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johnaec
08-07-2005, 09:45 PM
'Made it to the "Jerry Day" gig, (in celebration of Jerry Garcia and naming of the McLaren Park Amphitheater in his honor), that Bo was doing sound for in San Francisco today.

'Got there about 9AM, after the heavy lifting but before sound check, but was a little disappointed because being outside, very little was needed in the way of EQ, so I didn't really get to see SmaartLive put through its paces. :(

That said, the day started a little cool and foggy, but by the time the music started around noon, it was clearing up pretty good, and it wasn't long before the sun made its appearance.
Bo was there with his new Midas desk, ('way kool!!:nutz: ), and also has an additional smaller Midas board patched in, due to the fact they need some 18-19 mics just for the two drummers.

I have to say - Bo has one of the coolest sound rigs I can imagine - small enough to have around for yourself, but still capable of dooing major sound gigs! Below is his FOH setup, after sound check but before the gates opened:

http://mark8.org/users/johnaec/FOH.jpg

Once the music started, it didn't take long for the crowd to really get going. The first band up was a five piece bluegrass band, but they really knew how to get down with a bunch of the Grateful Dead's acoustic stuff.

The second band up was "Grapefruit Ed" - :blink: - a Grateful Dead cover band, complete down to even having two drummers and a keyboard player that also doubled on pedal steel. I have to admit - they have their act down. One of the vocalists had Jerry's voice down so well that you could almost be fooled if you closed your eyes! Below is a pic of "Grapefruit Ed", followed by a partial pic of Bo hard at work:

http://mark8.org/users/johnaec/First-Band.jpg

http://mark8.org/users/johnaec/Bo-at-desks.jpg

If you look close, you can see those great new JBL SRX712 monitors of Bo's - really light, and I was also really surprised how small they were.

I didn't get much in the way of pics of the sound system, but speakers consisted of Bo's EV cabinets, plus some Bag-End stuff added on, including the subs. I'd never seen these subs before - one cabinet per side, (about 4'x3'), that each had four 18's, but the drivers face each other in a "slot" in the front of the cabinet, "squeezing" the lows out this slot. 'Not sure about the theory behind them, but they seemed to do the job.

I had to leave fairly early in the afternon, so I didn't get to hear the later bands. But even by then, it was turning into a pretty good size crowd. Here's a couple more pics - one kind of angling down to the stage, and the other a shot up from one corner of the amphitheater, (you can barely see Bo in his yellow shirt at about the middle of the second pic):

http://mark8.org/users/johnaec/Stage-iso.jpg

http://mark8.org/users/johnaec/Crowd.jpg

Lastly, Bo with a thumbs-up - 'everything's cool!

http://mark8.org/users/johnaec/Bo-thumbs.jpg

It's obvious Bo has a real handle on what he's doing, and by the way he was dancing around behind the board, it's also obvious he was having a good time. The sound was fine, but I think Bo needs to get some more SRX stuff - JBL all the way!!! But it really did sound good, regardless! 'Way to go, Bo! :applaud:

Anyway, I had a great time. I wish I could have stayed longer, but 'had some other stuff to do. Maybe Bo will check in later with some more insights.

John

Titanium Dome
08-08-2005, 09:04 AM
Hey, thanks for all the pictures and commentary.

Hopefully we'll get comment from the man himself.

Look at all those long-haired women! Nice. :bouncy:

boputnam
08-08-2005, 10:24 AM
Hopefully we'll get comment from the man himself.Me?? I got little to say... :p It was perhaps the funnest day of my life, and certainly my personal pro-audio apogee.

The bands were amazing, REALLY great to work with and for - appreciative, cooperative and very communcative. It all flowed nearly seamlessly through the four set changes.

