How We Think About Live Sound at Nocturne Teas
A Small-Venue Philosophy on PA Systems, Stage Setup, and Running Sound
One of the reasons I enjoy writing blog posts like this is that it lets me talk about things I genuinely care about. Live sound is one of them.
I’ve been audio engineering for the better part of a decade, with some semi-professional work mixed in along the way, and while I don’t pretend to be a touring front-of-house engineer, I do take sound seriously. More importantly, I take the experience of sound seriously—from the performer’s perspective and from the audience’s.
At Nocturne Teas, we’re a small venue by industry standards. Not a club. Not a theater. Certainly not a House of Blues. But we still treat live sound like it matters, because it does. In fact, in small spaces, it often matters more.
This post walks through how I think about live sound in a room like ours: starting with the PA, moving through stage monitoring, instruments, drums, and finally the mixing console itself.
The PA Is the Foundation
A lot of small venues skimp on their PA system, or don’t have one at all. When they do, it’s often outdated, poorly configured, or fundamentally undersized for the room.
That’s understandable—PA systems are expensive, and sound equipment is one of those things people only notice when it’s bad. But if you want live music to feel intentional rather than accidental, the PA has to be treated as foundational infrastructure, not an afterthought.
Why Subwoofers Matter (A Lot)
One of the most commonly overlooked components in small venues is subwoofers.
PA mains—your typical top speakers—are very good at reproducing high and mid frequencies. They can technically reproduce some low end, but they’re not designed to do it well, efficiently, or with authority. Without subwoofers, the audience can hear music, but they can’t feel it.
And feeling the low end is everything.
There’s nothing quite like being at a concert and feeling the kick drum hit you in the chest, or dancing to electronic music and feeling the bass resonate through your body. That physical sensation isn’t a luxury feature—it’s a core part of how humans experience music.
Low frequencies carry weight. They create emotional grounding. They give music depth and impact. Subwoofers handle these frequencies efficiently and cleanly so the mains don’t have to struggle, distort, or sacrifice clarity.
Without subwoofers:
Kick drums disappear into the mix
Bass guitars lose definition and punch
EDM, hip-hop, funk, and rock feel thin and sterile
The entire mix becomes harsh because the mains are overworked
At Nocturne, subwoofers allow us not just to reproduce sound accurately, but to sculpt it—to decide how much low end the audience feels, rather than hoping it shows up by accident.
Stage Monitors Aren’t Optional
Another thing small venues routinely dismiss is stage monitoring.
Performers need to hear themselves, and they need to hear each other. Period.
What a lot of people don’t realize is that when you’re standing behind the main PA, you’re hearing a completely different sound profile than the audience. This is basic physics.
Why the Stage Sounds Different Than the Room
When sound waves interact—especially low and mid frequencies—they can reinforce each other or cancel each other out. This phenomenon, called phase interaction, means that certain frequencies may be louder in one physical location and nearly absent just a few feet away.
Behind the PA, performers often experience:
Excessive low-end buildup
Muddier mids
Reduced definition
Reflections off back walls and ceilings
Meanwhile, the audience hears a more coherent mix shaped by speaker placement and room interaction.
Stage monitors give performers a controlled reference point. They allow musicians to play tighter, sing more confidently, and remain musically connected to one another. Without monitors, musicians tend to overplay, oversing, or turn up—creating a cascade of volume problems that quickly spirals out of control.
Why I Mic the Drums (Even in a Small Room)
Despite the size of our venue, I mic the drums.
Sometimes this rubs drummers the wrong way—especially the “no mics” purists. And inevitably I hear something like:
“My drums are loud enough.”
They usually forget one thing.
Their job is to perform.
My job is to make them sound their best.
The microphones aren’t there because the drums sound bad, nor do I use them because I think the drummer is bad. They’re there to reinforce what the drums already do well—and to make sure the audience experiences them properly, because at the end of the day what sense is there in performing if the audience gets a lackluster experience.
Low End, Projection, and Reality
Acoustic drums, especially kick drums and toms, produce a lot of low-frequency energy—but that energy doesn’t project evenly through a room. Without microphones and subwoofers, much of that low end gets lost once guitars, bass, vocals, and ambient noise enter the mix.
