troubles in the boom room

[cchorney]

So I played a freebie gig this weekend in an atrium - a BIG room with all hard surfaces, 40 ish foot ceilings, and we had a curved wall behind us.

Hence the name, my sound was all boom.

Interestingly, my sound was worst where I was standing, right in front of my amp, a MB CMD102P which is normally not a boomy amp. I am guessing I was hearing the sound reflecting off the wall behind us, which being curved focused it a bit. I had my amp about 4 feel in front of the wall. I tried angling the amp back and leaving it flat, either way it was all boom, no tone. BUT... if I walked out 15 or so feet away, the low frequency boominess faded quite a bit and it sounded ok. I ended up dialing back the lows to about 3/10 and the low mids to 4/10 with the VLE and VPF filters at 0/10 so I could hear my sound. This is on a 2x10 rig, I normally leave everything at 5/10 except VLE at 3/10 and VPF at 0/10.

I was playing without PA support.

So, here is my question. Is there a way to reduce boominess in this environment by adjusting where or how I position my amp? I can't do an in ear monitor directly from this amp (which would be a nice option if there's any MB reps lurking!)

Here is an image of the band after us so you can see the set up:

 

[Back2Bassics]

Yes, there is. There are many proper ways and even more "tricks". However, there are whole books written on the subject, so instead of me regurgitating information from sources I don't remember, I suggest doing some internet searching. Potentially useful terms: sound engineering, audio reflection, sound focusing, amplifier placement, etc. I found some of the most useful information in audio recording books.

I took a class on audio engineering that was a great eye(ear)-opener. You might be able to find one depending on your location.

 

[uhdinator]

I've found from a mixing standpoint and from playing that cutting low mid in the 150-250hz range can clear up some of the boom in big empty rooms and make the overall sound a bit more intelligible.

 

[cchorney]

I've found from a mixing standpoint and from playing that cutting low mid in the 150-250hz range can clear up some of the boom in big empty rooms and make the overall sound a bit more intelligible.

Yea that's essentially what I did, except I pulled out the lows too. It was a bit frustrating at the time, we were band number 3 of 4 so there was no time for a sound check which would have brought this out prior to playing.

Back2basics, thanks for the search term suggestions.

 

[JimmyM]

just recite the aa prayer and hope for the best. you can't make a crappy sounding room not crappy. you can only deal with it as good as you can.