Running the sound and playing

lewislngvw · #1 02-01-2008, 03:47 PM

dont know if this the right place for this....but how many players run the bands sound board and play ?....and does this affect your playing,especially when people tell you to turn the lead singer up,keyboards down,guitar up,guitar down,lead singer down...you know what i mean...all why trying to play the unimportant part of the bass line....

Vanceman · #2 02-01-2008, 04:56 PM

I own the PA, and run the sound, and I don't even sing. Fortunately, we have several singers without instruments, so I have been teaching them how to make adjustments, but I still might have to fix it after the song ends. Get really confortable with your PA and it shouldn't be too much of a distraction.

twistdpair · #3 02-02-2008, 03:43 PM

For our first couple of gigs - medium sized venues that required subs and 2 monitor mixes - I was left to run the sound as well my standard band duties. As far as I'm concerned, it sucks. Nothing worse than a feedback attack in the middle of a song and you're rushing over to the board while the audience is making faces...

Now we have a friend of the band who helps drag our stuff in and set it up, and sits at the board for the entire show, and we give him some dough and buy him beer. Worth every penny to me.

A lot can depend on the kind of band and the players. If it's jazz, folk, etc., chances are you are mostly PAing vox and supplementing stage volume. We're more of a rock/pop thing and sometimes the volume makes it tough to manage feedback and levels.

twistdpair · #4 02-02-2008, 03:45 PM

I should also add that the rest of my band was not familiar with live sound and avoided helping me out...that may also be a factor.

seanm · #5 02-02-2008, 03:57 PM

I've done it a couple of times and it sucked, but that was more due to placement. As the bass player, I am stuck back in a corner. If something goes wrong I have to put down my instrument, thread my way through the other players without tripping on anybodies cord, walk over to the board and make an adjustment.

I had also never used that mixer before. Spent a long time trying to get reverb working for the singer and finally had to give. "That's ok, the regular soundman can never get it working either."

The regular soundman owns the board and is *very* particular about who goes in what channel. If we need to add another guitar he will sometimes rearrange almost all the channels. I noticed at a later gig when he was running sound that he was the *only* person with reverb

So there is some trick to it.

Marley's Ghost · #6 02-03-2008, 12:15 PM

I have done it. Get a wireless system for your bass, it's the only way to be able to move around to the FOH.

Munjibunga · #7 02-03-2008, 12:27 PM

I do it. It's a challenge if you don't have time for a sound check. For some reason, people seem to think it's cool to tell me about issues during a song, so I have a rule. Don't tell me about it until the song's over. It's a real distraction to have the singer yelling, "I can't hear myself in the monitors!" during a song. Usually I have things sorted out by the third song. You've got to have a wireless so you can go out front once.

lewislngvw · #8 02-05-2008, 05:44 PM

i think the biggest issue with me is having time to do a sound check......if you dont then you are constantely dealing with monitor levels as well as main levels...i use a wireless but if i only have 2 minutes to set level........you know my struggle.

lawsonman · #9 02-05-2008, 06:04 PM

We've always run our sound from the stage and have never had any problems.We get a lot of compliments on our mix and sound so I guess we must be doing something right.

**baba** · #10 02-06-2008, 08:26 AM

I did it for a couple years and it sucked. It was a major hassle and I couldn't focus on playing the bass. I did both, but I did them both at about 75% ability. Finally I told the band it's over, we pay a sound man or don't even book it.

From reading other threads it looks like many think playing and doing sound is a working solution. I disagree and think FOH sound suffers greatly. If you are a small band in a small bar getting paid pennies I guess it's a necessity, but as you grow as a band I truly believe in the value of a fairly paid soundman that knows your music.

twistdpair · #11 02-06-2008, 09:49 AM

I agree...I wish I could get the rest of the band to agree too.

Quote:

Originally Posted by baba

From reading other threads it looks like many think playing and doing sound is a working solution. I disagree and think FOH sound suffers greatly.

mophead · #12 02-06-2008, 09:56 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Vanceman

I own the PA, and run the sound, and I don't even sing. Fortunately, we have several singers without instruments, so I have been teaching them how to make adjustments, but I still might have to fix it after the song ends. Get really confortable with your PA and it shouldn't be too much of a distraction.

Do you receive extra stipend for the PA and running it?

Just curious.

Moe Monsarrat · #13 02-08-2008, 11:34 AM

Hire a soundman. There is no way to do it right from the stage other than just getting lucky. How do you know what it sounds like out there? Ridiculous concept.

skin · #14 02-13-2008, 07:05 AM

Where is the best place for the mixer: in front of you, the side, or the back?

**baba** · #15 02-13-2008, 08:36 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by skin

Where is the best place for the mixer: in front of you, the side, or the back?

The best place is FOH with the soundman.

skin · #16 02-13-2008, 11:12 AM

I agree, but if there is no sound man and you get the duty, where would you place the mixer?

jady · #17 02-13-2008, 12:05 PM

I run the board and play. I set the mixer right next to me on my side of the stage so I can just reach down and move a slider real quick like. We only run vox and kick through the board so it is pretty easy. I walk out in front with a long cord and figure out what adjustments to make, walk back and make them. It is always worked out by the first tune.

inasilentway · #18 02-13-2008, 01:38 PM

If you are just running vox and maybe keys through the PA then it's fine, I've done that a few times in smaller restaurant-style places. But I would not stretch it more than that, even though I've worked as a sound guy. It's completely impossible to get the right balance from the stage. Don't be cheap, if you're getting paid pony up the dough for a sound guy. I'm playing mostly in bars that have music every night, and there's usually a house guy, thankfully.

Brad Maestas · #19 02-13-2008, 02:48 PM

I ran sound and played bass for a weekly jam session for about a year. Prior to that I had been running sound and playing there separately and I had gotten familiar with the room and the equipment.

There just weren't any competent sound guys that were available at the time. All the other guys I knew were working full time for the other clubs or sound companies.

For the most part, it was pretty much a set-it-and-forget-it kind of situation. I had a wireless at the time and that helped but I often didn't have to change much after soundcheck. There were usually some guys in the audience that I trusted to ride vocals if needed so that helped too. That board was located FOH. I got sound pay and playing pay.

As challenging and valuable as it was, I was very relieved when we finally got a guy to run sound.

JKT · #20 02-13-2008, 03:24 PM

I own the system but don't sinf either but sometimes my bass goes through with larger DIY gigs.

It is more difficult to babysite it now that I have started using a vertical bass more and more, so we try and have at least a serious mic/line check before each gig. The regular set-up is pretty simple so it should n't be a problem for most people to get the hang of it.

My rules and tips:

Feel free to scamper over and tweak your own darn monitor level.

I will "get to it" as soon as I can.

No, I can't always hear the tiny squeal at 3k. I have 560 watts wackin me in the butt, deal with it.

Always have more "secret headroom" than they think.

If you can make it feedback, it is easier to make it stop

Periodically start everything from flat

When they have all the monitor you got, they don't get anymore.

Everybody schlepps PA gear.

If there's ever an extra taste, it's mine.

JKT