Band Perfomance tips for good live sound (hopeful sticky)

[F-Clef-Jef]

Originally Posted by jaywa

Props to you for making it through. But this post goes into my "Why I Hate In-Ears" file as well as my "Why I Always Have An Amp Onstage" file.

I've had the same thing happen when using an amp... it's how you recover that matters.

[biff malibu]

im coming at this thread with a totally different perspective than others, so here goes.

1. dont play rock music. its tasteless. just kidding

2. be able to adapt to problems or deficiencies. ive never had sound problems on stage, or been thrown off by problems in FOH/monitorworld. maybe im just good.

on a more serious note:

i play in clubs in a major US market. bringing your own PA is a laughable notion for us. not even on the radar. this is typical. you get 10 minutes to set up your gear, quick hey-hey...or sometimes a soundcheck before the doors open. so what i say, is coming from that stand point, not the "we play in the sticks and use our own PA and soundcheck for an hour" standpoint. also, i play in an indie-electro type band. we have a laptop running ableton drums, and sequences...not an ipod. we run bass direct and guitar direct and just hand the soundman a snake with all the stuff labeled on it. soundmen love us. its easier for them to mix, they dont have to deal with stage bleed, this makes you sound a lot cleaner in the room when everything is coming from a single source instead of two.

if where youre playing sounds bad, because of PA or soundman or acoustics or whatever...it dosnt matter what you do, it will sound bad. if you play a place with good PA, soundman and acoustics...its up to you to sound good.

not having a drummer makes me happy. not having an amp on stage makes me happy. all of the above makes the soundman happy. never had problem one, and its quick, legit, clean, and good.

and if anyone in the audience ever comes up to us after a show and says "you know running everything direct sounds bad, you should have amps on stage" i will kiss all your butts on the courthouse steps. you guys know im right.

it all comes down to the soundguy whether you have an amp on stage or not. obviously if you have a drummer and rehearse in a regular ol rehersal room ok, you need an amp.

also, somebody said singer should get his own mic...in my experience, this is bad and causes soundmen to bitch because they already have thier stages/boards set-up for their own sm58.

[Mingus Addict]

Originally Posted by biff malibu

also, somebody said singer should get his own mic...in my experience, this is bad and causes soundmen to bitch because they already have their stages/boards set-up for their own sm58.

This is somewhat true. I work in a small club with a so so PA and rough acoustics on a regular basis (I mostly do mobile stuff otherwise). In that place we really have trouble with people bringing their own mics because the graphics are set to prevent feedback with the Sennheiser mics they have there. A lot of other places I don't mind if people bring their own mic. The best option is probably to have a good mic that you like AND bring a bag on those little disinfectant wipes. If the sound person asks you to use the house mic just do that and hit it with a disinfectant wipe because house mics are a breeding ground for germs.