In sequence we were treated to:
www.harmonygrits.com (http://www.harmonygrits.com/)
www.grapefruited.com (http://www.grapefruited.com/)
www.sethaugustus.com (http://www.sethaugustus.com/)
www.mysterycatsband.com (http://www.mysterycatsband.com/)

Me and the Grateful Dead: Once I found them, I followed the Grateful Dead faithfully from 1972 to the time of Jerry's death, which occurred while I was in Boulder and there joined the conga wake on Pearl Street. At every single Dead show, I stuck fast at "Dead Center", right in-front of FOH. I saw something like 72 shows. London, Redrocks, Starlite KC, StL, Denver, Oakland (numerous times and one with the Who), CalExpo-Sacramento, Ventura, Buffalo, Rochester, NYC, Austin, Syracuse, and more. I exchanged many a thumbs-up with Healy, at the desk. My dream was to one day get my grubbies on those faders, and give it a whirl. Yesterday was as close as I'll ever get, and it was an incredible rush. All that energy, all that dancin' all around you, and you GOTTA dog the busses, constantly. Can't let it go down; can't let it fry a speaker. We were running at 0 to +12dB, some peaks to +18dB (pfl - the Verona will give you +21dB w/o distortion, but egads... :blink: ), and SPL 98-100dB at FOH. There's a lot of the "show" you miss, 'cause your eyes are glued to the artists, the input gains and all busses, the comp/limiters, the gates, the EQ's and the CD-R, and you are B-U-S-Y!.

Grapefruit Ed was SO MUCH FUN to engineer, you cannot believe - very true to the artform. But they are an enormous challenge. Two kits (19 channels), there were 5 channels of Leslie and Keys (2), 4 vocals, 2 elec. guitars, bass and pedal steel. 32 inputs, flat out. Damned wind really picked-up, and swirled a 400Hz ghost around stage all day. Mon's were up so loud it was almost impossible to avoid the feedback, but we worked it, hard.

With me all day - my right hand and acoustic teammate - was engineer Gary Wood of Aural Aritists. Couldn't have done it without him. There were times we were both booging so hard behind the desk it was all we could do to not grin our faces off!!

Thanks, John, for coming around. Hard to chat as much as I wanted - kinda busy... ;) It was great to have a Forumite there to see the scene, and enjoy the fun. Great sound, I'd have to say - we got damned lucky! :thmbsup:

Mr. Widget
08-08-2005, 10:36 AM
It was perhaps the funnest day of my life, and certainly my personal pro-audio apogee.


Sorry we missed it! Glad it went well... see you there next year?

Widget

pelly3s
08-08-2005, 10:43 AM
Bo what are you using for EV boxes? I have double 15 and 2" boxes with EVX155's with ND 6's on 60X40's and they are my favorite boxes, and I have some single 15 boxes with the same horn setup. They are great. The single are a stretched out delta max box. You've got a nice looking setup going there

boputnam
08-08-2005, 11:05 AM
Bo what are you using for EV boxes? I have double 15 and 2" boxes with EVX155's with ND 6's on 60X40's and they are my favorite boxes, and I have some single 15 boxes with the same horn setup. They are great. The single are a stretched out delta max box. You've got a nice looking setup going thereWe only used some of my mains for "fills" directed into the rows and open area front of FOH.

Each "fill" comprised one QRx 115/75's - I laid them on their flat side (+10° pitch). I had rotated the horns in the cabinet to +15°/-35° in that position, giving a resultant +25° and -25° vertical wash, and 75° horizontal wash. Worked really, really well. They were stacked horizontally on one QRx 118s, each side. The sound in front of FOH was really smooth, clear.

All mains were "managed" through the BSS FDS-336T. We fed my mains L/R through two channels, delayed, full-pass, then into my Klark Teknik DN370 EQ (Hi/Lo pass and notch filters) and then Ashly XR1001 xover. The flanking, long through mains were on same delay, xover'ed in the BSS FDS-336T, with Hi and Lo-pass settings there, too.

We had done some planning... :yes:

57BELAIRE
08-08-2005, 11:52 AM
:applaud:

What a day that must have been....great pics....took me right back to the late '60's and those free Sunday "love-ins".

Nice setup.....are you using 57's on those guitar amps?....if not , what?

