REPRINTED FROM AN
ARTICLES I WROTE FOR iBLUEGRASS.COM (Ray Graeff- editor,
bluegrassroad.com)
THE SOUNDMAN AND THE ONE MIKE SYSTEM
BY Ray Graeff
A while back Skip Ogden of iBluegrass Magazine said, “Hey, write me some sound guy articles for the net magazine”. “OK”, I said, not knowing it was gonna turn into a regular deal. So..... I wrote a couple on the shortcomings of both sound people and musicians who abuse the principles of working on stage with live sound systems.
I wrote a couple of these little blurbs, expecting to have an influx of pro and con comments from the readers. Nothing happened. Skip said, “Be more controversial, stir em up”. So I did. Must have hit a nerve with the one mike subject, because here came the comments rolling in. Funny, though, there is no middle ground. The replies I got were either totally in agreement or totally opposed to my assessment of the one mike situation. “Hummmm”
One comment that sticks out in my mind is “There are many advantages to the one mike system, (I’m aware of only one, circumvent the sound man. .....Slap.....) and I see nothing wrong with it, why are you so opposed to it’s use”? Good question, one I did not address at all technically.
So here goes. I have spent a lot of years and dollars assembling a high quality sound system. The low frequency response of my system starts about 40cps. (cycles per second) and goes up to about 15,000 cps. (upper limits of most peoples hearing is about 13,500, depending on age and ear problems) I know the manufacturer of the one mike deals list the frequency response as 40cps to 20,000 cps, but there is no consideration in that number taking distance from the mic into the equation. What do you have when you work on stage, The bass in the back, singer in the front, mandolin on the left X feet away, banjo on the right X unknown feet away, and the guitar tucked in the middle, between the cracks. Then it comes time for 4 part harmony, everyone crowds in to the mike so they can be heard, depending on the ego drives of each individual. When you change distance from the microphone, the sound qualities of the instrument and the voice changes. If you take an equalizer and raise all the middle tabs up so the middle frequencies dominate, and lower both ends, you have a bout the same sound as working a Microphone from 8 feet away. You have only middle tonal pitch, not much in the way of highs and a tremendous decifit in low tones. Quality of sound depends a lot on the harmonics of musical notes, the lowest and highest of those harmonics are greatly attenuated on the one mic. system. The heavy bottom resonance of that expensive Martin guitar you’re playing, 5 feet from the microphone is gone, bass frequencies and lower harmonics do not carry as well through the air as do higher notes. When the picker brings his Martin up to within 18 to 24 inches of the mike they are suddenly there again. He does his lead break and then steps back to his original position. ( Back in the dirt, sound people call it) Why would anybody pay $3,000.00 for a good Martin and then use it 10 feet from the mic. where it sounds like a catalog reject. You’d just as well play a $129.00 one, sounds the same. Save your Martin for Jammin out under the trees.
A good sound man spends years developing an ear for pickin up things like that. The trick is (on a multiple microphone set up) to adjust the tone controls on each individual mike to fit the voice or instrument to make them sound as natural as possible, like you were standing right next to them. If a guitar is a little short on bottom resonance, the sound guy can add that, if a banjo has a lot of highs in it and sound pinkey, the sound guy can fix that too. Ya hafta watch banjo’s, messin with it too much can hide the “Knock” a banjo needs to drive the tempo and the whole feel of the music. Each instrument has their own needs like that, and they are all different. Single mic situations deny all that, you must take a middle of the road sound with no chance to help any individual. Progress............? I don’t think so.
I’m sure you feel like a dedicated bluegrasser. You want others to appreciate what you like. If you pick, I’m sure you take pride in all those chromatic runs you do when you pick your lead break in “Nashville Skyline”. There is no doubt you are really proud when you do it just right and the audience applauds. It’s why you’re up there on stage, the driving force of why you do it. Why is it so hard for folks to imagine the pride a soundman takes in making your band sound awesome. If your band gets a standing ovation for a really great performance, that soundman is right there with ya, and he swells with pride in a job well done, as much as if he has played all those great instrumental breaks. He has in fact presented to the audience your best effort and maybe even tweaked a control on his board that made you sound even better than you really are. A good sound man can be as much an artist of the control board as any picker. You should demand the best you can get, after all he is a part of your band for that time you spend on stage. Some sound people are like a Tony Rice of the sound board, others aren’t. Tell the promoter you want the best out there.
