WalMan

Second night went well and had the H6 behind the kit to hear that and a bit of ambience. Generally a good addition for my mix though it probably needs experimenting on positioning as there was too much bleed from the drummers monitor.

Both plugs in and again found I wasn’t digging in too hard on the bass and bv’s pitched better and not overstrained because I could hear what was going on.

Only two nights in on the journey but pleased with the results so far 😁

On 26/07/2023 at 23:20, WalMan said:

At last I get to use my Mercury IEM4's in anger twice this weekend.

 

Friday night with a house PA and I plan on using my Zoom H6 positioned the other side of the kit, by the guitarists and near the house speakers with a feed from my Two Notes Bass Revolt and possibly my Vox on a split from the mic to toe channels on the H6

 

Saturday night we have our usual PA guy so it should be an aux from the XR16 and set my own mix on the iPad

First night went ok, other than we got to the gig expecting to use the house pa only to find they had got it into their head that we were using ours. No idea where that came from but luckily our guy had his in the van and we wheeled that in. It meant I had a fullish mix fed from an aux to the P2.

Ended up with one plug slightly out as I was not getting enough ambient sound for the kit in the rush to get ready.

Good news was I was getting a good signal for bass so didn’t dig in too hard, and had a decent vocal signal so didn’t over stress as much as I might have in the past and got through songs where I might have blown a third chorus repeat fine.

Tonight I’ll try adding in the H6 behind the kit just for me. 

At last I get to use my Mercury IEM4's in anger twice this weekend.

Friday night with a house PA and I plan on using my Zoom H6 positioned the other side of the kit, by the guitarists and near the house speakers with a feed from my Two Notes Bass Revolt and possibly my Vox on a split from the mic to toe channels on the H6

Saturday night we have our usual PA guy so it should be an aux from the XR16 and set my own mix on the iPad

Not had a chance to try it yet, and now I have the moulded IEM’s I wonder whether I’ll need it unless running a noiseless stage (never gonna happen with on guitarist in the band 🤦🏼‍♂️)

Looks good and smaller & lighter than my v1 (which I must get listed). Charged quickly.

For some reason I had in mind it was going to have a phone app

to allow easy adjustment but possibly that had to be shelved during development.

The cable seems sturdy but may prove to be a PITA with my SmoothHound radio. I added a spare cable and belt clip anyway, and apparently Tsunami are producing a replacement that looks pretty solid.

Verdict out at the moment. We shall see 🤔

Was due to do a reasonably last minute replacement gig with my main band Saturday night but our drummer had a funny turn that morning (heat stroke / labarynthitis / who knows) so we had to blow out the gig at lunchtime as couldn't find a replacement drummer at the last minute ☹️ It was going to be my first with the IEM's so that will have to wait.

This weekend became:

• Friday night rehearsal with the prog covers band but pretty straightforward Floyd & Genesis songs so no great workout. The most involved was Roundabout and even that is pretty standard. Still first tinkers with the IEM's using my Zoom H6 as source on the line out to a Behringer headphone amp with an extra line from the DI on the Revolt Bass for dedicated bass and it seemed to work well. 
• Sunday day rehearsal/ writing session with my very first band from 45 years ago. Spiky new wave originals that are still fun to play and keep me busy as a 3 piece bass/guitar/drum combo. Also we played together a lot back in the day and were a pretty tight unit and could catch the odd slip or just chuck in a different style (having originated a fresh faced 17 year olds in a country / 50/60/70's band playing WMC's with an older guitarist). Even now we can flip a song into a different style and work our way through with nods, winks & a look, which I love being able to do. Used the IEM's again same as Friday night and again it worked well

Went to the last one at the Factory. Great night. Shame I can't make this one or the masterclass before due to work commitments 🤬

Not a true test of the system, but I have done two different rehearsals over this weekend with my new Mercury IEM’s, using the Behringer P2 and taking the line out from the Zoom H6 using the Mid/Side mic module plus a feed to the H6 from the Revolt Bass and it worked well.

I was probably not such a noisy barsteward on bass as I had the direct bass feed mixed in, and the results were generally good.

Not an entirely true comparison for live but looking hopeful.

Friday setup was in a fairly live room with a little damping and setup as if live but with the PA behind us. Started out with the H6 as if stage front and with the stereo mic set which was not great and bass heavy from the room even though I think I was quieter on the studio amp.

In the break I changed the mic module and moved the H6 to beside kit and guitar and under one of the Pa cabs and that made a huge improvement, though the H6 was slightly too far back and lost the guitar as it was a closed back cab. Should probably have taken a feed from the “recording out” of the guitar amp but not the end of the world.

