Before the gig, both bands did a sound check on stage to set up the levels and effects before the actual performance. The meant using the mixing desk to adjust the levels of the instruments coming through the main PA system, but also through the monitors on stage. We basically made sure that each instrument was miked up, and had a balanced level. My monitor mainly had bass guitar coming through it as the drums and bass are what carry reggae songs along, so I needed to hear what the bass was doing over everything else. Singers however would need mainly the other rhythm instruments through their monitors so that they know where they are in the song.
The whole live sound aspect was not our main focus on this project as this is something we have covered in the past, but it was a good thing to be able to do before the performance as it helped make each band sound professional, and authentic to the actual artists. We had one dynamic microphone (Shure SM57’s) for each guitar amp, positioned over the center of the amplifier’s speaker, and Keys were plugged straight into a DI box and into the PA. The Drum kit had seven microphones in total; two overhead mics, one mic on the snare, one on the hi-hats, one for each tom-tom, and on for the kick drum. Singers were using standard Shure SM58 dynamic microphones. This mic was also used for the saxophone.
This sound check was a good opportunity to run through the set again on stage so that we were 100% prepared on each track and ready to perform live.
Here is a couple of videos of the set up process: