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Micing a big band - outdoors gig
luis Markson:
Hello...
I have agig comming up on Friday that I would like to get some advice on.
Venue is a bit strange and the PA insufficient but I'd like to make the best of it...
So we have an outdoor stage (ala patch of gravel) at the edge of a dam. The audience is about 75m away on the other side of the water. The audience is seated on a grassed hill sloping towards the water.
We are using 2 x Mackie S410s and 4 x Mackie S408. For previous gis I have stacked the tops on top of each other and the subs to try and cover the vertical axis. The result was barely acceptable. The horizontal coverage, however, was even worse. I'm going to try and horzontally array them this week to improve coverage and increase coupling between the stacks. Any comments...?
This will be the first time I've mixed a big band so I'd like a few pointers. To match the woefully inadequate PA, I only have a 16ch Spirit Desk, so we need to keep it simple.
My ideas so far:
Kit: Kick + overheads
Bass: DI
Git: 57 will do
Vox/MC: RE510
Brass: I'm guessing at 2 rows, troms & trumps. I'll try to have 1 cardiod dynamic (most probably 57s) per two players. Lets say there are 10, thats 5 channels gone..
Sax: Less level form theses guys so what to I do? If there is a bari, I'll certainly give it a channel to itself. I'm guessing (based on a big band I once played in) there will be 5 or 6 saxs..
With the channel count so far I am left with 5 for the saxs, 4 if no bari. I doubt I can get away with a mic per pair with the saxs?...?..
Mics I've got at my disposal:
Too many 57s
A few Beta 58
2 more RE510
A couple of cheapo cardiod condensor pencils
I've probably left out some vital info...... But I've got to get back to work!
g'bye, Dick Rees:
--- Quote from: luis Markson on February 28, 2011, 09:24:24 PM ---Hello...
I have agig comming up on Friday that I would like to get some advice on.
Venue is a bit strange and the PA insufficient but I'd like to make the best of it...
So we have an outdoor stage (ala patch of gravel) at the edge of a dam. The audience is about 75m away on the other side of the water. The audience is seated on a grassed hill sloping towards the water.
We are using 2 x Mackie S410s and 4 x Mackie S408. For previous gis I have stacked the tops on top of each other and the subs to try and cover the vertical axis. The result was barely acceptable. The horizontal coverage, however, was even worse. I'm going to try and horzontally array them this week to improve coverage and increase coupling between the stacks. Any comments...?
This will be the first time I've mixed a big band so I'd like a few pointers. To match the woefully inadequate PA, I only have a 16ch Spirit Desk, so we need to keep it simple.
My ideas so far:
Kit: Kick + overheads
Bass: DI
Git: 57 will do
Vox/MC: RE510
Brass: I'm guessing at 2 rows, troms & trumps. I'll try to have 1 cardiod dynamic (most probably 57s) per two players. Lets say there are 10, thats 5 channels gone..
Sax: Less level form theses guys so what to I do? If there is a bari, I'll certainly give it a channel to itself. I'm guessing (based on a big band I once played in) there will be 5 or 6 saxs..
With the channel count so far I am left with 5 for the saxs, 4 if no bari. I doubt I can get away with a mic per pair with the saxs?...?..
Mics I've got at my disposal:
Too many 57s
A few Beta 58
2 more RE510
A couple of cheapo cardiod condensor pencils
I've probably left out some vital info...... But I've got to get back to work!
--- End quote ---
Do you have access to even a 4 or 5 channel mix-pad to use as a sub-mixer?
And I wonder if placing your mains lower in height will give you a better angle of reflection across the water and let you get just a bit more sound on the other side. It's a bit of a stretch (so to speak) to expect to get much presence at that distance.
luis Markson:
--- Quote from: dick rees on February 28, 2011, 09:47:38 PM ---Do you have access to even a 4 or 5 channel mix-pad to use as a sub-mixer?
And I wonder if placing your mains lower in height will give you a better angle of reflection across the water and let you get just a bit more sound on the other side. It's a bit of a stretch (so to speak) to expect to get much presence at that distance.
--- End quote ---
A sub mixer crossed my mind, problem is FOH mix position is half way around the other side of the dam, so communicating with the stage is hard.. Only a 16 Channel Core.. No coms...
I dare say they would be short on leads and stands too...
I can only try difference stack setups until I find the solution.. So we''ll see.
Anyone out there experienced with outdoor, live big band micing techinique?
g'bye, Dick Rees:
--- Quote from: luis Markson on February 28, 2011, 10:09:15 PM ---A sub mixer crossed my mind, problem is FOH mix position is half way around the other side of the dam, so communicating with the stage is hard.. Only a 16 Channel Core.. No coms...
I dare say they would be short on leads and stands too...
I can only try difference stack setups until I find the solution.. So we''ll see.
Anyone out there experienced with outdoor, live big band micing techinique?
--- End quote ---
How far in front of the band can you set the speakers????? If you can get them a good way out (20' or so) you will be able to use fewer mics and treat the band more like a choir, picking up the sound of the group rather than individuals. In that situation you can have a pair of mics for each section with an additional solo mic or two/section. Of course, you'll have to delay the speakers back to the band to synchronize the original sound with the amplified sound.
Otherwise just do what you said at first and make the best of a bad situation.
luis Markson:
--- Quote from: dick rees on February 28, 2011, 10:18:01 PM ---How far in front of the band can you set the speakers????? If you can get them a good way out (20' or so) you will be able to use fewer mics and treat the band more like a choir, picking up the sound of the group rather than individuals. In that situation you can have a pair of mics for each section with an additional solo mic or two/section. Of course, you'll have to delay the speakers back to the band to synchronize the original sound with the amplified sound.
Otherwise just do what you said at first and make the best of a bad situation.
--- End quote ---
Thats the problem. Because of the distance to the audience and the width of the audience are, the band needs to be as far foward as possible to be seen. I had this problem last week when we had an orchestra in the same place. Nightmare. The strings were almost flush with the stacks and I only had 4 mics covering all of them. Nightmare. We got through it though, no feedback, just a knife edge all night..
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