The microphones allow me to:
Capture the low-frequency content accurately
Route it through the subwoofers
Let the audience feel the drums
Without reinforcement, the guitars and bass have to be turned up to feel impactful, which ends up drowning out the drums entirely. Turning everything down doesn’t solve the physics problem. Low end still doesn’t project.
In our room specifically, low frequencies tend to build up on stage behind the subwoofers—right where the performers are standing. That means the drummer hears massive low end, which sometimes makes them think I’m making them too loud, while on the other side the audience feels almost none of it. Mic’ing the drums gives me control over that imbalance.
Bass: Give Me a DI Every Time
For bass guitar—an instrument that lives almost entirely in the lower register—I strongly prefer a DI signal.
When a bassist can send a clean DI (either from their amp or a standalone DI box), it eliminates several common problems:
Mic placement inconsistencies
Phase issues between mic and cab
Muddy or unfocused low end
Bleed from other instruments
A DI allows me to preserve clarity, push clean low frequencies to the subs, and blend the bass properly with the kick drum. The result is tighter, more articulate low end that supports the band instead of fighting it.
If the bassist’s amp sounds great in the room, that’s fantastic—but the DI ensures the audience hears a consistent, controlled version everywhere, not just where the cab is pointing.
Why I Mic Guitar Cabinets (Yes, Even Big Ones)
Mic’ing guitar amps is standard practice for small combo amps, but people sometimes question why I do it with larger combos or stacks.
The answer is simple: guitar amps are incredibly directional.
Guitar speakers beam high frequencies in a narrow pattern. If you’re standing directly on-axis, the sound can be painfully bright and harsh. Step a few feet to the side, and suddenly it sounds warm and balanced.
Without mic’ing:
Some audience members get their ears destroyed
Others barely hear the guitar
The mix becomes wildly inconsistent
I ask guitarists to keep their amps as quiet as possible and aim them across the stage or toward the back—not at the crowd. This lets me:
Control the volume
Shape the tone
Balance the guitar with the rest of the band
Everyone in the room hears the guitar the way it’s supposed to sound—not just the unlucky people standing in the blast zone.
Some of you (probably the guitar players) are probably screaming at me about how cabinets sound different at different volume levels, and my approach can destroy your “tone”. Here’s what I have to say about that: I get it. However, you know what’s worse than your “tone” being “destroyed”? The audience not getting an enjoyable experience to begin with. If you are that concerned you may want to consider building an isolation box for your cab, which I could easily keep off to the side of the stage. You can build one for less than $50, and if you’re interested in that idea take a look at this video. I have one in my studio and it is honestly fantastic. Even with the amp cranked, it is about as audible as a TV in the next room from outside. Mine isn’t as fancy as the one in the video, I built the box from MDF, lined it with rockwool, stapled fabric over the rockwool, and put casters on it.
Vocals: Simple, Reliable, and Effective
Vocals are thankfully the simplest part of this equation.
We use the Shure SM58—a microphone that has earned its reputation over decades of use. It’s durable, forgiving, resistant to feedback, and well understood by engineers everywhere.
Most vocalists we host have solid mic technique, which makes everyone’s life easier. Proper mic proximity, consistent positioning, and awareness of dynamics go a long way. When paired with compression and EQ, vocals can sit cleanly on top of the mix without fighting the band or vanishing into it.
The Console: Where Control Lives
We run sound on a PreSonus StudioLive 16.4.2.
It’s not the newest or flashiest console on the market, but it’s a digital board with everything our space needs:
High-pass filters
Gates
Compression
Four-band EQ
Subgroups
Built-in effects
Scene recall and routing flexibility
This is another area where small venues often cut corners. Analog boards can work—but digital consoles provide tools that make consistency and control possible.
Another note on this board: The scene recall function has made my life very easy for many reasons. For starters it allows me to sound check bands before the start of events and save a profile for them. It also is great because it’s allowed me to create profiles for the hosts of our other events such as trivia and bingo, so all they have to do is recall the scene and they’re ready to go.
Why Compression Is Non-Negotiable
Compression is one of the most misunderstood concepts in audio, but it’s essential.
At a basic level, compression reduces the difference between the loudest and quietest parts of a signal. Used correctly, it smooths performances without making them sound unnatural.
