Jump to content

Ran sound for a hip-hop show, things I learned


Recommended Posts

  • Members

I did sound for a well known rapper last sat and learned a few things. It tool place at a local club in Marysville WA, small town with no "ghetto" but that didn't seem to matter. System was 2x JBL SP225-9, 4x SP128 (bass!), Yamaha P7000 1 channel per box, triamped. CD player, GL2400, 4 wireless mics.

 

The bass was sooo loud it hurt. in the gut. The opening acts gave me CDs that the bass was cranked prolly +18dB or more. Treble was also maxxed out though not as bad as the headliners. No soundcheck BTW. I got the CD 30sec before they went on.

 

The headliners used some kind of akai sampler and their DJ used Serato into a rane mixer. Rane mixer ran into hard clip. With the bass maxxed out and treble maxxed out. So on my end (50' away) I cut bass, cut 3k, cut 12k. The high limiters were engaging before the low ones on the drpa! Harsh is a nice way to put it. I also strapped a limiter on the subgrouped DJ/CD player subgroup and it really really came in handy around 11ish and kept working til 2:15am. I also strapped a limiter across the vocal subgroup but the PA was plenty loud enough to carry without hitting the threshold.

 

Bar power sux, took 20 min to find AC that didn't have issues.

 

An older power conditioner shut down for no reason mid show, it powered 4 wireless mics and one sub amp. Maybe undervoltage but my meters said 122-125 all night. Still a mystery. Akward.

 

WHat else, oh yeah, speakers also can keep people from jumping on stage if you lay them down in front with monitors on top.

 

My favorite part was one group takes a huge was of $1 bills and throws it at the crowd. I found abuot 10 bux behind my speakers later on.

 

more later...

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

I have learned that you need to bring 5X the monitors than you would need for a stadium rock show...

 

For some reason, these guys who are eating the mike, and cupping it from behind, and screaming their profanity into it, really want the music cranked, and then want their vocals over that...

 

Buddy of mine emailed a bill for damages half-way through a show... to the show producer... three very nice wedges were toasted.. He was renting the gear and there to 'supervise' but the band engineer was slamming everything, despite having been told not to several times... The producer wrote him a check that covered the damaged gear (to buy new) and he let him keep the other boxes... it was a really, really big name act... but still would have pissed me off.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

I've done a few rap gigs for the local radio station. Each time was just a big pain in the ass.

 

The second, and last. gig i did for them just irritated the hell out of me.

 

Spend the afternoon setting up, another hour cupping the mic running around on stage screaming to ring out the monitors for maximum spl. Supposed to start at midnight. Midnight comes and goes, 12:30 comes and goes, 1 comes and goes.

 

1:45am the guys come in and people go ape{censored}. Noone has given me the music cd. They took it to the booth for the club. So there I am, trying to get vocals over the entire club system that's being run in the red. No dice on that at all. Then the crowd started to rush the stage. The guys were up there for approx. 3 minutes. Everything was stopped and that was the end. Very ghetto crowd, luckily I had 5 of the clubs bouncers around me and FOH. Then while loading out I hear shots being popped off in the parking lot on the opposite side of the building.

 

I won't be doing another gig like that for them.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

 

the crowd.

 

uh... the past... oh... 10 - 20 hip-hop/rapper gigs I've worked there was generally more folks on-stage at any given time that out in "the crowd" (2's company, but generally there's got to be at least 3 to be considered "a crowd"... so I assume by your use of the word "crowd" there was actually more than 2 folks out in the audience at some time during the performance?). One of the more recent shows I worked I figure cost easily in-excess of $1K per ticket sold for the production alone... 200 lighting fixtures (approx. 40 intel-lights), etc... (I don't know what the bands were paid, or what the venue rent and advertising costs were?) Oh... and the "sound checks" and show was basically 8 hours of dumping on the production crew about how bunk everything was. My price for being a whipping boy went up directly after that show.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

