I have always considered the sound man to be another member of the band. When touring or local gigging, I always bring "my guy". He knows our sound, he knows my vocal inflections, he knows the what I am trying to get out of the interpretation. Even when I play large festivals, my guy is in back with the sound man.

I came to this after an important gig was seriously affected by a sound engineer who didn't listen. I went to this guy and spent a great deal of time explaining the "bass cut" to him, as well as the sound we are after. He promptly set his sound to the defaults he used, and spent the gig talking to someone on his cellphone. I literally was talking to him from the stage and he ignored me. The offshoot of this is that he was fired from this venue never to return (the Board of Directors of the Festival are great fans and were in the audience and knew how we should sound), and I committed to a full share on all gigs to the soundman (my guy). It has been the best money I have ever spent.

Mick