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I recently did some demo's for our band (refresh some songs). We give these out to new bars to get gigs with.
I have a Furman IEM system which gives me the main mix, and 4 aux mixes which can be modified by each person for their own IEM mix. I use mine to create the recording mix.
One thing I found is that even doing this, it is hard to get a good recording mix since the speaker system I am using modifies the mix so that it doesn't sound the same out front as it does in my ears. This makes it so I have to do several level checks and play them back until we get a good mix for a song (still way less work than going to a studio ..... and way more work than if I had a SL
).
I have tried recording with my PMD620 Marantz portable with its internal mic's .... but they don't pick up the low end well (they are fine for acoustic and spoken word). I decided that I would get a quality external mic setup for the recorder to get a good bead on what things sound like out front. I would also use this for recording shows to get the live feel of things for the website videos.
It got me to thinking. How effective would it be to get this stereo mic equalized on a couple of channels on my MixWiz and instead of using the main outs for the IEM's, use these two channels. Once I had the channel eq dialed so that in the IEM's the sound was balanced about the same as if I were standing out front of the speakers, in theory I could mix from the stage about as well as someone using my mixer and a snake from the crowd.
Has anyone else tried this approach? Does it sound like a viable way to mix from stage?
I have a Furman IEM system which gives me the main mix, and 4 aux mixes which can be modified by each person for their own IEM mix. I use mine to create the recording mix.
One thing I found is that even doing this, it is hard to get a good recording mix since the speaker system I am using modifies the mix so that it doesn't sound the same out front as it does in my ears. This makes it so I have to do several level checks and play them back until we get a good mix for a song (still way less work than going to a studio ..... and way more work than if I had a SL
).I have tried recording with my PMD620 Marantz portable with its internal mic's .... but they don't pick up the low end well (they are fine for acoustic and spoken word). I decided that I would get a quality external mic setup for the recorder to get a good bead on what things sound like out front. I would also use this for recording shows to get the live feel of things for the website videos.
It got me to thinking. How effective would it be to get this stereo mic equalized on a couple of channels on my MixWiz and instead of using the main outs for the IEM's, use these two channels. Once I had the channel eq dialed so that in the IEM's the sound was balanced about the same as if I were standing out front of the speakers, in theory I could mix from the stage about as well as someone using my mixer and a snake from the crowd.
Has anyone else tried this approach? Does it sound like a viable way to mix from stage?
Originally Posted by OneEng
You can say people are forgiving of vocals, but frankly it's often because the singer is an after thought and a necessary evil (someone in the band has to do it) so an under mixed vocal is preferable to a mediocre or worse vocal sitting nicely atop the band. If the singer is good, and yes I suppose I'm saying I do OK, you want to hear the lyrics. In a venue with people talking and sound bouncing around at 100+ dB and strong "live" bass, you need the vocals up to hear the sibilance. That's my 2 cents anyway.
Originally Posted by ChiroVette
Bottom line is, the smaller the venue the worse the board recording will likely come out because you're mixing for the room, not the recording. When I've done quickie board recordings in the past I just use an aux, take a stab at it, check during the break, tweak then rinse and repeat. The last set is generally the best. Once you do this a few times, if you're playing/mixing the same band it will be close and you can get some decent stuff. If you have a spare channel, put a room mic on it and add that, but don't send through FOH (obviously).
I think you are both in vehement agreement 
I agree. The stage volume makes the "off the board" mix very vocal heavy. At least that is what I have found.
Abzurd,
Do you think it would work for me to put a mic in the crowd, bring it in on an open channel (2 for stereo) on my MixWiz, then use the line-out from each of those channels into the IEM system. On the board, I could either keep the channel OFF, or simply put the faders all the way down?
As you point out, I don't want the sound feeding back through the speakers I just want to hear it in the in-ears.
I agree. The stage volume makes the "off the board" mix very vocal heavy. At least that is what I have found.
Abzurd,
Do you think it would work for me to put a mic in the crowd, bring it in on an open channel (2 for stereo) on my MixWiz, then use the line-out from each of those channels into the IEM system. On the board, I could either keep the channel OFF, or simply put the faders all the way down?
As you point out, I don't want the sound feeding back through the speakers
I just want to hear it in the in-ears.
Originally Posted by OneEng
I think you are both in vehement agreement
I agree. The stage volume makes the "off the board" mix very vocal heavy. At least that is what I have found.
Abzurd,
Do you think it would work for me to put a mic in the crowd, bring it in on an open channel (2 for stereo) on my MixWiz, then use the line-out from each of those channels into the IEM system. On the board, I could either keep the channel OFF, or simply put the faders all the way down?
As you point out, I don't want the sound feeding back through the speakers I just want to hear it in the in-ears.
I agree. The stage volume makes the "off the board" mix very vocal heavy. At least that is what I have found.
Abzurd,
Do you think it would work for me to put a mic in the crowd, bring it in on an open channel (2 for stereo) on my MixWiz, then use the line-out from each of those channels into the IEM system. On the board, I could either keep the channel OFF, or simply put the faders all the way down?
As you point out, I don't want the sound feeding back through the speakers
I just want to hear it in the in-ears.I think you you should just do a rough mix and dial it in while on break then try again.
Another option is to get a cheap USB audio interface and a patch snake and use the direct outs. I did this with my Mixwiz for a while. It will cost some money, but not as much as an SL. You may not get all the channels covered but an 8 channel interface would allow more control than a single FOH mix.
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