Members StratGuy22 Posted March 14, 2014 Members Share Posted March 14, 2014 We are in talks to play a rodeo dance this spring. The venue is pretty small, and the last band was pretty loud, way too loud. I know the band and ah yeah they could have been a bit loud. Normally we are kinda over the top, big lights, big sound, the works!!! So talking it over with the guys, we can do it a lot smaller. Tops on stands, no subs. 4 or 5 piece drum kit without the big rack. DI the bass, so no amp, I'll use a small combo amp, either a 30W Vox or 10W practice Marshall, mic both guitars and kick, and keep it simple. If we use lights it will just be the wash lights on the truss, or just go with one Fab5 per side on the FOH speakers. I think that it will "look quieter" than our usual setup. Less work, same price. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members StratGuy22 Posted March 14, 2014 Author Members Share Posted March 14, 2014 I like the new forum but I hate how it squashes everything into one paragraph Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members WynnD Posted March 14, 2014 Members Share Posted March 14, 2014 Looking quieter? Interesting approach. I'm a big fan of actually playing at levels where you could use the grand piano sitting there. (Without damaging it.) Most bands play much louder than they need to. Low volume groups can easily be turned up, but loud groups have the hardest time getting the volume down without making it sound like crap. (Even if they sound good at loud volumes.) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members StratGuy22 Posted March 14, 2014 Author Members Share Posted March 14, 2014 I agree. We pride ourselves on being appropriate for the room, no matter the room. We've played some small places and I have no doubt that we would be appropriate even with our tops/subs/half stacks/big rack drum kit, but some people hear with their eyes, and would judge the setup to be "too loud" before we even played our first note. I've prided myself on our band playing wedding, often having 80 year olds stay past midnight dancing and having fun. It's a full sound, reasonable stage volume, everything mic's but again... Appropriate for the room. We just have to "look quiet" as well we be quiet. (Again, Appropriate for the room) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members TIMKEYS Posted March 14, 2014 Members Share Posted March 14, 2014 I think I would take a bass amp rather than going DI for bass in your mains. I am not a great fan of DI bass without subs or really running a lot of it though the monitors. We run a ton of small foot print shows , and typically go acoustic on drums, DI acoustic guitar, and keys, back line bass with a mark bass amp and lead guitar with a hot rod deluxe. We may or may not run a little lead guitar to the board. We get consistant good sound with a couple powered speakers as mains and two as monitors. What it really boils down to is we just give them the stage mix we give a big Sound company to run though their big system. We do a ton of small footprint shows and always sound good. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Vito Corleone Posted March 14, 2014 Members Share Posted March 14, 2014 We just have to "look quiet" as well we be quiet. (Again, Appropriate for the room) Yep. Look is a big part of it. I've had (I'm sure many of us have had) situations where people come up and tell us to turn down BEFORE WE'VE PLAYED A NOTE. They see a ton of gear and just assume it's going be loud. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members WynnD Posted March 15, 2014 Members Share Posted March 15, 2014 I get that when I bring the 760 Leslie. It's so big and almost the weakest amp I own. (the 825 Leslie is slightly weaker at 70 watts RMS.) My Kickback is 120 watts and tiny. My current project will be using an EV ZXA1 system with matching subs all in the back line. No monitors. The EVs are very small even mounted on a pole. (8" LF and Horn 800 watts bi-amped. Subs are 12"s.) I never thought about how that looks. We are rehearsing with stage volumes about 95 db. That's more than 10 db down from most of the average bands I've played with in the last 15 years. It really is such a pleasure. you can hear everything, every guitar note, each harmony part...... And waking up the next morning without ringing is a serious pleasure for me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members StratGuy22 Posted March 15, 2014 Author Members Share Posted March 15, 2014 Yeah no kidding hey. We always have a great stage volume, no ringing here Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members WynnD Posted March 15, 2014 Members Share Posted March 15, 2014 ringing in ears might be something that occurs at different volume levels for different people. My last band had taken the stage volume off my iphone's scale. (114 dbc) My ears rang for two days after a gig. (Those guys are nuts.) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members StratGuy22 Posted March 16, 2014 Author Members Share Posted March 16, 2014 Yeah it sounds like it was crazy loud. I don't know how they hang onto their gigs. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members WynnD Posted March 16, 2014 Members Share Posted March 16, 2014 I will give them credit that they are a good sounding band. They could be a much quieter good sounding band. Don't think they're capable of restraint. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members RobRoy Posted March 16, 2014 Members Share Posted March 16, 2014 We are in talks to play a rodeo dance this spring. The venue is pretty small, and the last band was pretty loud, way too loud. I know the band and ah yeah they could have been a bit loud. Normally we are kinda over the top, big lights, big sound, the works!!! So talking it over with the guys, we can do it a lot smaller. Tops on stands, no subs. 4 or 5 piece drum kit without the big rack. DI the bass, so no amp, I'll use a small combo amp, either a 30W Vox or 10W practice Marshall, mic both guitars and kick, and keep it simple. If we use lights it will just be the wash lights on the truss, or just go with one Fab5 per side on the FOH speakers. I think that it will "look quieter" than our usual setup. Less work, same price. I prefer dynamics over volume myself. I like "quiet" except for dancing. And even then it doesn't have to be ear splitting. Can't comment on the lights. I like some for interest, but ultimately I think the draw should be, beyond being able to give people the songs they want, doing it with superior musicianship. There are a lot of crappy bands out there. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members StratGuy22 Posted March 16, 2014 Author Members Share Posted March 16, 2014 True enough. Having fun, hitting all the songs to keep people dancing. We are good at pulling off requests. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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