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Dogoth

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About Dogoth

  • Birthday 04/01/1958

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  • Biography
    Too much stuff to put here. I'm an old fart :-)

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  • Location
    Reno, NV

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  • Interests
    Music, Audio, Trains

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  • Occupation
    Audio Engineer Live/Studio

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  1. Bass drum is a really difficult thing to get right (and it MUST be). Don't feel bad I've replaced a kick track with samples many times. Even if it was a great reproduction, it may not have been the right drum for that particular song (most drummers don't carry around an assortment :). FWIW I don't mind the D112 used for kick. They do have an attenuated top end though (yup sort of that old school sound). I almost always put it well inside the drum to catch more attack. This varies with the drum of course. A B-52 OTOH I usually start with it half in the sound hole. So far my fave Kick mics are Senn E902 and Beyer M88. Just my .02
  2. A couple of suggestions: If you're looking for more powerful amps, as long as you don't mind the extra power consumption, there are tons of clean, older class A/B amps around for pennies on the dollar. Everyone who does portable sound is buying digital switching amps because they are lighter, more power efficient (current from your building's AC) and relatively inexpensive per watt. So they're selling off their still working heavy old power amps. The older amps don't sound worse (some would say better - discussion would be OT) they're just heavy. No problem for an installation though :). Wasn't there a suggestion of using the subs as speaker stands? I second that suggestion. Under the stage subs can be problematic in that they can resonate up through the stage and wreak havoc with live mics there. This might also solve your speaker height situation (yes ratchet straps and no skid (like kitchen drawer liner) is a great way to safely stack speakers. You will loose a little bottom end by decoupling with the floor but will probably have an easier time over all. Just some thoughts.
  3. It's been forever since I've been on the forum. Thanks Craig for keeping it going as moderator. I'm going to post now :).

