Gigs & business
FOH engineer
The front-of-house engineer is responsible for what the audience hears. They control the system, its processing and its level, from a position out in the room rather than in the booth.
In practice
The engineer hears the room and you hear the booth. When they say the bass is heavy, they are right.
Introduce yourself before you play and tell them what you are playing — genre, roughly what tempo, whether there is anything unusual coming. That is thirty seconds and it makes them an ally. If something sounds wrong to you, describe it rather than diagnosing it: "the top feels harsh from here" is useful, "you need to pull 3k" is not, and they have measurements you do not. And if the booth monitor is unusable, ask early — it is a trivial fix before doors and an impossible one at peak time.
The room
What they hear
30 s
The introduction worth making
Describe
How to raise a problem
Where these come from: Live-sound working practice, not a catalog figure. For what we can measure, see the system they are running.
Why it matters
They hear something you cannot. The booth is behind or beside the speakers and acoustically unrepresentative; front of house is where the mix actually exists. When an engineer says the low end is heavy, they are describing the room rather than disagreeing with you.
They are also the only person who can fix a system-level problem. A ringing frequency, a delay speaker out of time, a sub that is not on — all of that is at the rack, not on your channel, and you cannot EQ your way out of any of it.
Frequently asked
Should I ask the engineer to change the sound?+
Describe what you are hearing and let them decide what to do. They have measurements and a view from the room; you have a booth and one opinion.
Why does the engineer keep turning me down?+
Usually a limiter, a licence or a room that is louder than the booth suggests. It is worth asking rather than assuming, and the answer is often a number they have to hit.
Is there always an engineer at a club?+
No. Many clubs run without one and the system is set and left, which means nobody can fix a system-level problem while you are playing.
Related terms
Monitor engineer
A monitor engineer is responsible for what the performer hears rather than what the audience hears, mixing the booth wedges or in-ears from a separate desk. The role is common at festivals and rare in clubs.
Club sound system
A club sound system is the whole chain after the mixer: processor, amplifiers, subwoofers, main speakers and often delay or fill speakers, tuned together for one room by an engineer who is not in the booth.
Soundcheck
A soundcheck is the time before doors to test your setup through the venue system — levels, monitoring, connections — so that nothing is discovered for the first time in front of a room.
DJ booth
The DJ booth is the space the equipment sits in: the table, the monitor, the power, and where all of it sits relative to the floor. It is part of the instrument, because it decides what you can hear.
Explore: LUFS meter · Club sound system · Soundcheck · All DJ terms