Today’s setup was a better damped room but essentially the same (just my amp & cab this time - Darkglass and Barefaced BB2 - and with the H6 the far side of the kit in front of guitar rig and a vocal Pa cab, and worked really well.

Last night was supposed to be the first test with radio system and mix from the PA at a gig, unfortunately that was cancelled last minute as our drummer in that band had a funny turn in the morning and we had to take a decision to blow out the gig at lunchtime ☹️

On 06/06/2023 at 09:56, asingardenof said:

Adding a space into your passwords makes them immensely more difficult to guess as well. So in the example above, making it June blue Golf bC1 is making it a lot more complicated. Harder to remember too, so the password manager idea is also worthwhile. You can also use the password manager to generate random passwords of whatever length you choose so you can use different passwords for every site. I use Bitwarden for my password manager, having left LastPass following their purchase by a company with less than stellar data protection practices, and would recommend it to anyone looking.

Hmmmm maybe I'll need to watch for the LastPass renewal email and move on. Work is offering Dashlane with F&F membership

I need to use my new plugs in anger for the first time, but when to do so without a technical rehearsal or chance for a full soundcheck is another matter. Maybe Saturday

Dep last night. No one died, but how the heck did I get so lost on one even with the dots in front of me 🤦‍♂️🤪

Generally ok but DAMN! Just ht one damned me 😡🤬😡🤬😡🤬

On 08/06/2023 at 10:11, SimBass said:

I use a tascam x8 (Same as Zoom H6), and have never had a need to mount it up above the drums. I have it mounted on a mic stand next to may cab so I can easily control levels without it being in the way.

I purposely have it above the cab to get as litte bass cab as possible and send a DI bass signal to it for more control.

If I need more drums than guitar, I point it more towards the drums, if I want less drums, I rotate it away from the drums.

Simple and accessible, doesn't get in the way of the stage and if there is a nice aux signal then I plug that in too and reduce the ambient mic. (I'm often playing with un-mic'ed horn section so that's pretty rare)

 

My only worry with that would be that part of my reason to go back to IEM's is being tucked in the corner at times the other side of the kit to the guitars so it might be drum heavy but it will be experiment and I suppose if I all have an aux feed from the stage box that I can control from the iPad it may not be an issue

On 08/06/2023 at 11:24, Jakester said:

 

Slight tangent, but how do you find the Mercury IEMs? I'm currently looking and I was angling towards ACS, as I can't really justify super high-end IEMs with the amount of playing I do, but Mercury seem slightly cheaper for a similar spec. 

They seem fine to me, though I have not fully used them in anger yet. They are just down the road from my office to I popped in to get the moulds taken. It did take a while longer than anticipated for them to arrive because there was a delay in getting drivers (apparently).

I was going to get the 3's but they did 4's at a discount as I was a returning customer.

2 hours ago, mrtcat said:

If you only have guitars, bass, kick and vocal mics you should find there's plenty of spare channels. A cheap condenser mic might be even better. I've gigged on iems for years and have never had an ambient mic. The vocal mics pick up lots of ambient noise and even when we used electric drums with no mics I never felt I was missing anything.

There is that. How much goes through you PA otherwise though?

I did pick up a pair of Behringer C2's as well, but it remains to be seen what I can work out as feasible with the sound guy. We shall have to investigate but the possibilities for use with other bands I play with that do not have as much in the way of PA (one in particular that I actually rarely play with now but has a guitarist who really cranks his amp) look good with a simple option using the H6 

2 hours ago, mrtcat said:

What gets mic'd up in your band's stage setup? If there's overheads on the kit already surely you'd just mix that into your mix coming from your aux and use the P2 connected direc to the mixer? If there's no overheads on stage can you use your H6 as a stereo overhead plugged into a channel on your x16 and just mix that into your aux mix? Seems to be overcomplicated trying to work in an H6 between your aux out on the desk and your P2. 

Tends to be guitars, bass on DI and bass drum mic but no overheads. I was only thinking of the H6 for some general ambience that won't be there otherwise and over the kit seemed like an option to keep it out of the way and give a bit more kit to me. I need to talk to sound guy about the availability of channels to take the H6 through the stage box, possibly just for my IEM mix

My moulded plugs have now arrived and I'm in discussion with the sound guy for my main band about getting an aux line that I can control from my phone for my mix. A technical rehearsal would be good but I can't see that happening anytime soon. I was going to get 3 driver plugs from Mercury but they gave me a discount on 4 drivers as I had used them before for sound protection plugs

I also experimented with using my Zoom H6 for an ambient line at rehearsal, and plugged my mic into it on an XLR splitter cable. I could also take another line to it from the DI on the Revolt Bass pedal and mix as required.

