Members Skippii Posted August 13, 2003 Members Share Posted August 13, 2003 I'm at this meeting with about 200 other people, and someone asks over the PA "Hey, if anyone knows what a guitar monitor or an sm-8 is, please see me afterwards." So, I go. Don't ask me why, but I said I knew about pa stuff. They asked for help, and I said yes. God, I'm an idiot. So, there's this woman coming tomorrow at 8:00am and she wants to sing a song and play acoustic guitar. And, she wants her own monitor. They have a PA, a mic, and mic cables. That's it. I have no idea what type, or anything about it. I have a PA speaker, an amp with a 1/4 input only, and various cables. What do I do? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CMS Author Craig Vecchione Posted August 13, 2003 CMS Author Share Posted August 13, 2003 What's an sm-8 ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CMS Author Craig Vecchione Posted August 13, 2003 CMS Author Share Posted August 13, 2003 Originally posted by Audiopile I think it's similar to a Fender Stratosphere, or a Snap-on 16/11th end wrench... i.e. layperson's attempt to communicate a thought process with vague familarity of the topic at hand... and a rock solid indicator that you're gonna find yourself waist deep in alligators if you try to help drain their swamp. Ahhh. Got it. Well, love to stay and chat about this, but I've got to run by Sherwin Williams to see if I can find some plaid paint. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members rangerkarlos Posted August 13, 2003 Members Share Posted August 13, 2003 Will no none help Skippii? I'm assuming the singer wants an Shure SM-58. if she doesn't bring one, and the venue doesn't have one...SOL singer. You could find the (unpowered-signal) monitor-out on thier PA, link it to a line-in on your PA and use it as a guitar monitor amp. There should be a monitor pot in the guitar channel that feeds the signal to the monitor out. Same with the vocal channel. Plug it into your amp (turn it down first), and set your speaker at an angle (block it up with something- a book or a gerbil). You won't be able to EQ or add effects, but you'll have sound. It'll sound pretty flat. HOWEVER_ some PA's, like a Mackie 808 have powered monitor outs and built-in EQ & FX- then your good to go with just a speaker to use for monitor. HTH Karlos Best to work with it well before the performance. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Tommy Tune Posted August 14, 2003 Members Share Posted August 14, 2003 I'd say..........be cheesey. You'll need 3 speakers. Hook the speakers up. Two on one side and one on the other. If there are right & left volume faders, you're in. Use the 2 speakers on one side for mains and adjust the volume for the other side accordingly (for a monitor.) If there's only one master volume fader, you may have to pan the guitar & vocals a bit to compensate. An EQ might help but if it's just her and an acoustic guitar.............. No big deal. Not much to mix there. As along as everyone can hear, including this girl singer, you'll look like a hero. After all, there were 200 people and you're the only one that stepped up. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Skippii Posted August 14, 2003 Author Members Share Posted August 14, 2003 My God, that was the most aweful time I've ever had running sound. I gave her an Sm-57, because it's all I had on hand. Keep in mind, I'm just a student who happens to have some stuff in his dorm room...I'm not supposed to be doign any of this stuff. But since the Univeristy isn't reliable and hadn't resonded at all, they asked for anyone who could do it, since it was happening in 12 hours, and everyone at the univerisity had already gone home. Anyway, I meet her at 8:00am sharp. No one else there.So, I take a look around, and here's the set-up: there's one dynamic mic on a podium, and a lavalier. The wall has 4 XLR sockets, one of which is taped up. That's it. The speakers are in the ceiling, God knows where the amps are, and there's a master volume comtrol on the far wall. Not a whole lot I can do. I give her an 1/4 to XLR cable so she can plug her guitar striaght into the wall. Plugged the SM-57 into another wall socket, and the Lav into the 4th. (The taped up one...once I took off the tape, it worked perfectly.) She trys playing. She complains that the guitar sounds very midrangey, but finally adjusts in on her guitar when I explain that there is no eq (Which seems to confuse her, because from what she was saying, I'm not sure she knew the difference between a mixer board and a graphic equalizer.) She trys singing. Quite loudly. It clips and distorts. She complains (not that she'd ever stopped) and I suggest she trys standing about 6 inches away from the microphone. It sounds fine, but occasionally, the volume will cut out for a half second or so. Whatever...not my problem, at least certainly nothing I can fix. What's concerning me is that this person is giving a 4 hour speech, and playing 3 songs at various times. And she insists on getting the guitar set up before she trys to get the powerpoint presentation to work on the projector (which, so far, no one has been able to figure out how to turn on....or the computer, for that matter.) She only seems to want to deal with the university officials who were supposed to be there. Someone finally gets one of them in the