It’s just that with the One Mike deal a sound man feel’s so damned helpless. From his years of experience, he hears all those little things that need fixin and he can’t do a thing about it. If the guitar’s too loud, so be it. If the timber on the banjo is hurtin people’s sensitive ears, nothin he can do. It’s painful for a dedicated sound man to tolerate. He’s helpless, and he wants soooooo bad to correct those little things he knows from experience would make your performance better. There are those reading this last statement saying, “yeah that’s exactly why we’re doin the One Mic thing, to keep that dipstick sound guy from constantly messin with the mix”. You’re right of course, It is YOUR band and YOUR performance at stake here. But what about all those times when a really good sound man helped you sound better than you really are. Just one of my favorite tricks is to take the bass singer on a great gospel song and mess with the eq. where he sounds awesome, roll off the highs a little and boost the lows to make him sound like Ray Deaton. Then on the last note, push the bass singers level fader up to make him dominate so the hold note has lots of punch, the crowd will go nuts. There are dozens of little things like that the seasoned sound man does for you and you never realize it. It’s one of those situations where you’re danged if ya do and danged if ya don’t.
There is no way a band on stage can tell what the level and quality of their performance sounds like when they’re up there pickin. There are no monitors, they would only squeal if you tried. Sure, they can hear a little bit of the mains bouncin off the trees or the walls, and they know they’re gettin out there loud enough but that’s it. On the one mic deal you must have a TRUSTED critic out there in the audience to either give you hand signals or tell you after the show what you should have done to make it better. It’s just a little late at that point.
There are a couple of ways for the one mic. user to learn the proper use and distance from the mic. to make a performance good. One is for the band leader or th boss, to wear headphones during a practice session. You’ll find this is very distracting and ruins your concentration. The other is to have a trusted fellow musician out front to actually tell you how far from the mic. and just when to close up or step back to make the mix proper, something the sound guy usually does for you. Every song must be choreographed just like a dance, and remembered by every member in the band. Not an easy chore. Now you must remember what song is next, who does the kick off, what key is it in, how did it go and what’s the first words to the song, A staggering amount of things to think about. Now comes an additional load of trying to remember just where and how far from the mic. you were told to stand. Talk about loosing control of your band, it is no longer likely that you can do all these things at once, trying to concentrate on quality, timing, pitch, harmony parts and all the rest, plus remember where you’re supposed to be in relation to the microphone.
In my opinion, I have only seen two bands that really carry off the one mic. thing with professional expertise, and have noticed some shortcomings even with those two. They are of course Doyle Lawson , one of the first to initiate the re-surgence of the one mic. system. The other is Karl Shifflet, out of Texas. Other copycat users seem to be doing it just for the sake of the unusual and because it’s kinda cool.
If you have already gone to the one microphone system, or are thinking about doing it, you’d better be ready to spend many hours working out all the moves required to make your performance just right. Otherwise, why do it at all. If you’re going to go to all that trouble, why didn’t you refine your “ working the mic.” techniques on the original system and take care of most of the problems you’re complaining about.
I sure wish I had all the answers to your questions about the one mic. thing. Sorry, I just don’t. It’s going to take quite a while for the dust to settle and in the mean time sound companies are going to find themselves putting their good name and equipment into some pretty low quality audio coming off festival stages. It’s painful, I tell ya, when folks in the crowd turn around and look at ya sitting behind a sound board with that look on their faces that says, “Lord, what is the matter with the sound, DO SOMETHING”. Helpless feeling, I’ll tell ya.
I still welcome your emails concerning this subject. Maybe I’ll learn more about the motivations behind this current trend.
Thanks for visiting with me. Come back, I’ll still be here Leanin’ against this same ole Oak tree, ready to shake and howdy
Ray Graeff- Audio Plus Sound Service
WHAT THE HECK IS A DB?
by Ray Graeff.
