Secret80'sMan said:
[quote="Scott Peterson":r7jxnov3]The quality of the FOH 'translating' depends entirely on the quality of the FOH; including the quality of gear, the quality of the FOH person.
The Axe-FX removes so many barriers when running direct to FOH in FRFR; but it cannot 'erase' or 'translate' if the equipment or ears behind the knobs suck.
Scott,
Sorry if I made you state the obvious, assuming the following I would welcome your thoughts:
1. Quality FOH rig
2. Decent venue (not a warehouse/tin can)
3. competent engineer
Also, If you tweak a patch on your FBT and go out front does it sound pretty close to what how it sounded at home or through your wedge or not? Just trying to figure out the best way to get as close to what I program as possible. a 10% margin for error is acceptable to take into account different systems, rooms, etc.
Thanks in advance.[/quote:r7jxnov3]
I've got close to 100 gigs on the Axe-FX running direct to FOH.
What I've found the majority of the time is the process is similar. The FOH engineer looks at me confused and thinks I am an idiot at first when I tell him I just need an XLR. I also add to it when I tell him to EQ it flat, no cut, no boost anywhere to start. 99% of the time, they won't do that. It's simply a knee jerk reaction they have. "PODs suck, I can't get them to fit in the mix and have to do massive EQ to make it work even a little...." they say.
I tell them this is very different than anything they've heard before. They scoff.
I start sound check, they check levels to start. I call out from the stage: "Just EQ it flat please." Hand on chin, they listen for a second and then you see them tentatively move their hand and try it, setting the EQ to noon.
Almost 99% of the time after the first set, the FOH engineer seeks me out and says, "What the *)(@#$ are you using? That sounds fantastic! I've not even touched the EQ out front.... amazing!" (or something along those lines). And I am not exaggerating. They are almost always extremely positive about it. When I show them the rig, they simply shake their heads and say, "Damn!"
So, given your questions - that little story should answer it. Yes, the presets I do translate almost universally assuming quality people running FOH, quality system out front and a room that can sound good.
Now, many many many times, the room isn't good. The FOH system is a piece of crap and there isn't an engineer... we do our own sound. Even then, they just EQ me flat and it works every time.
The key is simply a good solid core tone. If you listen to my clips (which I'll be doing many of this next few weeks) you'll hear simply good, organic, raw tones. I'm not a processed 'smooth' shimmering California 80's studio sound. I come from a rock based, Marshall edge tone and prefer to use my guitar's volume pot to 'take the edge off' for cleaner tones. I use a SC/SC/HB setup almost exclusively; and prefer the SC's for clean tones. My presets ALL work with SC or HB pickups. My presets ALL work great when you roll the volume off. To have that sort of more organic ballsy tone and still have the control and dynamics when playing is almost like cheating. I have perfect tones, exactly the way I created them at EVERY gig. It's just such a guilty pleasure to play.
With the Ultra I got to finally cross over into adding things like the Multi-Band compression on the end of my signal chain; and the way I incorporate it, you'll never 'sense' or 'feel' that I am using it at all. It just WORKS.
I come from mastering and mixing professionally. I understand how to apply those sorts of tools; and to drop them on simply my guitar tone chain is so very exciting to me. I can 'fit' any mix and by using the FBT's as MONITORS and not blowing volume from the stage (my paradigm is set up to self monitor and use FOH to get my tone out to the crowd) is still looked at funny by band members that 'only use the PA for vocals and kick/snare... nothing else!' when we run a lean FOH system. But now that I have folks understanding and using this sort of paradigm in the bands I work in, they are really enjoying the lower more controlled monitor mixes and stage volume so MUCH more.
It's a very satisfying way to fly, though it is still met with apprehension and disbelief all the time as we move around and play gigs. Festival guys that really have their thing dialed down hard are always a pleasure once I get them convinced. They are used to quick turnarounds on bands and the path of least resistance in getting the entire mix down and set in the first song. Read my little story again, and I just keep repeating that same sort of process over and over.
