Behind The Console

How an audio engineer crafts the sound of live performances at venues across New York City

Sharif Mekawy works in venues across NYC. Courtesy of Sharif Mekawy

At music clubs across Manhattan, Brooklyn, and Queens, bands preparing to perform can expect one constant — the sight of Sharif Mekawy behind an audio console.

Mekawy, a sound engineer and musician, offers his services to venues all across the city. He works to ensure his fellow musicians’ sound comes through clearly to their audiences.

On the days that he is working, which is often (when he spoke with Through The Monitor, he just was finishing out a 12-day week), bands send him stage plots and playlists for their evening performances and he takes care of the logistics of the show, ensuring he has all the needed equipment. 

During sound check, Mekawy often surprises musicians by reversing the typical order. Usually sound check begins with leveling the drums and ends with the lead vocals. But by starting with the vocals, Mekawy streamlines the process.

“It's the best way to start because you're not only getting your lead vocal in place, but you're also hearing what other things are coming into that microphone,” Mekawy said. 

By the time Mekawy gets to the drums, he knows what volume they should be to avoid drowning out the singer. Much of the drums can already be heard through the singer’s main mic, so this order means that Mekawy can limit the adjustments he must make to the sound later on. 

As a sound engineer and a musician, Mekawy has insight into both sides of  performance at local music clubs.

“I know how to talk to bands, and I know the limitations of their knowledge about technology,” Mekawy told TTM. “It gives me a perfect edge to work with them as a musician, speaking their language, not just as an angry sound guy.”

In the smaller venues, Mekawy advises bands to limit themselves to one mic for a lead singer, foregoing harmonies with other bandmates if they are able. Though these harmonies can be integral to their studio sound, Mekawy emphasizes that a singer’s voice will come through more clearly this way. 

“Vocal mics are the thing that you have to amplify the most, because the human voice is pretty quiet compared to a drum set or guitar,” Mekawy said. “Whatever is next to that microphone is also getting turned up, and it's muddying up your mix.”

Mekawy also asserts that many musicians don’t understand that their music will sound different in a concert space compared to a studio. 

“Volume acts differently, sounds act differently, when they're amplified to concert level volume, 105 decibels,” Mekawy said. “I would really advise that people do explore what their sound is going to be like at concert level audio.”

Numerous New York artists use ‘prosumer’ equipment, like vocal pedals, to add different effects to a singer’s voice.

Though this gear can work well in recording spaces, it is not professional equipment, and thus can create problems in a larger concert setting.

“When you turn those up to a quieter level, it sounds great in the studio,” Mekawy said. “If you turn that same piece of gear up to 100 decibels, you're going to hear all kinds of artifacts and noise because it's not shielded, or it's just not powered correctly.”

Mekawy developed his sound engineering skills at County College of Morris, and later at Full Sail University.

The income of a working musician is notoriously unstable, and he wanted to ensure that he could work within the industry without being too vulnerable to its precarious nature. 

“I wanted to go to college for technology, because I wanted to have something to fall back on that was still in the music industry,” Mekawy told TTM. “So if I wasn't playing my music, at least I was working and still making connections.”

Sharif Mekawy worked sound for Mary Shelley at Knitting Factory during New Colossus Festival in 2024. Joey Hadden/Through the Monitor

Though he enjoys being on stage, Mekawy also likes helping different types of bands adapt their sound to concert venues.

He is able to work with a variety of genres, and sometimes even to work with long-time heroes, like Jeff Tweedy from the rock band Wilco. 

Mekawy worked on the monitors for the band’s four performances at Brooklyn Made last summer.

“I was onstage with the dude, like 15 feet away from him,” said Mekawy. “And he didn't repeat one song over the four nights. Four nights of music just right there. It was amazing.”

Today, Mekawy oscillates between a number of different clubs, including Bowery Ballroom, Knitting Factory, TV Eye, and Sultan Room. He also performs as a singer, songwriter, and guitarist with his band Looms.