• TalkBass has been independent since 1998. Add your voice.
    Create a free account to reply to discussions, view embedded media, and browse with fewer display ads.
    Join free Log in
    Want zero display ads or expanded classifieds tools? Compare plans.

whole band going DI - tips?

#21
All except drum here.
Guitar 1: Line 6 HD500
Guitar 2/keyboardist: laptop, MIDI, XLR's out
Me: Line 6 BassPODXTLive, Radial DI

Works fine for us and FOH really LOVE not having to deal with a stage blaring at them. Makes YOU sound better to the owner and the audience. Makes getting on and off the stage MUCH easier.
 
#23
We got tired of lugging around an 810 bass rig and two 412 guitar rigs. But we didn't go direct, we just downsized by cutting everything in half to a 410 and 2 212 guitar rigs. We've been playing together for a long time and when we got the 810 and 412s that's pretty much what you needed at the time to get some good saturation out of a 100w tube guitar rig. But now there are tons of companies making 25-30w "mini" amps for example the orange dual terror, the Mesa mini rectifier, and the line 6 dt. These little amps sound great and are plenty loud enough for everyone to hear themselves and get better tube saturation at more reasonable levels.

We did look into running direct. We've always recorded scratch tracks in the studio direct while the drummer tracked drums and we demo songs with a pod hd and a laptop with slate drums and reaper. For guitars its not much of an issue but as far as wedges it was pretty much impossible to find wedges that handled bass well that wasnt really expensive . When you start looking at adding a pa sub, for sake of moving and wieght it just seemed like a better deal to get smaller amps. I've seen many guitar players use a pod or axe fx into a wedge to replace a traditional guitar rigs And that can work. My rig is a sans amp RBI with a head that's just used as a power amp for my bass cab which is essentially my monitor and I run my sans amp direct at gigs. But I really think for bass in a "loud" rock or metal band, to go ampless you need to look at in ears. For us we couldn't get everyone on board with the idea of everyone using in ears so we decided against them
 
#24
My B-15 once gave up a preamp tube seconds before a gig started, and I didn't have time to set up the PF350 so I just had them run my bass into my monitor, and I hated life for 90 minutes. The DI was awesome (REDDI), but the monitor wasn't. So I can't do it. I need air movement.
 
#25
I went DI for about a year. The best way to make it really work well is go in ear monitors. I stopped going with a DI box because my tone suffered a lot. I went back to my rig and the sound guy and I are much happier with my tone now. The only way I will go DI again is when I get in ear monitors. My guitarists still go DI with the black star pedals.
 
#26
I've done it in one rock band, and it makes for a really good FOH mix, since there's no bleed. It does mean a lot of work to get the onstage sound right, though.

We used my Presonus digital board, with 5 monitor mixes to individual wedges. I used my Eden head as a pre, guitarists used Axe FX digital rigs. Drummer had a real kit, stuffed to it was next to silent, with triggers for a digital unit. Looked massive, but no drum mics picking up transients.

It takes some getting used to, and you certainly don't get that big low end kick in the butt. (Anything that kicks out serious low end is going to be heard FOH, and will defeat the purpose.) It's a really nice stage level to work with, though, and we never had any trouble hearing our vocals.
 
#27
Call me crazy but I never minded bleed. Some bleed is good for a mix IMHO. Separation is also good, but sometimes they take it too far. Putting drummers in cages and using electronic drum sets doesn't get it for me. I don't want to hear everyone else in my monitor, and that's what it forces. I once had a drummer get insanely mad at me for not bringing an amp to one gig years ago because it meant I had to go in his monitor. Didn't get it until I did another gig where they forced our drummer to use a cage. Last time that ever happened!
 
#29
JimmyM said:
My B-15 once gave up a preamp tube seconds before a gig started, and I didn't have time to set up the PF350 so I just had them run my bass into my monitor, and I hated life for 90 minutes. The DI was awesome (REDDI), but the monitor wasn't. So I can't do it. I need air movement.
Click to expand...

I'm glad somebody else dais it. Congrats if you can make it work and like it. I don't. My rig has gotten a bit smaller over the years. But I still like having a little vibration on the back of my legs. And those digital guitar rigs really don't sound great to me. But, again, go for it! Enjoy the easy load in/out.
 
#30
did this in a techno/industrial band a while back. everything went into a simple Mackie 1604.
we carried 3 JBL EON 15's. 2 up front, 1 in back
used the aux sends on the mackie to feed the JBL's 3 separate mixes
used the L-R mix to send to FOH
sometimes the FOH wanted each signal individually, in which case we just gave them the direct outs from each channel on the mackie.
Other times, they were super happy with the L-R mix.

I think the trick is to use the same setup in rehearsal, so when you get on stage, the sound will be familiar. have 1 band member on stage running the mixer, and adjust in the same order every time, so each person is not shouting, "more ME!"

