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[Mike Monte]

Last Saturday evening I attended an outdoor church festival.  The entertainment area was located in a huge tent with the stage on one end. 
The entertainment that evening was two concert bands (each band had a vocalist for several selections) followed by a Portuguese rock/folk band from Canada.

The PA system provided had three SRX700 series double 18" subs per side with a three cab JBL line array assembly (laying on its side) on top plus a Berhinger X32 (I see many X32's at local festivals), etc.

I stayed for a few hours, listening to the concert bands and rock band while eating great portuguese food .

Back to the mix....

IMO the person mixing the performers used way-too-much "effects" on the vocalists...it sounded "karaokeish" to me...way over the top.  I felt that I was in a cave.  Yes, tents can be very reflective but these effects (echo, etc.) were added.
I have heard similar mixing at some of the other local festivals in my area.

When I mix I add effects "to flavor", not to bury the vocalists.  Am I missing something??

Now mind you, that particular tech mixing the stage was working while I was loafing..  He must be doing something right...

Maybe I have a "minimalist" approach to festival sound/mixing, and should re-evaluate my concept...

What do you all think?








   

[John Roberts {JR}]

A minor point about terminology. In the context of effects "wet" and "dry", refers to the processed fraction, and the unprocessed fraction. So totally wet describes 100% effect. For time bsed effects like chorus and double tracking, the blend of dry and wet signals is what creates the effect, so 100% wet sounds doesn't sound like the effect at all.

JR

[John Fruits]

I guess board ops can suffer from "moreME" syndrome too!

[Scott Olewiler]

IMHO if you notice the effects, they're too strong.  Should be one of those things that if you take them away you notice the difference, but should not be able to hear them in the mix as a separate item in the mix.  I find that most guys I've worked with put too much in for my tastes.

[Kevin Maxwell]

They mix the vocals that way at the church I attend and also have the constant kick drum solo, IOW too loud. I don’t understand it, I guess it is a new style called mixing badly. I attended a funeral recently and the contemporary worship leader sang a couple of solos with guitar and he was so buried in reverb it was ridiculous. About a week later I asked him, is that really the way he wants it and he said something along the lines of, that is what those songs needed. And I said to him that we only bury peoples vocals in reverb when they can’t sing very well, to try and make it less cringe worthy. I was trying to make the point that does he think he sings that bad that he has to be buried in reverb.

John, I understand what your point is but I don’t think that would apply to reverb or repeated delay type of effects. When all you hear is the reverb and it seems like there is none of the original signal I might also call it 100% wet, even though it is probably a minor exaggeration. But I really prefer to say the vocals were buried in the reverb, as I wrote in the first paragraph here. Although years ago when I first had someone use the phrase “make it wetter” I was going to throw a glass of water on him, actually I was tempted to spit on him, but that is another story. The term wet was new at that time. Am I giving away my age? I was familiar with echo chambers, actual rooms used to get a vocal effect. I think the first reverb type of effect unit I used was a Roland Space Echo. It had a tape loop with multiple playback heads and a spring reverb in it. Just don’t bump into it while it was in use. TWANGGGGG.

[Bradford "BJ" James]

I'll add to the point that it may be at the request of the talent that the effects are over the top.
A friend of mine was talking with Julio Eglesias' sound tech. Conversation went something like:
"So, I'm guessing it's Julio's decision that you keep the effects on his voice in between songs while talking to the audience"
"Yup"
"I hope he pays you well"
"Yes. Yes he does"

I find myself being pretty conservative with effects on my mixes but will add a long reverb to a slow song, or add a trailing delay where appropriate , or a slapback on a rockabilly type tune.
I was outed by a fairly well known performer a couple weeks ago at a show. Everything was dandy at soundcheck, then about 2 songs in the guitar amp goes to 11 and he requested over the mic that he wanted more guitar in FOH. Folks were already cringing in their seats and the fader was off. And it stayed off. Then he requested a couple times over the mic "lots of reverb and slapback in FOH when I'm talking". At least the audience knew it wasn't my choice.

[Mike Monte]

IMHO if you notice the effects, they're too strong.  Should be one of those things that if you take them away you notice the difference, but should not be able to hear them in the mix as a separate item in the mix.  I find that most guys I've worked with put too much in for my tastes.

One thing for sure, laying on the effects can mask (to some degree) a vocalist's poor intonation.  Why do you think that KJ's lay it on pretty thick?   Hey, even I sound good singing in the shower...lol.

[Tim Weaver]

It's pretty normal in the contemporary worship market. I can't stand our worship leaders iem mix. It's full of verb to the point of being rediculous. His guitars are also just awash with verb. Crazy how much they like it.

[Mike Monte]

It's pretty normal in the contemporary worship market. I can't stand our worship leaders iem mix. It's full of verb to the point of being rediculous. His guitars are also just awash with verb. Crazy how much they like it.

I guess "verb" sells....lol.

[BradPinder]

IMHO if you notice the effects, they're too strong.  Should be one of those things that if you take them away you notice the difference, but should not be able to hear them in the mix as a separate item in the mix.  I find that most guys I've worked with put too much in for my tastes.

Tis is how i wok as well. generally i'll mix in reverb in sound check to the point where i can obviously hear it, then back off some. makes them "there, but not there" if you get what i mean. having said that, if the band/singers style is loads of reverb give them what they want!

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