How come sound people don’t talk in normal terms, like Volts and amps and stuff? Well....... how would you like to write down a number like... .000037926 of a volt.... simply saying -27 db is a lot easier.
The term decibel really came from the phone company, and they of course wanted to honor the name Alexander Graham Bell, soooo... they came up with the term.... deci---- Bell. Ok, now we have that settled, what is it? In technical terms, 0 db is one volt peak to peak cross a 600 ohm impedance load. I know, I know, what’s and Ohm, and what’s impedance.... patience, we’ll talk about them in a minute. The phone company originally didn’t want to write down all those multi-digit numbers either, and they thought well, lets use a non-linear number (a number based on the parabolic curve in engineering), and it worked out pretty well. They settled on what is called the logarhymic principle. In Logarhyms, for each 3, the power either increases by twice as much or half as much depending on if the levels are going up or down. If you amplify a signal from some source you have no control over and double the signal, you have raised that level by 3 db, if you double that you have +6, and double that.... you have +9. Going the other way is the same thing... -3 is halving the amount of signal you started with (whatever it is), -6 is half of that, and -9 is half of that..... simple. When you get down to really small amounts of voltage, as you often do in sound work, you don’t have to write down all those multi-digit numbers. Whew......... sure am glad.
It all boils down to---- if you turn the banjo down 3 db on your fader control, the banjo is now half as loud as it was before you moved it.... If you push it up by 3 db it is twice as loud as before you moved it... the levels are all relative to what you started with, whatever that may be, and you don’t necessarily need to do all the math involved... it’s an easy reference that is understandable. You don’t have time to do all that.... you just know the banjo needs to go up or come down and you do it... without thinking about it. When it comes down to mixing levels in a studio environment, these numbers become really important. There are meters that read in db’s, and set formulas for setting the lead instrument, harmonies, bass and everything based on the levels of the lead singer... tough to do that by ear many times.... besides, it’s quicker.
OK, now what’s an Ohm? I could spout all kinds of technical stuff to you, but in layman’s terms you have 0 Ohms when you short two wires together (no resistance). All of the available current flows into the short circuit and is burned in the form of heat. Most resistance’s in electronics are in the form of carbon or nickchrome wire devices called “resistors”, but there are other forms of resistance as well, like the windings in a coil (transformer or speaker coil). When you place an Ohm meter across most speaker wires, you have 8 Ohms... pretty close to a short really. As the numbers get higher, less and less power flows through whatever device you are measuring. There are other factors involved but basically, if you want to cut the power to a 8 ohm device in half you would insert another 8 ohms resistance in line with one of the leads... lowering the sound level 3 db,( this would be 16 ohms), 6 db would be 32 ohms, and 9 db would be 64 ohms and so on.....get the picture? Each 3 Decibels is half as much as before. The fader control that you move to adjust the sound level is really a variable resistor measured in Ohms As you move the control the resistance gets higher and the audio level going through it is reduced (you turn it down). The control is basically a piece of carbon material that has an output lead secured to a brass or copper slider that rubs against the carbon element. As the slider gets farther from the input lead the resistance gets higher and sound level is reduced, pretty simple device, really. The carbon element in a variable resistance control is generally the same stuff that you write with when you use a lead pencil, you are right, graphite/carbon, basically the same thing. You can make a resistor, just for curiosity, by rubbing a lead pencil back and forth heavily to make a very bold line on a sheet of paper and then touch each end of the line with an Ohm meter probe. The further apart the two probes of the Ohm meter are on the carbon line, the higher the resistance, and less current flows.. ie: you turned it down, just the same as you do when you push a fader down.
