Set up without soundchecks

[graver555]

Hello everyone. Tommorow morning I will be playing with our schools showchoir at a competition. For those who have never done this you get about 5 minutes to set up and then you play. No mikeing instruments or anything. Mayby monitors. It will be either in a auditiorium or possible a gym.

Any tips on what sort of eq'ing I can do before hand? I cant hear very well tonewise whats happeing from behind the choir risers so I cant really adjust dureing the show. Does anyone know what kind of adjusting I can do just to get close to a good tone? My amp is a 15 inch acoustic combo and it is inside a big box on wheels. Dont have pictures because its loaded on a trailer at the highschool right now.

 

[HolmeBass]

Set the amp reasonably flat, not too much boost or cut anywhere, and then hopefully you can make needed adjustments on your bass. If you have an EQ pedal use it as well to help with unruly bass or lacking mids if need be, but overall don't sweat it too much, mostly focus on playing well and having good energy.

 

[runmikeyrun]

Don't crank the bass, as you will be tempted to, because you'll never fill a gym or auditorium with even a decent size amp setup. Work on the right balance of mids so people hear you in the mix and keeping the volume appropriate. Oh yeah, there's gonna be a LOT of reverb in a gym, so be ready to hear things like vocals and snare with a delay. It can get a little confusing, so just concentrate on your part.

 

[pflash4001]

Think trumpets and saxes for volume. If nothing is being mic'd, then think like you're using an acoustic instrument. Two other things. As mentioned earlier, there will be ALOT of reverb in a gym or even worse, of you have what we had at our old school...the dreaded cafetorium...a freakish cafeteria/auditorium bastard stepchild, so focus on your CONDUCTOR! It will be very easy to get lost with a lot of echo in the hall. The other thing is HAVE FUN! Don't sweat the details. The music will speak for itself. The judges aren't there to judge the limitations of your gear (within reason.) They are looking to see how you execute. GOOD LUCK AND HAVE FUN! I remember playing for my school showchoir 25 years ago!

 

[graver555]

Don't crank the bass, as you will be tempted to, because you'll never fill a gym or auditorium with even a decent size amp setup.

Even if I dont fill it I can still overpower our girls only choir. But they didnt compete today and the mixed group is louder so I can use a bit more volume. The pa's usually arnt that powerfull at these things. A ton of mikes and wires though. I think there were four wired mikes and 3 wireless up front. I think 2 monitors for the front and I couldnt see it but we had good monitor sound in the back for the band too which is very nice.

I had the mid lows turned up around 2:30 which is higher then normal to try to cut through without more volume. It ended up a bit growlier then I liked but it worked. I also realized that my amp dosnt sound really good to pop the g string turned up. Probably cuz its a 15 inch combo but ohwell. The only other amps I have is a smaller 15 and a hartke 4x10 but I dont want to use that because its the schools and way bigger.

All in all I think it was pretty succesfull music wise. A bit of drama with the director but ohwell. Thanks for the suggestions. I was thinking I needed to turn the lows way day to not sound boomy but I dont think I did. It was hard to tell on the recording. I ended up basically sidefilling the stage with my amp due to the position I was in. First time I heard myself on a recording actually when the choir was singing in 4 years haha