So, if its a live band, what missing?
LIVE SOUND!!
Why care? Bad sound can make your ears ring. It can make you tired instead of elated - and you don't know why! Good sound should go unnoticed.
So just any old distorted junk will NOT do. NO, we want to be understood, enjoyed. Not just heard. So I sorted out my own rig. Where to start?
It's fairly well known that the Shure SM58 is the industry standard vocal mic. It can make any voice sound good. That why we have them. So, what if you have a great voice? The SM86 is a next level mic. Detailed, clearer, The SM86 can make a great voice hold the room (they sound good over drum kits too). This is next level gear. You don't play Freddie Mercury with these :-)Round that all off with a decent kick drum mic and you've got half a chance of good sound.
Oh all right! There are; SM58, SM57, D880, E845 Mics to choose from as well.
Some rigs have a big amplifier and some way of splitting up the highs and lows afterward. Tisk, tisk! That's not the way. Seperate high and low amps is much better. What's that thing on top? Its an active crossover. It's more efficient and cleaner to split up the frequencies - run different amplifiers for bass and mid/treble. You hear more. You hear better. Its not all about raw power.
The middle and top range is handled by a Peavey 8.5C. The spec says 275W into 8ohm. Never been turned up.
Old fashioned MOSFET grunt for those bass speakers. "Gruntage" goes to around 500W .......each side. We're running into single 4ohm ( very efficient) Eminence Kappa drivers. Your bass quality just went next level.
Yamaha mixer. As petite as 16 channels gets. This is a vocal reinforcement rig. You want to get it through the door right? Yamahas are ok. Quite clean sounding. The right tool for the job.
Every (and I mean every) record you listen to is heavily compressed. Sound reinforcement rigs like to compress voices or the kick drum. I can't understand why every small rig doesn't too. Anyway the point is, This rig does.
A compressor makes the music punchier and more enjoyable. It works by making the loud bits not so loud so the quiet bit can be instead., er...... well, above a certain threshold, ...erm, there's a ratio. OH! go ask your mum!
So there you have it. Roughly 1500watts of sound. Most of the time you don't need it, but its there if we need it (head room). Above that and you're into the territory of hiring pro sound companies. I suppose its a bit like have a huge HiFi!!
Just a brief note to the "pros" reading this page:- Yes I know that I would have a better system with "W" folded bins and a stack of QSC amps behind a Driverrack, but we would be into £500 a night terratory. and you couldn't get it in the car!
You might be wondering why I'm telling you this. A while ago My friend Nicky and I were at a rap gig. I couldn't hear a single lyric, and no-one knew how to run the mixer! A few weeks later we went to a jam nite. The promoter, who knew no sound, had contrived to make the singer sound like a fuzz box ALL night. I finally got fed up, stormed the stage and sorted it ....... in the middle of the last song :-(
The audience deserves more. They deserve at least This!
.......And another thing. I'm not shy of helping other crews out. SO, If you're running an event and you need this kind of help, make the call.
Get me back to the home page