Jakester

Not quite on stage, but I used to be part of a group of deps for this vocalist who did gigs up and down the country. One of his band used to do the sound and the singer was endlessly beaching at him, gig after gig, about everything - too loud, too quiet, frequencies wrong, setup wrong - whatever it was, he complained about it. The guy used to just take it - he was really quiet and reserved, never snapped back. He was an chocolate starfish, but he paid well and the rest of us weren’t generally weren’t in the firing line. However, it all came to a head at a big wedding do at a huge country house in the middle of nowhere. The singer was off on one of his rants and the sound guy just snapped. Told him where to go in no uncertain terms and started packing all his gear away - both the PA and his instrument. I have never before seen someone plead like that singer did at that gig. Almost literally down on his knees begging, pleading with the guy to stay - it was almost like an adulterous husband pleading with his wife to take him back. The gig went ahead in the end, but it was touch and go for a while - and thereafter the singer treated the sound guy much better! (He was still a pink torpedo though and a few gigs later I refused to do any more with him!)

And it's arrived, and it's much bigger than I anticipated, rather undermining the whole 'compact mixer' point. Still, it should do the job, and useful to have as a backup to the XR18 if ever that goes kablooey.

Oh, that's a whole other conversation....🙄

Well, I think the small pub gigs I'm talking about are just that - v small pubs, so there's no need for anything other than a vocal monitor (and that's mainly only for the singist). The main issue with the controllability is the ruddy singer pointing his mic at the ruddy monitor and/or FOH speakers - he's been told repeatedly not to do it, but he gets over excited....🙄

Because I think it's a faff. It's more faff than using a 'normal' mixer. Less tongue-in-cheek, in this band I play drums. I also have the PA and so if there's a need for a level change using the XR18 it can be difficult to keep playing and change the levels. For bigger gigs, I can use a control surface next to me and the XR18 elsewhere on the stage etc, but for small pub gigs its overkill. What do you mean by "a genuine reason"?

Thanks - unfortunately none of those have two auxes.

Thanks - the Behringer looks like it fits the bill, and I found an open box one on Amazon for a good price, so going to give that a try.

Can anyone offer any recommendations for a compact mixer for live use? We have a XR18 for bigger gigs where everything is mic'd and monitored, but it's a faff for small pub gigs. I was looking at a Yamaha MG10XU as we need reverb for the vocals, but we also run the guitars through the PA to limit stage volume. and my reading of the specs is that it only has 1 monitor output via the FX send, and if you use the internal FX that doesn't work, so the monitor out has everything coming out (there's no way to adjust what comes out in the monitors). We don't need guitars in the monitors (for obvious reasons!) What we really need is a compact mixer with an adjustable aux outs and FX that's separate. The MG12XU seems to have it, but it also has way more channels that we need and is £££. The Behringer jobbies seem okay but have the same limitation - no way to control what comes out the monitors if you use the internal FX. Any ideas/recommendations appreciated!

Well, it depends on the venue, but it could be a tiny pub stage, to a larger function room, to my recent fave, the bed of a curtain side lorry!

Real Electronics in Sheffield are the authorised service agents, but the repairs (depending on the issue) are generally more than the cost of a 2nd hand LM head.

Managed pretty well last weekend with two 10m cables. I have some spares so at worst could chain a couple.

Hmm, beermats might be a good idea... I'm thinking of the sort of thing you handed to the landlord, though, rather than marketed at punters. You know, you used to go in to try and catch the landlord in a quiet moment and hand him the tape/CD etc. Not sure he/she'd appreciate you spamming their pub with beermats!

Showing my age now, but back in the day you'd go round speaking to venues and drop off a tape with a phone number on it. Or, a bit later on, a CD with the band name and phone number/email address on. Nowadays no-one bothers with that sort of thing, so what do people do? I'm considering putting a flyer together with a QR code on it linking to our band recording Youtube page - has anyone done anything like that? What was the reaction?

Yep, I really want to go but found some for £84 on the new date, but they look like theyre' in a different postcode! I really want to take my family but can't justify nearly £400 for the three of us!

Cheapest I found earlier was £242...

A few of ours - I'm playing drums in these. Forgive the editing, I'm just getting used to editing videos!

I guess it depends what’s going through it. If it’s just vox, then you can probably go direct into most powered speakers. If it’s a more sophisticated setup - backing tracks, samples etc, then maybe a spare mixer isn’t the worst idea. But are you also taking spare PA speakers too? 🤔

Thanks!

Active speakers.

If you want to PM me I have Sibelius etc which includes a PDF to XML converter (I think). That said, my experience is that it wasn't hugely accurate but if you're going to edit afterwards anyway, a few notes here and there shouldn't be a problem.

As mentioned elsewhere, I have to return a borrowed PA. I have carefully segregated 'their' cables from 'my' cables - all of mine marked with green electrical tape, theirs in their box, mine in my box. Most gigs I'm able to intercept before they're put in the wrong box and then recoil them (properly) and tie using the velcro ties I put on all the leads. All of which came to naught after a rushed tear down in the rain and darkness which meant no-one could see and they all just got chucked into one box loose. That's going to be fun to sort on at the gig on Saturday...

Er, at the risk of sounding dense, what is the difference? I know there's a difference between instrument and speaker cables which are 1/4" plugs, but I thought XLR cables were broadly interchangeable as they're all balanced?