I play in a church band and we're considering moving the location of our setup. Right now, the setup is to the right and behind the altar. We would like to move it further to the right (closer to the rear right corner of the space). The main thing we need to decide is where to put the piano as we can obviously move other things around later. Attached is a drawing of the current and proposed setup. I'd appreciate any comments. Unfortunately, our plan is to settle on something today or tomorrow so I need some quick replies.
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Quick advice on grand piano placement
- Thread starter dancrocker
- Start date
will it be mic'd? and I'm assuming seating will be adjacent to the alter? looks fine to me too - maybe swap the guitar/singers w/ it if it's not mic'd. I like seeing a piano. are the singers are on risers?
Not to be stupid, but the shape on the diagram doesn't look like a grand piano to me. Am I missing something?
Looks fine as long as it's mic'd or there isn't a set of risers or robed singers in the way. Even that's not necessarily a problem if you're bouncing off the back wall.
We can mic the piano although we traditionally don't. Seating will be on the opposite side of the altar, wrapping around it, and ending to the right of the band (when facing the band).
Sorry, I forgot to comment on the singers. They're not on risers. Could you elaborate on why having risers would be good? Is it just so people can see them?
Ok, I just clued into this. If they're on risers, they'd block the view of the piano. I get it...
yup and vice versa if not on risers. depending on the size of the room the piano should be ok in the back w/o being mic'd though you be the judge since you've played the room before.
piano is usually the crux of church music no? (I'm agnostic myself . . .) I would always assume it would need to be upfront.
Piano is a major part of the music. But, we do have an assortment of other instruments so it's not the only focus. The other thing is that the pianist is the music director so we all need to be able to watch her visual cues. Having the singers in front might make this a little tricky but we'll have to see.
The drums will bleed into the piano mics (if used).
The piano and the drums will bleed into the violin mic (if used).
The drums, bass amp, and keys amp will bleed into the vocal mics.
The bass amp should be farther than 8 feet from the corner, or - if the ceiling is lower than 12 feet, try putting it half the ceiling height from the corner.
The piano and the drums will bleed into the violin mic (if used).
The drums, bass amp, and keys amp will bleed into the vocal mics.
The bass amp should be farther than 8 feet from the corner, or - if the ceiling is lower than 12 feet, try putting it half the ceiling height from the corner.
Hi.
Any acoustic instruments performace in a specific space is unpredictable without knowledge of the space and the materials the surfaces are covered with.
Seems that You have the basics covered as the supposed sound directon of the grand piano isn't at right angles with any walls.
If You have a bit of time and some good ears, it's rather easy to find a compromise between a visible location and even sound distribution for the grand piano.
The other instruments can be placed after that.
If the decided place for the GP is far from the corner, a riser would make that corner a useful place for something.
Mic bleed will be a problem, but that's where technology and SR engineering comes into play.
Regards
Sam
Any acoustic instruments performace in a specific space is unpredictable without knowledge of the space and the materials the surfaces are covered with.
Seems that You have the basics covered as the supposed sound directon of the grand piano isn't at right angles with any walls.
If You have a bit of time and some good ears, it's rather easy to find a compromise between a visible location and even sound distribution for the grand piano.
The other instruments can be placed after that.
If the decided place for the GP is far from the corner, a riser would make that corner a useful place for something.
Mic bleed will be a problem, but that's where technology and SR engineering comes into play.
Regards
Sam
mic bleed is only as much of a problem as you make it. i regularly work with a grand piano onstage right next to a drummer with a fully mic'ed set, and the key to dealing with mic bleed is to make it work for you and eq everything as a whole, taking the bleed into consideration.
Hi.
While the internet forums may not be the most accurate place for getting a positive view on about anything really, I based my comment on the general competence of church/worship audio engineers as presented by TB
.
Over here the church music isn't amplified so no real experience about the sound levels, professional approach or lack of it etc.
Regards
Sam
While the internet forums may not be the most accurate place for getting a positive view on about anything really, I based my comment on the general competence of church/worship audio engineers as presented by TB
.Over here the church music isn't amplified so no real experience about the sound levels, professional approach or lack of it etc.
Regards
Sam
it's what you would think it is over here...anything from $500,000 permanent installations with huge choirs and bands, all-acoustic with piano and organ, and trios using cabs on poles.While the internet forums may not be the most accurate place for getting a positive view on about anything really, I based my comment on the general competence of church/worship audio engineers as presented by TB
Over here the church music isn't amplified so no real experience about the sound levels, professional approach or lack of it etc.
but i'm of the opinion that people are smart until proven stupid, and i know that's been my downfall in life but what can i tell ya? so i'm going to launch into a general rant directed to nobody in particular except maybe fokof
: here goes:the key to a good live mix lies not in how much isolation you can get, not in what mics you use and where you put them, not in how expensive your board is...it lies in how good the performance is, how good the communication between band members is, and how inspired by the performance the soundman is to make it sound as good as he/she possibly can with the tools they have.
having said that, there is certainly no reason not to optimize your setup as good as you possibly can. do whatever you can that's reasonable to get the sound happening and fix what's not working when you can. but don't make the performers uncomfortable. how happy can a drummer be to be stuck in a plexiglas box? how happy can a guitarist be if you make him turn his amp toward a wall and he can't hear it? and maybe some people in the band need to be together because they depend on each other to get through the gig. if you try to isolate things too much, everyone ends up isolated. and then they lose perspective and start trying to compensate for it by sucking.
making the performers comfortable should be first and foremost, always. if you're getting unwanted artifacts from a setup that's not the most sound acoustically, try to fix it the best you can. move mics instead of people whenever possible. and if there's something you can't overcome, try to make it work as good as you can. like i mentioned earlier, if there's bleed you can't do anything about, eq around it by taking the instruments that are bleeding into each other's mics and mix them as a whole. if the band is happy, they play better, and a band that's playing well and has a good balanced sound within themselves will always carry you through even if the mix isn't quite perfect. if the mix totally sucks because of it, that's a whole different story, but just be reasonable it and don't sweat the small stuff just because it's not by the book.