So Farmington, WA isn't a hotbed of hip-hop/rap? Who would've thunk it? :poke: They probably wouldn't have much better crowds unless they advertised that they would be giving out free coupons to KFC grilled chicken, like Oprah did last week, pretty much wiping out the whole supply of it for thousands of locations. (Thanks, Oprah, I beat my neighbors to it.) $1,000 per person buys a _lot_ of chicken.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

uh... the past... oh... 10 - 20 hip-hop/rapper gigs I've worked there was generally more folks on-stage at any given time that out in "the crowd" (2's company, but generally there's got to be at least 3 to be considered "a crowd"... so I assume by your use of the word "crowd" there was actually more than 2 folks out in the audience at some time during the performance?). One of the more recent shows I worked I figure cost easily in-excess of $1K per ticket sold for the production alone... 200 lighting fixtures (approx. 40 intel-lights), etc... (I don't know what the bands were paid, or what the venue rent and advertising costs were?) Oh... and the "sound checks" and show was basically 8 hours of dumping on the production crew about how bunk everything was. My price for being a whipping boy went up directly after that show.

 

Oh I feel your pain brother ;)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

 

So Farmington, WA isn't a hotbed of hip-hop/rap?

 

Uh... no.

 

But, then it's arguable that Farmington isn't a hotbed of anything. The biggest drawing event of the year here in Farmington I suspect is the annual Fire department day: Rides for all the kids on the fire trucks, BBQ, soda pop for all.

 

I believe Farmington does have the tallest wooden flag pole in the state... which sounds more impressive that it is... since the power poles are as tall or taller in the general vacinity of our famous tall flag pole.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

Hi-pass and limit your subs, keep your vocal gates and comps handy, keep a pre-emptive "frowny face" EQ, hypercardioid vox mics are your friends, pay special attention to the sidefills (oftentimes they like it as loud or louder on stage as it is out front), and pay special attention to security and crowd control.

 

I keep a full-size maglite in my FOH rack just for these shows, used it a few times.

 

I was FOH for a somewhat estabolished hip-hop act in Toronto for a few straight dates before they were off on a tour of some kind. Some of the shows were the rapper + guests playing with a DJ, some of them with a full band + DJ. Lots and lots of young drunk guys in one place with something to prove gets dangerous and fast. I have no problem mixing rap/hip-hop shows, however, both for the environment and the music. I got used to what to listen for and come across a lot of artists, and sometimes actually talk to the ones that impress me. I myself play in a hard rap/rock band so I find myself part of rap shows all the time, and no kidding they're always the most fun. I just make sure to bring my own techs whenever we're playing as part of a rap concert because these guys are rarely prepared to handle a loud-ass rock band.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

We do a few hip hop/rap acts a year...

 

One year we gave the DJ/Sampler person a SB850 with a KF650 ontop on each side of the table (8'-10' apart). We gave it to him as loud as he wanted, it was funny to watch him hit the 808 track, and then CD player would start skipping.

 

We also give the "rappers" an OM7.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

 

We gave it to him as loud as he wanted, it was funny to watch him hit the 808 track, and then CD player would start skipping.

 

 

and yet it is still somehow your fault this happens. i'm done with this crowd.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

We do a few hip hop/rap acts a year...


One year we gave the DJ/Sampler person a SB850 with a KF650 ontop on each side of the table (8'-10' apart). We gave it to him as loud as he wanted, it was funny to watch him hit the 808 track, and then CD player would start skipping.


We also give the "rappers" an OM7.

 

HOLY {censored}!!!!!:eek::eek::eek:

 

Hehehe... I used to wonder why Rap records sounded so thin... until I saw some sessions... and the SP level must've been 110 or higher.

 

I used to think metal was bad.