What vocal effects unit did you use and were the effects pretty much set for the day?

It's a bonus to have an engineer and pro sound on a gig.....not to mention in beautiful northern Cal.....I wish I was there.

boputnam
08-08-2005, 12:16 PM
.....are you using 57's on those guitar amps?....:yes:

Both 57 and 57ß's. But, with the GBF issues, I was hot-swapping the 57ß's into vocals forcing me to the straight 57's on the amps. If the singer has good mic etiquette (eat that thing, dammit!! :D ), the 57ß's provide a +2dB signal boost, and give a little more in the 3kHz range, cleaning things up, nicely. Came in pretty handy yesterday, boy-howdy...

boputnam
08-08-2005, 01:08 PM
I was just emailed this foto across the stage. You can see stacks Stage Left there, and my fills, just this side of them. You can see why I rotated the horns (inside the cabinet) the way I did.

57BELAIRE
08-08-2005, 04:22 PM
:yes:

Both 57 and 57ß's. But, with the GBF issues, I was hot-swapping the 57ß's into vocals forcing me to the straight 57's on the amps. If the singer has good mic etiquette (eat that thing, dammit!! :D ), the 57ß's provide a +2dB signal boost, and give a little more in the 3kHz range, cleaning things up, nicely. Came in pretty handy yesterday, boy-howdy...

57's have always been the standard so you can't go wrong.

I was just fishin' to see if you might have a hidden jewel.

You're blessed:)

boputnam
08-08-2005, 05:27 PM
Couple o' more, just for fun...

Two happy soundguys!

boputnam
08-08-2005, 05:28 PM
Guess who's cool and collected...

:rotfl:

boputnam
08-08-2005, 05:30 PM
At the height of the party...

pelly3s
08-08-2005, 07:29 PM
Bo, there is just something about the EV sound you cant get from many other boxes. I have 4 of the old 118 Delta Max boxes with 180B's in them. They sound nice under a Turbosound TSM-4

belaire if you are looking for some interesting mics to use on guitars the EV N/D 468 and 478 are both killer, and the Sennheiser 906 is great sounds a lot more like the 409 did than the 609. Another favorite of mine is an old Shure 555 the reissue 55's dont have as big of a capsule. I have also found a new love for the Blue Ball on guitar. Microphones are my favorite thing, I might like them better than speakers.

Steve
08-08-2005, 08:44 PM
Aloha Bo....

Don't know what is more fun to look at the picts of the groups or the big smile on your face showing the joy.

It was mentioned in the post above....

"I'd never seen these subs before - one cabinet per side, (about 4'x3'), that each had four 18's, but the drivers face each other in a "slot" in the front of the cabinet, "squeezing" the lows out this slot. 'Not sure about the theory behind them, but they seemed to do the job."

What subs are they?

Great job and fantastic post

Thank You
Steve

boputnam
08-09-2005, 07:41 AM
What subs are they? Hey, Steve...

Those subs are my partners - Gary Wood of Aural Artists. They are the BagEnd "Quartz R".

The subs absolutely filled that amphitheater, and brought the music to the people. I have not worked with them before, but was very impressed. The mains on each stack were two of the "Crystal R Time-Align" model.

Overall, it was really good, even coverage.

mikebake
08-09-2005, 08:37 AM
Who makes that umbrella? I need one, instead of the EZ Up.

boputnam
08-09-2005, 10:35 AM
Who makes that umbrella? Good eyes, soundguy!!

That, Mike is almost a thread in itself... Stumbled into it at Sears. Was damned tired of my four-men required collapsable awning. I fell into immediate lust!

It's generic name is an offset umbrella. This one is a Sun Mart, Int'l. 9-ft cantilever.

