If you want to be a really great front of house engineer, the very first step is to look beyond what’s in front of you. Mixers, microphones, DI boxes are a means to an end, not an end in themselves.

Give yourself a goal.

I’ve seen many good engineers (some of them very good), been kept from becoming great engineers simply because they couldn’t look beyond what was right in front of their face. Whether you’re experienced or just starting out, remember that the gear and the mix isn’t the end goal. It’s audience experience. At the end of the day, it’s your job to make sure the people in the audience leave with a great experience.

The mix and the gear you use are certainly an important component to this, but not by far the only component. If you want to become really great, take your head out of the game and evaluate the situation around you. How is everyone you’re working with feeling? Is the band able to perform to their best? Is the environment tidy? Did that guest just trip on that cable? Is what you’re physically doing transparent or distracting? Are you being a catalyst to an amazing production or simply a step between the experience and the end user.

If you step back and consider the world going on around you, odds are you’ll catch a few things that were creating roadblocks to a great experience for your guests and/or your talent.

Here’s some specific pointers to look for:

• Is the talent you’re working with happy? If they’re not in their groove then they won’t do their best. This is the same both with musical talent and guest speakers. The bottom line is, if there is any barrier in their concentration, their performance is going to be left lacking, reducing the quality of experience for your guests. Make sure they have everything they need. Work on their monitor mix quickly after only getting the roughest FOH (Front of House) mix. Also, many engineers consider it below them to serve the talent. If you do, then relations with them will make the performance all the better. It’s an easy temptation to duck these responsibilities off on an assistant, but the extra mile of getting them that bottle of water yourself (time permitting) will go far.
• Is the environment clean? You can construct an awesome mix, but if everyone trips over that power cable on the way in you can be sure they’ll remember. Keep your cables tidy and out of sight. You want the audience to watch the production, not your rat’s nest in front of the stage. If you’re mobile/portable, duck away your gear and instrument cases. Make sure pedestrian walkways are well lit and that any production gear isn’t protruding on the physical space.
• What are you doing? Just as it’s your job to make sure all the cues get hit transparently, it’s also your job to make sure you yourself are transparent. Check your audio coverage during soundcheck, not during the production. Limit washroom/coffee breaks to intermissions or pre/post production. If you nail all your cues but everyone hears the door shut on your way out to the can once the speaker hits the stage you haven’t done your job. Just as what you do on the board should be invisible to the audience if you do it right, make yourself physically invisible as well.
• Communicate, just as you should make sure the talent has everything they need, it isn’t just you and the talent making up the show, you’ll have visuals/video operators, camera people, lighting operators etc, that you’lll be working with. Identify quickly who you need to be tight with in order to make solid cues. Communicate with them extensively during pre production as well as during production. If you’re within earshot of the audience during production develop hand signals to nail your cues. Maintain  regular eye contact. Do whatever it takes to be sure you are on the same page with the people you are working with.