Members scarecrowbob Posted August 12, 2009 Members Share Posted August 12, 2009 We play a lot of string-band music: fiddle, guitar, banjo, harmonica, and multi-part harmonies. We sound best with no amplification at all (yah, I've heard that joke already . But folks more than about 15' away have trouble hearing us. We also listen to a lot of old vinyl records of these kinds of acts, and look at how sound reinforcement used to work for acts like these. It seems like (up until the 80s) the standard situation was a large diaphragm condenser or ribbon mic with a couple of spot mics into a amplification system with remote speakers. From what we gather, there are no monitors (not that they are necessary with this genera of music). Folks just all stand closer or farther from that mic, just like they'd do for an un-amplified performance. This might be anachronistic, and I am sure that for large venues it would sound terrible, but I wonder if it would work better for our situation. I have run sound for bands in a lot of situations and am comfortable with the standard ways of doing SR for bands in small to medium venues; that technology is good, proven stuff, AFAIK. But. Does anyone have experience using a single common mic for bluegrass, folk, or old-time string band ensembles? Positive, negative, historical, or general observations would be appreciated. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members lifeloverwg Posted August 12, 2009 Members Share Posted August 12, 2009 The Del McCoury Band still works a single LDC as do many traditional bluegrass bands in large and small venues. Last time I saw Del they were micing the bass too. The only real downside to a LDC is it limits your monitors to a pretty low level. That and you can't blame anybody else for a bad mix.:lol: I would think another reason you don't see it as much anymore is that it probably isn't the best approach for a small noisy bar as the mic will pick up a fair amount of the room noise as well. Most of the modern string bands I see like Old Crow Medicine Show are using individual vocal mics along with a mix of instrument mics and pickups. Winston Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members scarecrowbob Posted August 13, 2009 Author Members Share Posted August 13, 2009 Thanks. Another odd and likely fruitless idea crossed out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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