Advise?

Izzwardo

Izzwardo

Inspired
Well I will be taking the AX8 out to my first ever open mic jam tomorrow. We get 3 songs or 20 minutes of playing time and I'm bringing the AX8 and my Ernie Ball Music Man Luke AKA the Ferarri. So I was told from the guy who hosts this open mic (Rod DeGeorge) and he told me all I would have to bring is the pedalboard and my guitar because I guess they just run it through the PA and they have a sound guy who makes adjustments. So I guess my question is since this will be my first ever, is there anything I need to know going into this with my fractal? I have all the songs set up in order on the AX8 and I'm pretty sure the levels match but not 100% sure and I guess that's what a sound techs job is right unless he does not know what he's doing. Anyways Rod DeGeorge is the guy hosting it and he is a absolutely amazing player so if I have any problems in hoping he can help me. Any tips or suggestions please let me know and thanks in advance
 
It's not the sound guys job to ride your guitar level all night. But before you go, I would just go through the presets and make sure the volumes are close enough. Other than that, you sound like you should be good to go!
 
I would guess that Rod is talking about a regular pedalboard, not an AX8. He's assuming that you'll be running your pedalboard
into the guitar amp. You might check and see how many monitors/mixes they're offering. Do you normally play through a FRFR cab?
If so, why not bring it. Better safe than sorry. Have fun!!!!
 
Make sure you'll have a monitor of some sort so you can hear yourself. Personally, I'd bring my own but that's just me.
 
Chris Hummel said:
It's not the sound guys job to ride your guitar level all night. But before you go, I would just go through the presets and make sure the volumes are close enough. Other than that, you sound like you should be good to go!
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I totally disagree. It IS 100% the sound guys job to ride gain for you all night. I get so fed up with sound guys that think it is not their job to do this. They have become to dependent on gadgets to control levels and such. It has made it very hard to find truly competent sound men these days. Nothing pisses me off more to see any empty sound position or the sound guy not paying attention. While I agree that the guitar player should do his best to get things close prior to show I know many players will not do this.

Some background on myself just so you know where I am coming from. I am almost 54 years old. I have been doing sound and lights since I was 15 for bands and also for theatrical productions. From mid 1983 to March of 1990 I did Pro Audio (and some lighting) for a living. I did sound for President Reagan daily and I have worked with many artists. Some I have worked with include The Beach Boys, Olivia Newton John, jazz legend Dave Brubeck, and Marvin Hamlisch just to name a few . On the local level I worked with acts that ranged from speech events to 80s metal bands and everything in between. I have with or for (and also taken classes with some) Best Audio, The Naked Zoo, MP Productions and Maryland sound to name some large outfits.

I can tell you I did have to ride gain and make constant changes at most events. I quit doing sound altogether from 91 to 95 (though I did work on air in radio part time) and since just do it sporadically and I am not familiar with many of the digital boards and devices though I think I could catch on quick. I know there are many things out there to control levels and thinks like presets on digital boars have made the job a lot easier of the sound guy we often had charts and lists to,keep track of settings and approximate levels. But it IS still the sound guys job.
 
I would check on the PA specs. If they have 15" PA speakers you may not like the tones... Always a good idea to bring a powered speaker if you can swing it. Also, use the VU meter to get your levels pretty close before playing the gig
 
Izzwardo said:
.... So I was told from the guy who hosts this open mic (Rod DeGeorge) and he told me all I would have to bring is the pedalboard and my guitar because I guess they just run it through the PA and they have a sound guy who makes adjustments.
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That sounds a bit strange ....... I'd expect they have a backline amp there and you are expected to plug your pedalboard into it?

If you go direct to FOH desk from the AX8 without using the stage amp you might have problems hearing yourself unless there's monitors on stage ...... so you might be as well having a few presets set up to use the front input of an amp or the FX return of an amp as a standby?
 
Well thanks everyone for the input the AX8 worked Perfectly! Absolutely flawless and great sound for sure. Basically They plugged the 8 into the pa and the sound guy adjusted the levels and off we went and rocked it. The AX8 is such a great piece and I will use it wherever we play.
 
chrisjnyc said:
I would check on the PA specs. If they have 15" PA speakers you may not like the tones... Always a good idea to bring a powered speaker if you can swing it. Also, use the VU meter to get your levels pretty close before playing the gig
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How does that work? I have jbl 15" frfr's and they sound fantastic (vp 7215 dpc).
 
BigRalphN said:
I totally disagree. It IS 100% the sound guys job to ride gain for you all night. I get so fed up with sound guys that think it is not their job to do this. They have become to dependent on gadgets to control levels and such. It has made it very hard to find truly competent sound men these days. Nothing pisses me off more to see any empty sound position or the sound guy not paying attention. While I agree that the guitar player should do his best to get things close prior to show I know many players will not do this.

