Need advise about speaker and live situation

thinknolimitz

thinknolimitz

Inspired
Need advise about this, I am using axe-fx together with yamaha HS50M speaker for personal use at home. Sometime I use headphone, it is AKG K 242 HD.

I am having difficulties to understand that every time when I try to use PA gear in studio or live music event, the sound from PA gear always different compared when I play it at home. Even between HS50M vs. headphone also different.

Could you advise what should I do, at least to minimize the gap between these system? Should I change my speaker / headphone?
If there's a topic or reference or link etc. that can help me, please let me know.

Fyi, I am not a professional, doing this is just for fun and hobby.
The "live music event" I mentioned above is only about company/community event or ceremony or things like that...so go easy on me :D
 
There will always be a difference in my experience between different setups and I can't think of a real way to get a headphone or home speaker sound to match a PA. You may be able to get it close, but the change of amplification method, loudness, room dynamic, etc, is hard to guess. Some others with far more experience may have some ideas to get it closer.

If you have a specific event/company etc that you play more often, it would be best perhaps to get a time to use the PA or borrow a friends PA and use at home and create patches with Scenes, Amp, or added EQ blocks to get a better sound. And play at a Loudness level that is close to real. My patches sound fairly different when running through my Headphones (AKG 550s), my JBL monitors, or a pair off older, but still good, FRFR powered speakers. I also think I get some differences in sound by recording the AxeFX in my DAW depending on whether I run the Outs to a Motu Audio Express or direct USB. I actually think, from a limited trial, that the Axe's USB out records in Ableton better than than taking the Outs to a Motu Express and the latency is less.

If you can't make patches using some PA speakers, than the only thought I have is having an XY cab, bright and darker, and perhaps a Global GEQ that you place in front of the AMP that is normally off that you can turn on and adjust before playing. And, maybe, a secondary Reverb2 block (you'd turn off Reverb1) assigned to a Global that you can edit on one patch that will transform in the other patches, along with the Global GEQ. Although, I'm not sure this is the best way.
 
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GeneT95 said:
There will always be a difference in my experience between different setups...
Click to expand...

Thank you GeneT95, good explanation!
So I am not the only people having this issue.
The only option I can do is to test it more using my friends PA, can't borrow it.
 
I also have the HS50m and two sets of headphones and a clr atomic wedge. Each setup sounds different. Though the closest match is from the HS50 to clr.
Bottom line is that you need to hard tweak at volume with whatever backing you are using through whatever system you are using live. It can be a headache as your bedroom settings will be very different to your live settings.
May be a good idea to do it in lots of short time periods in order to reset your ears to go again.
I think tweaking for 'live' as guitar players is our biggest challenge ?!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
The three main factors are:

1. Human perception of sound. Our perception of sound changes based on sound pressure level. If you are creating presets at a different SPL than you are using in performance, you will perceive the sound differently.

2. The coloration of the playback system. Depending on the coloration of the signal chain used to amplify the Fractal, you might be adding compensation to the preset. If the coloration of the PA used for live performance is different than the coloration of the equipment you use to create the presets, then the PA can sound "off" or "wrong".

3. Coloration added by space / room. Same as #2 except the space or room you listen in is influencing the sound (not the electronics as in point #2). For example, if the room you use to create a preset has exaggerated bass, your preset might not have enough bass in it and sound "thin" when you perform with a PA in a different space / room.
 
You could always consider getting something like a CLR, which sounds great at low home volumes, but also can be plenty loud for most smaller gigs as a main source of amplification. There will be some perceptual differences with how things sound loud vs quiet, but overall you'd be able to keep the same consistent sound source both home and live
 
I have the HS80's for for my DAW use and Matrix Q12s for live. There's no doubt the HS80s are not as "open" or clear or have as much treble I guess (hard to really define) as the Q12's. Definitely the Q12s closer mimic our PA system at high volume as I've A/B'd them.
 
thinknolimitz said:
Need advise about this, I am using axe-fx together with yamaha HS50M speaker for personal use at home. Sometime I use headphone, it is AKG K 242 HD.

I am having difficulties to understand that every time when I try to use PA gear in studio or live music event, the sound from PA gear always different compared when I play it at home. Even between HS50M vs. headphone also different.

Could you advise what should I do, at least to minimize the gap between these system? Should I change my speaker / headphone?
If there's a topic or reference or link etc. that can help me, please let me know.

Fyi, I am not a professional, doing this is just for fun and hobby.
The "live music event" I mentioned above is only about company/community event or ceremony or things like that...so go easy on me :D
Click to expand...

Axe Brother,

Your experience is no different than everyone else who plays live...
As mentioned above, because a small monitor like the HS-50 is so vastly different from a full range PA, it's a losing battle to hope your patch will translate well live from your listening room.
I doubt headphones could ever get you close... Some might. I haven't heard any that do as of yet.
Something like an Atomic CLR or other brand high quality FRFR should get you much closer.

The volume difference alone (Look up Fletcher Munson Curve) will change what frequencies pop from your bedroom volume (70-80 db) to venue volume (100+ db).
As far as the bass response: A pair or more of 18 Inch woofers versus a pair of 5 Inch woofers? NEC [not even close]
The Highs will need taming to.

Best you can do is build a tone at as loud a volume as you deal with at home (90-100 db), then take it to a venue and start tweaking with the actual sound system.
I recommend purchasing a sound pressure level meter, so you have a reference for how loud 95 db actually is.

Some sound systems are awesome, some suck... All you can do is be prepared to compensate.
Either way, using the Cab Block High Cut and Low Cut knobs combined with the Global EQ, you should be able to find your tone if you built your patch close to venue volume.
Having your own PA, and a track of the rest of your band, would be the best scenario, so you could tweak your tone in the mix before the sound guy gets a hold of it.
 
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