Ok, so,,,,, What’s impedence? Well........ this is a little tougher to give an example. Impedence is measured in Ohms too. The impedence of a device,(speaker, control board output, microphone inputs, amplifier inputs) are sometimes only measurable in a working condition... and the loads can be a resistor, a winding or a capacitive load. If you are hooking up a water line, you wouldn’t hook up a 1/2 inch water line directly to 4 foot sewer tube, you would only get a trickle of water out of the bigger pipe, while the 1/2 inch line was carrying all it could, this is a very close analogy to what happens in electronics when impedences are not matched. Example- plugging a high impedence microphone into a low impedence jack on your sound board. The same thing happens, very little level will flow, and the other factors of electronics will probably distort the signal too. An impedence match means that a low impedence microphone (600 Ohms, in it’s working state), hooked to a 600 ohm input to your sound board. The resistive measurement of the microphone is matched to the transformer, capacitive or resistive load in the board... You have the same thing as the water line... 1/2 inch pipe all the way, and the speed and flow of the water or electricity will flow as it was meant to.
Low impedence cables and inputs are generally three conductor cables and plugs. They can be a three pin cannon plug, or the tip and ring type of 1/4 inch guitar plug. In the tip and ring system, there is a little ring on the shank of the guitar plug , right behind the tip, and this is the second hot conductor for the balanced system, just like 2 of the 3 pins on a cannon plug. You can tell if a 1/4 inch input jack is a balanced one by slowly pushing a plug into it, and you will feel the click of the second contactor as the tip of the plug goes by , before the plug is fully inserted. When you insert a high impedence (5,000 to 50,000 ohms) plug you will only feel one click as the plug is pushed all the way in. These two systems really don’t like one another and it’s a big mistake to force the two together, without the proper matching transformer adapters.
Now that you know about impedence, you will want to watch you speaker system too. A speaker cabinet is marked - 4, 8 or 16 ohms generally. Some weird things will occur if you use the same output of an amplifier to feed a 4 ohm cabinet and a 16 ohm cabinet. The four Ohm cabinet will be much louder, and you will probably have distortion too.. stick with a 4 ohm output amplifier into a single 4 ohm cabinet..... play it safe. This is why some speaker cabinets are rated at 8 ohms. It is so two cabinets can be plugged into the same output of an amplifier and you will maintain the desired 4 ohm load on the ampl. I know this is weird, but when you add two 8 ohm speaker cabinets together, you don’t get 16 ohms...... Resistance is kind of a backward deal.. when you hook two 8 ohm cabinets together, you now have 4 ohms of load on your amplifier. If you closely watch this, there will be a lot less smoke in your life due to amplifiers burning up on you. Improper speaker impedence matching will result in a reflection of part of the power involved being reflected back to the source, and transistor devices don’t like that, they will over heat, and this will mean a pre-mature trip to the repair shop, $$$$$$. Never turn on an amplifier without something plugged into the output either. The output transistors in the ampl. will be looking into an open circuit...(bigtime mismatch), and the transistors will suffer tremendous reflected power. A few seconds of this and they will burn out... $$$$$ again.
Uni-directional and Omni-directional microphones, What the heck does that mean..... Ok.. Uni. means one.. A uni-directional microphone will receive sound from only one direction, in line with the long axis of the microphone... A unidirectional microphone must be pointed directly at the origin of the sound to accept it per the design specifications... Think of a Uni-directional Mic. as a flashlight, and point it at the source of sound (mouth, fiddle f-holes, banjo head, whatever). NEVER play or sing into the side of a Uni Mic. The sound will be greatly reduced and will take on a boomy, un-natural sound. The uni-directional microphone was developed to help in preventing feed-back (squeals) in live sound situations with stage monitors close by.
An Omni-directional mic. (Omni- means all or many) will accept sound from any direction, sides, ahead and from behind also. This means sound from the stage monitor speakers will get into the mic. and start chasing around in tight little circles. From the speaker, into the mic. through the ampl. back to the speakers, gaining power each time it makes the loop, and it happens instantly... this creates that dreaded squeal in a sound system... So...... you can figure on all sound reinforcement situations using Uni-directional microphones, don’t try and play into the side of one of em... you’ll see the sound guy back at the board tearing out large chunks of what hair he has left. And that long practiced, sensational break you had all worked out on your banjo or guitar will sound like it came from a Taiwan boom box.... you don’t want that.... and who’s fault is it? No ones, really, it is simply a matter of being un-informed about how this stuff works.... don’t be blaming the soundguy for things he has no control over. Most of the time the soundpeople have to get ready for the next band to come on and they don’t have the opportunity to stop you and explain all this. When they do have the time to explain about some of this stuff, they won’t because other people they’ve tried to help have looked at them like they have been mortally wounded by a soundperson assuming they don’t know all about this stuff. It’s a no-win for the sound guy.
