When the show began, there was no dedicated soundman. Basically the crew would set up the mikes, record the show and hope that the sound was acceptable. This turned out to be an extremely unreliable method for recording the show. About a year or so ago John Carlino offered to do the sound for the show and because of him the shows sound has improved 150%. 

     John usually starts by hooking up the microphones to Mike and the artist and than into a snake located on the stage. These lapel microphones are attached to the shirt and pick up the dialog between Mike and the guest. If the artist is playing an acoustic guitar, This microphone will also pickup the guitar. Next he will sometimes hook up the same type of mikes to the amplifiers but more frequently he has been bringing mikes from his home studio to use on the amplifiers. If Mike or the artist has an acoustic guitar that has a pickup in it, John will plug it directly into the board.

     Once the equipment is hooked up, John heads up to the control room and gets a rough mix of all the microphones. A basic sound check is completed so a balance can be achieved between the instruments and speech. Once the sound check is complete, John waits for the show to start. Due to the fact that the show's sound varies so much, John has to constantly adjust the levels to keep an even mix. The guest can go from talking to singing to loudly strumming the guitar so these levels must be balanced accordingly.

     John is the piece of the puzzle that makes the show complete. A guitar show with good sound is a good "Guitar Show". A guitar show with Great Sound is a Great "Guitar Show".