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Mic v. DI
- Thread starter Joe.shaffer
- Start date
Rick Auricchio
Registered Bass Offender
On a noisy stage, a mic may pick up too much ambient sound. Many variables: the mic, its position, the band volume and the FOH operator.
Having both DI and mic allows the FOH guy to choose a mix of the two.
Having both DI and mic allows the FOH guy to choose a mix of the two.
Lot's of threads on this.
If you use your amp to significantly color your tone (i.e., tube overdrive, driver grind from old sealed multi 10 cabs, etc.), mic'ing a cab makes sense.
If, on the other hand, you use a more clean, pure tone, it makes very little sense, and a good, transparent DI is much easier for sound professionals to deal with.
If you use your amp to significantly color your tone (i.e., tube overdrive, driver grind from old sealed multi 10 cabs, etc.), mic'ing a cab makes sense.
If, on the other hand, you use a more clean, pure tone, it makes very little sense, and a good, transparent DI is much easier for sound professionals to deal with.
I prefer a mic'd cab, but bring my own DI (countryman) so that when I have to, I'm getting the sound of my head (70's V4, no DI out). I had a gig the other night where the sound guy went to hook up his DI off my pedal board, so I got mine out and had him set that up, then he was like "oh and I'm going to set up this mic in front of your cab so it looks cool, but I'm not going to turn it on." 
Mic vs. DI = recording vs. live performance imo. Mics sound more natural but DI's are usually more practical for live gigs.
I run both. Usually, the mic goes to the main PA, and the D/I signal to the subs (if they have them). I also use both in the studio. Makes a big difference.
Cheers!
Cheers!
Ric5
Inactive
- Jan 29, 2008
- 29,772
- 30,452
- Disclosures
- I like 5, 8, 10, and 12 string basses
Ungodly Watts = bad back
Mic = problematic bass response (in my experience)
DI = best of all worlds.
Guitar is another thing - gotta have a mic, no doubt.
But bass? Same with keys - the idea is to not let your amp color your sound, right? A buddy of mine uses a bass rig I put together for him for his keyboards - and it sounds great. Interestingly, I've found that bass sounds pretty good through good keyboard amps, too.
Mic = problematic bass response (in my experience)
DI = best of all worlds.
Guitar is another thing - gotta have a mic, no doubt.
But bass? Same with keys - the idea is to not let your amp color your sound, right? A buddy of mine uses a bass rig I put together for him for his keyboards - and it sounds great. Interestingly, I've found that bass sounds pretty good through good keyboard amps, too.
+1
Or if you use a lot of effects or modeling, it's much better to send a DI after the effects/modeler. The sound engineer will have a accurate signal of the sound you want to convey.
If you have multiple drivers in your amp, like a woofer, mid, and tweeter, it's nearly impossible to set up a single mic.
My sound guy is a bass player. I run my bass in direct, run another signal from the DI on my preamp (post everything), and then mic. He mixes the three channels til it sounds how I like it, and he knows my tone. I don't even need to check FOH sound anymore, and compliments on my sound and tone are so common that they've all just blended into a pure certainty in my mind that this 3 pronged approach is the only way to support bass in the PA. Every room is different. Every stage is different. If you have the channels on the board, use 'em!!!
The one trouble is that it's tough to change stage volume without changing FOH volume. To get this done we compress the mic in front of the cab so that I can boost that volume without it boosting FOH sound too much. If I want to boost FOH and stage volume, I hit the volume pedal in my effects loop.
It's a little bit of tweaking and getting to know the setup, but it is the best setup I've ever used.
Perhaps you don't have your own guy, and perhaps your sound engineer is not a bass player. If this is the case, fire them immediately, and hire a bass player to run your PA!!!
The one trouble is that it's tough to change stage volume without changing FOH volume. To get this done we compress the mic in front of the cab so that I can boost that volume without it boosting FOH sound too much. If I want to boost FOH and stage volume, I hit the volume pedal in my effects loop.
It's a little bit of tweaking and getting to know the setup, but it is the best setup I've ever used.
Perhaps you don't have your own guy, and perhaps your sound engineer is not a bass player. If this is the case, fire them immediately, and hire a bass player to run your PA!!!
I prefer to use a mic, but I usually go with DI. Maybe it's just a problem with my MXR, but sometimes when I connect to a board I get some added signal noise. And usually all the ground lift switch does is change who gets it, me or the sound guy. A mic doesn't interfere with my signal, plus I like my GK sound.
Some of these models are okay, both the line6 variety, and the COSM (roland) iteration.
However, to me they sound processed, digital, sterile, and lack any of the real sweetness in the amps they model. I have probably $1000 worth of modeling gear that gathers dust because it's clear that a good rig is much better.
I'll say that I find their guitar models to be great, for the most part.
Also, if you are running an amp modeler, they tend to sound nicer through PA cabs than through bass cabs. Go figure.
