#1831526 - 10/28/07 11:34 AM
New guy just starting. Sound questions.
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denmeister
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Registered: 10/28/07
Posts: 2
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Hi guys. Ok, I played in high school but quit in the early 70's. I am getting back into the swing again and have a few questions. The group I am in plays Classic Country. Here is my question. Our #1 person who happens to be my brother inlaw, is determined to run everything through the PA. At this point, our system consists of a Mackie 500 watt 15" powered unit with horn and a (forgive me please)Berringer 32 channel mixer. Last gig we played for, the sound was terrible. Vocals were very muted, no clarity, and we were getting a lot of feedback. As we just got the mixer, our sound man (my inexperienced nephew)did not know the system. Now please correct me if I am wrong, but Brother an nephew were trying to regulate the volume from the mic's with the gain control instead of the channels fader. Which will induce the most feedback. Also, they did not have the graphic EQ or the feedback detection system switched on. What is the best way to address the feedback problem. Also, opinions on running everything through the single powered unit. I have a 500 watt pa system with 2 12" mains with horns and 2 10" mo9itors with horns but he does not seem to want to utilize the system. Do to the inexperience of the nephew and no confidence in the pa, I refuse to turn over my bass sound to him until I feel I can trust his judgement. The other question I have, please keep in mind that I have been out of the loop for a long time, I keep hearing and seeing the term headroom. A preamp I am looking at for one of my basses states that it won't give anymore volume but will inrease the headroom. Can anyone please give me a definition of headroom.
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#1831939 - 10/29/07 07:25 AM
Re: New guy just starting. Sound questions.
[Re: denmeister]
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Griffinator
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Registered: 03/28/02
Posts: 9354
Loc: Lynchburg, VA, USA
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If you have someone behind the board with zero experience, it's going to be a disaster, particularly since he's acting like he knows more than he does. There's absolutely no reason to run every single instrument through a single powered speaker. That's just senseless.
Oh - and yeah, take that board back and spend the extra to get a better one. You'll be glad you did about 2 years from now.
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#1839664 - 11/12/07 08:24 AM
Re: New guy just starting. Sound questions.
[Re: Griffinator]
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audiorulez
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Registered: 06/20/07
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You're PA does not have nearly the capabilities to reinforce anything more than vocals.
Once input gains are set, unless there is a significant change in incoming nominal signal level, they should not be touched. Mix adjustments are done via the channel faders, NOT input gains. Changing input gains will change signal levels to all outputs, monitors, effect sends, and FOH.
Keep it simple, Simon. Get a good vocal sound, and adjust stage volume as necessary to ensure that everyone onstage can hear without overpowering vocals. This may require turning down amps, drummer hitting softer, repositioning amplifiers, but basically it means a good understanding of dynamics and that louder does NOT equal better. No one is going to care about the great guitar sound if they cannot hear the vocals.
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#1852614 - 12/06/07 08:51 PM
Re: New guy just starting. Sound questions.
[Re: audiorulez]
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RicBassGuy
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Registered: 02/02/05
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Any resolution on this, denmeister?
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#1853634 - 12/08/07 10:49 PM
Re: New guy just starting. Sound questions.
[Re: RicBassGuy]
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denmeister
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Registered: 10/28/07
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Ya, I think we are getting things worked out. Iv'e finally convinced the bro inlaw that we will get better sound by just going ahead and adding equip myself to demonstrate. Things are starting to come together. The only thing I still have a question on is the definition of headroom. I see the term used often but have not figured out what is being refered to . An example is the EMG active pickups that I have replaced my stock ones with. They will run on 9volts but it is suggested to run 18 volts which give more headroom but not more volume. Any ideas???? Thanks for your reply.
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#1854164 - 12/10/07 04:56 AM
Re: New guy just starting. Sound questions.
[Re: denmeister]
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Griffinator
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Registered: 03/28/02
Posts: 9354
Loc: Lynchburg, VA, USA
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Definition of headroom, quick and dirty version:
Supplying more power than you need to drive your equipment.
Purpose (in PA applications):
To prevent clipping distortion from maxing out the amplifiers, which in turn preserves your speakers.
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#1886770 - 02/06/08 10:17 PM
Re: New guy just starting. Sound questions.
[Re: RicBassGuy]
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Soundcrafter
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Registered: 12/19/01
Posts: 611
Loc: Toronto, Ontario, Canada
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Another way to see it is that headroom is the amount of signal that a circuit can take before it begins to distort. So when they say the piece of gear in question will have greater headroom but not increase volume, it means it will be able to input/output more signal before it becomes overloaded.
How big are the venues you're playing? I work as a sound engineer and sometimes I mix a friend's band in the odd club (3 piece: guitar/vocals, bass and drums). They have their own similar PA; Mackie SRM450's with the 15" active sub and a Mackie CFX-20 mixer with EQ for each output(L/R + 2 monitor mixes) and a couple of compressors. I think if the nephew is interested in improving and pursuing sound engineering you should all avoid the feedback detection stuff and trust your ears. It takes a bit of time to start but once you keep in practice it's not too hard. if you watch colour bars on tv now and then it's a good way to always remember 1 kHz as a reference point.
Sorry, I got on a tangent there! As for the mix in the PA, if you're doing bars and smaller venues like that, generally only vocals are *needed* in the mix. If the PA has the headroom and you feel it's needed, adding a bit of snare and some snap on the bass drum can help as well. Of course, this depends on the style, lots of top end on a jazz bass drum is just baaaad. Other than that, solos can be brought into the PA as needed.
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"If you're flammable and have legs, you are never blocking a fire exit. Unless you are a table."
-Mitch Hedberg
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