MuckedUpFunkies Posted March 22, 2011 Share Posted March 22, 2011 [quote name='51m0n' post='1172395' date='Mar 22 2011, 06:20 PM']Spare volume is all well and good, but I guarantee that a guitarist is like Bad Spidey, give him great power and he will ignore the responsibility that goes with it....[/quote] Fair point well made =L Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gjones Posted March 22, 2011 Share Posted March 22, 2011 [quote name='ThomBassmonkey' post='1170769' date='Mar 21 2011, 03:23 PM']It's hard to make suggestions without hearing, if it sounds like a mess then there's probably two things going on. You're too loud. If you're playing small venues and no one really understands EQing as a band, chances are that the volume is going to be too loud too. EQing is fairly obvious when you talk about it, your bass should be EQd for the lower frequencies, rhythm guitar higher and lead instruments more trebly (within reason), it's much harder to actually do though. Try and play one instrument at the time, so start off with drums. Then add in bass, you should try and be bassy, but without being muddy and with enough mids and treble so your notes are all defined. Then add in the rhythm guitar, try and EQ it so that it sounds very fat in the mix, enough bass to fill out the sound but not so much that it interferes with you, mids and treble need to be there so that it fills out the whole sound. Then the lead guitar needs to sit on top, still enough bass that it doesn't sound weak, but it should sit a higher in frequencies than the rhythm guitar. You want to balance the whole thing around your vocals though, vocals are the main thing that people listen to in bands, if your singer has a very high pitched voice, she should be sat around the lead guitar's EQ. If she sings a bit deeper, you could make space between the rhythm and lead and EQ the lead slightly higher. Without hearing your band, especially hearing it live, it's very hard to tell, but that's a basic way to work it out.[/quote] +1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThomBassmonkey Posted March 22, 2011 Share Posted March 22, 2011 A note about Marshalls that's being overlooked, guitar valves need to be pushed to sound good. More speakers = more volumes, you either use an attenuator, sound crap or push the volume. With a 4x12 without an attenuator you either sound crap or are way too loud for a small gig. Valve bass amps don't seem to suffer so much from low volume. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mrtcat Posted March 22, 2011 Share Posted March 22, 2011 What sort of PA do you use? In terms of controlling sound a decent pa is invaluable IMO. I much prefer to work with lower volumes on stage and use the pa to make a decent mix out front. If you can get to using pa for all instruments even in a small venue you'll gain a lot more control. In our band we play pubs etc and run a guitar, bass, drums (just kick in small pubs) and vocals thru the pa. Our guitarist has a small 60w 1x12 combo which is more than loud enough for even very large pubs. I think the whole 1/2 stack thing is ridiculous in a pub as most amps sound better cranked up and a 1/2 stack cranked in a pub is just silly. I use a lo cut filter (removes everything below 75hz) on everything but the bass and kick. Doing this cleans up a lot of mud and also takes a lot of strain off the power amps. Its also important to eq any subs (if using them) so that they deal with the frequencies that the bass amp doesn't. Having a bass amp and pa sub competing at the same frequencies can cause all sorts of muddyness. Overall volume is no louder than without the pa but it's so much easier to eq everyone without upsetting them. Backline amps serve purely as a monitor for the players. It also makes stage levels more sensible. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MartyBRebelMC Posted April 5, 2011 Author Share Posted April 5, 2011 Just a quick update and thanks for all the coments. Having now done a gig and a get together in a rehearsal studio we have, i think, cracked it! By going through the sound check process sequentially it immediately revealed the culprit as too much mid dialled in on the Marshall - this and a change to 2X12 from 4X12 has vastly improved matters and we have a happy guitarist as well who can now hear himself in the mix. I think the problem is often just not having time to sort these things out as well as not always knowing there's a problem until it is pointed out - as the sound on stage often bares no relation to that out front. Thanks again for all the useful advice. Martin Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
okusman Posted April 5, 2011 Share Posted April 5, 2011 The answer is to spend £100+ and employ an experienced professional sound engineer to come along to your next gig. Let him listen to your soundcheck, let him listen to the gig and then let him tell you what to do. It might be a mix issue, it might be a PA issue, it might be the best you're gonna achieve with the gear you've got. My band ALWAYS play with a professional engineer, (not a mate who once mixed a couple of gigs). Yes you're gonna pay money for the privelege, but you'll sound far far better and get better gigs as a result. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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