Members Ryan. Posted June 22, 2010 Members Share Posted June 22, 2010 Okay, so with the purchase of a 16x8 reel snake on wheels I think I have finally finished putting together my sound system. Just curious about your thoughts on what the largest crowd I could do sound for would be, what kinds of shows I could do, AND is there anything else you know I'll be pulling my wallet out for in the near future? (1) A&H MixWiz 16(2) QSC HPR153(2) QSC HPR181(1) EWI 16X8r Reel(2) DBX231(3) Behringer B215A(3) Sennheiser 835(1) SM86(4) SM57(1) Blue Kickball(1) D6(Lots) Mic Cables, Instrument Cables, Adapters(1) Partridge in a pair tree A couple friends have seen my rig and said... I really want you to do my wedding! And I'm like... uh yeah I'm not a wedding DJ, I'll probably screw things all up, but with my set up I could probably get good sound at a reception hall yeah? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members jwlussow Posted June 22, 2010 Members Share Posted June 22, 2010 Are the QSC FOH and the Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Ryan. Posted June 22, 2010 Author Members Share Posted June 22, 2010 Are the QSC FOH and the Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Mogwix Posted June 22, 2010 Members Share Posted June 22, 2010 A couple friends have seen my rig and said... I really want you to do my wedding! And I'm like... uh yeah I'm not a wedding DJ, I'll probably screw things all up, but with my set up I could probably get good sound at a reception hall yeah? Your rig can do it no sweat, but being a wedding DJ is a little more involved than having a nice PA and an iPod. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members RoadRanger Posted June 22, 2010 Members Share Posted June 22, 2010 Just curious about your thoughts on what the largest crowd I could do sound for would be,A couple hundred indoors, half that outdoors. is there anything else you know I'll be pulling my wallet out for in the near future?Looks like you only have 4 channels of GEQ and 3 monitors? You really need GEQ's on all the monitor feeds and the stereo mains. At least one more monitor (I run up to 9). A couple more of them subs will let you do bigger shows indoors (~350) and 200 outdoors . Looks like you don't have enough mics to use up all your mixer channels? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Mogwix Posted June 22, 2010 Members Share Posted June 22, 2010 Your rig is fine. I would instead worry about buying more mics, more mic cables, and more stands. That or replace the behringer mons with some better ones. - get a 3-pack of sennheiser e604's, hell get 6. - another 3-pack of e835's while you're at it - at least a {censored}load more 25' XLR cables WITH NEUTRIK CONNECTORS - buy proper mic stands. K&M boom stands are my favourite, the ones with the short extendable boom. They're expensive, but more than worth the cash. IMO good mics stands are a sure sign of a company that knows what they're doing. I've seen so many companies with killer rigs, and cheap plastic $30 mic stands. I'd like to point out that this seemingly basic shopping list can easily match or exceed the cost of your entire rig EDIT: don't forget to buy a 50A distro with feeder, a ton of 25' 12ga SO extension cables, a ton of quad boxes, some drop snakes for the stage, trunks to hold all the cabling... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members boomerweps Posted June 22, 2010 Members Share Posted June 22, 2010 How are your other incidentals? Like power cabling, mic stands, drum rim clips, normally non-bragging items that can make life so much easier. Sub-snakes for the drum kit or cross stage to cut down on the rat's nest of mic cables. And then there is always packaging, ways to make load-in & load out better. A Rock-N-Roller cart CAN be a Godsend. A little trick I use is trying to have all the same, stackable cable boxes with "mouse holes" cut in each to leave excess cable lengths in the boxes, so If I only need 50' of a 100' snake, only 50 feet are pulled out ;>) And a simplified setup for some wedding DJing can help to pay off what you have and make improvements. I first used a couple cheap home CD players with a walkman type as a backup. You can use Ipod feeds or even from a laptop today. Pickup a couple cheap (legal) wireless mics for those gigs, vocal quality mic only are needed, Nadys are fine ;>) Boomerweps Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Ryan. Posted June 22, 2010 Author Members Share Posted June 22, 2010 Yeah I really think I'm gonna start buying monitors one by one to work out the ringers... I wish I could decide on which ones. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Ryan. Posted June 22, 2010 Author Members Share Posted June 22, 2010 Wow, lots of choices, thanks guys. Mog, about the mic stands. I KNOW... holy hell I buy the cheap ones and the little tightener that handles the boom section always fs up on me. I will look into quality stands. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Mogwix Posted June 22, 2010 Members Share Posted June 22, 2010 Yeah I really think I'm gonna start buying monitors one by one to work out the ringers... I wish I could decide on which ones. Before you spend any more money you should really work on understanding your rig first. If you need more mics go buy them... if you need more cables go buy them... if you need more stands go buy them... but you should really work on getting some real-world experience with your rig first. By the sounds of things you're still pretty green on the whole concept of live sound. Your knowledge of your own rig should match or exceed the financial investment. At least I figure, anyways. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Ryan. Posted June 22, 2010 Author Members Share Posted June 22, 2010 Is this a good stand or do I need to pay more? Seems $cheap, but its the company you recommended? Edit: http://www.zzounds.com/item--KMSKM254 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Ryan. Posted June 22, 2010 Author Members Share Posted June 22, 2010 You're right Mog, I do need more understanding. Sometimes I wish life was like the matrix... I just plug a cable into my head, ask them to download "sound reinforcement for dummies" and boom, I'm good to go. Ha! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Mogwix Posted June 22, 2010 Members Share Posted June 22, 2010 Sometimes I wish life was like the matrix... I just plug a cable into my head, ask them to download "sound reinforcement for dummies" and boom, I'm good to go. Ha! Hah. The easiest way to learn is to work with guys that know what they're doing. When I started out, I met a local sound dude who gave me a job coiling cables and stuff... then wiring the stage... then patching FOH... then mixing monitors... then mixing FOH... and now I'm working with B and C level national acts, slated to go on tour in the fall (monitor tech) and going up from there. It's not full-time work for me and I'm barely scraping by, but as I see it I'm still a young guy in the trenches... paying my dues doing what I love to do. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members agedhorse Posted June 22, 2010 Members Share Posted June 22, 2010 Before you spend any more money you should really work on understanding your rig first. If you need more mics go buy them... if you need more cables go buy them... if you need more stands go buy them... but you should really work on getting some real-world experience with your rig first. By the sounds of things you're still pretty green on the whole concept of live sound.Your knowledge of your own rig should match or exceed the financial investment. At least I figure, anyways. Absolutely!!! An external crossover would be priobably the lowest thing on the list IMO. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members abzurd Posted June 22, 2010 Members Share Posted June 22, 2010 From a gear perspective, for wedding DJing you could cover pretty much any wedding you want with that rig. Our rig is of similar stature and we do 20+ weddings a year, often for 400+ guests. The spoken word part isn't taxing on the system. For the entertainment part the expectation, and preference, is to cover the dance floor only with moderately high SPL. From an experience perspective there is much more to it. Anybody can spend money on gear, but believe it or not, there is skill to being a good DJ, especially for weddings. Like it or not, you're often the one running the show. For instance, the wedding band gigs I do include providing an online planning sheet for the couple to fill out, then going over it with them with recommendations, pronunciation clarifications, etc. I source all the pre-recorded music and put it in a playlist on my laptop, then back it up to a second player. The day of, I'm the guy lining people up and periodically reminding them what's next. I run the mixer while the keyboard player makes the announcements. Sometimes we spend 45 minutes releasing tables. When all that stuff is done, only then do we get to play for a few hours before tearing it all down and driving home. The typical local wedding is a 10 hour day. For me add another 10 for everything else I had to do in preparation for it - answering the initial inquiry email with our services and a quote- phone call to close the sale- contract preparation and follow through- collecting the deposit and processing it- updating the website- many emails back and forth answering questions- the planning sheet- sourcing / organizing all needed pre-recorded music- the call to the venue to confirm everything is OK- the email that goes to the other band members with all the details for the event Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members RoadRanger Posted June 22, 2010 Members Share Posted June 22, 2010 Yeah I really think I'm gonna start buying monitors one by one to work out the ringers... I wish I could decide on which ones.Get K10's to match your FOH rig brand-wise and don't over think it - your head will explode . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Ryan. Posted June 22, 2010 Author Members Share Posted June 22, 2010 Get K10's to match your FOH rig brand-wise and don't over think it - your head will explode . Think of the mess... I think K10s are my best bet. I love my QSC set up so far and I think they'll do great. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Ryan. Posted June 22, 2010 Author Members Share Posted June 22, 2010 Absolutely!!!An external crossover would be priobably the lowest thing on the list IMO. Do you know anyone in our area that I could hire for one night to just kinda watch how he mixes when my band sound checks? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members RoadRanger Posted June 22, 2010 Members Share Posted June 22, 2010 Do you know anyone in our area that I could hire for one night to just kinda watch how he mixes when my band sound checks?Maybe start by puttin' your location into your forum profile? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Ryan. Posted June 22, 2010 Author Members Share Posted June 22, 2010 Lol, I asked AH cause he's from my area. Nor Cal. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members RoadRanger Posted June 22, 2010 Members Share Posted June 22, 2010 Perhaps askin' one of the pros here to help you compete with them is askin' a bit much but a more generalized appeal might get you a PM or two from the peanut gallery . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members agedhorse Posted June 22, 2010 Members Share Posted June 22, 2010 Do you know anyone in our area that I could hire for one night to just kinda watch how he mixes when my band sound checks? Check out the guys who frequent the club scene. I don't know how they work or who would be a good choice. I haven't done anything with the club scene for 20 years. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Ryan. Posted June 22, 2010 Author Members Share Posted June 22, 2010 Perhaps askin' one of the pros here to help you compete with them is askin' a bit much but a more generalized appeal might get you a PM or two from the peanut gallery . To be honest... I don't have the time or experience to compete, and I dont intend to. My set up is strictly for when we play a club that requires us to bring our own system OR back yard parties that require it. I would just like to be good enough to have good sound at these places and to do it quickly and efficiently. I guess trial by fire may be my only option. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members RoadRanger Posted June 22, 2010 Members Share Posted June 22, 2010 It'd probably have been cheaper and better to hire in sound when needed rather than spend all that money on stuff but I do understand the desire to learn by doing . I'd give you a hand if you were out here . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Ryan. Posted June 22, 2010 Author Members Share Posted June 22, 2010 It'd probably have been cheaper and better to hire in sound when needed rather than spend all that money on stuff but I do understand the desire to learn by doing . I'd give you a hand if you were out here . Thanks RR. I'd take it! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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