Sound engineer has issues with AXE--suggestions?

Turn up for a gig with a Fryette Sig X once. Sound guy asked me if it was a modelling amp. I thought "ahhh bless him... probably used to seeing amps with just a volume knob..."
 
barhrecords said:
Well said KevinP.

For a lot of music and acts (not all), the lead vocal is the primary focus of the mix. And if the vocals are on wedges, they trump anything else.

In my experience, vocals only in the wedges and a good backline makes it easier to get the stage mix right and the FOH right. Less complicated.
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in my monitors I like:
- a ton of drums and bass guitar cos that's what I lock-in to
- a little lead vocal so I have the song's 'landmarks'
- no keys cos he's next to me on stage and I get enough of what I need of him from his own monitoring
- no David Cross cos if I was stood in the car park I bet I could still fkn hear him... ahhhh ! ! !
- no me cos I have my 4x12 cabs and if I'm stood in the car park of a different venue in a different country I could still most triumphantly hear them rockin-and-a-rollin.. yaaaayyyy ! ! !
 
UnsungHeroGuitars said:
Phew... it's threads like this that make me so glad we're entirely self-contained, all direct and all on in-ears. Super quick, super slick and super consistent
thumbsup.gif
(once all the hard work is done in pre-production of course!)
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Same here - what a difference it makes to not have to rely on someone else. You know how you're supposed to sound and can make sure that's the case.

You're right though - it's taken us a good couple of years to get the sound spot on with digital mixers, in-ears etc and we're still making minor adjustments, but no stress on the night at all!
 
Just tell them it's a rack tube amp and it's a pre-mic'd ISO cab inside going to an internal DI. All he has to do is hand you an XLR and you'll plug it into the DI.
 
clarky said:
in my monitors I like:
- a ton of drums and bass guitar cos that's what I lock-in to
- a little lead vocal so I have the song's 'landmarks'
- no keys cos he's next to me on stage and I get enough of what I need of him from his own monitoring
- no David Cross cos if I was stood in the car park I bet I could still fkn hear him... ahhhh ! ! !
- no me cos I have my 4x12 cabs and if I'm stood in the car park of a different venue in a different country I could still most triumphantly hear them rockin-and-a-rollin.. yaaaayyyy ! ! !
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I've seen lots of stages with wedges and side fills set up like you describe.

That is a bigger show / rig that what I was describing. I took from the original post, that the overall rig / stage was a more modest rig.
 
cyberk9, I'm not sure I understand the feedback issue. I run a pair of passive CLRs with a Matrix GT1000 just f'n stupid loud to my left and right typically about 6' away at 45ish degrees in an untreated practice space. I can get controlled feedback when I aim my pups down at one of the monitors, but otherwise they're solid. I'm also using a gate set rather moderately with several VERY high gain presets.

Flip of the coin, my first pair of wedges were vocal monitors that (1) sounded like ass, and (2) would feedback like crazy at anything over bedroom levels. I think a dedicated FRFR setup would (or at least did for me) solve a lot of feedback issues?

Is the feedback being mentioned here the kind coming from interaction with other mics on stage?
 
I know.. I was just being a total nob.. and being one rather well imho.. lol..

personally I'm one of the luckier folk that mostly gets to play in nice places through nice rigs run by great crew..
hence the lil' list above showing what I like in my monitors..

that said, on the odd occasion where we do have to play through a smaller / less capable rig.. there are usually tears and toys thrown everywhere.. lmao
not mine though.. I have nice big fat smiley Marshall boxes making me feel all comfy and yummy
 
clarky said:
so the killer thing then is your band's preparedness..
you know what you want, know how to make it work for you, know what to expect..

not everyone is quite that switched on.. lmao
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uhhm yea. Why wouldn't you want to be prepared? Why wouldn't you practice in a setup as close to what you are going to be using, so there are no suprises, no stress, and then it's about entertaining instead of production :) and you can enjoy your gig.

So yea, we are prepared. I also have a Marshall 412 setup for rooms that allow and I also have an IEM setup for when we bring our own PA FOH and Digital board. We also solicit the venue and assess long before we play it so we can decide on which setup we are using there.

If others don't consider any of this then perhaps they should? Being prepared has allowed us many completely issue free shows.

I'm just in a local covers band. We have no rider, so crew, and no sound engineer. We do it all ourselves or occasionally there is a house system and disc jockey running it.
 
Severed said:
uhhm yea. Why wouldn't you want to be prepared? Why wouldn't you practice in a setup as close to what you are going to be using, so there are no suprises, no stress, and then it's about entertaining instead of production :) and you can enjoy your gig.

So yea, we are prepared. I also have a Marshall 412 setup for rooms that allow and I also have an IEM setup for when we bring our own PA FOH and Digital board. We also solicit the venue and assess long before we play it so we can decide on which setup we are using there.

If others don't consider any of this then perhaps they should? Being prepared has allowed us many completely issue free shows.

I'm just in a local covers band. We have no rider, so crew, and no sound engineer. We do it all ourselves or occasionally there is a house system and disc jockey running it.
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you'd be surprised… not every band is quite so switched on..
like you I'm a great believer in preparedness..

being 'professional' is as much an attitude and approach as anything else..
the fundamental aim is to be able to deliver the best show you can to those that willingly chose to part with their 'hard earned' in the hope that you will entertain them..
no matter if music is your primary income or not, I've always believed that the performer is in debt to his paying audience..
personally, I find that it makes me deeply respectful of the audience..
without them and their support, we have nothing..
 
