@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Jon,

There's not much you can do if the PA guy is blowing it, other than ask him "please set it here and leave it and I'll adjust it from the stage".  I wouldn't adjust my playing for a bad sound guy or blowing too hard.

A couple of non-harp-technique comments.

A volume control (on the mic or a volume pedal) can give you better control of the situation. When you've doing the sound check make sure to leave plenty of headroom for increasing (or decreasing) your volume. Depending on the type of volume control pot your mic has it may not be too useful and you may still want to have a volume pedal.

It's good to have someone that you trust in the audience to give you feedback. Often you could have low stage volume and still be loud enough for the crowd, or vice versa. I use a wireless mic to go into the audience and check volume. Then I can check all of the volumes except for my vocals.

Also remember, the sound guy has a thankless job. If he's great, there's no comment or musicians and patrons still complain. I always try to spend a few minutes before any gig with a new sound guy to get signals for up or down for myself.

Have fun!

Ned