fiftyshadesofslay
Groupie
- Messages
- 92
Sorry dude but there’s no way I’m going to suck one of my band mates off in the car park. But more power to you if that’s how you like to party.
It don’t matter cause the audience can’t tell the difference..
- Thread starter AFKAEjay(retired)
- Start date
Frodebro
Shredder
- Messages
- 2,266
I don't know what kind of band you're in, but ours attracted willing females.
ian_dissonance
Roadie
- Messages
- 836
its called instrumental post-mathcore and my GF doesn’t even come to the shows most of the time.
Frodebro
Shredder
- Messages
- 2,266
gumtown
Roadie
- Messages
- 119
Wow, have been following this topic for a bit.
Have I not seen the mention of noise gates on all mic inputs?
A while back when I was running an analog rig (and poor) I built a 3U rack 8x compressor + noise gate.
The magic with the gates was not hard gating, but used a technique called an downward expander, which was like a soft gate. As you backed away from the mic the expansion increased until the mic was silent.
Plugged this into the inserts of all channels, and it worked a treat.
No feedback, and comments that asked if we were miming to a backing track (I eventually took that as a positive comment).
If you still get stage feedback, then the whole band is too loud, there is a maximum limit vocal monitors can go to, and with the rest of the band being too loud (can't help the drums) pushes the limits of your vocalist.
Most studio recordings don't have the band louder than the vocals, so try to keep your stage volume within reason, and let the front of house PA do yhe workout instead.
Have I not seen the mention of noise gates on all mic inputs?
A while back when I was running an analog rig (and poor) I built a 3U rack 8x compressor + noise gate.
The magic with the gates was not hard gating, but used a technique called an downward expander, which was like a soft gate. As you backed away from the mic the expansion increased until the mic was silent.
Plugged this into the inserts of all channels, and it worked a treat.
No feedback, and comments that asked if we were miming to a backing track (I eventually took that as a positive comment).
If you still get stage feedback, then the whole band is too loud, there is a maximum limit vocal monitors can go to, and with the rest of the band being too loud (can't help the drums) pushes the limits of your vocalist.
Most studio recordings don't have the band louder than the vocals, so try to keep your stage volume within reason, and let the front of house PA do yhe workout instead.
- Messages
- 7,305
SillyOctpuss
Shredder
- Messages
- 2,372
Me reading this thread
When I was using acoustic drums, I did this. As you stated, it did improve things greatly. Less feedback, MUCH tighter sound out front.
I only gate drums though. Too easy to mess up a soft vocal or soft guitar part IME.
jay mitchell
Roadie
- Messages
- 808
Howard Page, a FOH mixer who worked for Showco for a number of years, was an expert at this. Drum mics are easy to gate and benefit most from the technique. The attack transient is strong and rapid, so there's little chance you'll miss any subtleties, and the quality of the mix benefits from the elimination of bleed from the dozen or more mics that are commonly used to mic the drum kits of major touring acts. Gating vocals is a much higher risk, as you point out. My approach to that when I mixed sound was to turn off the faders of vocal mics when the person wasn't singing. That requires knowing the band's songs as well as they do, however, so it's probably not a good idea for sound guys doing a one-off with a group.
Interesting note: sound mixers who are hired to do symphony concerts have the score on their console and a page-turning assistant. Which means they've gotta be able not only to read music, but to consicentiously keep their place in the arrangement. How many sound guys have you ever encountered with that skillset?
