I must start off with saying I am not an audio engineer. These suggestions are based on my experience in directing music @ Bay Area Fellowship and other bands of varying styles. I've noticed that a lot of people head straight for the eq knobs on the board when the mix just isn't sounding right. And while this isn't the wrong thing to do, there are other ways of getting your mix to sound full and not so empty. Lets start with the drums. Are the toms tuned? Tune them up! Are they ringing too much? Buy some moon gels and place them strategically on the beater head. You don't want to make it sound too dead, so usually one is enough. Is your drummer sloshing the hats all the time? Is he/she using the crash ride through the whole song? If he/she is, you're probably getting a harsh sounding mix that could be fixed by getting the drummer to close the hats for the verses and go to the ride during the choruses. It's important to remember that dynamics play a big part in the overall eq of a song. If the room you're in is relatively small, these changes will really help.
What about the bass. Is it in tune? Are the volume and tone knobs on the bass all the way up? The pickup he/she is using should always be turned all the way up. This allows the pickup to produce it's intended frequency range. Be sure to use a direct box to go to the Front of House board and only use a bass amp for reference purposes at a low volume . Some basses resonate more when notes are fretted instead of being played on an open string. Give it a good listen and if the bottom drops out when the bassist is playing an open A, try having them play it on string 4, 5th fret (4 string bass). You'll probably feel the room shake because fretted notes tend to resonate more. The bass and drums are the driving force of most songs, so they have to fit together sonically like a golfer's interlocking grip. This is where eq will enter the picture. Here's what I mean. If you've sound checked the kick drum and the bass and you've got a good signal, you're ready to rock and roll. But, then the band starts to play and you notice that you don't really hear the kick anymore. You're first thought is to turn it up. Mine is too. But, what we really should do is check to see if the bass is hogging up the low frequencies that the kick drum resonates at. How do you do that? First start by setting the bass channel's low frequency at about 80hz. Turn up the gain for that frequency and see if the bass is tighter and if the kick becomes clearer. If you get some separation, you're on your way to a better mix. If not, try anywhere from 60hz to 250hz until you hit sonic gold. Hope this information helps. I'll cover the other instruments on my next post.