So the salesguy is scrambling to find me one - turns out they are discontinued (maybe only through Sears...) and the floor model is the ONLY one they have. You cannot order another (through Sears). Customer Service Manager refuses to sell it to me:

CSM: Sorry, can't sell it - it's the last one we have.
Me: Right.
CSM: We can't even order it anymore.
Me: OK, I understand that, but if it is the last one, why can't you sell it?
CSM: We would have none to show on the floor.
Me: But you can't order them anymore.
CSM: That is correct.
Me: Is this some sort of umbrella museum you're running here? If not, maybe you could sell me that one, the very last of the species... :bash:
CSM: (blink, blink) :biting:
Me: (blink, blink) :banghead:

:scoot:

So, We got it. This one is very cool. Flexible fiberglass stays - the whole thing floats in the wind. Twice got completely inverted by the wind and righted itself - my fingers never lerft the faders. One man up, one man down, in 3 seconds. No kidding.

Mr. Widget
08-09-2005, 10:44 AM
"Is this some sort of umbrella museum you're running here?"

:applaud: :rotfl: :applaud:

pelly3s
08-09-2005, 04:39 PM
I know the pain of the EZ up I think I might have to go buy one of those

Tom Loizeaux
08-09-2005, 06:39 PM
:yes:

Both 57 and 57ß's. But, with the GBF issues, I was hot-swapping the 57ß's into vocals forcing me to the straight 57's on the amps. If the singer has good mic etiquette (eat that thing, dammit!! :D ), the 57ß's provide a +2dB signal boost, and give a little more in the 3kHz range, cleaning things up, nicely. Came in pretty handy yesterday, boy-howdy...

When you say "57" do you mean a Shure SM57? Then what is a 57B? The newer mics from Shure are the "A" series offering a 57A, 58A, etc.
Please fill me in.

BTW, This is a nice post with plenty of interesting photos. I, too, have put together a small PA (all JBL drivers) and have a couple of gigs coming up!

Thanks,

Tom

57BELAIRE
08-10-2005, 07:13 AM
Bo, there is just something about the EV sound you cant get from many other boxes. I have 4 of the old 118 Delta Max boxes with 180B's in them. They sound nice under a Turbosound TSM-4

belaire if you are looking for some interesting mics to use on guitars the EV N/D 468 and 478 are both killer, and the Sennheiser 906 is great sounds a lot more like the 409 did than the 609. Another favorite of mine is an old Shure 555 the reissue 55's dont have as big of a capsule. I have also found a new love for the Blue Ball on guitar. Microphones are my favorite thing, I might like them better than speakers.

Ah, the venerable 555...my first mic....then on to 58's for what seems an eternity...to EV 727's ...to Beta 87A currently.

I don't think I could ever go back to dynamic mics for vocals...although those 58's came in handy pounding nails during stage construction:D

boputnam
08-10-2005, 08:17 AM
...to Beta 87A currently.Yea, I've worked with those, but don't cotton to their response curve. Adds more coloration than I want (or is at least different than what I am used to... :hmm: ). I've had persistingly good luck with the 58 and 57's - they are great and as you said, virtually indestructible.

It's interesting to me, reading Mix, how many touring acts specify these on their riders, and how many FOH engineers prefer them. It's actually quite astonishing considering the plethora of really great mics that are out there.

Hey, Tom - the Shure ß-series arrived about 5 (?) years ago, and is a legitimate improvement on their venerable line. Having said that, I still opt for the "straight" 57 in some applications, and versa visa. Re: my comment about the increased gain provided in using the 57ß, I just noted this on the Shure website: "The compact grille design gets the mic cartridge close to the sound source...". I first noticed that C&W acts were using these on vocals, and it has swept into Folk, and Americana, too. They are brighter and just a hair more responsive than the 58ß, and have a great supercardiod pattern.

http://www.shure.com/microphones/performance/beta/default.asp

Mike Caldwell
08-10-2005, 08:00 PM
Hello
Those are some great gig pictures!
Since this sorta turned into a guitar mic topic I have been having very good results with a couple of old EV mics the RE11 and a PL6. They are a mid 70's and early 80's mic design the EV called "variable D" they have almost no proximty effect. I will put one of them and a Sennheiser 409 on a guitar cabinet or amp. Each one on a different speaker and pan them about 75% left and right. On an open back amp sometimes one in front and one in the back usually the EV work well, in that set up you need to flip the polarity on the channel of the mic on the back of the speaker. I found both the EV mics at a local shop for $20 each!
Now to only find more Sennheiser 409's for that same deal!!!!!!
I you have not already tried them give the Audix OM6 and OM7 a try on vocals.