  4. Sennheiser made a binaural setup back in the 70's a Styrofoam head with a couple of ears with the mics placed at the bottom of ear canals. Sounded AWESOME with headphones . I'd say the only drawback is that it's tailored to who ever modeled for the ear shape. As ears and canals all vary (as does each individual's hearing), it's not EXACTLY like being there. The closer to the transducer, the more resonant surfaces and short reflections matter (think different mic bodies with the same capsule or different horn throats with the same driver). Overall though binaural is a pretty cool concept and works pretty well. Sort of a one trick pony but for the purist, it's pretty close to real.
  5. I should have stuck with my slogan "the difference between "In Theory" and "In practice" is............"In theory, there isn't any difference"smiley-wink. I guess I was speaking about "as close to absolute accuracy as possible". Of course in SR everything is a tradeoff. In theory that cymbal's LF is modulating everything above it but in practice you usually can't hear it so it's negligible. Gongs do have some low end roar that is part of their harmonic content that you won't be able to capture if mic'd closely. Again, a tradeoff. You just experiment and do what works best. That's why I thought the shotgun mic, stood off a ways (no NOT 100" might achieve a more accurate gong sound without much more noticeable bleed than a closer mic'd cardioid. I'd be interested to know if it works. Still Cymbals and bells ARE one of the most harmonically complex instruments around and the hardest to reproduce accurately (we won't even talk about the effects of the room . I'd say if you were going to RECORD a sample of a gong, you'd want to do it in a free field at quite a distance (and hope you get no bird or cricket chirping in your sample . To the OP. Thanks for letting me blather on about theoretical stuff. Play with it if you find a best case technique, please share it with us. Cheers
  6. Cymbals & bells are the hardest instrument to mic because they are so harmonically complex, especially live. The question about gongs brings up a fond memory. We were doing a show in a 600 set theater and the drummer had a >6' gong. The sound crew put 2 sm81s about 2' in front near the edges. Firstly, why would even need to mic something that loud in a relatively small room? Secondly, you really can't capture the true nature of a brass percussion instrument unless you're at least as far from it as it's lowest produced wavelength (can you say 100s of feet?). Cymbals and bells have such a complex harmonic mix that to here the interactions of all of those harmonics, you gotta stand off a long way (even a 20' cymbal has some 60-80 hz after ring way back in the harmonic mix - just put your ear up 30 seconds after it's been struck). This makes accurate live reproduction nearly impossible due to bleed issues. The idea of the shotgun mic, stood back away is intriguing. I'm certainly not an expert on micing gongs but that's my take on cymbals and bells in general. Just some thoughts.
  7. Originally posted by agedhorse Peavy Mains Cons: The HT94 driver sounds bad and blows up periodicley (but nobody really misses it much) I've got a pair of spare HT-94 drivers w/ brand ned diaphrams available cheap. Love to get rid of them Yamaha GA 32/12 Pros: Soon to be replaced with a PM5D (this board was bought as a "temporary" measure 8 yrs ago) It's been in service constantly and still sounds as bad as day one, Cons: Poor Mic Pre's I believe the mic pre circuit itself is identical to both the M-2000 and the PM-3500, as well as the PM-1200, 1800 and 2000. Klark-Technics DN360 Pros: Great EQs, Sound great, Old as dirt and still work perfectly. Cons: phase is Pin 3 high (both in and out so it really doesn't matter until you try to run unbalanced, shorting pin 2 to ground passes no audio) If you do not have the optional isolation transformer output installed, the units may be configured pin 3 hot UNBALANCED. It may depend on the version you have. They are easily updated to unbalanced pin 2 hot if you wish. The Peavy mains are way up in a curtain above the apron of the stage (really hard to access) after replacing the dias 6-8 times (visiting engineers try to push the 10k + in the center fill trying to get some fidelity) we decided not to replace them anymore (It's about a 3-hour job ). There is a plan in place to replace them with some more EAW boxes. We have a bunch of old 15 10 and 30 20 boxes for parts but thanks anyway. I did not know that about the mic pre's maby it's just a poor EQ section (There dosen't seem to be as much gain available as with the PM3500). I will give this board credit for surviving as well as it has (although one of the output ICs died and upon replacement I noticed that the output protection caps were rated at 36V (isn't phantom 48V on most boards?(isn't this protection for when you send your output to another mixer/device that may have erant voltage?) and mostly blown up (sorta like popcorn ) I replaced them all with higher voltage rated caps. I always thought KT would come balanced (for that price they should). When we get the PM5D the point will be moot as this eliminates the need for outboard graphics (I'll probably save wedge EQs in the library for the parametric and then give the internal graphics to the visiting engineers). We're also getting the series G wireless network setup (studio manager software) so I can stand next to the musician and adjust the mix on the spot). I've used this setup a couple of times and it's very cool (monitor world can be anywhere you can take the touchpad)
  8. updated 08-10 I'm 52. I owned part of a small local SR company through most of the 80s and finaly got tired of the long hours, low pay and no benefits (during this time I also did a lot of contract installation and service for the local muzak distributors as well as other freelance jobs )so I went to work as an electronics tech for a hotel/casino which inevitably lead to my working on the stage crew for that same casino. Primarily I work for a casino Showroom running backstage monitors. I've worked for a couple of different casino's (always doing audio) and have decided I like the environment here the best (I.E. I rarley have to do A.V. setup work and almost all of my time is spent on music production of some type or another). In between Casino gigs I briefly spent some time on the road with a couple of well known acts and traveled to the phillipines and Ukraine/Russia as part of my job. I've built a small AV production studio at home and I have a few personal toys (I won't coment on this equipment as it's more recording gear and thats another forum) the inventory can be found here: Studio Inventory Aside from a Cabaret system (which I really only maintain) and a Portable PA on a stick for a weekly jazz show, here's the system I run. Keep in mind that most of the time I do monitors but ocasionaly I do FOH (actualy I had the FOH position for years and was instrumental in buying and installing their current setup (including blueprints for the sound booth ,CADs to Whirlwind for the custom patchbay and all of the installed mic lines and splits (most of which was custom built by me)). FRONT OF HOUSE Yamaha pm 3500 48x8x2 plus 4 stereo channels Presonus 8 channel compressor/gate Ashly Protea 2.4 digital equalizer SPX 990, SPX 900, SPX 90 (5) DBX 166 Tascam DA30 MKII dat deck Tascam 203 dual cassette deck Pioneer PD M703 cd deck Sony CDP CE 275 5 disc CD MAINS (Bi Amp) Behringer Ultra Drive Behringer CX 3400 cross-over (4) QSC RMX 2450 amp (2) QSC RMX 1450 amp (2) EAW 695Z left/right (4) EAW SB250ZP dual 15 subs (2) EAW 695Z stereo center cluster MONITORS *FULL RANGE (stage left) Yamaha M7CL 48X16 (1) QSC PLX 2402 amp (1) QSC 1400 amp (6) QSC RMX 2450 amp (4) JBL SRX 712m (8) EAW SM 500 (2) EAW SM 202H (3) EAW SM 202B (2) EAW SM 155H (2) EAW FR 253HR 3/way side fills *bi-amped So as not to go into detail with each piece of equipment, I'll pick the high and low points. PM3500 Pros: Clean, Quiet, Good (not killer but good) mic pre's and very dependable (never used the BU supply once in 11 yrs) Cons: No stereo Auxes, Littlelite connectors have come loose in back Presonus ACP88 Pros: Good gates, every parameter's adjustable Cons: Sorta lame comps, Gates are not multiband DBX 166 Pros: Great Comps (fairly invisible unless abused) Cons: Jacks and switches are wearing out Behringer X-oxers etc... Pros: They're cheap Cons: THEY'RE CHEAP (I try to avoid Behringer but it wasn't my call) QSC Amps Pros: I love them. They sound almost as good as the Crown Macrotech stuff and are maby even more dependable for much less $$$s Cons:The little DIP switches drive me crazy EAW Mains Pros: Good sounding, loud, compact (you can tear the room up with just a couple of boxes). Will meet most of the rider that we get. Cons: a bit pricey Yamaha M7CL Pros: Probably one of the easiest and fastest to operate digital boards made. The touch screen makes it fast and VERY useful. Rarely will it not meet rider specs. Cons: It's not the 5D that I wanted but managment cheaped out. It works fine and has sufficient bells & whistles to do what our riders demand. Sound quality is only OK at best but for most R&R it's sufficient JBL SRX 712m Pros: Light weight, Power handling from hell and efficient to boot, These things are light small and they'll get LOUD. They need very little EQ. Great for REALLY LOUD vocal clairity. Cons: Not great low end, I wouldn't use them as a Drum fill or a keyboard monitor. EAW SM 500 Pros: These boxes KILL. Great full range fidelity at R&R Volume. Will meet almost every rider we get (unfortunatly we're underpowering them and running them Full range (although I've set up all our speakon cabling for 2way in anticapation of more amps and x-overs)) Cons: They weigh around 100lbs Ea (gotta move them on dollies). pricey Other EAW wedges Pros: These boxes are 15 yrs old and still do the job (driver failure rate is very low) Cons: Can't think of any. I'm sure I missed a few things but if you got any questions just ask (I got lots of opinions )
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