Question for the Pros: Odd Situation Over the Weekend

[dboomer]

I don't know what the main system looks like ... But this looks like a solution might involve adding cardioid subs.

[mrcpro]

 

Here's how we were set up in a service I played in last Sunday. I was the keyboard player closest to the camera in a room that seats maybe 500. No amps are allowed to be pointed directly at the congregation, and that's rigidly enforced. They have plex cages for the drums, but they are quiet enough and back far enough to not be a problem just as they are. By monitoring ourselves nearfield with amps on the floor sideways and backwards we hear ourselves well, and just trust the soundguys to give us a good mix.

 

Mains are flown above the stage - much the same as yours.

 

Anyway it's something you might try. Your current monitoring situation as you've described it is not going to work at all.

 

If your new leader is that concerned about levels, someone is leaning on him heavily about it - perhaps a wealthy contributor to the church. This stuff happens all the time. He's just going about controlling volume the wrong way.

[Mogwix]

Now the situation: After monitors were set he asked for the front house speakers to be turned on. Leader kicks off the first song and instantly I am lost in a mess of midrange keyboard echoes, reverberant drums, and undefined mud all compounded by a complete lack of high end definition.

The FOH wash is killing the monitor mix. That's really easy to do, depending on the room, and turning down the monitors won't solve any problems. If it was that bad, the FOH mix must have been incredibly loud. If they're so strict about stage volume where they'd walk around with an SPL meter, it's very strange they would have the FOH so loud. The solution here is to keep the FOH level down.

 

As Andy said, educated beyond intelligence?

 

 

[Scodiddly]

It's surprising how many people can't really tell how loud things are.

[TimmyP]

In one of the (exceedingly lively) rooms I've worked a lot, things can be great on stage - reasonable volume and everyone is happy. As soon as the PA is loud enough to get a good blend with the monitor wash in the house, the house wash onto the stage makes the monitors disappear. The struggle then begins. One tracks band wanted the monitors so loud that I basically had the house killed between 100 and 400. (And this wasn't hip-hop, this was 'easy listening' stuff.)