I just played a solo gig where I struggled all evening with the sound. I played for about 2 1/2 hrs. The “room” was a garage-type room, and it was a VIP reception for a military defense organization of companies. High metal ceiling. Concrete walls and floor. Size was about 80ftX80ft (estimate). I was set up with my L1M2 and T1 w/2B1 about midway on one of the walls. There was a total of about 200-250 people in attendance. I played acoustic and electric thru a Digitech Vocalist Live3 straight to the T1. Backing tracks (bass & drums) from an iPad straight into the T1. I was mainly to be background music.
I set up, and had plenty of time to check the sound before people arrived. I played a varity of music from my iPad and walked around the room. There was a little echo, but overall the sound was good, and pretty equal throughout the venue. I was happy. Then people started to arrive, and I started playing. I was positioned about 6 ft in front and to the right of the L1. I suddenly had a hard time hearing myself clearly, voice and guitar. Everything sounded very muddy. When the place was full. that’s when it was the worst. The room was very loud, with people talking and laughing very loudly. I felt like I was just adding to the noise of the room.
On my first break, I put on music again from the iPad, and walked around the room again. It sounded terribly muddy. Also, it was very loud closer to the Bose, and could barely hear it from about midway across the room. The music was overpowered by the people talking. I mean I could barely hear the Bose at all in the back of the room.
The coverage and dispersion as well as the fidelity/clarity of the Bose was lost. This is the first time I have ever experienced this with the Bose. I made tweaks on the fly, and it helped a little. Mainly EQ. And … I noticed as the room thinned out toward the end of the night, it started to sound more like the Bose I know, but still far from great.
Has anyone else experienced anything similar to this? How did you handle it? Did I happen to run into the limitations of the L1M2? Any suggestions or comments?
Let me know your thoughts.
Thx,
Dave
Some rooms are just bad rooms. I have a few where they are great when there is no one there and horrible when it is full of people. I always ask myself would this sound any better with the old box on a stick. The answer is always NO.
Hi Dave,
Sorry about the rough gig. It’s disconcerting when this happens.
Sounds like a really tough room. Sometimes you end up in a place where the acoustics and nature of the event (people talking and laughing very loudly) are just going to bury you.
quote:Originally posted by stos2:
Has anyone else experienced anything similar to this? How did you handle it? Did I happen to run into the limitations of the L1M2? Any suggestions or comments?
I just relax, and enjoy the show. I have on occasion turned down the master volume because trying to overcome the roar of the room is a lost cause. And the louder the music, the louder the people will be to compensate.
I agree with Roy. Some rooms are just bad rooms.
Thx for the replies. I guess I’ll chalk it up to experience. Next time, I’ll recognize it for what it is, and instead of battling against it all night, i’ll just play and have fun.
I do have a related question. I have rarely ever had the T1 turned up above 1/2 way. When turning the bose up to 1/2 to 3/4 or more, does it require any major adjustments, like EQ? Or backing off on reverb, effects, etc? I was just wondering if the L1 responds differently at higher volumes.
Thanks again for all the comments. It really helps.
Hi Dave,
In large rooms I rarely use reverb, and if I’m running loud, I usually kill the reverb altogether. I find that reverb pushes you (vocal and guitar) farther back in the mix. So if there’s any sense that I’m not projecting well, reverb is the first thing to go and then, I may turn down the bass, as excessive bass can muddy-up a room. That just adds to the roar that overpowers intelligibility.
Thx ST. That makes sense, as that is what I was experiencing. After the first set, I changed the T1 setting for the backing tracks from Low Music (I think that is what it’s called) to Flat, and that helped take out the boominess and helped with the mudd. I didn’t touch reverb. That was my bad. I’ll remember that. I bet that would have made a big difference. Sounds like I could have done more to help myself out. Can’t wait to try again.
Thx again,
Dave
Reinforcing what ST said; in hollow rooms, we always have to turn the bass down. In “cotton ball” rooms, we have to boost the highs. We always run our trax in High Music mode. I do have some trax though that I need to take some of the lows out, using a DAW.
Interesting about the tracks. I set up all my midi tracks using General Keys tone match as my midi tracks are only drums, bass and keyboard parts and I started off using a keyboard module. Now I’m using an iPad but with a sound source migrated from windows. The General Keys still seems to fit best at different volumes and rooms. I’ve tried the DJ playback mode which might suit for Hi-Fi music and backing tracks but just doesn’t work for me.
quote:Originally posted by ST:
Hi Dave,
In large rooms I rarely use reverb, and if I'm running loud, I usually kill the reverb altogether. I find that reverb pushes you (vocal and guitar) farther back in the mix. So if there's any sense that I'm not projecting well, reverb is the first thing to go and then, I may turn down the bass, as excessive bass can muddy-up a room. That just adds to the roar that overpowers intelligibility.
I rarely use reverb either.
Reverb sets the vocal back in the mix, and I can hear it as I'm using it, can tell what's happening, that I'm having to sing harder.
Verb CAN be effective if you are doing backing vocals,in some cases,and want it set back.
But as effects go, I prefer the default setting on Analog Delay, with the mix reduced to 13-14%, it doesn't seem to set the vocal back in the mix so much.
If you really love reverb though, try limiting the MIX to about a 23%.
You won't actually hear it much, and that's the point, most bar bands turn it up way too much.
Interesting insights about the reverb. A reminder for me, these are things we easily forget.
Valvenerd