I just got back from my "lesson" dance. Got there early and helped set up all the hardware. Had about a thousand questions for jeffrey (tonight's sound man). He kept telling me that I was too worried about it. I ended up taking a page full of notes to start with. Then once the band started the sound check we'd go out to the middle of the hall and he'd ask what I thought. I'd tell him that the banjo seemed a bit quiet or something similar and he'd tell me to go fix it.

We were plagued by a bit of feedback that kept trying to sneak in - we thought from the guitar (either the monitor reflecting off the guitar face into the mic, or the mic picking up feedback from the strings). At the break we found out that it was being caused by the ceiling fan over the stage. By the second half of the night, jeffrey was confident that I could handle the sound and he went off to dance. So my first lesson in sound ended with trial by fire.

Next month I'm on my own. Should be interesting. I've been assured that one of the fiddlers next month has been doing this for years and if I have any questions or problems to just ask him.

Thank you to everyone who offered me instruction or advice. It is appreciated. If you think of anything more, by all means please continue to post - I don't think I could learn too much about it.