Hello,
I’m in a bluegrass band in Houston, Texas called "Allen’s Landing Band"
It started off as a 4 piece and now has grown into a 6 piece.
We use a Mackie Pro FX 16 Running Man, 32 Bit Fix.
We use this because there weren’t enough inputs in the ToneMatch for us.
Anyway, this is starting to get very complicated. I do the sound and sing and play the upright bass, Sound is not my thing, but I’m the only one who does the adjustments.
The place that we play once a month has a postage stamp size stage. You can look us up on You Tube. Allen’s Landing Band- Seven Bridges Road. That night the sound wasn’t too bad.
We have 5-6 vocal mics. 2 -4 pick ups.(1 acoustic guitar and 1 Fiddle and Upright Bass) Sometime the dobro plugs in but it sounds weird so we’ve tried an instrument mic. 3 instrument condenser mics. for guitar,and ( mandolin and banjo)same musician.
and the dobro.
First question? Is this too many inputs into our L1 tower Model 2 and two B1’s.(which I don’t hear anything out of) Besides the expense, we don’t have room for 2 towers.
Also, because the stage is so small the tower is right behind the back row of musicians and is ear piercing. In the You Tube video it’s in the corner. We tried different ways.
I don’t think I’m doing the settings correctly. What I do is put the gain on the L1 base at 12’o clock. I used to start on the soundboard with all the knobs at middle center and work from there, but now we leave the knobs at a certain level for each person.Should we start a a neutral place?
We don’t have too much of a problem with feedback, but just with the general sound. It sounds like a big roar! The instruments too loud, too low, the etc. I’m constantly turning knobs for this musician who can’t hear their guitar or this vocalist who can’t hear themselves or they are too loud.
Meanwhile I’m trying to play the bass and sing and constantly going back and turning knobs without a lot of knowledge. The place is too small for a sound man, plus the expense. I know about the gain. Thats what I usually turn up then turn the channel volume up. It’s the fiddle, dobro and bass that have a hard time being heard. Some times I have to turn the gain almost all the way.
up to hear it equally with the guitar etc. I’ve used some pre amps for these instruments and it seems to help some. The plug in acoustic guitar uses a direct box.
Sometimes the sound is better than others but mostly a fight and constant battle. No one ever seems to be happy with their sound esp. when they take breaks, but other musicians say they can hear it just fine. He had a pick up that you all recommended, but he didn’t like the sound so he uses a mic.
Does anyone have any ideas! The audience says it doesn’t sound too bad, but sometimes they can’t hear the softer female singers so that’s constantly a battle. I know we have 5 or 6 vocal mics. but only 3 are being used at one time. We do a lot of 3 part harmony.
I can get the Bose equipment and my stand up bass all in my Honda Pilot. Now that would make a great commercial for the Bose L1!
I can try to set up one of those diagrams but I don’t think I really understand how it works.
I would appreciate advice on this matter and maybe how other bluegrass bands set up their system.
Thanks,
Renna
Hi Renna,
Is this you?
Allens Landing Band - 7 Bridges Road
and
http://allenslandingband.com/
Hi again Renna,
Before we talk about the technology, let me check in on something.
Do you rehearse without amplification?
If so, what do you do to make sure that everyone who should be heard, is heard when it’s important (for example, during solos)?
Yes, that’s me playing the bass in the back! And yes that’s our website. But now I’m in the front right which is not in the video. I made a sketcher and sent it, but not sure where it went.
renna
Yes we practice in my living room once a week. I have hardwood floors and it sounds great. I think some of the instruments controlling their volume during breaks etc. could be improved upon.
We even set up the equipment at my house the week of the gig to practice with the equipment. It’s easier because we can set the speaker back farther. It helps to practice with the mics etc. because it’s a lot different than playing just acoustically. I’m always taken aback when I start singing in the mic. It takes some getting used too.
Playing during practice acoustically really doesn’t seem to be a problem.
Hi Renna,
Let me just commiserate with you for a moment. For years I was the guy who ran the sound system while trying to play and sing and keep everyone else happy.
While we are going back and forth, please check this out:
Playing better with the L1® System
Thanks. I’m watching it.
Hi Renna,
I don’t think that the technology is the heart of the issue.
quote:Originally posted by Renna:
Playing during practice acoustically really doesn’t seem to be a problem.
Playing acuustically “what do you do to make sure that everyone who should be heard, is heard when it’s important (for example, during solos)?”
Let me save a round of back and forth and let me guess that when you are playing acoustically, everyone is cooperatively listening to the mix and adjusting his/her own volume so that the overal mix is right for the moment. That is, each person takes responsibiity for his/her own sound and volume in the mix, and playing a little softer or louder as necessary to make sure that the important things are being heard. Good musicians tend to figure this out and do it collaboratively.
From your description of what is happening when you are amplified, it sounds like the individual behaviours are changing.
" It sounds like a big roar! The instruments too loud, too low, the etc. I’m constantly turning knobs for this musician who can’t hear their guitar or this vocalist who can’t hear themselves or they are too loud.'
The point is… you should not have to be making a lot of adjustments on-the-fly. If you are doing that, it’s because the others have given you the responsibilty to make sure that it all works. I’m biased, but I don’t think that’s fair. If folks can play well without amplification, then if they continue to do the same thing when amplified you (Renna) shouldn’t have to be twisting and turning knobs throughout the show. Sure, in a larger setting you might have a dedicated sound engineer doing that job, but that’s a completely different situation.