Live Sound - Why am I struggling so much?

[Smilzo]

Regarding my midrange - I had added that before based on some suggestions in the forum, but that ended up causing what I called the thin and trebly effect. Perhaps that was the result of my overall patch setup and not so much the result of the midrange boost but might add it back in on the Pete Thorn patches to give it a bit of kick in the mids.

Try lowering the tone stack freq (if you use amp eq, otherwise lower the hi freq).

 

[bryguy]

I want to thank all the contributions to this thread. I have spent the last week tackling the following:

- setup of separate outputs (thanks for the suggestion and the copy output 1 to output 2) so that I have independent volume control between FOH and my monitor.
- after watching Chris' video (thanks for the link), I got the basics of zeroing out my patches. What I found kind of handy in my particular case was that I used my level meter in my Mackie DL1608 instead of the meter on the AxeFx to 0 out all my patches/scenes and levels and have a nice balance between my 3 patches /4 scenes per patch setup. Also uncovered some interesting behaviour where a slight boost or cut was needed. Definitely more consistent and letting the level meter guide me than my ear.
- After getting a great sound in monitor, I went to try my HD1221 setup as an in the air PA speaker and my sound was crap. Now that my outputs were split, I took some time and put some Global EQ settings on Output 1 to FOH and it is much better and more closely matches my monitor so much happier and I know where to turn to tweak a little if required or I can flatten it out.
- Bought Lemur and the interface provided by David to do some tweaks on the fly and found that much easier to do than front panel tweaking (although I can front panel tweak with no problems)

Needless to say, I've put a lot of work in and we will see this weekend how this pays off. I must say my wife is absolutely fantastic, very supportive and helps lend an ear or watch level meters while tweaking settings to ensure everything balanced out. Pretty damn cool.

But anyways, thanks for the help and support as I've learned a lot. I really hope this pays off as I have a great gig in two weeks in front of a big crowd and want this rig (and hopefully the player in front of the rig) to kick everyone's ass.

Cheers...

 

[jimfist]

good luck. we're rooting for you. Above all else, relax and enjoy the music you will be making. Thinking positive thoughts and not allowing yourself to be uptight about things will go a long way.

 

[Xrocker]

Because live sound is hard. On the positive side, recorded sound is even harder. Your mistakes are recorded for prosterity.

 

[MikeyB59]

Sounds like you've made a lot of progress. Splitting outs so main and monitor levels can be separately controlled separately is crucial. The other thought is to use your wireless. Unless you guys have a big constant stage show or you sing everything, go offstage during the first or second song and see what it sounds like and then adjust the mixer. Another thought is to get a friend to do basic sound one time. It shouldn't be hard to tell them, "here's the guitar, make it audible." It may be that the other things you've done will fix it, but those are a couple of things that occur to me.

Good luck.

 

[Scott Peterson]

Glad you are making progress. Check your PM.

 

[Rick]

You'll get a lot of useful suggestions here, and sound like you're already working in the right directions. My contributions:

1. You're right on the money listening critically to your patches. That's where you want to fix bad tone, and you won't regret the effort. That's onstage or in the studio. Using PA eq on a bad guitar sound is like spraying Febreeze on a turd. It's still bad.
2. Definitely get your PA send and stage sends on different outputs. SO nice to have the flexibility to turn up or down without affecting the audience.
3. I haven't tried the monitor solution you have, but never got really bonded with my Axe II tone until I got a good one. A bad monitor forces you to make corrections to your patches that sound bad when amplified through a house PA that isn't suffering from the same limitations as your monitor.
4. When setting gains on your FOH board, use your loudest tones, played hard. Do this right and ragging your FOH inputs is a thing of the past.
5. Watch those drummers. lol They are NOTORIOUS for barely tapping the drums (especially the kick) in sound check, then POUNDING them in the gig. It's a drummer's way of making sure their kick and snare come through at play time. Tell him to quit hitting it like a sissy. Always works for me!
6. Score a decent sound man, even if only for an occasional gig. Once he has a kicking sound, make notes of the way the board is set. It will be invaluable when you have to "go in blind."

Most of all, don't give up. It's awesome gear, and more than capable of making you proud once you get the kinks unkinked!