Front of House: Francis Hunt Talks Live Metal Mixing, Touring & Sound After a Headline Run with Bleed from Within

A deep dive into touring workflows, mix techniques, and the gear behind a modern metal show.

“It’s not about being louder — it’s about feeling louder.”

Hey Francis, welcome to Review Zoo

Do most bands tour with their own sound engineer, or does that vary?

It’s definitely genre dependent, but in the past five years I feel like there’s been a massive increase in bands bringing their own sound engineer. More niche genres are more likely to have their own person to avoid relying on a house engineer who might not understand the nuances of their style. 

What does a typical day look like for you on tour — from load-in to load-out?

Always starts with coffee! 

Load in times vary due to production size, but midday load ins are pretty common. Most bands that tour 1000-3000 caps will take 2-3 hours to build their stage set up - usually lights & any visuals (video walls, SFX etc.) goes up first, then backline and audio after.

I’ll usually have my FOH rig built before the drums are on the riser, and I’ll play a few test tracks through the PA to check that it is functioning properly. I use songs that are well produced and that I know very well, so that I can easily identify if something isn’t working, or if there are any acoustic characteristics of the room that might be an issue later. 

Once I’ve mic’d and cabled everything on stage I’ll have the backline techs (or sometimes the band on smaller productions) check that every individual input is working correctly. This is called the line check. 

After that we’ll get the band up for a full soundcheck. The length of this varies massively band-to-band; some just play one song, some run multiple to rehearse or tweak parts of the set, some bands don’t even check every day. 

After soundcheck I’ll spike the positions of the mic stands and anything else that needs to be moved out of the way for the support band. At this point all the headliner crew gets a bit of a break; time to eat, nap or see friends in the area before the show. I’ll often watch a few songs of the support band to see how the sound of the venue has changed with people inside it. 

After the support finishes, the backline crew and I will put back anything that we moved after soundcheck, and then do a quick line check to make sure everything has been put back in the right place. I usually line check with the PA “open” so I can hear the sound of everything in the full room, as it is often pretty different from earlier. 

Then - showtime! 

Once the show is done the touring crew will pack everything away and load it out with the help of the local hands. It’s usually about an hour from venue curfew to having the trailer packed. Showers, chips and a movie on the bus usually follows! 

Do you travel with the band, or is there a separate tour bus for the crew?

Depends on the size of the production. I’ve done tours where I’ve been on a crew only bus, but touring is so expensive most bands often try to have as few vehicles as possible. In the UK you can fit up to 22 people on a bus (but it’s not very pleasant!)

Arena headliners will often have anywhere from 5 - 15 buses out with them, often with separate buses for each discipline (audio, lights, SFX etc).

How much does the room vs. the PA system affect your decisions?

Both used to be something that I would stress about, but I find it more conducive to lean into the situation I'm in. If the PA is underpowered/otherwise unimpressive I'll try and trick the crowd by adding some extra HF excitement into the mix, or setting my own Master compression just before the PA starts limiting.Big reverberant rooms can sound pretty exciting, but you do have to dumb down your mix a little to help it translate. I'll do faster gates on the drums, add more high frequency EQ to channels to accentuate transients and scoop out a lot of "muddy" low mid. 

What console and plugins were you using on that tour, and is most of the gear your own or supplied?

The last few tours I've taken out a DLive C1500 with the UltraFX card, plus a few bits of analogue outboard; 2 x Empirical Labs 'Pump' (the 500 series Distressor), an SSL Fusion and 500 series SSL Bus Comp. I own the 500 series stuff, but everything else is rented. 

I've taken out all sorts in the past, and also done a load of tours without bringing anything. Usually all depends on budget and logistics - having your own console can be brilliant, but also comes with downsides (anyone that's had to get up 7am to take their console to a festival main stage FOH knows what I'm talking about...)

What’s the hardest thing to get right in a metal mix live — vocals, kick, or guitars etc?

I think the hardest part is getting the relationship between guitars and vocals is the hardest bit to get right. I LOVE guitars, and I'm constantly hearing mixes that really prioritise kick, snare and vocal - which to me sounds really hollow. Guitars usually occupy a similar frequency range to vocals, so people naturally turn them down to make the vocal seem more present. 

