Ch 3: Key Relationships
Stepping offstage to listen is a valuable VD practice- but it can sometimes bring about more questions as we seek to hone our excellence.
Many questions can often be answered with great clarity by our production team. They have fine-tuned their ears to know what a room can handle, what a song needs, and how to execute this through our sound system and in-ear monitors. As you own the realm of vocals, part of this will be a collaboration with production.
If there is something you feel is missing from the mix, always begin by asking questions, including if this is a good moment to approach, or if you need to wait a moment (remember, they are running a live soundcheck). Ask production their thoughts and input on if the challenge you’re experiencing needs a band/vocalist solution, or a front of house/in-ears solution. It could be a vocalist is giving very little output, so they are quiet in the house (a note you can give the vocalist as VD), or it could be the engineer did not know how prominent a vocal part was meant to be in the house (a detail they can adjust on the soundboard).
Seeking the advice from our production team provides a completely different facet of feedback that can do wonders to improve our vocal team and overall sound.