jameseaton

Fix it in Pre // It’s easier to fix at the source

Fix the problem at the source (then you can get creative and fancy)

If you have ever worked in production, you’ve heard the phrase, “Oh, we’ll fix that in post (as in post-production).” From lighting issues and color changes to framing and audio issues, there’s always a desire to fix things later.

The problem with this line of thinking is that some things just don’t work in post-production (or farther down the signal). I have been tempted many times to just use the take and not try to fix it in the moment, and that has almost always resulted in more work. If the color of the video capture is wrong, it’s worth taking a minute to fix it. If there is an issue with line noise or hiss, it’s worth the 5 minutes to check cables and resolve before you capture a 30 minute conversation or message.

Recently I was at one of the campuses where I am currently working as the Technical Production Director, and I was in a proverbial battle with a snare drum sound. I was filling in for someone at the campus and was trying to get the snare to sound the way I like it in the mix, and I was…. Struggling. It was not doing what I wanted, and I was starting to get frustrated. My EQ changes were not working like they normally do, and the compressor was not helping. I was annoyed and started to wonder if I was actually just terrible at mixing and if I should pack it up and head home (ok, that was a little dramatic, but I was annoyed and confused). After rehearsal, I remembered my own principle that I need to FIX IT IN PRE. The eq section of the console is not the first place I should start when it comes to a snare drum. You need to start at the source.

So I walked up to the drum set and found the snare mic pointed 90 degrees down toward the floor. Here is a terrible sketch that I drew of what it looked like (no gen-AI here. Just terrible drawings)

In general, snare drum mics should not be pointed down 90 degrees toward the outside of the drum. I felt like the drum was hollow and had no life or definition, and that was literally because what I was capturing was a non-optimal image of the drum.

I did the most important move I made all day, and I just… moved the mic to the right position.

Mic pointed toward the actual drum… much better

I was back to the races and took two minutes to clean up the snare and went along with the day.

I spent way too much time fighting with the snare sound during rehearsal and then fixed the problem in seconds. The real input was the problem the whole time. All my knowledge about the console, how EQ works, snare reverbs, compression, etc did not matter because the source tone was bad. Tech work can feel like magic, but most of the time it is just a bunch of small intelligent decisions made over time. When there is a breakdown in that system, you get issues that are amplified down the line.

No matter how far along you are in your journey, it is worth considering the “simple” things before you start using your big brain to solve problems. Is the mic pointed the right direction? Does the acoustic guitar have a fresh 9v battery? Is the guitar amp too loud? Do you have proper gain structure?

I could share numerous stories of forgetting this principle. The goal is not to be perfect; the goal is to return to the principle faster the next time. Waste less time chasing the problem and step back to see what might be going on.

The best part about this advice? It does not cost any money. You don’t need another piece of gear or an item to potentially solve massive issues in your workflow. If your drums sound bad, find someone to tune them, put the mics in a good place, and then move to taste. If your inputs sound bad on your live stream, try getting proper gain structure and clean signals. If your video feed looks bad, work on your lighting and color correction. Fixing it in post just creates future problems and rarely works out for the best.

Fix it before it gets amplified and watch your issues diminish.

You Have to Make it Bad // Thoughts on AI, Failure, and Art

There is so much discourse online right now around AI, generative content, large language models (LLMs), and the nature of how we might use these technologies.

I have been wrestling with my thoughts around AI for a while now and I feel like some themes are starting to emerge around this topic in my own heart and mind. It is sprawling and large and all-consuming (“AI isn’t going anywhere, so you need to learn how to use it..” Says the trillion dollar company staying afloat by sharing the same 70 billions dollars of investment from that other multi-billion dollar company).

There are different areas of issues and implication and I think this makes it hard to have a conversation around AI, because “AI” means so many different things but all get lumped into one bucket. There are ethical implications, environmental implications, social implications, etc. All of those are important and deserve time and conversation.

As I sit here typing these words on my screen, I am considering the difficulty of conveying an idea or thought. Writing is not easy; there is a real struggle to put pen to paper (or finger to key) and produce something that is even coherent. Writing is a struggle, art is a struggle, and great art comes from great failure. The first sentence you write is terrible. The first video you make is terrible. The first graphic you edited in Photoshop CS3 was terrible (that was a personal dig at myself and my attempt to learn Photoshop in college). The first song you write is bad. It has to be bad.

Art should be bad. Then bad again (repeat many times…).THEN it can be good.

I recently found an old audio recording of myself singing and playing the guitar. It was a song that I wrote in high school and was attempting to record. I say record, but that might make you think of an audio interface, mics, headphones, pedals, etc. No…. This was an old Dell tower with Audacity loaded and a mic that plugged into the 1/8 inch mic input on the back of the computer. It was a mic that we used to interact with the computer and a talking parrot program. You could say something to the parrot and it would say it back to you in a funny parrot voice. I have no idea what it was called, but it was hilarious to me as a child (still funny as an adult) and that is why we had a cheap 1/8 inch mic in our computer room.

