Sound Balancing and Audio Mixing...whats the difference?

Crikey 3 posts in 1 day!!!!

I do two sorts of audio jobs!!! I am a sound recorder and audio mixer by profession and I also sound balance at live events like Church and for bands and conferences. what’s the difference between the two I hear you ask?

Here goes...Sound Balancing; is fly by the seat of your pants audio mixing, you get 1 shot at it, and then its a done job. It is very stressful at an event like Saturday Night. You try to blend all the sounds, say a Piano, Bass Guitar, Drums, Acoustic Guitar, Harmonies, and Vocals, so it all sounds sweet. This is made slightly harder at Church at the moment as the desk keeps making an awful intermitant noise like it is farting electric. Its a low hum that isn't caused by an earth loop, it is more like something is shorting out. It's very annoying and I want to smack it hard. The pictures are of the desk at Church.

Sound Recording; is a little more critical in the fact that you need to get the right sound on "tape" (usually Hard Disk now), once you have that you can take as long as you like actually mixing it. Audio Mixing; is a subjective art as it is what sounds right to the person mixing at the time of mixing. Everyone will mix something in their own way and their own feel and leave their stamp on that piece of audio. I am in the last throws of mixing Mullins Burgers Album, I just need to record Mrs EB on a little bit of vocals on 1 track and it is all done. I asked my good friend Skip to help with the mixing of the tracks, I had them all up to a final mix and I was very happy with the sound, but as I had recorded them, edited them, then mixed them I thought another pair of ears would help.

So in a few weeks if a young drummer comes up to you and asks for a a few quid in exchange for a 6 track CD please do part with the money and enjoy the music, all the money raised will go to his college funds. Mrs EB, Amy and Amiability, Skipster Ian, Mullins Burger and his friend Matt are all on it....oh and I am not singing on it, so your ears will be safe ;-)