'official live sound thread'

[SonicCulture]

From what I've seen most people don't go to this bother. Flip the phase and see which way sounds best. Guys will then Highpass the one they use for click (91) and low pass the low one ( beta52). Or at least something close to that with the available EQ.
Personally if things start sounding weird and phasey after this I revert to using 1 mic.

Analog wise i only use one mic becourse i cant do this trick, but i dont really see it much as a bother more as a help. I think the result is a punchier and much tighter kick drum.

But diffrent minds diffrent mixes, maybe im just being picky.

 

[Mashreef]

the place where i do the gig most doesnt do any micing on the guitar or the bass amp..
the bassist normally plays with the stock eq in the amps.. and most of the bands uses multi effect processor..
is this normal?
i asked the sound girl like "dude why are not micing the amps"
so he said micing the amp in the indoor gigs can get messy...
its usually best for open air gigs... so i assume he meant about the acoustics right?
well the hall is really fucked up lots of echo bouncing 360

 

[xFkx]

the place where i do the gig most doesnt do any micing on the guitar or the bass amp..
the bassist normally plays with the stock eq in the amps.. and most of the bands uses multi effect processor..
is this normal?
i asked the sound girl like "dude why are not micing the amps"
so he said micing the amp in the indoor gigs can get messy...
its usually best for open air gigs... so i assume he meant about the acoustics right?
well the hall is really fucked up lots of echo bouncing 360

some places just sound like shit, no matter what you do
I assume she was speaking that this particular venue is so shit that putting guitars through the PA makes the whole thing worse even more.

 

[SonicCulture]

the place where i do the gig most doesnt do any micing on the guitar or the bass amp..
the bassist normally plays with the stock eq in the amps.. and most of the bands uses multi effect processor..
is this normal?
i asked the sound girl like "dude why are not micing the amps"
so he said micing the amp in the indoor gigs can get messy...
its usually best for open air gigs... so i assume he meant about the acoustics right?
well the hall is really fucked up lots of echo bouncing 360

Depending on how big it is, musicians tend to play way too loud anyways, so it can easely get way out of control putting more sound though the PA. Vocals can can be quiet a pain to punch though the soundwall in small venues.

 

[Mashreef]

and he told he is going to get a noise gate...
and it would do the job... i but i never understand how a noise gate will help in this situation...
live stuffs are tricky..
the 1st time when i touched the main console.. i was like so scared and confused
and my hands were shaking.. cause one wrong choice can fuck up the whole band haha
and it was the headliner..so what i did was just eq and automate...

and how do you guys pan your instruments?
because recently some bands who plays metal with a lot of gain
so it seems like the center sounds all fucked up because of so much gain it hides the other instruments...
so would it be better if i pan atleast 30 L/R.. because i dont want to loose the center either..

 

[arv_foh]

and he told he is going to get a noise gate...
and it would do the job... i but i never understand how a noise gate will help in this situation...
live stuffs are tricky..
the 1st time when i touched the main console.. i was like so scared and confused
and my hands were shaking.. cause one wrong choice can fuck up the whole band haha
and it was the headliner..so what i did was just eq and automate...

and how do you guys pan your instruments?
because recently some bands who plays metal with a lot of gain
so it seems like the center sounds all fucked up because of so much gain it hides the other instruments...
so would it be better if i pan atleast 30 L/R.. because i dont want to loose the center either..

I don't pan at all because everyone in the audiences deserves to have a high quality, consistent mix no matter where they are standing in the venue. The bigger venue you go, the more this becomes relevant.

 

[Trevoire520]

+1
Occasionally in small venues I'll pan each guitar to the opposite side so that you get a good balance of both guitars from either side of the stage. But most of the time I just put everything up the centre.

 

[lelahel]

last week we played a show in a big concert hall and we had really a lot of difficulties with monitors

do you use ear monitors?
are those recommended for drummers who plays fast blast and gravity beats?

 

[arv_foh]

last week we played a show in a big concert hall and we had really a lot of difficulties with monitors

do you use ear monitors?
are those recommended for drummers who plays fast blast and gravity beats?

It's personal preference really but unless you drop a lot of money and have a self contained in ear rig you are still gonna be relying on the house engineer for your mix and the drive line to your in ears.

 

[egan.]

I'll add, as a house guy it's always nerve-wracking when guys bring there own ears because I'm not prepared to effectively. If I went out with a band using IEM's I'd buy the same ears they use so I could know exactly what they're hearing.