I use compression on:
Vocals (for consistency and intelligibility)
Bass (for solid, controlled low end)
Drums (to manage transients and punch)
The master bus (very subtly, for cohesion)
Without compression:
Vocals disappear or spike unpredictably
Bass overwhelms or vanishes
Drums feel uneven
The mix lacks polish
Compression isn’t about squashing life out of music—it’s about control and balance, especially in a live environment where performers vary naturally in volume.
For the Curious: Further Reading & Resources
If you’re interested in learning more, here are some excellent resources:
Why a Kava Bar Goes Through All This Trouble
At the end of the day, Nocturne Teas is a kava bar. We don’t sell tickets. We’re not a nightclub. We’re not a touring venue with a production budget and a dedicated sound crew.
So a fair question is:
Why bother?
Why invest time, money, and effort into a PA system, subwoofers, monitors, mics, and a proper mixing console when we could technically get by without them?
The answer is simple: live music is part of our identity, not an afterthought. I also have a personal philosophy of: Do it right the first time, or don’t do it at all.
From the beginning, Nocturne was envisioned as a late-night kava bar and tea house that values atmosphere, creativity, and presence. Live music—whether that’s an open mic night, a small band performance, or a rave—is an extension of that. If we’re going to invite musicians into the space, we owe it to them to make them sound good.
We also owe it to the audience.
A bad sound system doesn’t just hurt performers—it pulls listeners out of the moment. Harsh highs, muddy lows, uneven volume, and uncontrolled noise make it harder to relax, focus, or enjoy yourself. For a space that prides itself on being an intentional alternative to loud, chaotic bars, that matters, especially here in Palm Bay, where alternatives are basically non-existent.
Investing in good sound allows Nocturne to function simultaneously as:
a music-focused venue
a place for conversation and connection
a calm, late-night space where people actually want to stay
Good sound doesn’t have to be loud. In fact, when it’s done correctly, it’s often quieter—cleaner, clearer, and less fatiguing than poorly managed volume.
This approach also shapes the kinds of events we host. Our live music events aren’t about overwhelming the room. They’re about creating an experience that fits the space—a performance you can stand near, sit with, or listen to while still being present with the people around you.
Ultimately, the effort isn’t about gear for gear’s sake. It’s about respect:
respect for musicians who trust us with their performances
respect for patrons who come here to unwind
and respect for the kind of environment we’re deliberately building
That’s why a “simple kava bar” would go through all this trouble. Because Nocturne isn’t trying to be everything—it’s trying to do a few things well.
Final Thoughts
Live sound in a small venue isn’t about brute force—it’s about intentional control.
By investing in proper PA components, respecting physics, reinforcing rather than overpowering instruments, and prioritizing both performer and audience experience, small spaces can sound remarkably good.
At Nocturne Teas, live sound isn’t an afterthought. It’s part of how we honor the musicians who perform here and the people who come out to listen.
And honestly? When the sound is right, everyone feels it—even if they don’t know why.
A Quick Note on Scope and Simplification
Live sound is a deep, technical field with countless approaches, edge cases, and philosophies. This post isn’t meant to be a complete or authoritative guide, nor does it attempt to cover every possible scenario or technique.
Many concepts here have been intentionally simplified for clarity and readability, and the specifics will always vary depending on the room, the performers, the gear, and the goals of the event.
What’s outlined here reflects how I think about live sound in a small venue like ours—and why we’ve made the choices we have—not a claim that there’s only one “correct” way to do things.
Coming Next: Lighting, Atmosphere, and the Visual Side of Live Music
Sound is only half of the equation.
In the next post, I’ll dive into the visual side of live music in a small venue—specifically lighting, atmosphere, and how subtle visual choices can dramatically change how a performance feels.
Just like audio, lighting in small spaces is often treated as an afterthought. It’s either ignored entirely, overdone to the point of distraction, or implemented without any real understanding of how performers and audiences actually experience it. The result is often harsh, flat, or chaotic—even when the music itself is excellent.
We’ll talk about:
Why lighting should support music, not compete with it
The difference between illumination and atmosphere
How color temperature and movement affect mood
Why restraint matters more than complexity
The importance of haze
And how small venues can create immersive experiences without turning into a nightclub
Good lighting doesn’t draw attention to itself—it deepens presence, focuses the audience, and helps performances feel intentional and complete.
That’s where we’ll go next.