DID YOU KNOW??? The soundman has spent maybe 1 1/2 hours setting the stage monitor system, just for you? Most musicians don’t, and this is demonstrated each time some one, on stage asks the soundpeople to give them a little more treble on their mandolin or what ever. They demonstrate their amateur status to the world when they do this. There is a very fine line between getting the monitor levels loud enough and preventing that terrible sound .... feedback. The sound man has carefully tweaked all area’s of the sound spectrum to assure the chances of feedback are as small as possible... If he changes the bass or treble on the monitor system, he has undone all his previous work... and the chances of feedback occurring go sky-high. The monitor system is a complete, separate mix from what the audience is hearing and is meant only for the musicians on stage to keep their timing, pitch and communications with one another in line. I have had people on stage ask me to add reverb to the monitor system...... Duh...... ain’t gonna happen anytime soon..... Feedback city , for sure.... All the fine trim on the EQ’s , AND.....reverb is added to the main speakers that the audience hears. THE MIX IS ALTOGETHER DIFFERENT... A decent sound person tries his best to make the mains sound like a professional recording, done in a studio.... he dis-regards ego’s and hotdogs and follows the mathematical (based on db’s) formula set forth for studio operations.... Everyone hears just a little different and we try to keep an average based on the knowledge of that... But when aunt Martha comes to the sound board and sez.. “Turn up little Nephew Herbies mandolin !!!!” she is gonna get some funny looks from the operator..... A band is a team, working together for an overall sound and we are not gonna turn up Herbie’s mandolin, just for Aunt Martha.... It ain’t fair to the other musicians and it ain’t fair to the rest of the audience, who don’t know Herbie.
There is nothing wrong with communicating with the soundpeople about special needs your band has. If you are about to go on stage and your bassplayer sings bass on “Jericho Road” about the 5 th song into the set... soundpeople will be grateful to know about it.... The first 3 songs of your set the soundman is deathly intent upon your mix, and the monitor settings based on information coming from the back stage hand.... after that, it’s hands off..... A special deal like the bass player singing one song in a set is a special need, and he will appreciate being “tipped off” about it.... Now Ray Deaton is my idol...(I sing bass too... just not as well) and the soundman knows that Ray Deaton sounds best when the highs are rolled off a little and the bottoms on the eq are near the top.... the fader level comes way up too.... these are all special things the soundman needs to know..... and not everyone is as famous as Ray. (Thanks for autographing my Silver Eagle, Ray).
Good Martin/Bad Martin...... the same, how can these two be the same...? I know you’re proud of the love of your life..(not yer wife, yer Martin guitar) but the heavy rich bottom that a really good Martin guitar has, is a real nightmare for the soundman... the better the martin, the bigger the headache.... Remember me telling you about all the time the soundman has spent getting the monitors loud for the sake of the musicians...by setting the Equalizer for absolute minimums feedback..... well this same principle gets the soundman in trouble when someone brings a really good (boomy) guitar on stage. Since the soundman dosen’t want to upset the entire stage mix on the monitor system, he sometimes has to suffer with a rumble that occurs when the rhythm player really gets into the mic. If this guy has an ego problem or someone in the band really needs him to key timing off of, the situation can get out of hand. The first thing the back stage hand is gonna do, is talk to the board operator and tell him/her to turn down the guitar on the monitor... then the guitar player suddenly realizes.... Hey... my guitar ain’t loud anymore and calls for more monitor..... the rumble is back.... No winner here..... There is a soundman solution involving the insert port on a board and another separate Equalizer, but it’s kinda a trade secret... soooooo......
