mike257

If you're looking for a guitar equivalent of this place, thefretboard.co.uk is a nice spot. Originally started when the old MusicRadar forums closed down, by some long term members from there. Similar vibe to here, pleasant conversation, no 'orrible characters and some very knowledgeable folks on there.

With the eternal caveat that I can't really give proper advice on a mix without hearing both the system and the content.... Kick Drum: I'd do about the same on a proper full range touring system. If you're on a small powered tops & subs band setup, I'd maybe go up a touch higher just so you're not overworking the amps. You're not going to get gut-shaking low end from a couple of small boxes in a function room/pub etc, so if you can let the sub amps and drivers work a little less hard at the super low stuff they struggle with, they can give you more of the slightly higher stuff that they're able to reproduce more efficiently. Bass: Depending on the sound you're going for and where it's sitting in the mix, I'd generally go anywhere from 40 to 80 as a starting point. It's always good to sit the low end of the bass in a different spot to the kick and give them each their own space though. Vocals (Male and female): I tend to go a little higher with these. Generally anywhere from 120 to 160, sometimes even higher depending on what else is going on in the mix. You really don't need that much low end from a vocal in the majority of situations, and a lot of the information down that low will be spill from drums and amps too, which you can do without. Guitars: I'll usually go somewhere around 100 to 120 as a starting point. If it's a busy mix with lots of keys, tracks etc I'll often go quite a bit higher to help it sit in the mix, whereas if it's a simpler drums/bass/guitars mix I'll probably leave it lower down and let the guitars be a little bigger. Drums: Another big "it depends"... With individual close mics I'll use this to place each source in the mix, with toms set a little higher (small rack toms at around 80, stepping down with the pitch of each tom , floor tom often as low as the kick). Snare will depend on the mix - I'm quite partial to a chunky snare with a lot of low end weight so I'll often leave this low, but sometimes you need a "smaller" snare to sit in a busy mix and I'll crank it up towards 180/200. For overheads (or a single mic over the kit like you're using) I'll go pretty high with the HPF. You're not going to get tons of definition or pleasant low end from overheads on a small stage and the stage spill from amps etc will be significant, so I'll take this up pretty high and just use that mic to get the attack of the drums popping through, especially when it's a small system and you're just after a bit of reinforcement and extra definition in a smaller room. If you're not sure on a HPF, a good starting point is often to wind the frequency up until you can actually hear it taking something significant out, then wind it back just a little from that point. Then you know you're at least getting rid of the content you don't need from that source, which will be a big help in cleaning up your mix. As above, you can be more aggressive with it on some sources, but it's very situation-dependant. Sorry for the essay, hope it's helpful!

It really doesn't work well. As a general rule, I've never found gating vocals to be effective. Good mic choice, good mic technique, a considered stage layout and sensible backline volumes are the best set of tools for dealing with spill in vocal mics, in my experience.

I actually unexpectedly bumped in to a guitarist friend who I played in three bands with from the ages of 19-22 on the train to London this week and had a good catch up. We both work in different areas of the music industry but neither of us actively performing - he's not touched a guitar in 10 years! I did make a crack about next year being the 20th anniversary of our last (and best) band's first gig but there's definitely not an appetite for a reunion show 🤣

The D5 were my go-to for some time and a solid choice, from what I've heard the D7 are an improvement again, although I've been using the SE V7 as my regular choice for about 18 months now and on the majority of singers it's been great.

Haven't used the OM2 myself but from what I hear you need to be pretty tight up on it to get the best of it. Even something with a tight pickup pattern is still going to be full of drums when he backs his face off it though. You can get gooseneck extensions for about 10/15 quid, might be worth a punt to see if you can get the positioning a little better for him. Soundcheck pic of one in use here - I'd usually go a little higher with the stand and come in from above more, but this was what that particular drummer found comfortable to work with without obstructing his playing.

The 57 actually has the same capsule as the 58, the only differences are the grille enclosure, and any difference in sound is from the difference in proximity to the diaphragm from not having the big silver ball in the way 🤣 The Beta56a is popular with drummers, slightly tighter pickup pattern and the compact size makes it a little easier to get in position. I've been using SE V7 as my go to vocal mic for a while now and been pretty happy with that on drum vox too. Positioning is pretty key for a drum vocal, I like to use a good solid stand with a gooseneck extension and come in from above the left shoulder, so you can get it in close to their mouth, and try to get the nearest cymbals in the rejection point of the pickup pattern, without it completely getting in the way of arm movement. Any drum vocal is always going to be a big nasty drum overhead though, especially with a hard hitting drummer. It's definitely a case of making the best of a bad situation!

