ProSoundWeb Community

Please login or register.

Login with username, password and session length
Advanced search  

Pages: [1] 2  All   Go Down

Author Topic: Obsessed with our live sound!  (Read 5778 times)

Yoon Kim

  • Newbie
  • *
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 1
Obsessed with our live sound!
« on: July 28, 2014, 10:55:46 PM »

So I play in a band once every week. I am completely convinced that our live sound sounds like garbage. In particular, my guitar sounds way too thin/bright.

Unfortunately, I'm a complete noob when it comes to live sound. I have never even miced by amp before, so I guess that's where my thin tone comes from. (We only mic the vocals, but we have enough mics for my amp; it's just too inconvenient to mic everything.)

Some questions:

1) Would micing up my amp and therefore getting access to a mixer allow me to beef up my sound/tame the highs? Silly question, but I feel like it's a lot harder than I think it is.

2) I'm planning on quitting this band eventually, and forming one more suited to my style of music - prog rock. At one point, in the band King Crimson, as I'm sure many of you know, there were two guitarists, two bass/stick players, and two drummers - the "double trio" that made up the band. I want to start a band based on that concept. How difficult would it be to pull off a great mix live?

Thanks for reading,

speedbird
Logged

Steve Alves

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 547
  • South Florida
    • South Florida Sound
Re: Obsessed with our live sound!
« Reply #1 on: July 28, 2014, 11:14:24 PM »

I think it would be easier to read the forum rules and change to your real name before the thread is locked.
Logged
Steven Alves
South Florida Sound, Fort Lauderdale, FL
www.southfloridasound.com

Mac Kerr

  • Old enough to know better
  • Administrator
  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 7546
  • Audio Plumber
Re: Obsessed with our posting rules
« Reply #2 on: July 28, 2014, 11:18:11 PM »

So I play in a band once every week.

Please go to your profile and change the "Name" field to your real first and last name as required by the posting rules displayed in the header at the top of the section, and in the Site Rules and Suggestions in the Forum Announcements section, and on the registration page when you registered.

Mac
Logged

Tim Perry

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 1251
  • Utica-Rome NY
Re: Obsessed with our live sound!
« Reply #3 on: July 29, 2014, 09:40:43 PM »

Quote

1) Would micing up my amp and therefore getting access to a mixer allow me to beef up my sound/tame the highs? Silly question, but I feel like it's a lot harder than I think it is.


Its up you you to sound good both as a musician and as a band. The PA sound support can only make sound louder.

Quote

2) I'm planning on quitting this band eventually, and forming one more suited to my style of music - prog rock. At one point, in the band King Crimson, as I'm sure many of you know, there were two guitarists, two bass/stick players, and two drummers - the "double trio" that made up the band. I want to start a band based on that concept. How difficult would it be to pull off a great mix live?

Thanks for reading,

speedbird

See above point. The band has to sound great to start with. Way too many expect the soundman to miraculously make a sucky band sound great. 
Logged

Mark McFarlane

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 1944
Re: Obsessed with our live sound!
« Reply #4 on: July 30, 2014, 05:10:23 AM »

To supplement what Tim said. If your guitar/amp combo sounds too thin, you are best off fixing the problem either with your guitar or amp or both.

Although a PA can be used to change the tonal characteristics of instruments, you are much better off if you just use the PA to make things louder and keep the same tonal characteristics of the original instruments/amps.  That way, when you are playing in a small room and your guitar amp is already loud enough for the room, you can remove the guitar amp from the PA and your guitar/amp will still sound good.

Also, people close t the stage will only hear your guitar/amp combo, not the PA.

Fix sound problems as close to the source as possible.
Logged
Mark McFarlane

Bob Leonard

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 6807
  • Boston, MA USA
Re: Obsessed with our live sound!
« Reply #5 on: July 30, 2014, 07:15:18 AM »

The FOH system and monitors is not, can not, or will ever be a fix for poor instrument tone or playing poorly. You need to fix the problem at it's source. Good mics, the right amp, etc. are what you need to start with. What type of amp and mic are you using.
Logged
BOSTON STRONG........
Proud Vietnam Veteran

I did a gig for Otis Elevator once. Like every job, it had it's ups and downs.

Alec Spence

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 636
  • Herts, UK
Re: Obsessed with our live sound!
« Reply #6 on: July 30, 2014, 07:26:46 AM »

So I play in a band once every week. I am completely convinced that our live sound sounds like garbage. In particular, my guitar sounds way too thin/bright.

So, you've reached the first point in determining that your sound sucks (many never even get this!).  Like the others say, you need to fix this and it lies within your hands to do this.

There's only so much that even the biggest most pro PA can "fix in the mix".  Witness the number of support acts I've mixed for where the best I can hope for is to make them sound less bad.  Yet, for countless touring headliners, I can simply mic up the cabinet, turn up the gain, and it sounds fantastic straight away - n otweaking required!

It takes work to get this far, and a lot of objectivity about your sound.  You may have started on a spiral and ended up with the sound you have as it sounds good at home.  Listen carefully and see what is wrong with your sound.  Assuming you're using decent kit, you should be able to address this.  Look carefully at your EQ settings, compare your sound with people who have the sound you have in your head.  And work towards quality.
Logged

Rick Powell

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 920
Re: Obsessed with our live sound!
« Reply #7 on: July 30, 2014, 11:03:49 AM »


Fix sound problems as close to the source as possible.

+1

The best bands seem to "mix themselves" with the tonality of their amps and drums, their vocal blend, etc. all coming together nicely regardless of the sound reinforcement, and quality reinforcement only serves to highlight what is already going on onstage.  Some bands I could "mix with a 2x4" meaning I could push up all the faders equally and make no tonal changes with the EQ, and it would still be a decent mix.
Logged

frank kayser

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 1652
  • Maryland suburbs of Washington DC
Re: Obsessed with our live sound!
« Reply #8 on: July 30, 2014, 11:32:53 AM »

+1

The best bands seem to "mix themselves" with the tonality of their amps and drums, their vocal blend, etc. all coming together nicely regardless of the sound reinforcement, and quality reinforcement only serves to highlight what is already going on onstage.  Some bands I could "mix with a 2x4" meaning I could push up all the faders equally and make no tonal changes with the EQ, and it would still be a decent mix.


A good band can make just about anyone at the board sound like a pro.  Well, not really, but the mixperson will have a much easier night of it.


Unfortunately, the opposite is  not true.
The best you can hope for from the pa is to make it louder and stay out of the way.


Seems my experiences are similar to others.


frank
Logged

Brian Jojade

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Online Online
  • Posts: 3379
    • HappyMac Digital Electronics
Re: Obsessed with our live sound!
« Reply #9 on: July 30, 2014, 01:16:08 PM »

Its up you you to sound good both as a musician and as a band. The PA sound support can only make sound louder.

See above point. The band has to sound great to start with. Way too many expect the soundman to miraculously make a sucky band sound great.

+1000

I deal with this ALL the time.  There is only so much that the PA system can do to make it sound better, especially on the fly. When mixing a good band, sound is pretty much set and forget.  When dealing with a bad band, it's a monkey show trying to keep levels and tone to any sort of acceptable level.

When there's a good band, it looks like the sound guy isn't doing anything.  When it's a bad band, it looks like the sound guy doesn't know what they are doing!
Logged
Brian Jojade

ProSoundWeb Community

Re: Obsessed with our live sound!
« Reply #9 on: July 30, 2014, 01:16:08 PM »


Pages: [1] 2  All   Go Up
 



Site Hosted By Ashdown Technologies, Inc.

Page created in 0.044 seconds with 23 queries.