mixtheband.com was formed with one objective in mind:
To allow people of all ages to start sound engineering.
Founded by Howard Williams and Gareth Villis their goal has been to create easy to understand on – line tech sheets covering a broad range of sound engineering topics to enable both engineers and musicians to get more from their equipment and get a better sound
To allow people of all ages to start sound engineering.
Founded by Howard Williams and Gareth Villis their goal has been to create easy to understand on – line tech sheets covering a broad range of sound engineering topics to enable both engineers and musicians to get more from their equipment and get a better sound
Howard
My first interest in sound started 25 years ago as a singer and guitarist in a band. Realising I wasn’t going to make the Top 10 my focus switched to learning more about the technical side of things. Having completed 2 years of sound engineering studies at Kingston University I then set up my own recording studio and started sound engineering for local bands and artists. Many of the bands also wanted me to engineer them when they were playing live and it was then that I learnt how different live mixing was to working in a studio. Often I would have to work in poor sounding venues with a cheap and sometimes faulty sound system and if the band were late I didn’t even get to sound check.
Soon an opportunity came to work with a Sound and lighting company that provided large sound and lighting systems for concerts, festivals, sporting events and I got to work with many other touring sound engineers and bands up and down the country. Many of the bands I met owned large, good quality sound systems, however, were often lacking the necessary knowledge on how to set it up and use it properly and so were frustrated by the poor quality of sound they were getting. As a result of this, I started providing one day training sessions that quickly grew into bespoke 2 & 3 day training courses. As word spread I found it wasn’t just bands that wanted to learn about sound engineering, also there were many other technicians and engineers already working in the industry looking to improve their skills. This lead to the formation of my own sound engineering training company in 2006 called Base Sound. www.basesound.co.uk
Over the years I have taught live sound engineering to literally hundreds of different students ranging from 18 years to 70 years of age many have gone on to make sound engineering their career. Whilst a lot go on to engineer bands at gigs and festivals some use the skills to mix sound in their local community in schools, theatres, and houses of worship. Afterwards many students would ask me if I could provide any easy to understand on line tutorials to help remind them of what they had learnt.
At this point, a chance meeting with one of my students Gareth Villis who came on my 2 day live sound course, was a turning point for me. Gareth’s enthusiasm and passion for getting the best sound possible, was an inspiration and matched my own commitment to “Getting a better Sound”.
Gareth
I run my own audio visual company www.zenav.co.uk and have spent the last 16 years in the conference and audio visual industry providing custom graphics and audio visual solutions to major blue companies and engaging in presentations, product launches and road shows. Before I met Howard I had become frustrated with the lack of easy to understand concise sound engineering tutorials that didn’t take up days to read and sometimes seemed difficult to understand. We soon got talking and decided to combine both our skills and indulge our passion for sound engineering and visual presentation to provide our very own on-line sound engineering Tech Sheets. - Presto! “Mix The Band was born!”
With so much info on the web what makes us different? We believe our Tech Sheets provide a unique combination of essential, intuitive text that help explain why you need certain equipment and how to use it. We believe we “cut to the chase” , our copy text and visuals combine to show you how to get up and running in no time! Each Tech Sheet will illustrate how to hook up your equipment and what settings to use. “We’ve done the hard work! – You “Get a better Sound”.
We are on a journey and look forward to sharing it with you. Look out for more tech sheets in the future and the opening of our on line shop which will supply you with the custom cables referred to in the Tech Sheets. We sincerely hope you enjoy using our Tech Sheets and trust we have de-mystified Sound Engineering for you.
If there are any particular topics you would like us to cover then please drop us an email.
With very best wishes to you all!
Howard Williams & Gareth Villis
Mix The Band
My first interest in sound started 25 years ago as a singer and guitarist in a band. Realising I wasn’t going to make the Top 10 my focus switched to learning more about the technical side of things. Having completed 2 years of sound engineering studies at Kingston University I then set up my own recording studio and started sound engineering for local bands and artists. Many of the bands also wanted me to engineer them when they were playing live and it was then that I learnt how different live mixing was to working in a studio. Often I would have to work in poor sounding venues with a cheap and sometimes faulty sound system and if the band were late I didn’t even get to sound check.
Soon an opportunity came to work with a Sound and lighting company that provided large sound and lighting systems for concerts, festivals, sporting events and I got to work with many other touring sound engineers and bands up and down the country. Many of the bands I met owned large, good quality sound systems, however, were often lacking the necessary knowledge on how to set it up and use it properly and so were frustrated by the poor quality of sound they were getting. As a result of this, I started providing one day training sessions that quickly grew into bespoke 2 & 3 day training courses. As word spread I found it wasn’t just bands that wanted to learn about sound engineering, also there were many other technicians and engineers already working in the industry looking to improve their skills. This lead to the formation of my own sound engineering training company in 2006 called Base Sound. www.basesound.co.uk
Over the years I have taught live sound engineering to literally hundreds of different students ranging from 18 years to 70 years of age many have gone on to make sound engineering their career. Whilst a lot go on to engineer bands at gigs and festivals some use the skills to mix sound in their local community in schools, theatres, and houses of worship. Afterwards many students would ask me if I could provide any easy to understand on line tutorials to help remind them of what they had learnt.
At this point, a chance meeting with one of my students Gareth Villis who came on my 2 day live sound course, was a turning point for me. Gareth’s enthusiasm and passion for getting the best sound possible, was an inspiration and matched my own commitment to “Getting a better Sound”.
Gareth
I run my own audio visual company www.zenav.co.uk and have spent the last 16 years in the conference and audio visual industry providing custom graphics and audio visual solutions to major blue companies and engaging in presentations, product launches and road shows. Before I met Howard I had become frustrated with the lack of easy to understand concise sound engineering tutorials that didn’t take up days to read and sometimes seemed difficult to understand. We soon got talking and decided to combine both our skills and indulge our passion for sound engineering and visual presentation to provide our very own on-line sound engineering Tech Sheets. - Presto! “Mix The Band was born!”
With so much info on the web what makes us different? We believe our Tech Sheets provide a unique combination of essential, intuitive text that help explain why you need certain equipment and how to use it. We believe we “cut to the chase” , our copy text and visuals combine to show you how to get up and running in no time! Each Tech Sheet will illustrate how to hook up your equipment and what settings to use. “We’ve done the hard work! – You “Get a better Sound”.
We are on a journey and look forward to sharing it with you. Look out for more tech sheets in the future and the opening of our on line shop which will supply you with the custom cables referred to in the Tech Sheets. We sincerely hope you enjoy using our Tech Sheets and trust we have de-mystified Sound Engineering for you.
If there are any particular topics you would like us to cover then please drop us an email.
With very best wishes to you all!
Howard Williams & Gareth Villis
Mix The Band