I'm based up in sunny Liverpool. Sadly no time to play in a band these days, as much as I miss it. I'm a tour manager/production manager and sound engineer, so spend a lot of time on the road. Doesn't fit in well with making it to rehearsals every week!

Acquired through getting it wrong plenty of times on the long road to occasionally getting it right 🤣 Interesting to hear they're still having big problems with feedback when running a silent stage with IEM. What I'd be looking at is: How loud are they trying to run their PA How big a space are they trying to fill Where is the PA positioned relative to the mics Where are the mics positioned relative to the PA and to any acoustically reflective surfaces in the room Although their stage volume isn't an issue in terms of backline levels, if they're trying to play a "loud" show, they could still be getting in their own way with the mix. The Alto speakers are definitely at the cheap and cheerful end of the PA world, and whilst I'd imagine they'd do ok as purely vocal amplification over a band playing through backline at a sensible gig level, they're being asked to do a lot of work in carrying the whole band on a silent stage and probably being pushed beyond what they're really capable of. That's a lot of dynamic information and transients, and a much more constant load on the amps and drivers than purely pushing vocal, so they'll likely be running at their limits. As you mention, mic choice could help too, and the trusty old 58 isn't the mainstay it once was. There's plenty of options out there with a tighter pickup pattern. There's also the usual things about vocal performance to consider - is the singer projecting and giving out a reasonable volume, or are they whisper quiet? Are they on top of the mic or backing off/singing at a distance from it? EDIT: Just to add - I've just taken a look at the Zoom L12, as it's not a desk I'm familiar with. I see there's a one-knob compressor on each channel. Not sure how much of that they're using on the vocal, but if they are doing, that could also do more harm than good in this situation with regards to achievable level before feedback. If they're using it on the vocals, I'd suggest dialling it back or fully bypassing it and seeing if that helps them out. Usual vocal mixing tips apply too - making sure the high pass filter (labelled "Low Cut" on the Zoom) is engaged on the vocal mics, and making judicious and careful use of the channel EQ.

This is one reason I've always avoided using Optogates on vocal mics. You can't avoid spill on stage, it's going to be there (to some degree) no matter what. I remember having a real eye-opener with it years ago when doing a mix of a live multitrack from a band I'd been touring with that had five open vocal mics on stage. I had all of the instrumental elements sounding great, really clean and punchy. As soon as the vocal mics came in to play, there was so much stage spill that everything went to bits, but cutting them in and out sounded so unnatural because all the spill still came back in with the vocal and changed how everything sounded. I ended up going back to the drawing board with that mix, starting with all the vocals open, and building everything around that to sound natural. I generally start a live soundcheck with all vocal mics open now, because that stuff is going to be in there no matter what you do, so you have to work around it and factor it in.

I only tend to gate channels that need it for a sonic reason. I'll usually gate kick drums and toms to get a tight, controlled sound but I'll rarely gate a snare because you lose a lot of the expressive detail in the playing - ghost notes etc. I'll leave toms open too if the musical style benefits from it and the tuning/sound of the drum allows for it. I'm always wary of gates on sources with a wide dynamic range because it's so easy to cut off things you want to keep. Pedalboard hum is something better fixed at source. They also wouldn't be part of my approach to prevent feedback. A gate only closes when there's no signal above the threshold. If you have open mics feeding back when they're not even being presented with a signal that would open any gate you set, you've got bigger problems to address in how that system has been set up. I've had a quick look at the article you linked. It mentions a couple of keys points - positioning of the speakers/wedges relative to the mic, mic choice, proximity of the mic to the source - but it doesn't mention what is often the biggest issue, which is the general stage volume the vocal is competing with. If you're trying to get a vocal clearly heard over a band, and you're getting in to feedback territory trying to do that, the band might be too loud for the space they're in. One of the key elements of putting a good mix together is understanding that if you can't hear something, it's not always about turning that thing up, it's about making a space for it to sit in. Turning something else down is often the answer!

I'm pretty sure Lennon's "How Do You Sleep" is the original diss track, aimed squarely at his ex-bandmate!

Yes, yes you are.

You can get water based or oil based haze, both of which behave differently with different types of smoke detectors. In touring venues, it's normal practice to isolate the smoke alarms in the room during the show, so that haze/smoke can't trip them, and that's written in to risk assessments and safety plans. If you're going in to function rooms, pubs, whatever else, they may not be set up to do that and you'll likely meet some resistance.

