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[Brian Bolly]

Cleaning up my office I came across an issue of Live Sound Int'l from Jan/Feb 1998.  A little article struck my eye, and since a few people on the LAB responded and were published in this article, I'm interested to see what people think 6 years later.  Here's the scenario...

   "Assume you are traveling with a band, and make enough money to maintain a small, but professional, FX rack that you can easily get from the curb to FOH position in the nightclubs you work, nearly all of which have installed systems.  
   You need to corral a 4-piece gtr, bass, keys, drums band that features two vocalists.  Assuming you dedicate one rack space for a rack power strip, you've got five spaces left for dynamics, DSP, gates, parametric eq, whatever.  For argument's sake, eliminate 1/3 octave eqs because some sort of system equalization is already in place, and of course, "finely tweaked".  Let's make MIDI a neo-requirement, if at all possible, so you can establish some sort of scene control to add production value to the grind of "Getting In/Getting Out".
   Since you carry a second, very small equipment case, please offer up about half a dozen or so mics and/or DIs you'll carry to augment the less than pristine assortment of house transducers.  
   Finally, while we're at it, calmly identify the two interface turnarounds, i.e.: show-must-go-on gizmos, you wouldn't (don't) leave at home without for this gig.
   What do you use, and if you want, why?"

-Brian

[Brian Bolly]

I'll reply to my own post just to kick things off.  

My choices:

Rack
1) Bending the rules, I'd eliminate the rackmount power conditioner for a SurgeX SA-1810 stand alone power conditioner in the back of the rack and a Littlite w/weighted base to sit on top.  Add an old Lexicon MRC MIDI Remote Control thrown in the back of the rack that can live on the console during the gig
2) 1RU t.c. electronic M2000 multi-fx (dual mono send reverbs)
3) 1RU t.c. electronic D-Two multi-tap delay
4) 1RU Drawmer DS404 quad gate (drums)
5) 2RU Drawmer 1969 Mercenary Edition 2-channel preamp/compressor (2 vocals)  I wrestled with this one versus a pair of BSS DPR-901II dynamic equalizers, but I really like the sound of this thing, and have actually never used the 901's.  I'm sure I'll be flamed for this one.  
6) 1RU BSS DPR-404 four channel compressor/de-esser (gtr/bass/keys)
Ideally all equipment is wired for balanced insert consoles with adapters for non-balanced consoles (including those bassackwards Ramsa desks)

Small Equipment Case
Vocal Mics: Depending on the singer, either 2 Audix OM7, 2 Neumann KMS105's or 2 Shure SM87/Beta 87
Drum Mics: Audix D6 if I only get 1 kick channel, 2 Beta 98 tom mics
Gtr Mic: Sennheiser e609 Silver
Bass DI: Countryman Type 85
Keys: Ideally the keyboardist would send me a mono feed from their own small mixer, esp if (s)he's running more than one keyboard/module

Don't Leave Home Without It
Cans.  Sony or Sennheiser.  
IEM buds with beltpack if any of the band is on ears.
RatShack SPL meter
XLR and TRS adapters of all flavors inc. ground lift, pin 2/3 swap, etc
Laptop with SmaartLive AND a ProTools M-Box for tuning beforehand and recording afterwards

[Tim McCulloch]

Brian-

You're re-inventing the wheel... go to http://www.live-audio.com/index.html and search the archives there regarding your topic.  This nearly-dead horse was beaten several times on the old LAB, and I think you'll find that most of the suggestions will be relevant.  Ditto the "desert island microphones" and other things you'd rather not leave home without.

Happy reading.

Tim Mc