How to Mix a Solo Act

I heard a surprising statistic the other day: At one point in the 1980s, five of the acts on the Top 40 radio charts were solo acts that came from successful bands. Glen Frey (Eagles), Lionel Richie (Commodores) and Diana Ross (The Supremes) are three I remember. When it comes to live audio, a solo act means something entirely different, and mixing them brings new options.

The other week, I found out a guest worship leader would be leading our congregation in song. I don’t mean the worship leader plus the regular band. I mean one guy with a vocal mic and an acoustic guitar. I’ll be honest, I was excited to mix small.

Think Big to Mix Small

With a one-person band, the mix approach is completely different than mixing a large band. With a big band, there is a lot of work to control the audio frequencies so each channel fits into a narrower space so when all of the instruments and vocals are layered together, each only “owns their frequency area.” Not that they are the only sound in the tight frequency range but they are the dominant sound in it.

Mixing small is about letting instruments and vocals have a wider range.

STOP!

Before jumping to the five steps below, know that the guest leader might have a particular sound they like. You might like a certain blend of their voice and instrument, but they prefer the instrument volume to be well below their voice, or they might detest the use of effects, or they might insist on using their own effects.

Knowing if they have preferences will help a lot, especially if they can hear it in the room because they are using a floor wedge for a monitor. As you’ll learn at the end of this post, sometimes you have to accept what they give you.

Step One

Consider the sources. A vocal channel and an instrument channel need to create a full sound. Therefore, disengage any high-pass filters—even on vocals. I usually run my vocal HPF between 120 and 180 depending on singers but turn it off if it’s a solo or small act. It just depends on the band size and mix demands.

Step Two

Notch out the bad. Whatever harshness is there, get rid of it. I’ve done this before and the remaining vocal was near perfect. (Sometimes we get blessed with a great vocalist.) What remains is the best sounding natural sounds from the stage. Now is where you get to have some fun.

Check out this post on how to easily find those bad frequency areas.