end, and so 15 minutes before she's about to go one for the 200 people, she tells him to get a mixer board and set it up. He says he will after he finishes his other job he's doing in a diffent part of campus. I leave. I come back at 9:00 (because this is a required meeting/presentation for us.) As I walk in, I see the university guy come in with a mixer. I take a seat and slouch down so she can't see me. From what I gather, they'll try to install the mixer at a break (2 hours into the program.) The first hour went fine (speech through the lav.) The she started to sing--Loudly, the lips practicly touching the microphone. It's distorting, and sounds terrible. After about a minute of this, there was a horrible noise that come though everything, that sounded just like the battery in her guitar was dead. So, she pulls the cable out of the guitar, and walks away from the microphone. She then sings the whole thing without being plugged in or using the microphone--for this song and the rest of them. That's the last time I ever volunteer for anything. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Tommy Tune Posted August 14, 2003 Members Share Posted August 14, 2003 "Mama said there'd be days like this." -Shirelles Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members rangerkarlos Posted August 14, 2003 Members Share Posted August 14, 2003 Originally posted by Skippii My God, that was the most aweful time I've ever had running sound.I gave her an Sm-57, because it's all I had on hand. Keep in mind, I'm just a student who happens to have some stuff in his dorm room...I'm not supposed to be doign any of this stuff. But since the Univeristy isn't reliable and hadn't resonded at all, they asked for anyone who could do it, since it was happening in 12 hours, and everyone at the univerisity had already gone home.Anyway, I meet her at 8:00am sharp. No one else there.So, I take a look around, and here's the set-up:there's one dynamic mic on a podium, and a lavalier. The wall has 4 XLR sockets, one of which is taped up. That's it. The speakers are in the ceiling, God knows where the amps are, and there's a master volume comtrol on the far wall.Not a whole lot I can do. I give her an 1/4 to XLR cable so she can plug her guitar striaght into the wall. Plugged the SM-57 into another wall socket, and the Lav into the 4th. (The taped up one...once I took off the tape, it worked perfectly.)She trys playing. She complains that the guitar sounds very midrangey, but finally adjusts in on her guitar when I explain that there is no eq (Which seems to confuse her, because from what she was saying, I'm not sure she knew the difference between a mixer board and a graphic equalizer.) She trys singing. Quite loudly. It clips and distorts. She complains (not that she'd ever stopped) and I suggest she trys standing about 6 inches away from the microphone. It sounds fine, but occasionally, the volume will cut out for a half second or so. Whatever...not my problem, at least certainly nothing I can fix. What's concerning me is that this person is giving a 4 hour speech, and playing 3 songs at various times. And she insists on getting the guitar set up before she trys to get the powerpoint presentation to work on the projector (which, so far, no one has been able to figure out how to turn on....or the computer, for that matter.)She only seems to want to deal with the university officials who were supposed to be there. Someone finally gets one of them in the end, and so 15 minutes before she's about to go one for the 200 people, she tells him to get a mixer board and set it up. He says he will after he finishes his other job he's doing in a diffent part of campus.I leave.I come back at 9:00 (because this is a required meeting/presentation for us.) As I walk in, I see the university guy come in with a mixer. I take a seat and slouch down so she can't see me. From what I gather, they'll try to install the mixer at a break (2 hours into the program.) The first hour went fine (speech through the lav.) The she started to sing--Loudly, the lips practicly touching the microphone. It's distorting, and sounds terrible. After about a minute of this, there was a horrible noise that come though everything, that sounded just like the battery in her guitar was dead. So, she pulls the cable out of the guitar, and walks away from the microphone. She then sings the whole thing without being plugged in or using the microphone--for this song and the rest of them. That's the last time I ever volunteer for anything. Classic. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members rosskoss Posted August 17, 2003 Members Share Posted August 17, 2003 LMAO!!! Sorry man, that was just too funny. Didn't mean to laugh Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members agedhorse Posted August 17, 2003 Members Share Posted August 17, 2003 Ugh... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Scodiddly Posted August 17, 2003 Members Share Posted August 17, 2003 Well, at least you've recognized where you screwed up. Don't ever agree to anything unless you know all the details, and if they don't know all (or at least enough) of the details then either propose something you know will work ("I'll bring xxx, yyy, and zzz, for $qqq") or bow out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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