Well, after a lovely tour in October with a full crew of top-notch people, we're currently back to the two-man setup on a European support run for a few weeks. After migrating the band on to IEMs for the UK headline tour, where we had FOH and monitor engineers with a dLive at both ends, I've had to figure out how we make that work in our stripped down setup to keep the production value up for the lads on stage. We're back on my SQ5 for this tour and we're squeezing every last drop of it's capabilities out of it now. Freed up a few buses in our FOH engineer's existing showfile and I'm now running four stereo IEM mixes and four wedge mixes from an iPad (whilst tour managing and guitar teching 🤣). Not too many compromises had to be made, all things considered. We've managed to keep the on stage shout mics integrated for comms between band and crew, and I have a spare IEM system fed from a matrix that I can send any mix to if we have an RF issues on someone's frequency. My IEMs are fed by the solo bus that the FOH and I are sharing between us for mid-show listening. It's taken some shuffling around but it's working really well and is pretty dialled in after the first week of shows

I'm at 98 so far this year, 24 left to go in the diary!

Cracking photo! I wasn't at the sound desk for this one - I've been doubling up as tour manager and backline tech for most of the year but I've got a full crew out for the headline tour so just wearing my tour manager hat and not pushing faders or wrangling guitars at the moment. Mostly swearing at Excel sheets and crying at the amount of emails in my inbox 🤣

I'll show them that photo, Jacob getting some serious height on that jump there 🤣 Glad you enjoyed the show, sorry I didn't get to say hello!

Didn't even know they did a Waves card for it! How's that working out? Sadly no mixing desk at all for me still - it's been a two man crew all year on my current gig (me as TM/tech, and our FOH engineer) but heading out on a proper touring run for three weeks with a full team, so I can just wear my TM hat. Just wrapped two days of production rehearsals, currently 2:20am on the tourbus having a wild night with my laminator and a pack of chocolate hobnobs on our way to Nottingham Rock City. It's all glamour, this job 🤣

Sounding lovely in rehearsals today. You're in for a treat!

I'm not sure what it says for how welcoming a space the forum is for them that Juliet hasn't logged in for two years, and Cici hasn't for almost a year!

Thus proving my point that @Misdee seemed so affronted by. Many corners of the music industry are not welcoming places for young women. More visibility of artists (like Ms DeTiger) that they can see themselves in will give them the confidence to be more present in those spaces, and help build the belief that they belong and can build a career. This forum is full of grumpy old men. There are few, if any, young female bass players here and it's no surprise given some of the commentary here. Thankfully, the majority of members, grumpy as we all are, appear to be on the sensible side of this conversation.

I've worked in live touring for over a decade and by and large, it's an absolute sausage-fest and not representative of the population as a whole. When I've spoken to young female techs and musicians, one of the big things I hear about is the lack of role models, or I hear that having a role model/mentor who they could relate to was a hugely important part of their journey. When I hear incredibly talented and capable women telling me they're leaving the industry because they're finding it hard to thrive in such a "boys club", it tells me something is seriously wrong. Having people (like Blu - although I hadn't come across her before this thread) who are visible and setting that example is, as I said, a positive thing. Your reply suggests you don't think encouraging people from more diverse backgrounds in to the creative industries is a good thing. Why is that?

There's a real, tangible gender inequality in the music industry (speaking as someone who works in it) and the more positive role models there from all demographics and backgrounds who can actively and visibly use their presence to show young people who might not otherwise see the creative industries as a viable career route that it's actually possible to follow your dreams and make a living out there, the better. If a bunch of young girls see Blu amongst the sea of typical blokes with guitars and think "maybe there's a space for me here after all?", then that's a positive thing. Doesn't sound like nonsense to me. As a dad of two daughters, and having given work and experience opportunities to many of my wife's students when she spent 10 years teaching in another male-dominated creative industry, I'm acutely aware how important it is for people to have role models they can relate to, and the difference that can make in how they perceive their ambitions and their chances of success. Honestly, it's sad to see such a negative reaction to someone trying to put positivity out in what they do.

I made use of some of that dead space on the rack ears with mine. Fitted it in a Gear4Music shallow 3u, drilled out the rack ears for a Powercon input and thru connector, put a 13a socket on the front so you could charge your tablet from it (pictured with a USB charger left in), and a 13a socket in the back for the router. All the electrical connections were made with Wago blocks inside a junction box velcroed to the back of the mixer. Router was a little TP Link Nano, also fixed to the back of the mixer with heavy duty velcro. The rack case had a zipped pouch in one of the lids, so kept the power cable, mini jack cable, and a cheap Android tablet all in there so you had everything to run it in one box. Worked a treat!