Any tips for keeping a heavy mix both clear and aggressive — without revealing all your secrets?

Key things that I think make a massive difference; 

- Drum compression. Attack and release times are so crucial to a big mix. I always start with 15ms attack and 100ms release with anything percussive to allows the transients to sneak through but compress everything after. I’ll almost always have a “crushed” parallel drum group where I’ll do the opposite (very fast attack and slow release) which adds a layer of beef to the drums that I love. 

- Guitar side chaining. Sometimes I’ll use the lead vocal as the signal to side chain guitar group compression/dynamic EQ. And sometimes I’ll just manually ride the guitar and vocal DCAs so it doesn’t feel like something is missing when the vocalist isn’t performing. 

- Harmonic distortion. Saturation rules! If the console I’m using has any kind of fancy preamp moddeler I will use it (A&H Tube Stage, Digico “Warm”, or just cranking Midas DL preamps) and I’ll usually add saturation to groups using my ELI Pumps and saturate the Master or Band Bus with the SSL Fusion. Harmonic distortion adds overtones to instruments that make them sound thicker and more impressive.  

- Master Bus Compression. I’ll always always compress my master. Whether it’s light compression to keep a lid on everything, or more aggressive compression to get myself under a noise limit, reducing the dynamic range always sounds more “finished” to me. 

What’s one thing the audience would never notice that makes a huge difference to your mix?

Main thing that people get wrong is that if something sounds loud it doesn't mean it actually is loud (in terms of SPL). I usually try to mix my shows at around 100dB on average but I've got a few tricks that make it feel louder. This is called 'perceived loudness'. If you ever see a band that sounded huge but your ears don't ring afterwards it's likely that you perceived a louder gig than you actually heard!

What’s the fastest soundcheck you’ve had to pull off — and how did it go?

I've unfortunately had far too many very quick soundchecks, and a handful of "JUST START NOW!" gigs. They usually go ok - the adrenaline of actually making the show happen usually tricks my brain into thinking it sounds better than it does. I'm a bit of a neurotic over-planner, so I'm never turning up to a gig without at least a showfile ready to go. 

Have you ever had to completely rethink a mix on the fly — and how did you handle it?

I've definitely had gigs where I've not really anticipated how much the sound in the room will change between sound check and show time and had to quickly compensate during the first song. Usually this is because the crowd is now blocking the sound coming off the stage (making things like guitars and cymbals disappear), or just bringing down the overall volume entirely. If this happens I'll usually do a little walk into the crowd to make sure what they're hearing is good without being overpowering, even if it means my mix position will sound a little underwhelming in comparison. 

How do you handle feedback or system issues during a set?

Feedback is a funny one. I'll often see sound engineers hack their Master bus graphic EQs to bits to make sure that there's absolutely no possibility of the vocal mic feeding back - but this also means that those frequencies are turned down across the entire mix, often making it the overall mix sound dull or a bit lumpy and weird. If I do need to take down some problem frequencies I'll usually insert a GEQ on my vocal group so it's only affecting them. But, to be honest, as long as the mic isn't feeding back during normal operation I won't do much more. If the vocalist randomly jumps into the crowd or stands right in front of a stack of speakers I'm fine with a little squeak, makes the gig feel "live" y'know! System issues are usually out of my hands and not fixable mid-show... so I'll just try and make the best of a bad situation.

How much input do the band have in your mix?

Varies massively artist to artist. Some will come in with a very clear vision, some will totally leave me to my own devices. I've had soundchecks with artists or management breathing down my neck before which isn't usually the easiest way to achieve the best mix, but I do appreciate that sound is subjective and will always try and find a way to make everyone happy. The most important thing I have to convey is that everything is a compromise - all the sounds have to fit together. I'll usually record a LR mix of every show so the band can have a listen to what was being put into the PA... and if there's anything they love or hate they're free to tell me! 

What’s the toughest part of touring that people don’t see?

Being away from family, friends, pets and missing birthdays, weddings etc is hard. Going between the intensity of touring and the normality of home is sometimes hard to adapt to. When you're on tour you're almost never alone and there's a lot of pressure to be "on" all the time, which can quickly cause you to burn out. Being freelance means I'll spend a very intense period of time with one group of people, and then maybe not see them again for a year or two.