Another solution.... have you ever heard or played a big dog Pro’s guitar????? You look it over and realize.... Hey... this is a D-18, how come this pro isn’t playing a 35 or a 41? Answer = Stage rumble, big time....... since the 35 and 41 are famous for their heavy bottom sound, a lot of pro’s don’t use em..... they do this to help the sound man. They have been around long enough to know that a soundman’s hands are tied when a heavy bottom guitar comes on stage and he can’t change the EQ setting for the whole monitor mix..... Experience tells... the Pro’s know this.... they have been through it countless times and have asked questions..... (hint, hint, hint). This is also the reason that some D-18’s bring a LOT of money, those , in the know, people are always seeking out just the right one, that is perfect for stage work, it is coincidental that the older vintage, 50’s and 60’s models are so sought after. It really has nothing to do with being a vintage instrument. When the show is over and it’s time for the Pro to do some Jamming, under the trees, away from a sound system, he’ll go back to the bus and get his OTHER, guitar..... the one that has a heavy bass to it.
See...... It’s not what you don’t know that’l get ya...... It’s what you don’t even suspect, that will kill ya every time......Welcome to the Club. Keep on talkin bluegrass. It’s a sad day when we fail to learn something new.. Thanks for visitin with me... Ray G.
PREVENTING FEEDBACK
The Soundmans Most Often Asked Question
By Ray Graeff
Looking back over my emails and correspondence, the most frequently asked question is “How to fight feedback. Today we’ll focus our attention on that.
I guess the biggest thing about fighting this FEEDBACK creature when he rears his ugly head, is understanding what makes it happen. Feedback occurs when the microphone picks up a sound coming from the mains or monitor speakers and repeats it, creating a extremely rapid repetition of sound that turns into a squeal very quickly. The sound can be anything, from someone walking across the stage or a bird chirping in a nearby tree. Any sound at all that impacts a microphone, sent through the board and associated amplifiers, and on to the speakers at a high enough level to be heard by the mic. and repeated again and again causes the nasty tail chasing loop we all hate to hear. Main Speakers can cause the problem if they are set on the same stage with the mics. (way too close). Generally speaking feedback usually occurs from the monitor system since the monitor speakers are (by necessity) much closer to the mics. There’s a mighty fine line to tread that allows the musicians on stage to hear themselves clearly and keeping the level below the feedback point. There are several helpers that we can talk about.
One of the bigger things that can help in this fight against squeals is the design of the stage. You probably have already found that if there is no back on the stage, it seems like you can really crank the monitors before feedback occurs. There’s nothing back there for the sound to bounce off of and ricochet back into a waiting and hungry microphone. The problem herein is that most stages are already built with no consideration to feedback and we just have to live with the hand that is dealt to us. In the case of a hard wall on the back of the stage, you can ask the owner to work with you and cover that wall with soft insulated curtains of some sort so the sound doesn’t bounce off it so easily. If the curtains are pleated so there are convolutions in the curtains, as opposed to being flat, that’s even better. A slatted wall on the back that is all angles can help too. If the sound from the monitors bounces off that back wall at angles away from a microphone it’ll help a lot. I’m sure you have all played billiards or pool at some point in your life, and you can look at a stage and let your imagination draw the bounce paths from the monitor speakers… to the back wall….. to the low ceiling and right into one or all of the mics. On stage. Anything that you can do to interrupt the bank shots that sound must make to complete that circle will help.
After making all these changes to an existing stage, there is going to be a question in your mind like….”was it worth it”? Welllll….. every little bit helps and if you can turn up your monitors only a couple of db you’ve gained. You’ll notice that when the show starts and the guitar and banjo step up to a mic. you still have a squeal, after all this work. Why?.... Just like the back wall of the stage, these flat faced instruments give the sound another chance to bounce off of something and right back into a waiting microphone.
Since we can’t drape or put slats on the face of a guitar or banjo, we’ll have to attack that problem a little differently.
Ok,….. here we go. Put on your thinking cap,….. pull it right down, good and tight. We’re going to talk about sweetspots (soundman jargon) of the microphones and the speakers. What is a sweetspot, you say? Ok, think about this just a moment. I’m hoping that you play some sort of instrument (recommended to be a good soundperson)…. I’m sure you have notice that a guitar string of a certain length and under tension vibrates at a particular note when the string is impacted. When you take a pick and pluck the A string on a guitar…. The resulting sound is an… A……. always…. Until you place your finger on a different fret changing the length of the string, or change the amount of tension with the tuners. The resulting “A” note on your guitar is the sweetspot of that particular string.