This is what we used, 9 channels total:

gtr - ADA MP1
bass - MXR M80
synth1 - Countryman DI
synth2 - Countryman DI
drums - kick, snare, OH
vox - TC Helicon rack thing (2 channels)

it worked pretty well, those JBL's can pump some good bass!
 
#31
Subscribed.


Our blues band is taking baby steps down this road. Our guitarist uses a pedalboard, and although he does prefer coming from his tube amp, he isn't beyond "traveling light" for certain gigs.

And most importantly, our drummer (who was already volume conscious) just bought a nice set of electric drums.

The last few practices, and our last gig we ALL drastically reduced our stage volume and everyone went through the PA (still use backline amps but they are turned way down), our live sound has never been better.

Still interested in how much lighter can we go, and how much better can we sound.
 
#32
JimmyM said:
Call me crazy but I never minded bleed. Some bleed is good for a mix IMHO. Separation is also good, but sometimes they take it too far. Putting drummers in cages and using electronic drum sets doesn't get it for me. I don't want to hear everyone else in my monitor, and that's what it forces. I once had a drummer get insanely mad at me for not bringing an amp to one gig years ago because it meant I had to go in his monitor. Didn't get it until I did another gig where they forced our drummer to use a cage. Last time that ever happened!
Click to expand...

Point taken. There's nothing in the world like that organic feel standing next to the drums and locking in.

In an ideal world, the band could play together at a reasonable and fun volume, and the entire audience could hear and feel every note. I know... dream on... :hmm:
 
#33
the explode man said:
My band does this about the same way as you describe. We use the Allen and Heath MixWizard 3M, then we have some wireless units for IEM and gits, then we have our preamp stuff all in one rack.

It works like a charm. Being on stage sounds and feels exactly the same as being in the jam room and is very comfortable.

I'd recommend it!

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/...7165179&set=vb.344681915620567&type=3&theater
Click to expand...

Both of these +1

We run DI for everything too. We have a 10U rack with all of our effects and pre's. I use my GB 9.2 as an extra power amp for the sub. (pre-amp runs to board and power amp section runs to sub.) We have 500W each going to our mains and 500W to a fEarful 15' sub. We all run IEM. For small shows we only mic Kick and over head for drums. Works perfect and have plenty of head room for outdoor shows. this year played an outdoor stage with pro sound support. (so our PA was not needed) When we showed up with a line 6 pedal board, my GB head and IEM's, the sound guys got this big grin on their faces and actually enjoyed working with us. They said it was the easiest set up and sound check they did all week. They didn't have to fight with on stage amplification. One fair go'er said our mix was better than anyone else he heard on that stage all week too.

A little advice from my experience - Remember to use good quality power amps, good mains/sub and quality pre amps, processors and EQ's. With todays Digital power amps and NEO speaker cabs you can build a killer system that doesn't weigh a tone either.

Another thing I learned is that adding an additional EQ in the IEM's signal chain really helped with the sound quality in my ears. (especially for bass. Not as necessary, but still recommended for other mixes.)

Anyway, good luck. I think you'll really enjoy it once you get used to not having a bass rig behind you.

Cheers.
 
#35
Floyd Eye said:
That's because that's the only way it could possibly work consistently. Even then there will be anomalies and situations where it isn't going to work.
Click to expand...

Not totally true. There are anomalies like no PA or a small PA and a bare stage where obviously you are screwed.

Besides that, this is getting more and more common. Super easy to use. All you need is a snake on stage and soundguy who knows how to handle a clean signal. It's easier than micing.

I know bands who bring ipads so they can each customize their own mix. So you don't need your own sound guy or crew. When I was touring we needed our drum tech to also do our in ear monitor mix. Looks like that is not needed now. This is a great way to save your ears and have a great mix as well.

Lots of national acts are moving to fractal amps for guitar, and just going DI as a bass player is always fantastic for me at least.

In short, you need in ears. You need a stage with a snake and a good PA. You wont need your own sound guy as long as the guy there has a small clue of what he is doing.
 
#36
Groove Doctor said:
No Amps? Take your own sound engineer.
Click to expand...

Not True, for most "smallish" club shows we keep our rack on stage with us and mix it ourselves. during sound check we walk around the club to make sure it's good for FOH, but then we make minor adjustments on the fly between songs. It's a piece of cake. If management says we need to turn down or up, I move the main's slider up or down and the whole band is instantly adjusted. I don't have to fight with guitar players to turn down either. :bassist: Everyone gets turned down the same. (It helps that our drummer is actually able and willing to adjust how hard he hits the skins :hyper:)

I honestly don't think I'll ever go back to lugging a complete bass rig around again.

Cheers.
 

Latest posts

Top Bottom
Back