sound reproduction of foh speakers

[Alexdeth89]

Well, I don't know if this question is stupid, but anyways here i go

Let's supose there is a bassist who loves the tone of his hartke xl series cabs. Those bass enclosures are known for their clarity, tight low end and crispness but most foh speakers I've seen look like regular speakers, so how can they reproduce the distinctive tone of that specific rig? Just to put an example
How do professionals do it?

[naufal6161]

also looking for the answer too...

maybe you should mic-ed the cab?

[Floyd Eye]

Mic'ing the cab will get you the best results. Still, a crappy FOH system will thwart your attempts.

[Big_Daws]

without going into the whole mic vs DI debate...

a lot depends on the FOH system. if there are subs,are you using 12's or 15's, crossover points, and how the system is EQ'd, and lastly if the sound tech actually knows how to re-produce that sound.

[Got2SadowskyNYC]

Don't judge a LOOK of a speaker. There's A LOT involved in the sound out front.

Usually you're problem is a bad sound guy. If you're playing church I can almost promise you this is the problem. He's probably doing the "It's bass so I'll cut all the highs" BS. They always do this and then wonder why it sound boomy.

I run the DI off my pre and send them an EQed signal. Tell them to set their EQ flat. They'll bitch and moan but if they try it it WILL sound better.

I've done this for years in small clubs, large churches, out door festivals and arenas. He might have to make slight adjustments for environmental reasons, but generally flat is better as long as you're sending a nicely eqed and properly compressed signal.

Has the room been tuned? If not, this could be the problem here and lots of EQ will make it worse. See above. If it's not tuned you can have standing waves, bass vacuums and other sound anomalies. Tuning the room is the only way to fix these.

If you're going to mic, selection is VERY important. Placement is even MORE important than selection. I've always preferred a nice DI. In fact, when you go to that big rock show with your favorite band what you're hearing is mostly DI. If the cab is miced it's only 20% or so of what's coming out of the speakers. On a loud stage cross talk is the enemy. The fewer open mics the better, especially if you're running in ears.

[TimmyP]

Save for the AcmeBass boxes, I've yet to encounter a bass cabinet that sounded much like the instrument it was reproducing. Most PA boxes will be much closer (but none that we can afford are perfect). A DI will give you lows that the cabinet are missing. A mic will give you a facsimile of the character (faults) of the cabinet. Try both and see what works. The best bass sounds I've heard in the house were at least 80% DI.

[two fingers]

There is potential here to open a can of worms. But I'll jump in anyway.

A good sound guy with decent enough equipment can get you there easily enough. HOWEVER, (and here's where the worms come in) as a sound guy AND bass player myself, I can tell you that quite often "your tone" sounds like crap in a mix. So your best bet is to send the guy a "good tone" to work with, and then have a conversation with the guy about what you would like to TRY to accomplish out front. Sometime, if the sound guy is a jerk, the conversation will get you nowhere. If you came up to me and said something like "Hey man, if it's at all possible I would like to try to get the tone from my rig out front as well." I would probably say something like "Sure. I'll do my best as long as that tone sits in the mix well. If it doesn't, I'll have to use your tone as a basic framework and fit it in where it sits best. Let's talk about it if we get a sec at sound check." Then, you just have to TRUST the guy. Don't waste a ton of time and energy worrying about what it sounds like out front. Your job is to perform. When I am running sound, my job is to make you sound even better than you actually are.

[craig.p]

Alex, the question that needs to be answered before anything else is whether the tone of your rig is suitable to a proper mix. What you (probably justifiably) love about your sound may spill over, probably upwards, into slots other instruments are occupying. Do not underestimate this issue. So, what you prefer in isolation may not be right for a proper mix of the band.

If the answer to the above question is yes, then I agree that a mic is the way to go. Probably the only way to go. But to capture exactly what that cab is doing, it has to be the right mic, with a relatively flat response. I have my preferences but I won't go into it here because there are already many threads on mic selection.