Now consider that the diaphragm of a microphone has a certain dimension to it….. doesn’t matter what it is…. 15/16ths…. Whatever…. It has a certain dimension to it…. Just like the length of a guitar string. Also, when that diaphragm was manufactured it was glued into the rigid frame of the microphone housing and therefore has a certain amount of tension on it. We’re not going to take a pick and strike the diaphragm of a microphone, but any sound it hears is going to make that diaphragm vibrate, and it is going to want to vibrate at a certain frequency (note). Aha ! the frequency that that microphone really likes to vibrate at, is called it’s sweetspot. When that microphone hears anything…. Bump, clunk…. Bird chirp…. Whatever ….. the frequency it likes best is it’s sweetspot and it’s going to want to go there. If you’ve played around with an equalizer and you use one to get rid of feedback…. You’ve no doubt noticed that 1,000 cycles of feedback always seems to follow you around, no matter where you’re at. Now you know why…. The usual sweetspot of an SM-58 is near 1,000 cycles per second… IT’S SWEETSPOT…. Dad Gum…. That’s neat, now I understand…..
For those of you that are saying “EQ, what’s that”? we’ll talk about them just a moment. (Pull that ole’thinkin cap right down tight, again). An EQ (Equalizer) is that piece of gear in your rack or built into the face of your sound board and it has several little tabs sticking out of slots…. Each one of those little tabs is a miniature volume control that affects only one certain frequency (audio note) going through your system. In fighting feedback using a EQ… I strongly recommend that you use an EQ that has no fewer than 30 tabs on it…. You are going to be taking bites out of the audio spectrum when you use one… and the narrower those bites are, the better. 7, 10, and 15 tab EQs just won’t get the job done correctly, the chunks of the audio spectrum that you reduce are just plain too wide. I sometimes wish they made a 40 or 50 band EQ so I could take even smaller bites out of the spectrum when I set one.
OK…. Here we go… When you set up your system next time, plug in a single SM-58… or whatever you use for vocal mics. And turn up your monitors until it just starts to ring (feedback). Now insert a 31 band EQ into the lead coming from your soundboard monitor output and whichever lead in your snake carries the monitor signal up to the stage (where the monitor ampl. Is). Set all the little sliders in the center of their slots…. There is a little detent there, and you’ll feel the tabs drop into them as you set each one.
Now… set all of them in the center (flat EQ)… EVERY ONE OF THEM… on the equalizer…. Go to 1,000 cps (cycles per second) and raise it toward the top…. You are turning up 1,000 cycles (only) in your monitor system. You will reach a point where it starts to squeal…. If that squeal is the same frequency (note) you heard when you turned up your overall monitor knob… you’ve found the sweetspot of that microphone and the operation was a success. For every db that you pull down below the detent on 1,000 cycles into negative territory, you can raise the overall monitor volume by that much without it squealing. If, however when you raised the 1,000 cycle tab, it was not the same note that you heard, you can either go to the right … if the note was higher…. Or to the left if it was lower. Until you find the same exact note that you first heard. Then turn that sweetspot frequency down past the center detent and you’re in business.
Now…. That’s only one microphone and we’ve got more microphones than that. If all your vocal mics. Are the same brand and model number, you have a good chance that you’ve found the sweetspot for all the vocal mics. Next plug in or turn on your instrument Mics. (Mine are all SM-57s)… You will probably find that there is another sweetspot to find and pull down on your EQ…
We’ve found the sweetspots of the two different microphones we’re using and we’re feeling good about being able to raise monitor overall levels by several db… BUT….. as we turn the monitor levels on up we find that several more frequencies start to squeal. Those are the sweetspots of the woofer, tweeter and possible crossover frequency of your monitor speaker cabinets. You take care of them in the same way as you did the microphones. CAREFUL….. THERE IS A POINT OF NO RETURN HERE… If you make the trip to the stage, you’ll find that your monitor levels are pretty darned hot, after you’ve found the first four or five. The remaining rings (squeals) are probably bounces off the back wall… Etc.