Mike Caldwell

pelly3s
08-10-2005, 08:09 PM
bo the beta series has been around since i believe like 1989. I have an old style beta 57, it has a very odd look to it but sound great. I am not a fan of the beta 58 though i thinks annoying sounding.

belaire there are times where i would rather use a dynamic on vocals, take the beyer m69 or m88 both are great sounding mics. In the studio I do a lot of vocal work with large diaphragm dynamic stuff like the RE-20 or 555. On stage I have grown found of the shure sm86 especially on wireless instead of the Beta 87A capsule. If you've got some extra cash kicking around pick up a Sennheiser e 945 its become a very popular with a lot of nationals that i have worked with. I love the Neumann KMS 105 too. Ok enough rambing about microphone for me

boputnam
08-10-2005, 08:15 PM
Hey, old friend...

Cool idea on the guitar cabinet. Great thinking.

Messina has three of the 609's faced onto three separate Fender Bassman cab's on their current tour. The wing cabinets are wet; center, dry. Phenomenal sound. I'd love to, but we were busy funding the Midas Verona 24-frame for me, and a Siena 32-frame for the NM system. Plumb outa cash... :o:

I work with a guy that has a great compliiment of Audix, and I agree - they are great mics.

Maybe I should change my tag line to: So many wonderful mics, too little time... :rotfl:

Great to be sharing these experiences though - our job as engineers is simply to get cleanest sound out there, best way possible. There are a multitude of ways to skin the cat... ;)

--------------------------------------------------------

But, I have an admission to make: I have gone a COMPLETELY different direction. Unless forced to, I don't mic cabinets anymore. I've gone bonkers over the Radial JDI (http://www.radialeng.com/di-jdi-features.htm).

... a second -30dB pad may be engaged that, when used in tandem with the -15dB input pad, allows the JDI to be connected in parallel with a speaker. This, for instance, allows the engineer to ‘tap’ the sound coming from a guitar amplifier speaker ‘post distortion’ thus adding another creative dimension. This unique function incorporates a speaker emulation filter circuit that rolls off highs and lows to more closely approximate the sound of a 12” driver.

Plug it into the "External Speaker" out on the guitar cab - that's right, the one driven by the amp. Pop in the -15dB and the -30dB pads, and let 'er rip. The JDI has cleared the stage of a bunch of feedback sources, and given me much better control at FOH with BETTER sound quality and overall gain structure. All my acts are now really working on reducing on-stage gain(s), to improve sound quality and lengthen their ear lives. I'd strongly urge you give it a try before going further into the speaker mic universe. I did so hesitantly, and was astounded.

Only trouble I have is convincing the artists... :banghead:

Mike Caldwell
08-11-2005, 05:25 AM
Hello

Hello
The Radial DI's are great I have two of the J48 actives and one of the JDI passives along with a collection of BSS, ARX and Whirlwind. I've done the direct amp out a few times with good results but it sometimes will get you a strange look from the guitar player when you mention it. Normally I will take the bass direct by looping it through the DI first and then on to their bas rig. I get a range of bands from no amps and all direct to the SVT bass rigs and double 4 x12 cabinets. I must say that most do have their stage volume under control. Here's a trick that helped me tame the out of control guitar play one time.....like most he had his amp behind him so it looked cool blasting into the back of his legs, too bad that guitar players ears are not on the back of their butt because that's were most of there amps are aimed! Anyway what I did was take one of my monitors and plug it into his extra speaker jack and have the monitor pointing up at him beside his vocal monitor, since my monitors are all bi-amped I just used a break out cable and connected only the 12" speaker to the guitar amp. He liked it and it resulted in a lower stage volume. By having a separte monitor only for his guitar and not just feeding a lot of guitar into his monitor mix it kept everything else cleaner in his monitor mix.