I recorded a song with that mic sitting on the computer desk. There was not even a mic stand. It was distorted and gross. I am not good at the guitar or singing at that point. I am also not good at writing songs, but it was MY SONG. I wrote the lyrics and melody and used the 4-5 chords that I knew on the guitar to craft this song. It was the equivalent of the little free bird house that you get to build at Lowe’s on Saturday with your kids. By all accounts, it was awful. But it was MY awful song. It was the best recording I had ever made, because I had never made another recording. I am not going to put it online. It is not for sharing with the world. It was for me.

There was a time when I would have been embarrassed by that recording. The playing, the singing, the lyrics, the way it sounded. But after finding it recently and listening to it again, all I felt was pride. I was proud that I was creative enough to even figure out how to record audio into the computer. Proud that I was brave enough to sing and play out loud. Proud that I gave it my best effort. I could hear in that recording a seed of what would come over the next few decades of my life. There were glimpses of a future that I did not know existed.

Sometimes you can only see the path when you look back.

I am much better at playing guitar, singing, recording, and producing music than I was at 15. But I am so proud of that version of me because I am still him in so many ways. I still plug instruments in, use mics, produce audio, and mix sound. It is on a much greater scale, and I hope that I am doing my job with excellence and proficiency, but that core is still the same. Solving problems and making it sound as good as I can. That level of “good” has grown, but that desire was always there. I have mixed shows with 80+ inputs and hundreds of people on stage. I have run sound for some incredible people and I am lucky to be where I am today, but so much of that can be traced back to that curious kid who sat in his room playing guitar poorly and dreaming about a future that seemed a million miles away.

Suno can make a song for you. You can type some ideas into the app and tell it to make something for you. It can take your idea and “improve” it for you. You could upload a demo and get a full song sent back to you in seconds. It is, however, not good. Because that is not you. The model will get better, but you will not get better.

Cal Newport talks about using AI for creative tasks like getting your robot to go to the gym for you. If a robot did you workout it could technically be completed, but it would actually give you nothing meaningful in return. The struggle is the prize. The process is what brings the payoff.

Don’t let the easy button be the end for your creative journey. Use tools to make it easier, but don’t let the robot take your win. The Voice Memo app on the iPhone might be one of the most important things to ever happen to the creative world. So many hit songs started as a voice memo or a snippet of an idea. But the Voice Memo app does not make you a song; it’s just a tool for capture.

So, make the bad art. Write the bad song and never share it online. Then do another. Then another. Then share one that you are proud of and get roasted by the internet and try again. Repeat the process and see where it takes you.

Fix Your Mix // special giveaway with Pisgah AVL

We are getting closer to Fix Your Mix on October 4, 2025! I am blown away by the interest in this event and I am excited to share some amazing news about this event.

Pisgah AVL from Asheville, NC is partnering with Eaton Audio Consulting to make this event even better. Pisgah is powering this event with a d&b audiotechnik PA, and I cannot wait for you to hear this sound system! I love d&b speakers and I am so exited to have Pisgah coming to be a part of this event. I have worked with them on several projects over the last few years and they are the best around.

But wait, there is more!

If them being a part of FYM was not enough…. Pisgah is offering an incredible giveaway for someone who registers and pays for the event. Pisgah and I are going to team up and give one lucky person / organization a free System Check-up & Mini Tuning package. We will come together to your space and work through your console file, check your setup, run SMAART, test speakers, and make sure you are in good shape for your next gathering or event. This is an incredible value and someone will walk away with this service for FREE!

Free? That’s amazing. What do I need to do to be eligible for this offer?

All you need to do is fill out the form (click here to fill out the form) and register for the event. If you are registered by September 15, 2025 then you will be automatically entered to win the System Check-in & Mini Tuning package. I am so grateful to Pisgah AVL for this partnership with this event and cannot wait to continue doing training events in the future with them.

Don’t miss out on our first audio training event. Spaces are filling up and if you want a guaranteed spot (and a chance to win in System Check-in & Mini Tuning package), be sure to register soon! We are working to make this event as great as possible for the best price possible.

What can I expect from Fix Your Mix (October 4, 2025)?

We are just about a month away from my first live audio training event and I cannot wait spend time with everyone talking about live sound and mixing music.

There has been a good deal of interest in the event (which is so cool!) and I wanted to offer some context around the event so you can share this with your leadership, staff, board, team, and friends.

Where did this idea come from?

I have spend the last 10 years helping churches and other venues work on their sound systems and consoles. During that time I have found some common threads that keep coming up with almost every space and team. I love helping other people and solving problems, but I found that I was effectively solving the same problems over and over again.

