B. Adams

Reminds me of when I worked full time for another sound company about a 15 years ago. We were using a pair of EV Xi1183's for sidefills (or maybe mains for a smaller show, I don't remember), stacked on QRx218's. For some reason my other guy wasn't around at the time, so I lifted them into place by myself. I just lifted them up straight until I could slide the back edge onto the sub, which I remember being really difficult, but that was that. It was the only time I was dumb enough to try lift anything that heavy by myself, but I don't remember anything hurting afterwards so I guess it was fine. For those of you not familiar with the Xi1183, it's a horn loaded 3-way trap box with an 18" driver for the low mid, and they sound awesome. And the listed weight is 215lbs. That's probably almost what I weighed at the time, and I'm only about 25lbs heavier than that now. I'm not bragging, because there's no way I'd lift them myself again, even if I was at my peak, but I guess it's a good story. Since then I've done my best to work smarter, not harder!

20-20kHz is the limit of what most people with "good" ears can hear, but more than most people with normal or worse ears can hear. If I had to guess, I'd say that very few people can actually hear 20 or 20k, although you can certainly feel frequencies below 20Hz. Those frequencies are also pushing the limits of what speaker systems can produce, even top-quality systems. A PZM or PCC mic would not be my first choice. They tend to have very uneven frequency response, and I've never used one that would satisfy your low self-noise requirement, especially if the self-noise of a C414 is too much for you. Honestly, I think you just need to try a few different mics and see what works best for you. It's possible that a C414 won't be up to your standards, but on the other hand it might be perfect. You also might be fine with a normal small-diaphragm condenser like a KSM137, or perhaps something even cheaper. In any case, in a live setting, I don't think the frequency response and self-noise of the microphones will be the limiting factor. You can easily find a mic that will be flatter and quieter than the rest of the system you're running it into. Some mics will certainly be better than others, but I wouldn't get too hung up on noise levels if I were you. I think anything reasonably quiet will do fine, as long as the frequency response is suitable. You may even find that a mic with an uneven frequency response works better for you, or helps make up for inadequacies in the PA system. I can't say for sure what mic will work best on your gongs, but I think good large diaphragm condensers are your best bet. In my inventory, I'd reach for my C414's first, because I think they'd sound the best based on what I have. There's no way to know for sure unless you try a few though. If I didn't like the way my C414's sounded, I could try some KSM32's, SM81's, KSM109's, AT4041's, ADX-51's, or even DPA4099's, to see if I liked them better, and a few other options before I was reaching for the bottom of the barrel. I have more options than some people, since I have about 200 wired mics in my inventory, and about 80 of them are condensers. See if you can find someone in your area that would let you try a few things out. The best way to narrow down your choices will be to try the available options and see what works best.

Gongs and bells should be fairly easy, I'd guess any decent small-diaphragm condensers would do fine. I'd probably use large-diaphragm condensers on the bowls though. In my inventory I have 2 choices for LDC's, KSM32's or C414's, and I'd probably tend toward the 414's in this situation. I think the C214 would do well also since they're very similar to a C414 sonically, assuming the 414 is set to a cardioid pattern. The 214's are very underrated mics. They sound really nice, and they're not super expensive, just not quite as flexible as the 414's. I'm surprised that you like the sound of a shotgun mic on these things. A shotgun would be far from my first choice here. Unless you're talking about the mics built into the Q8, in which case, that's not a shotgun, it's a pair of plain ol' small-diaphragm condensers, and it totally makes sense that you'd like the sound of them. A ribbon is not the right tool for this job, in my opinion. If you can afford a pair of C414's, give them a shot. I'm sure you'd love them. If the 414's are too much money I think you'd enjoy a pair of C214's, which would be a lot cheaper.

In my experience, summer tends to be worse than winter because of the higher humidity. Neither is too bad though. The only thing I've really noticed an effect on are steel ball corners and latches on cases, and it's not too serious. In the winter, let your stuff adjust to the indoor temperature when you bring it in for the show and let the condensation evaporate, and you should be fine. Desiccant packets inside cases and racks would help with the humidity issues, if that's an option for you. I don't typically leave guitars, especially acoustics, in the trailer in summer or winter. I know people who do, but I don't. You definitely need to let those acclimate to the indoor temperature when you finally bring them inside.