Some background on myself just so you know where I am coming from. I am almost 54 years old. I have been doing sound and lights since I was 15 for bands and also for theatrical productions. From mid 1983 to March of 1990 I did Pro Audio (and some lighting) for a living. I did sound for President Reagan daily and I have worked with many artists. Some I have worked with include The Beach Boys, Olivia Newton John, jazz legend Dave Brubeck, and Marvin Hamlisch just to name a few . On the local level I worked with acts that ranged from speech events to 80s metal bands and everything in between. I have with or for (and also taken classes with some) Best Audio, The Naked Zoo, MP Productions and Maryland sound to name some large outfits.

I can tell you I did have to ride gain and make constant changes at most events. I quit doing sound altogether from 91 to 95 (though I did work on air in radio part time) and since just do it sporadically and I am not familiar with many of the digital boards and devices though I think I could catch on quick. I know there are many things out there to control levels and thinks like presets on digital boars have made the job a lot easier of the sound guy we often had charts and lists to,keep track of settings and approximate levels. But it IS still the sound guys job.
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I meant he shouldn't have to be riding his gain if his levels are just all of the place. Of course riding it for solos and stuff is nice. But he shouldn't have to be just having to pay attention to how much his guitar level is going to change every single time he changes a patch. I've done live sound plenty of times and have never had to deal with that lol
 
Chris Hummel said:
I meant he shouldn't have to be riding his gain if his levels are just all of the place. Of course riding it for solos and stuff is nice. But he shouldn't have to be just having to pay attention to how much his guitar level is going to change every single time he changes a patch. I've done live sound plenty of times and have never had to deal with that lol
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Agree in part. But, hating to be cliche and show my age, in the old days you had constant changes, no different than patch changes even if unadjusted, between songs or when solos hit. I feel I is th sound guys job to adjust the solo and the guitar player should do nothing save hitting a stomp etc. Now do not get me wrong, we had gates, filters, Etc we used to try tonormalize things some. I get your point though. If the means are there to set things up to make it easy it should be done. All of the new technology has made life easier. I won't go into all of the downsides but the biggest one, and I am not pointing at anyone, is that a lot of sound techs these days know all of the technology but not how to mix. I didn't mean to sound like I was slamming you. It was a general observation brought on by working with some terrible sound techs since I started playing.
 
BigRalphN said:
Agree in part. But, hating to be cliche and show my age, in the old days you had constant changes, no different than patch changes even if unadjusted, between songs or when solos hit. I feel I is th sound guys job to adjust the solo and the guitar player should do nothing save hitting a stomp etc. Now do not get me wrong, we had gates, filters, Etc we used to try tonormalize things some. I get your point though. If the means are there to set things up to make it easy it should be done. All of the new technology has made life easier. I won't go into all of the downsides but the biggest one, and I am not pointing at anyone, is that a lot of sound techs these days know all of the technology but not how to mix. I didn't mean to sound like I was slamming you. It was a general observation brought on by working with some terrible sound techs since I started playing.
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I agree there's adjustment to make, but The sound guy has 8 drums channels, 2-3 guitar, 1 bass, a couple vocals, backing tracks, horns etc to deal with.
If your sound is not consistent and we lose you at one point or you're too loud at one point, then it's on you, not the tech. Let's say he's adjusting the vocal and the guitar is completely lost as you changed to clean for 5 seconds, by the time he realizes you're gone, he raises you, but you're already back on overdrive, so now you're too loud.
Make your patches consistent.

The local tech does not know your set, your sound, your songs etc. If it was your own hired tech, then he knows when and what he has to move.
 
acidfrost said:
I agree there's adjustment to make, but The sound guy has 8 drums channels, 2-3 guitar, 1 bass, a couple vocals, backing tracks, horns etc to deal with.
If your sound is not consistent and we lose you at one point or you're too loud at one point, then it's on you, not the tech. Let's say he's adjusting the vocal and the guitar is completely lost as you changed to clean for 5 seconds, by the time he realizes you're gone, he raises you, but you're already back on overdrive, so now you're too loud.
Make your patches consistent.

The local tech does not know your set, your sound, your songs etc. If it was your own hired tech, then he knows when and what he has to move.
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Obviously if you are using sound techs unfamiliar with the music there is a good chance of issues. Even if I was contracted to do local acts, which I did between jobs, I would at least want to be at rehearsals before hand. What you say also makes sense in the Church environment where your sound tech us often Sam the butcher who just wants to help and has no audio background whatsoever. Your mega churches normally have full time audio guys.
 
geetarplayer said:
But still, it's always in your best interest as a guitarist to make the sound man be required to do as little work as possible. Why wouldn't you?
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Ha ha. Completely opposite in most the shows I did. The guitar players never saw it touched his guitar until the final sound checks. Sure, at some time he did the pedal setup and everything. Even some of the local bands I worked with I would tune the guitar, and do the initial check. Like I said, I am older and maybe days like that are gone. Heck, wireless rigs were rare back then. Only top acts could afford them and most guitarists wouldn't touch them. Like I said though,I get your point and in church we definitely do not want our sound guys to do much.
 
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