|
|
DrumSetSets :: Live Sound |
|
|
|
|
| |
|
Live Sound Mixing
Mixing Live Sound is an art and a science. Often, especially with smaller bands, and in smaller venues, the PA system is rudimetary at best, which puts a good audio engeneer in high demand. Unless you’re schlepping your own PA system with you everywhere you go, you have to make due with what you get.
Sometimes you’ll get a Front of House mixing desk; sometimes your crammed into a little dj booth next to the stage. If you’re not in the middle of the room, you’ll need to do lots of sound checks before the show starts. Make sure to get out in the middle of the room after setting your EQ, so you know what it really sounds like.
First, Live sound mixing requires you to take into account not only the music itself, like in studio mixing, but also the space itself. In a small space, drums and amps usually don’t need a lot of reinforcement. Keep it to a minimum. Just throw a mic on the kick drum and the snare. That should do it.
Vocals, however, will be a lot trickier. Small spaces, especially when packed with people, tend to absord the higher frequencies of the voice, and muddle the consonents of the lyrics. So you’ll want to tweak the vocal line, but be careful, you’ll be competing with the monitors, and do you know what that means? Yes, that’s right: feedback.
To minimize feedback, ring out the monitors before the performance. Start by turning up one microphone - a dynamic microphone, similar to what you'll be using throughout the stage - in one of the monitors until it begins to feed back, which sounds like a high or low pitched vibration. Once it begins to feed back, reduce that frequency in the graphic EQ until it's no longer feeding back. Keep up that process until you can apply a great amount of gain to the microphone in the wedge without feedback. But watch out - take too much out, and you'll kill the dynamics of the wedges.
For the most part, the bass and guitar will have all the volume that they need from the amps on stage. In fact, you’ll usually have to convince the ego-maniac lead guitarist to turn it down! That is, of course, no the case with Acoustic guitars. Acoustic amps just don’t mix well, so try a DI box, but you’ll need to be careful with the equalizer in order to avoid feedback.
Of course, the rules change when you’re mixing Live Sound in a larger venue, but it’s actually easier. You don’t have to compete with how loud the instruments are, but getting the sound right over the din of the crowd is also tricky. Work your way in slowly, and you’ll be fine.
|
Copyright © 2005 DrumSetSets.com |
|
|
|
Home
