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Quick! Learn me about compression for vocals.

#21
Geri O said:
You won't believe how many times in over 30 years, I've observed a problem like this crop up and the operator either didn't appear fazed or motivated to address the problem, or got that deer-in-the-headlights-look and froze in fear and panic.
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I am fortunate that I have excellent situational awareness as a general trait. It comes in handy when motorcycling and doing FOH. My problem-solving skills are ok overall, but there are some things I need to learn. This experience is a good reminder.

As far as panic, only once. It was during a children's Christmas program rehearsal. I was up front repositioning something - and I did back off on mains and monitors before I made the trip to stage - when a three year old grabbed a mic and threw it into a wedge. Back then I was skinny and fast, but not faster than either sound or light. By the time I kicked the plug out of the wall, the high frequency driver was history.
 
#22
Thanks, all, for your help with this. I was able to put the compression aright very quickly - there was still a mystery button on the dbx 1064, but a check of the manual online explained it perfectly. What I ended up with after messing about a bit was less compression later than what we usually run, but I like it better.

As a bonus, my mix was just fine for the first service, really good for the second, and we all (band and me) absolutely nailed it for the third. We will all file that one away. The first set at the fourth service was great also. The second set got off to a rough start, band-wise, and although they recovered well, it wasn't quite the same.

I just found out that there's a digital console in our near future. This old dog is going to have to learn a new trick. Feel free to send any general advice my way! :D
 
#23
First line advice...ENJOY THE DIGITAL CONSOLE!!

Oh, and give it some time. I've seen people get frustrated trying to learn getting around on a new digital surface. If you get frustrated, walk away for a bit, and come back to it. Also, look for instructional videos on YouTube about them. They are crazy everywhere. I"m not ashamed to say that, on a PM5D that I've been familiar with for 10 years, I had to look up a video online while on a show to help a visiting band engineer accomplish an EQ patch to a channel. I thought what the guy wanted was kinda overkill, but he did a great job for his band and I was a hero for the little bit of effort it took.

And I was 40 years old when I started working with digitals. I'm 55 now. You'll be fine...:D
 
#24
and i've been using digital boards for oh, about 6 months now, and that mostly means going from mixwizards and GLs to the mackie 1608, which is "fisher-price" compared to a PM5D!

even so, i don't wanna go back; it's so nice to have everything on each channel, to walk around the room mixing with an ipad, and to let the rest of the band use their iphones to do their own damn monitors!
 
#25
walterw said:
and i've been using digital boards for oh, about 6 months now, and that mostly means going from mixwizards and GLs to the mackie 1608, which is "fisher-price" compared to a PM5D!

even so, i don't wanna go back; it's so nice to have everything on each channel, to walk around the room mixing with an ipad, and to let the rest of the band use their iphones to do their own damn monitors!
Click to expand...

Tell you what, I've smiled more than once when I walked in to a MixWiz. Those little things are loaded with a nice feature set and sound good! And they don't weigh 550 pounds!

The infiltration of the smaller digitals has been a Godsend to the masses of club, local, and regional bands. Now it's practical to carry a small digital console, a small split-snake, and decent IEMs for everyone in the band. They can use their iPhones and maintain their own mix and not pester the bass player about their mix (eh, guys?? No more requests to "turn up my guitar" in the middle of our bass solos!...:D). The good thing is, they all sound quite decent, except the Presonus, to my ears, anyway. But I seem to be the only person that feels that way about the Presonus, so I certainly won't steer anyone away from it.

Since I've started playing again, I'm involved in 3 bands now, so I plan to get either the Behringer X32 or maybe a Soundcraft Si Compact or Expression, if Soundcraft will allow multiple remote devices (iPhones, iPads, etc.) to connect to it, and a split-snake rig so I can take care of the monitors for the groups I play with. All I ask is that the player get their own earbuds and RF IEM rig, if they want that. Before I stopped playing in the 90s, there was positively no way in hell I could have done this so easily and inexpensively!

I'm enjoying the conversation, even though my primary focus is playing these days. That's why I keep butting it...:eek:
 
#26
Yep. I've been spending some time on Soundcraft's site and YouTube. Things are starting to get a little less murky, but I know that putting hands on it will be far different.

Fortunately, it looks like we'll be getting the bigger version of what they already have in the children's venues. So I get to practice in a roomful of rugrats before inflicting pain on a roomful of adults. :eyebrow:

And I'm not the only one who will be learning. All three of us FOH volunteers are analog. Oh boy.
 

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