Fix Your Mix is my attempt to bring people together to walk through some common issues and teach you how to solve problems as they arise in your local context. Every space is unique, but the toolset to solve those problems is much more similar than you might imagine. We will learn some sound basics (what is sound, how do we think about sound), talk through some Front Of House best practices (how do you know if you are doing a good job running sound?), and then we will walk through the process of managing audio and using our soundboard to create a great mix. We will mix drums, bass, guitar, keys, vocals, and tracks together in real time to build a solid mix in an hour. There will be time for Q&A as we go so you can get your specific questions answered.

What will I get from this event?

This event will give you a better working understanding of some of the things you can do to improve the sound of you church, theatre, venue, school, etc. You will learn how to think critically about sound and how to approach the toolset in front of you. Most spaces have the tools, but there is a lack of understanding how they actually work. You will learn what gates are and how you can use them to clean up your mix. You will learn how to think about EQ and where to start. You will learn how compression works and how you can use it in your mix to bring clarity and control.

My goal for this event is to share wisdom with you that I have learned over the last 20 years doing live events. I have mixed thousands of events and I want to give you a jump start on your mixing journey. If you know nothing about mixing, you will still benefit from this event.

If you are confident in your mixing, this event will strengthen your working knowledge and might give you some new tips and tricks to share with your team. It’s an easy barrier to entry, but the concepts apply to any level of mixing.

We will have amazing coffee from The Fox’ Den in Blountville (my favorite local coffee shop) plus some amazing baked goods from someone very special. There will be handouts and digital content that you can take with you so you can keep the learning process going after the event ends.

What is the cost?

The cost for Fix Your Mix is $25 per person. If you are bringing a group, you can bring as many people as you want for $100! So, if you have four people already planning on coming, you can bring any additional people from your organization for free. Bring your worship pastor, tech director, or musicians who want to learn more about the science and art of live sound.

I have done my best to keep the cost low while still providing all the value I can. I want to continue to provide meaningful content at an affordable price so as many people who want to come can participate.

The event will be held on October 4, 2025 at Blountville Christian Church. It will start at 9:30am and will finish around 12:30.

You can click this link and register for Fix Your Mix.

What’s next?

I am going to be offering more training events in the future! You can think of this class as a 101-style class. It’s the foundation of you what need to know to mix with confidence. I will be offering more in-depth classes in the coming months that will build on these principles while going into much greater detail.

I hope to see you at Fix Your Mix. If you can’t make this training, I hope you can make another event in the future. If you are interested in hosting a training event at your church, send me an email ( jamesgeaton11@gmail.com ) and let’s connect. I am looking to fill spots in 2026 over the next couple months.

Fix Your Mix (before 2026)

Do you want to get better at mixing live audio before we get to the new year? Want to sharpen your skills before the Christmas season gets here? Want to make friends with other local AV people? This event is for you.

Fix Your Mix is a 3 hour training event designed to jump-start your mixing knowledge so you can make smarter decisions faster as your mix sound for live venues and streaming. Time is limited when mixing, so having a good understanding of some basic concepts can keep you on the right track when things get a little bumpy. We all need a refresher so even if you are mixing on a regular basis, there will be some tips and tricks that will help you as well.

We’ll spend time learning about what sound is, how to think about mixing, drinking good coffee, and mixing a song from scratch live. It will be fun and informative and you will walk away with practical next steps for you and your team.

This event is designed for anyone who mixes live sound (or anyone who wants to learn). There will be more detailed classes coming in the future, but I wanted to start with a broad class to get everyone up to speed together. I believe that we are capable of doing great things and that proper knowledge of these tools we have will lead to making wise decisions when mixing.

The cost is $25 per person with a $100 group or organization maximum. So bring your whole team and let’s Fix Your Mix before 2026.

Want to sign up? Use the form below to sign up for this event.

(If you can’t fill out the form on this site you can Fill out this form as well. It’s the same signup form)

Eaton Audio is live!

I did it. I got the domain eatonaudio.com and I am here to share audio tips and tricks.

I am working on some new content that will coming later in 2025. BUT, I want to tell you about an event that I am hosting on October 4 at Blountville Christian Church.

It’s called Fix Your Mix and it’s geared for anyone who wants to get better at mixing live sound before we get into 2026. There will be some teaching on sound and what it means to mix live sound, and then we will spend the rest of the morning mixing a band from scratch. I cannot wait to spend time with local audio-minded friends all while drinking great coffee and sharpening our skills together.

If you want to learn more about the event and to sign up, you click here to fill out this form and sign up! The cost is $25 per person with a max cost of $100 for any group or organization. I wanted to make it as affordable as possible for groups to come and bring their whole team.