newbie, live sound for pub

[chickenJames]

Since no one has answered his questions about how to set his amp eq's...here goes

Start flat.
Listen.

Listen, with the band playing, usually a tone that cuts thru a band and sounds great in the mix doesn't sound so great by itself, so listen with everyone playing and adjust. . If it's too boomy out front cut the lows. Lost in the mix, add mids. Need more definition, add higher mids/highs. The key is to listen. Be careful adjusting the eq for on stage. It sounds way different out front than where you are standing. If your soundman is good ask him to listen and direct you on what to add or subtract. He is out front, you are not.

Listen...adjust...like..stop messing with the knobs and play

ymmv

thanks - and that's pretty much what I did. I ended up having to cut a little of the low end (lowest two sliders on the graphic) because there was a boom, and after that all was well. I played a couple of songs without the IEMs, and my amp sounded extremely loud, but the sound guy says it was fine at the back of the room. I guess it's hard to tell when you're standing right next to it ?
The audience tells me that the balance was good, and we absolutely had a great gig. They wouldn't let us leave at the end, which I guess must be a good sign

Loads of people I didn't know complimented me on the sound and my playing - nice when it happens.

 

[chickenJames]

 

[morgansterne]

I would treat the keys differently because guitar and bass sound best coming out of an amp. Having the keys coming out of elevated speakers also means they'll require less watts/speaker area to get loud enough compared to an amp sitting on the floor. Plus it saves space on the little pub stage (if there even is a stage).

 

[moody]

I would treat the keys differently because guitar and bass sound best coming out of an amp. Having the keys coming out of elevated speakers also means they'll require less watts/speaker area to get loud enough compared to an amp sitting on the floor. Plus it saves space on the little pub stage (if there even is a stage).

Those are all highly subjective and debatable points. All the noise on stage is coming out of an amp. I would debate whether the average member of the public could tell if clean bass for example was coming from a bass amp or the PA (with subs).

The keys are a full range instrument. A lot of low mid and low through the PA without a crossover is going to inflict on the quality of the vocal (which is also why I keep the kick out no matter what). If you have a proper crossover and sub then I am all for your method.

My opinion is that the vocal is the most important thing for the public to hear clearly. Everything else is at least mildly less important. Your comments about elevation equally apply to guitars and I would normally mic them at least a tiny bit through a vocal PA. For coverage more than volume.

 

[PAguy]

Not that you asked, but........

All those drum mics seem overkill for a small PA in a small pub. If you do not need PA support for the drums, but need to get drums into your IEMs, I find a mic in the kick drum and one overhead works great. This is what we do in my band. We are on IEMs and in small pubs we all get plenty of drum signal in our ears.
To tell you the truth, this drum mic setup would work well enough for drums in the house PA too.