I have good news and bad news. The bad news is that Murphy was right: things will go wrong. The good news is that you have a chance to come up with a plan for when things do go wrong. Knowing that something will go wrong at some point, let’s talk about what to do when it does go wrong, and how to solve it as fast as possible.
What Do You Test First?
Where do you start when it comes to trying to find the issue? As you think through the signal flow, there may be a lot of components, so where do you start? Here are a couple of tips that will help you decide where to start.
Start with the basics
In the heat of the moment, when you’re in a high-pressure environment, it’s easy to miss the simple things. In thinking back to previous situations where things have gone wrong, almost 95% of the issues were basic things. They were things I missed in the hustle and bustle of live production. So when something goes wrong, start with the basics.
What’s Most Likely to Go Wrong?
As you’re looking through the signal chain and considering what to test first, think about what’s most likely to go wrong. Let’s overexaggerate for a moment. If your mic isn’t working, you wouldn’t swap out your soundboard because you think that’s where the problem is. It may be an issue with the soundboard, but that would likely cause other issues as well. It’s more likely an issue with a bad XLR cable than a bad input on your soundboard. Starting with the elements that are more likely to go bad will help you start testing and will have you finding a solution faster.
Is it plugged in?
Can’t hear your guitar? It probably isn’t broken. Start by double-checking that it’s actually plugged in. Reach down and confirm that your guitar is plugged in before you start unplugging everything else.
Is it powered on?
Can’t hear anything in your ears? Before you assume your in-ears broke, check if your monitor system or in-ear pack is powered on. This is another easy one to miss when you’re onstage. As you’re setting up, it’s easy to overlook the simple act of powering on a device, but that can wreak havoc on your performance. So double-check power on the devices if something doesn’t seem to be working well.
Is it unmuted?
This mainly applies to issues involving your soundboard, but if you can’t hear your mic, check to make sure that it’s unmuted. Before you start down the path of testing every cable in your chain, confirm this simple fact. Again, you may not typically miss this, but in a high-pressure live production environment, this is an easy one to overlook.
Follow Signal Flow and Connections
As soon as something goes wrong, you need to figure out where in the chain the failure is as quickly as possible. The best way to start is to visualize the signal flow in your head. Let’s pretend that we’re onstage, and we can’t hear our vocal mic in our in-ears. Let’s walk through the hypothetical signal flow.
Mic > XLR cable > stage snake > console input > console processing/routing > console output > Ethernet cable > live mix personal mixer > headphone adapter > in-ears.
Now don’t get caught up in the signal flow presented here. You may have more or less than what I’ve represented here, but the idea is that when something goes wrong, get a visual picture of signal flow in your mind. Then start working through the process to determine where the issue is.
To set you up for signal flow success, visit our guides from SweetCare about how to properly set up a PA system, mixer, and stage monitors.
Isolate One Variable at a Time
When we’re trying to determine where the issue is, we need to be sure that we only change one variable at a time. Let’s look at the signal flow we presented above. I’m going to change both the XLR cable and my headphone adapter. I’ve represented these in bold.
Mic > XLR cable > stage snake > console input > console processing/routing > console output > Ethernet cable > live mix personal mixer > headphone adapter > in-ears.
When I test again, suddenly it’s working. Problem solved, right?
No, it’s working, but I didn’t identify the problem. I didn’t isolate the issue. Was it a bad XLR cable or headphone adapter? I’m still not sure. If I put both cables back into rotation, I’m going to run into this issue again. And if I assume both are bad, then I just tossed a working component. Now let’s look at the problem again but only change one variable at a time, again represented in bold.
Mic > XLR cable > stage snake > console input > console processing/routing > console output > Ethernet cable > live mix personal mixer > headphone adapter > in-ears.
After swapping out the XLR cable, I still don’t have signal. At this point, I know for sure that the XLR cable isn’t the issue. Now I move on to the headphone adapter cable.
Mic > XLR cable > stage snake > console input > console processing/routing > console output > Ethernet cable > live mix personal mixer > headphone adapter > in-ears.
Now I have signal again, and I know the issue was with the headphone adapter and can make sure I don’t use that cable again. It’s worth noting that you may find yourself in a situation where the issue is actually two different cables at once. Still, I believe this process will get you to that conclusion faster and prevent you from adding those cables back into the mix. Plus, it gives you a process where you’re able to follow everything.
Preventative Medicine
Now that we’ve taken a look at solving problems as they happen, let’s examine a couple of things we can do before we encounter a problem — and hopefully prevent future problems.
Use a checklist
If your service consists of a lot of intricate moving parts, you may struggle to keep things straight when they go wrong, so create a troubleshooting checklist. This can help empower the people around you to solve problems on their own.
Think about pilots. They have checklists galore that they check and recheck on every flight. It’s not because they’re bad pilots. It’s because they are in a very complex situation. After scores of testing and development, checklists were created that help provide a safe situation for them and everyone onboard. In the case something does go wrong, they have a checklist for that as well. They turn to that specific issue and walk through the steps documented — again, remembering to stay calm.
The next time something goes wrong, take a deep breath and stay calm. Think through the signal flow, isolate the issue by checking the basics, change one thing at a time, and test what’s most likely to go wrong. And after you solve the problem, consider a checklist for the future, which you and others around you can follow to quickly and calmly solve the issue.
Basic care and maintenance
While not technically part of the troubleshooting process, care and maintenance is something that is often overlooked, yet it’s one of the simplest ways to prevent any potential issues. Let’s take in-ear monitor care and maintenance, for example. While dropouts most certainly occur from a bad cable, grime and debris can also be the culprit. Simply cleaning them and storing them properly will extend their life.
Bring a backup
What will you do if your audio interface goes out right before you step onstage? What will you do if you break a guitar string? You need to have a backup plan. One of the most foolproof ways to make sure you can stay up and running is to consider redundancy for crucial gear. Have an extra guitar and extra packs of strings nearby. If you have six band members, purchase seven in-ear packs. In the rare case a pack goes bad, you can easily swap out the bad one for the spare. If you’re running tracks onstage, create a redundant rig using a PlayAudio12 or SW8 so that if a cable is unplugged or a computer crashes, your tracks don’t go down with it.
Relax and Stay Calm
Finally, let’s talk about the most important thing to remember when things go wrong but that we often miss when we’re stressed or in a high-pressure environment: relax and stay calm. For some of us, this is pretty easy. We don’t get worked up too easily when things go wrong. For some of us, though, this is the hardest part. Once something goes wrong, we freak out! We struggle to focus and stay on track, and with a million things running through our heads at once, it’s challenging to stay the course. If this is you, then here’s an effective trick. When something goes wrong, just pause and breathe.