Next week I go from a four piece "folkabilly group" to a international music festival to about a 40 plus piece philharmonic orchestra all in three days. Speaking of stage volume, have you every stood in the middle of a large orchestra when there really playing!!!!!


Mike Caldwell

Tom Loizeaux
08-11-2005, 05:32 AM
...Plug it into the "External Speaker" out on the guitar cab - that's right, the one driven by the amp. Pop in the -15dB and the -30dB pads, and let 'er rip. The JDI has cleared the stage of a bunch of feedback sources, and given me much better control at FOH with BETTER sound quality and overall gain structure.

Bo, This is fine, but you do miss the sound the speaker contributes to the over-all guitar sound.

Pelly, This is "Off Topic", so please, let's share these thoughts on stage micing! I'm about to add some mics to my SM 57s and do want input. I'm leaning toward some Beta57As at the moment.

BTW, I have a Shure KSM 32 in my basemewnt studio and I must say it sounds cleaner and more neutral then any other mic I've heard!

Tom

Mike Caldwell
08-11-2005, 06:00 AM
Hi
I do have to agree that a speaker does add it's own "color" to a guitars sound that may not be duplicated in a direct box or other speaker emulator. If it helps to clean up the overall live sound/mix from reducing bleed from drums, loud stage monitors ect. it would be worth it overall provided it does not just completely hack up the guitar tone. For what it's worth Def Leppard a couple of years ago were not using any guitar cabinets they were using some custom made DI's and going straight into the PA. Any cabinets that where on stage where just for show. I have seen another alternative many times and that is to have the speaker cabinet or amp in a road case has a littel extra room for the mic or mics and it stays sealed up in the case with just jacks on the case to connect the mic lines and speaker or guitar cables. That still gives you full sound of the amp/speaker but isolates the sound from everything else. These are normally just set off back stage. I have done a low tech version of that by setting the amp/speaker off stage micing it up and them putting a padded moving blanket over the rig, keeping some room open for amp cooling.

As for the Beta58 I'm with Pelly on not liking the peaks they add to the upper midrange/high end. I have never used a Beta 57 for vocals but many think they sound better than a Beta 58. Alot would depend on the voice and how it's sound mates up to the response of the any microphone used for vocals.
What purpose will the mics be used for, vocals, amps, drums, acustic insturments ect.

Talk to you later
Mike Caldwell

Tom Loizeaux
08-11-2005, 06:36 AM
Mike,
Thanks for your reply.
I put the foam windscreens on the 57s and call them vocal mics. I use them for nearly everything. When I get a few new mics I could get Beta 58As and make them vocal-only, or it sounds like the Beta 57As could go both ways, vocals and instruments. Of course I could get the regular SM58s...?
I hate to scrip on quality at the source, but one the other hand, these will be kicked around, so the Shures seem to be the right combination.

Tom

boputnam
08-11-2005, 07:02 AM
Bo, This is fine, but you do miss the sound the speaker contributes to the over-all guitar sound.Yes, and no. Obviosuly you don't get the sound direct off the cone, but IME, the result is so far superior, any "loss" of tone is mooted (and I don't think there is much). I'd bet, A/B blind, you would not tell much difference, and the vastly improved GBF for the entire show is so benefitted, it is a thing to try.

And, Mike - I've tried all those things. The main act I work with now fires their cabinets across stage, rather than in "back line" position. Each instrumentalist now strives to get his/herself louder in their monitors than from their amps - this greatly reduces bleed off-stage, and allows FOH better overall mix control, and equally as importantly, SPL in the FOH are reduced by at least 10dB.

Anyway, it's what is really working for me, and the audience response has been phenomenal - and this is from their loyal fans who know their past, and are are now lusting for the current sound. They couldn't be more complimentary... :applaud:

We've all learned long-ago to listen to our audience - their ears are as good as ours.

