What sounds best? Helpful Hints

[trmckenz]

I know it varies by room, but what are some general rules of thumb to achieve the best live sound?

[Mogwix]

I know it varies by person, but what's the best way to live your life?

 

holy {censored} man, could you possibly be any more vague?

[NUSound]

This is about as general as I can get:

 

Less is more.

[whiteop]

NuSound is right on. Less distortion than you use at home because you're turned up louder. Also turn down the treble and presence and up the midrange a little so you stand out in the mix (Fletcher Munson effect); this will make your tone sound warmer and not so harsh and/or sterile. You'll find that the distortion pedals that sound good in the bedroom don't sound quite so good on stage. Personally I like Rats (set from about 25 % to 50 %) with tubescreamer variants chained with the other effects pedals I use. I like to have a clean boost, overdrive, distortion, reverb, delay, and a few modulation effects; I'm partial to tremolo but like chorus, flanger, rotary effects too. If you have a multi-fx unit it doesn't hurt, like say an M9, M13, or RP1000.

 

A few other tips:

 

 

 

Mic your amp on the outside of the speaker not the center.

 

Tube amps sound better live to my ears.

 

Use good guitar cables and don't have more than 20 ft of cable or your signal will degrade. Some people use buffers to keep their signal from degrading. Others depend on pedals that are true bypass.

 

[Shaster]

 

I know it varies by room, but what are some general rules of thumb to achieve the best live sound?

 

 

If you don't want answers like "aim your FOH speakers towards the audience, and aim you monitors towards the band" your questions will need to be more specific.

[Rezrover]

 

"aim your FOH speakers towards the audience, and aim you monitors towards the band"

 

 

Aww man... I had it backwards!!!

[Craig Vecchione]

Get the best speakers you can afford, and never bring a knife to a gunfight.

[dboomer]

One of you guys should write a book called "Basic Sound for the Four Piece Band."

 

First you have to define the 4 piece band, the style of music and the venues to be covered

[samkokajko]

If there was a book that made it that simple, if it could be that simple, then a lot of us would be out of a job. It's the direction a lot of things are going. Everyone has a camera so they can be a photographer, what separates them from the really could photographers is a better camera and more importantly the knowledge of how to use it.

 

Everyone can afford a sound system, the diffference is the experience you have in learning how to use it.

 

Luckily experience is something that can be given and the guys here are more than willing too. It's just hard to give advice on a broad subject. Trust me, find a specific and you will get way more information than you could ever use. Hehe

[Special J]

I totally get where TRM is coming from... for those of us with little experience its hard to narrow down our questions. I find that everytime I ask you pros a question it just leads to 20 more questions. Obviously us noobs take what we can get since we're getting free pro advice, which is awesome! But damn, I wish there was a book that would just tell you what you're looking for (in general) on any given night of producing sound. What does a warm guitar sound like? How do you get a nice full kick drum or a crisp snare? Should the vocals be the loudest in the mix? The problem is... a lot of this is personal pref. I've been to two Dick Dale concerts and that dude consistently makes people's ears bleed because he is SO DAMN LOUD. But its what he likes, so the sound guy obeys. (Silly because all his fans wear ear plugs to his shows which just ruins his tone.) Anywho... One of you guys should write a book called "Basic Sound for the Four Piece Band." I'd buy it.

 

Here, happy reading.

 

Yamaha Sound Reinforcement Handbook

 

Thing is, even when you think you know a ton of stuff about live sound, there's always more to learn. You're always faced with new situations and new problems. Guys like Agedhorse have probably forgotten more about sound reinforcement than I've even learned yet (not a dig on your age, Andy )

 

If doing it right was easy, I wouldn't be able to feed my family.

[DaddyDiesel]

Man Im am no professional but I would have to say there is no easy answer. As far as my experience has taken me there is no plug in and play type system. Even if you gig with the same 4 piece band every gig is differant. Yes you have the same equipment as the previous gig but the room is differant your setup maybe be smaller. You may have 100 people or 20 people in the crowd. All of that can make a differance. Specially the room and setting your EQ.

 

On top of that every sound guy has there own ears and techniques. Which will get you vastly differant answers when you ask what is the best way to "get a good snare sound" and etc...

 

So in my experience the best thing you can do is be specific when you ask your questions. So giving info like how many pieces are in your band? What are the pieces? What kind of venues are you looking to play on a constant basis and how large? Well you be playing outside a bunch? What style of music do you PLay? What P/A equipment do you already own? Are you starting from scratch? How big is your budget?

 

All important questions that need to be answered before good advice can be given. Even with all those questions being answered you are going to get a lot of variety in the information given.

 

Again Im not a pro by any means. BUt know enough that if you answer those questions you will get a better answer and hopefully scare some off the sarcastic answers. )

[Square]

General rules:

 

1) Low stage volume is better for anything going through the PA. (it's also better for your long term hearing ability)

 

2) Get the rig dialed in right in the shop, not at the gig. Adjust the rig for the gig. but it should be "right" when it comes out of the truck/trailer.

 

3) Mics and speakers make the most impact on the quality of sound. You can't fix a bad mic or box with processing, even with a LOT of processing. Therefore, that is where you should spend your money first.

 

4) Keep the horns above people's heads. High frequencies are blocked by any significant body of mass, so you need the horns above people to maintain clarity throughout the room. There is a mathematical formula for what objects stop what frequencies, but I will not bore you with that at this point. Just remember - Horns above heads!

 

5) when buying boxes/amps - watts are like horsepower, Having a lot of horsepower dosen't mean you will go fast, it means that if everything else is done right you will go fast. having a lot of wattage dosen't mean it will be loud unless a lot of other things are done properly. Also, remember that spec sheets are often written buy the marketing department, not by the engineers.

[trmckenz]

ok cool, i totally should be more specific.

 

I'm part of a 4 piece, we play originial modern rock. Like U2, Muse, even some Blink-182 esque. one or two guitars depending on the song, bass, drums, and we have loops going through the PAs with the vocals. We do have a legit Peavey PA, but the types of venues will probably be larger sized clubs with in-house gear.

 

I'm not too worried about the gear so much, just really what I can do to make the best out of our live situations.

 

I personally am playing out of an AC-30CC.

[lifeloverwg]

 

ok cool, i totally should be more specific. I'm part of a 4 piece, we play originial modern rock. Like U2, Muse, even some Blink-182 esque. one or two guitars depending on the song, bass, drums, and we have loops going through the PAs with the vocals. We do have a legit Peavey PA, but the types of venues will probably be larger sized clubs with in-house gear. I'm not too worried about the gear so much, just really what I can do to make the best out of our live situations. I personally am playing out of an AC-30CC.

 

 

Practice, practice and then practice some more.

Most bands practice until they get it right. Great bands practice until they can't get it wrong.

 

Teach your drummer how to play quietly when needed.

Have your drummer learn how to tune his drums.

Point your amps at your ears not your knees and turn them down.

Learn and practice basic mic technique. Get your lips right up on the grill and sing loudly. If putting your lips on some clubs grungy mic creeps you out, bring your own foam windscreen for a mic condom.

Practice some more.

Keep your feet off of the wedges.

Bring your own damn guitar cord.

Be nice and others will usually be nice to you.

When playing bars, remember you are there to sell drinks, so turn down so they can hear the drink orders.

Bring lots of your own fans.

Practice again.

 

Rock the joint. Winston