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Admin M@ said:
One of the gigs I play uses a PreSonus Studio Live mixer. You install an app on your iPad and control your own mix. It's slick, and it really works.
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The Studio Live is a very cool board...not sure if you've tried this yet, but you can also let each person control their own monitor mix (Aux Send) via wireless iPad as well. Hallelujah!
 
The mic will only feed, if IT is loud in the monitor, as I am pretty sure (correct me if I'm incorrect) a feed-"circle" can not be made brought to life from a "third party" source such as the Axe in this scenario.

Both on stage and in rehearls i get my axe-fx through a monitor in front of me (no amp behind me (or anywhere else for that matter)), and I like myself LOUD! I have not experienced any feedback problems from the axe. From my mic, sure, but it has always been that way, as again, I like to hear myself ;) -normally I just get the sound guy to get my vocals as close to feedlevel as possible, and often that is fine...

If he means that it is the guitar's strings that will feed easier w the speaker in front of you, he might have a point, but I imagine this to be no different that when you get your mic'ed guitar through the monitors.

The only "issue" I have had is that I need to adjust my noisegate when playing live, as it's treshold always need to be turned up live, as my normal settings won't kill the sound...

Could the soundguys problem in this case be, that he only have one send, meaning everyone will get the same monitor mix?
 
Seems strange to me, small gigs amps are usually the problem and the reason there are feedback issues is because the singer keeps having his monitor turned up to hear over the amp stage volume, if you have your own monitor going direct is so much easier you can keep stage volume down and wedding guest aren't complaining. Small venue you can probably hear yourself in the mains anyways unless drummer is just crazy loud
 
dunno what this guy is talking about. good monitoring for guitars is not the amp some feet back and screaming at my shoes while me not hearing anything but omph.

back in the days playing tube and cab i always hat the amp turned down as much as possible, as a sidefill and some signal on the monitors. as a here and there FOH guy i know the worst thing possible is a guitar play bringing its 4x12 with 100w tube right behind him and max it in a small venue .. no chance for making a good sound without cranking the PA to 110db.

bring your own monitor and you're done .. what kind of gig is this where the sound guy doesnt like an axe fx while having only one aux for vocals AND guitar ?!

my suggestion if he still doesnt like it and you want to upset him: bring your old tube amp with a 4x12 and crank it .. if he says anything just replay "amp only sounds good if it pushes some air blabla"
.. then connect your axe fx ;)

for the last 50 shows or so using the axe if had like 80 to 90% only complements on the tone and the easy use of the signal (most of them knew about the axe fx but never heared one in real live) .. the rest where concerned about modelling before but happy after .. only 2 or so where still like "guitar has to move some air blabla" but listening at their guitar tones of other bands .. you know what i want to say ;)
 
Admin M@ said:
One of the gigs I play uses a PreSonus Studio Live mixer. You install an app on your iPad and control your own mix. It's slick, and it really works.
Click to expand...
Yeah. My band's PA has this and it rocks. It's also beyond awesome to get individual stereo IEM mixes for everyone in the band. \m/
 
Admin M@ said:
One of the gigs I play uses a PreSonus Studio Live mixer. You install an app on your iPad and control your own mix. It's slick, and it really works.
Click to expand...
Being using that for over a year now, but most recently with stage monitors removed and the band going all-wireless IEM's. We use 5 (of 6) AUX feeds for individual mixes, each of which can have FAT Channel processing and Effects applied.
For next gig we are going to similar setup with X32 Producer - since BL wanted to use HIS new mixer, so mine goes back to storage.
 
aleclee said:
Yeah. My band's PA has this and it rocks. It's also beyond awesome to get individual stereo IEM mixes for everyone in the band. \m/
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Absolutely. from the soundmen I've run into around Denver. Most are familiar with splitting the signals and sending them one set and using another for the IEM. With the wireless and ipad, it makes it a dream (unless you get wifi drop outs).
 
tallcoolone said:
Have a small wedding gig next week in a relatively small room--we are using a new sound guy we've never dealt with before and when I let him know that I wanted to dun direct from my AXL this is what he replied back with:

As for the guitar going direct to the board for its only on stage monitoring,that usually is not a good idea. Without a stage amp to balance the live sound you would be relying on the vocal monitors for both guitar and vocals to fill the stage, and since they will only be facing the band It may cause feedback and actually have to be louder than the vocals to be heard. The guitar pickups facing directly into the monitors speakers and horns usually causes feedback and eq problems. Guitar processors, even though they may sound great in the studio or other controlled settings, are still using speaker simulators which are just different programed eq settings to make them sound like popular amps, There's still nothing like a real mic'd amp to pick up traveling sound waves, due to air moving from the speaker at different levels from each guitarists own unique style of playing. Add in room ambiance stage sound mic placement etc.etc..​

I don't want to sound like a dick, but I also don't want to run one of my 100w tube amps choked down to whisper levels. I already let him know that I would bring my own stage monitor. Suggestions on what to say back?
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Im a soundguy and reading this guys responce made me cringe.... He is "an ol' fart".

Just tell him, this allways works well for you and you will not change a working AND TESTED method.

Also, having your own monitor will give you better monitoring then having a guitarcab playing to your back. Feedback? idiot.
 
s0c9 said:
Being using that for over a year now, but most recently with stage monitors removed and the band going all-wireless IEM's. We use 5 (of 6) AUX feeds for individual mixes, each of which can have FAT Channel processing and Effects applied.
For next gig we are going to similar setup with X32 Producer - since BL wanted to use HIS new mixer, so mine goes back to storage.
Click to expand...

I am thinking of switching from the PreSonus to the X32.

Would be interested to hear how it goes for your band.
 
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