Mike Caldwell
08-11-2005, 08:51 AM
Hey
Once you get musicans...young and old alike to get past
what looks cool and do what is pratical and correct you can go from
managing stage volume and bleed to really creating a mix and everyone
benefits from that!

Tom Petty used a 57 for years with no windscreen for vocals, I don't
think it hurt him any! A year or two ago he did make the switch to a
Neumann KSM105, quite a night and day change in microphones!


Mike Caldwell

edgewound
08-11-2005, 10:49 AM
Great discussion guys...

Guitar players are a picky bunch when it comes to altering their(my) setup...and tone...and feel of the guitar rig...it's a whole guitar-amp-fingers-hands-body experience that can take a musician to another dimension in his performance...I know...sounds very new-age, or drug-induced, meta-physical....whatever...it's true. I've found that a simple way to tame stage volume for on-stage amps is to put plexiglass in front of the amp, much like a drum cage. I did it for concert where I had a very high regard for the FOH engineer...great guy...great equipment, JBL Array Series, EAW monitors....but he had never seen this done. He loved it because I made it easier for him...gave him no FOH issues, and he didn't have mess with my rig, a single JBL E120...everybody was happy...and I could concentrate on playing, rather than being too loud:applaud:. As a last mention...Bo has discovered recently with his new Midas board....all mics sound different with different boards...that Beta 57 or 58, won't sound the same on the other guys rig...use what works best for you.

boputnam
08-11-2005, 12:25 PM
As a last mention...Bo has discovered recently with his new Midas board....all mics sound different with different boards...that Beta 57 or 58, won't sound the same on the other guys rig...use what works best for you.Boy-howdy, is that true! I omitted that, having waxed lustily about the Verona on an separate thread. But, those damned Midas mic preamps make SUCH a difference - you can't believe the magnitude of it until you experience it.

Great post, dood... :thmbsup:

------

On plexiglass - I've taken to using the drum shield more often than not. In smaller venues it yields control of the room gain back to me. Vast improvement, so-long as the rest of the band keeps on-stage gain under control.

Had a most interesting experience at an outdoor gig, recently. Smaller setting, and I didn't bring the rack with the digital delay - figured we'd be fine and the trailer was overloaded anyway. But, as it turns out the mains placement got complicated, and the drummer ended-up 10's of feet back from where he shoulda. Uh-oh... :blink: Sound check was weird, with a VERY delayed acoustic drum sound following after the sound from the mains. Eeek... Sounded like the drummer was outa-sync!!! But he NEVER is. What to do??? Well, I had the drum shield in the trailer, and simply put it up - yup, outdoors. Stopped (reflected back) his acoustic sound DEAD, tightened-up the sound proper, and the show went on. I was laughing to myself all afternoon - cheapest "signal processor" ever found...

Mike Caldwell
08-11-2005, 03:21 PM
Hey again

The sound of a mic pre-amp all starts with how the input stage loads
the mics output in terms of resistance and capsitance. What the active
electronics do after that of for that matter don't do is the icing on the cake!
The same is true for the input on a guitar amp of how it loads the pickups or the output stage if it's a active guitar. There was a model of Soldano guitar amps that you change the input resistance and capsitance to best load your guitar.

Back to amp placement ect, when I'm providing for sound for a group that is coming in for a show or festival and have never worked with before I wire and prep the stage per their plot and input list. Even if it's not the most "correct" way to set up a back line or whatever I may make suggstions but it's their show and I do the best with what their final set up is.

I saw the plex in front a guitar rig for a blues player Joe Bottamassa (I think thats close to his name spelling....like I'm a great speller anyway!)
It did really help the people in the front rows form getting drilled by the amps.