 

[Sloan]

I'll add, as a house guy it's always nerve-wracking when guys bring there own ears because I'm not prepared to effectively. If I went out with a band using IEM's I'd buy the same ears they use so I could know exactly what they're hearing.

I second that too, mixing ears takes a little more finesse than wedges, but having super low levels on stage is amazing. Coheed & Cambria had basically only drums coming off the stage and i loved it (not the band, but the sound).

It makes perfect sense to use the same model etc ears for everyone in the band so you can work faster by comparing/copying settings etc...

 

[Charlie E.]

I'll add, as a house guy it's always nerve-wracking when guys bring there own ears because I'm not prepared to effectively. If I went out with a band using IEM's I'd buy the same ears they use so I could know exactly what they're hearing.

I hear ya, that's why I also have a P4M and just run my mic in to that and control the levels myself most of the time.

 

[arvoitus]

What are your favorite DI's for live use? I'm looking for a new DI which is going to be used for bassguitar only, around 100-150 euro.

I'm leaning towards the BSS AR133 or Klark DN100 (Both popular/standard choices in the area for pro sound rental companies). Something from Radial would be cool too, but they are a bit more expensive and i don't see them getting used for live audio a lot over here.

Also, active or passive? I have some experience with a few very old DI's, and i'm not a fan of the passive's because they seem to need a lot of gain to get a decent signal.

 

[SonicCulture]

What are your favorite DI's for live use? I'm looking for a new DI which is going to be used for bassguitar only, around 100-150 euro.

I'm leaning towards the BSS AR133 or Klark DN100 (Both popular/standard choices in the area for pro sound rental companies). Something from Radial would be cool too, but they are a bit more expensive and i don't see them getting used for live audio a lot over here.

Also, active or passive? I have some experience with a few very old DI's, and i'm not a fan of the passive's because they seem to need a lot of gain to get a decent signal.

For bassguitar i love to use the sansamp live. I think u can get them for a good price used.

Active and passive di's both have advantages, depending on if you'r source. If you got an active bass, a passive will do the job, but if u got a passive bass an active bass would be more likely. A passive di can handle more signal without distorting, where an active DI will produce a wider frequency response.

All in all i think it all comes down to personal preferences, course theres really a ton of great options for diffrent applications.

 

[SonicCulture]

I second that too, mixing ears takes a little more finesse than wedges, but having super low levels on stage is amazing. Coheed & Cambria had basically only drums coming off the stage and i loved it (not the band, but the sound).

It makes perfect sense to use the same model etc ears for everyone in the band so you can work faster by comparing/copying settings etc...

+1

Low levels on stages makes the job so much easyier!

 

[Trevoire520]

I'd just go for a active DI personally, less gain needed at the pramp and if the signal's too hot then just pop in one of the pads. BSS AR133 is definitely a good choice, great sound quality and built like a tank.

 

[arvoitus]

For bassguitar i love to use the sansamp live. I think u can get them for a good price used.

Active and passive di's both have advantages, depending on if you'r source. If you got an active bass, a passive will do the job, but if u got a passive bass an active bass would be more likely. A passive di can handle more signal without distorting, where an active DI will produce a wider frequency response.

All in all i think it all comes down to personal preferences, course theres really a ton of great options for diffrent applications.

I love to use Sansamps, but i think most bassplayers want me to capture the tone of their equipment while not making drastic (positive or negative) changes.

 

[raisedfist]

Radial j48 by far the best Di i have used for keys/laptop. The BSS is good but the Radial stuff kills, just a shame there is no rubber on the corners. Used a klark the other day and they are well built but not as clean or flat as the J48

 

[fade_2_black]

I'd just go for a active DI personally, less gain needed at the pramp and if the signal's too hot then just pop in one of the pads. BSS AR133 is definitely a good choice, great sound quality and built like a tank.

If you're wanting a safe bet for any bass you're better off to go for a passive with a nice transformer. Any reasonable passive will have pads also but even then, if you have a nice transformer, you can get away with overloading the input a lot more than with an active DI. My go-to DI is the Radial JDI. Sounds beautiful and the Jensen transformer rounds things off very nicely whereas the IC based J48 (while awesome for passive and low-output sources) can clip pretty easily if you're not careful.

 

[fade_2_black]

This will of course be easyier with a digital desk. Analog wise you would have to get a delay unit of some kind inserted on the kick channel.

Have a look at the Radial Phazer / Phazerbank. Cool units designed specifically for this purpose - phase alignment of multiple mics on a single source.