As a quick check, the H6 line out into a Behringer P2 on my belt worked well at rehearsal as I could hear all that was going on and chat in between, so that shows a lot of promise.

For live I'd need to think where to put the H6, possibly over the kit? Plugging mic and bass to that won't really be an option as I'd have no way of adjusting the mix on the fly, but possibly feeding the X16 aux into the H6 and setting a general mix between aux and ambient from the H6 mics at soundcheck will work. I'll also need to trust others for setting stage level of the bass, and soundguy to mix it in for FOH, but hopefully won't be digging in as hard as because I can't hear the bass on stage as I should have a line to the IEM's

One guitarist is completely old school and will never go to IEM's and said "where are you going to put that live" after I put the H6 on a mic stand in the middle of the rehearsal room ... as if I was expecting to just plonk it on a mic stand front & centre for gigs 

Had an expensive evening booking gigs at Trading Boundaries a week or so back. Next up there is:

Graham Gouldman in July

Barock Project for two nights in November; and

Lazuli in December

Hoping to make the Nik Kershaw gig in Brighton in October as well.

On 29/05/2023 at 10:17, Angelus said:

The stories from those days are amazing, touring Europe with the Rolling Stones and Bon Jovi. Love spending time with the guys and getting them to tell us a story about some of the venues they’ve played. Some funny, some sad and life certainly isn’t all rock and roll, when it’s your full time job. 🤣

Was a great night, glad Paul is just alive, never mind back giving it 100%. 

Wish we could have made it up to brother in law's in Ayr for the next night. We did a couple of years back and spent a while stood outside with the band while the fire brigade checked the building after the smoke machine set off the alarms 

Wish they could make it a bit further south. Had tickets for the Brighton gig (that was nowhere near Brighton) that got cancelled, so the last couple we managed were Southampton and GoR @ Butlins Minehead

Graham Gouldman in July @ Trading Boundaries 

Almost certainly Nik Kershaw at Concorde 2 in October 

Then two nights of Barock Project and one of Lazuli at Trading Boundaries again

Sad news. I heard it from Chimike a couple of days back when we were chatting after he popped by to buy the Mesa D800 I bought from Nigel a couple of years back. We had a good old chinwag when he came over for the sale.

From the list above looks like he played in a band on the same circuit as me as well.

Condolences to the family

Sold

On hold

Mesa Subway D800 in great condition with the Mesa bag and manual.

Bought from Bumnote on here in August 2020 and used as my main amp until the beginning of this year, but in the meantime I have somehow amassed another 4 amps, and something needs to go. Currently preferring the Darkglass or Aguilar TH350, so this has drawn the short straw.

It had a funny moment at a gig a while back but I took it to an amp tech who found it was just a multi pin connector on the board that had worked loose, pressed it home and all is well in the world again. I mention it only for full disclosure and as I say absolutely no problems since.

Would prefer collection, or a meet to exchange, but happy to post at cost.

A bit of Jazz Sabbath for a chilled bank holiday afternoon 😁

https://youtube.com/@JazzSabbath

A gig of two halves (aren’t they all!?)

PA fine in the sound check. Went on for the first set and no idea what was going on…stuff suddenly really loud then gone and our  sound guy having a ‘mare. Tried to start the first song twice, no joy so I just put the bass down and walked until it was fixed, sort of so the first set ok but I was not a happy camper.

A break and some fettling and the second set set went very much better. Good crowd dancing and singing along. Alan a happier bunny.

Slightly odd venue, large but playing out of a stage in the corner. Rather than stack the BB2’s like last week with a different & smaller band I tried them either side of the kit and at right angles to each other which seemed to work well

8 hours ago, SuperSeagull said:

The Swan in Crawley last night. Smaller than usual crowd as another pub was hosting a charity do in memory of a local muso who passed away last year. But an enthusiastic bunch and at midnight when we all just wanted to clear up and go home they still wanted a couple more numbers. Home after one, back at my church for a pre service rehearsal at 9 this morning - not at my best to be honest. Used my new to me Rafferty HPF last night, it’s all very subtle to my clumsy ears but a definite tightening up of the low end. 

I ought to have another go at getting something there but have recollections of it being tiny from the last time I was there probably 10 years ago