Sounds a lot like what we went through in our first couple gigs (7 piece - 4 systems). Rather than bring a sound man, we brought a trusted musician friend to be our "ears". After we explained his role, he worked the room and gave us cues for turning up & down - which mainly consisted of bringing the vocals up higher in the mix. After we got it dialed in about halfway through the first set, he grabbed his sax and sat in the rest of the night. A couple gigs like that, and we didn't need him any more, which is too bad, because I really liked having 4 part horn harmonies. It's been 15 months since we started, and everyone knows exactly how to set up and dial in. The only thing we discuss now is where to set the master volume, based on the room & crowd size.

Wait till you play outside with no walls around you. The sound is incredible everywhere you go, even behind the band. The first time we did it, I brought all kinds of extra equipment for reinforcement, but never took it out of the truck. During our sound check, I walked back to my truck to get a spare cable. I was parked 100 yards behind the band, and the sound was not loud, but unbelievably clear and balanced.

- saxhound, March 15, 2006 -

full thread here