Mike Caldwell

pelly3s
08-11-2005, 03:53 PM
The only problem with plexi glass that i have found in front of amps is that a lot of guys tend to add more high end to their sound so they can hear it better, or they go a little over board with things like reverb. I found those problems when it was someone who was lets say "unprofessional". I have experienced volume hell though when I went on a small club tour with George Lynch, I had one night at the Chance in New York where his stage volume was 117db at mix position. Needless to say noone can convince him to pad his output down anymore than it was, until I took two tubes out of his plexi on him without him noticing. I love using a drum shield though. Its great when you dont have all the bleed through into the vocal mics.

Ok back onto microphones. The Beta 58A doesnt sound right to me on any rig I use it on. I dont even like it going through the GB30 pres on the MH3 and MH4. I am one for getting creative on microphone selection. For a while I was using CAD M179's on guitars, oh if anyone is interested in a great low priced handheld condenser the CAD C195 is killer, and less than $100. The C195 reminds me a lot of the EV RE-510 not as nice but half the price.

I recently have been doing monitors a lot more than FOH and I learned a nice trick of inverting the phase on the kickdrum mic so that the drum monitor and kick drum then become in phase with each other. Its amazing how little things help so much

Akira
08-18-2005, 10:18 AM
Sound check was weird, with a VERY delayed acoustic drum sound following after the sound from the mains. Eeek... Sounded like the drummer was outa-sync!!! But he NEVER is. What to do??? Well, I had the drum shield in the trailer, and simply put it up - yup, outdoors. Stopped (reflected back) his acoustic sound DEAD, tightened-up the sound proper, and the show went on. I was laughing to myself all afternoon - cheapest "signal processor" ever found...

third rule of sound: fix physical problems physically; fix electronic problems electronically.

i prefer the sound of a guitar speaker over direct because depending on the type of music the speaker/amp combination (along with fingers!) is the sound, ie: heavy metal through a hi-watt/celestion stack. 'fx' through a speaker, especially those cheap little pedals, when mixed along with the guitar make it sound small and muffeled. this is when direct pays off...you have to be able to separate the instrument and effect channels. in the studio blending both direct and speaker can sometimes offer benefits as unlike live, everything you do, you actually hear! keyboards can be a nightmare as you never know which board is playing what. the best setup i worked with was a keyboard player who also did FOH. he had an elaborate multi key setup with an Fx rack as large as mine. he gave me 4 balanced line level feeds. stereo L/R keys, stereo L/R effects, and mixed everything perfectly himself, every solo, every line, every effect which came out full and wide without encroaching on the rest of the mix. he added SIZE to my mix at a time when everything else was fighting for space. again, you have to separate the instruments from the effects.

boputnam
08-02-2006, 05:45 PM
Yesterday would have been Jerry's birthday, but the celebration of his musical contributions continues, around the states.

This years Jerry Day (http://www.jerryday.org) is this Sunday at the recently renamed Jerry Garcia Amphitheater in McClaren Park, of the Excelsior District San Francisco where Jerry grew up.

I thought I'd post some Links to the artists in the line-up, best as I can.

Headline is Grapefruit Ed (http://www.grapefruited.com) - a rockin' bayarea Dead cover band. They've always been great, and this year are joined by Stu Allen on lead guitar. Stu does the same duty with Melvin Seals' JGB Band (http://jgbband.com) who carry-on the tradition from years touring with Jerry at the helm. There's a couple of tasty cuts on the website to sample. Check out Stu's technique - that boy can play. His vocals (Miracle) sound eerily like Jerry did on his good days... Sam Howard, Melvin's drummer will be here on Kit Stage Right, and join bay area luminaries Pat ("Shakey Zimmerman") Nevins on guitar and lead vocals, Sammy Johnston (Box Set) on B3 and keys, Chuck on bass, and Steve Ellis on Kit Stage Left. I'd expect other guests as the day developes...

Mid-day is Harmony Grits (http://Harmonygrits.com), an accomplished bluegrass emsemble that also covers some Dead tunes with finesse.

Kicking things off is Django Obscura - a fantastically talented newly incarnated Django Reinhardt arranged band. Great artists who've yet to assemble a website!

We'll post some pics (and hopefully some reviews...) of this years party on Monday, after the dust settles.