 

T

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

Living in an urban area in which 75% of black males don't graduate from high school, I think hip hop/rap can provide a outlet for expression that can be either good or bad, depending on the artist. I have worked with a number of Christian artists that give a positive influence and message that connects with kids who would otherwise be unreachable through other means. Even though I don't personally go out of my way to listen to this music, I really can't just dismiss the good along with the bad. Instead I try to help raise the quality of the performance by talking with the musicians when I can to give them honest feedback and suggestions. Some are willing to listen, others not, then I focus on those who do and ignore the ones who don't. All I can do is control any bias I have against the music and focus on improving the audio quality if they are receptive.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

The venue was packed. About 300+ people dressed like they all shopped at the same Discount world in Lakewood (us pac NW people will understand this). About 30% white kids, which I thought was low considering marysville is a small town. i did 3 wedges on 2 mixes and found that the rappers didn't really need a whole lot but I did mix sorta loud on stage. Feedback wasn't an issue anyway, feeling like the building may come down was. The venue was packed all night and the stage had as many as 20+ people on it and that's about all it could hold, it was a small stage.

 

Luckliy the DJ booth had an Eon on a stick facing right at them, that helped a lot on my end, they could f that up and I wouldn't be worried about it.

 

In the end, no gear was damaged, nothing missing, paid in cash, no major fights, no cops rushing in.

 

My SRX 728s were cross rented and used at another of the promoters events the next night. They came back with more scuffs, alcohol dripping down one side, still in working order. My buddy picked them up for me and when he arrived there were 6 cop cars, guys in bullet proof vests holding batons just waiting, waiting for trouble. AFAIK no shots were fired, no real brawls but the cops were nervous.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

One last thing. I ended up (stupidly) using a 50' 12ga, connected to a 14ga 25' connected to a 16ga 15' AC run for lighting. 600w dys, 8 cans, 2 dimmer packs (per 4), run at 60% to draw less than 20A total. The jacket of the 16ga cable melted just a little to itself when it was coiled 2 turns to take up slack. Today I'm going thru all cable and putting the small stuff away for good...

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

If you did not hear, "Yo, Mister Soundman. Turn that {censored} up!". You did not mix a rap show.

 

I've learned to keep the master or aux fed subs back -6dB until I get that queue.

 

Veteran of shows by Ghostface, Luciano and many others. (The ones that actually showed up to their own show.)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

 

One last thing. I ended up (stupidly) using a 50' 12ga, connected to a 14ga 25' connected to a 16ga 15' AC run for lighting. 600w dys, 8 cans, 2 dimmer packs (per 4), run at 60% to draw less than 20A total. The jacket of the 16ga cable melted just a little to itself when it was coiled 2 turns to take up slack. Today I'm going thru all cable and putting the small stuff away for good...

 

 

Hmm - been awhile since I brushed up on my theory but I think your 600w bulbs may still be drawing 5amps per - just not constant since the dimming circuit is chopping up the wave so a minimum 12 ga cable is still required for each bank of 4.

Putting 2 bulbs in series would drop the current load.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

I too, did my 1st (and now LAST) h-h-rap on fri.

ended up shutting all levels down, no gain, mains @ -20, amp gains less than a third.

oh yeah got it too-"Yo, Mister Soundman. Turn that {censored} up!"----He had a numark mixer (pos) mixing from 4 sources, laptop, ipod, cd's and thumb drive, with so many dif levels. He pegged his volume and kept clipping my soundcraft 8 channel.

So I went on stage set his volume to a little less than half, pulled knob off, put gaf tape on post and told him if I see you reach volume again show is over!

Then 15 mins later got rained out.....

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

 

Hmm - been awhile since I brushed up on my theory but I think your 600w bulbs may still be drawing 5amps per - just not constant since the dimming circuit is chopping up the wave so a minimum 12 ga cable is still required for each bank of 4.

Putting 2 bulbs in series would drop the current load.

 

 

The cable would see the average current or (theoretically) 60% of the full load current. (note that most dimmers use a square law dimming curve)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

×
×
  • Create New...