You will find that you now have your levels high enough for anyone’s taste once you have the microphone and speaker sweetspots gone….
There is another helper to get rid of sweetspots too. It’s called a Sabine FBX (Feed Back Exterminator) and it’s a computer chip controlled device that sweeps the audio spectrum like a police scanner and locates the frequency of any sound above a certain set level (determined by the gain or sensitivity knob). I use both the 31 band Equalizer and the Sabine and operate them together to keep the show squeal free all the time. If any feedback occurs during a show.. all folks will notice is a slight … bleep… and the FBX will detect and pull down the offending note…. Dozens of times quicker than any human reflex. But…… an improperly adjusted FBX will also pull down repeated loud notes which are part of a bands normal presentation. Be Careful.
Fighting Feedback
1. make your stage as sound bounce free as possible
2. purchase and insert a 31 band equalizer into you monitor feed line
3. learn how to use the equalizer proficiently and correctly by practicing when the show doesn’t have crowd present to have to listen to the squeals.
4. purchase and install a Sabine FBX or other equivalent (there are several out there)
5. adust monitor levels carefully without getting heavy handed, ie small adjustments to the monitor levels.
6. use unidirectional microphones that reject sound coming from the sides or rear of the pickup pattern.
7. use mostly the same model and mfgr. (whatever that might be) so that you won’t be forced to bite out many different areas of the spectrum to get rid of sweetspots of several different types and kinds of mics.
8. be careful of prolonged squeals during your testing.. the high frequency ones can heat up and burn out the tweeter drivers in your mains and monitor speakers…
Any soundman you talk to will have a different view about what is best in fighting feedback, I’ve just related to you what works for me after several years of trial and error in the field.
Behringer makes feedback rejection equipment too and approach it slightly differently. Some plans call for using a white noise generator (hissing sound) and measuring the lumps or sweetspots to let you know which frequencies on the EQ to pull out or set flat. These work well too, but I’ve grown proficient in the use of the EQ31 and the Sabine, since that’s what I have. I cheat even further by having a 31 band spectrum analyzer in my rack that tells me which frequency is squealing and I can go directly to the proper EQ tab to pull it down without having to hunt all over the EQ to find it. Some soundpeople pride themselves in their proficiency in being able to tell which note is squealing just by ear….. I cannot, but I don’t worry about it much…. I have my trusty analyzer…. I’ll cheat any way I can if it makes me a better sound man.
Ray Graeff..... See ya, next time.
T I G H T R O P E
Musicians all understand that there is a very fine line between being "On" and "You might have just as well stayed home." The exact positioning of a fiddlers fingers must be exactly on; to produce the right pitch on that instrument. And if the banjo player is off by one fret in the middle of an otherwise brilliant run from one end of the neck to the other, he has a problem. The crowd at a live BG festival is going to say, "Boy, he sure messed that up." But what about the sound people? Being behind a sound board is a challenge and is really no different than a musician being off, just a little. One quarter of an inch on the fader means disaster in the control of say, the mandolin, when your mixing levels for a live show of any band. Too little mandolin means the audience looses the afterbeat chop that they are used to hearing on that particular group's recordings, a signature of that groups overall sound. Low mandolin creates a sense of loss in the timing of the band, it loses drive. It's just not toe taping any more. Too much mandolin means it's going to be dominant and attract attention to the sometimes monotonous, chop, chop, chop that is really a mandolin's job in the band, along with whatever picking talents he or she might possess when it comes time for an instrumental break.
OK, now the instrumental break comes along. Soundman, it's time to pay attention, especially if you've never worked with this band before. From 100 feet away the soundman must determine if the mandolin played is close to the Mic. when he's chopping afterbeats (2 inches). If he is that close and you have the fader down to keep him from dominating the mix, what's the guy gonna' do when it comes time for his instrumental break? If he's that close when he's choppin', chances are that he's going to stay there. If he tries to close up any further he's probably going to start bumping the mic. and he doesn't want that. So....... what does he do? He stands right there in the same position and plays his lead break! Now, heads in the audience turn toward the person sitting behind the sound board and the expression on their faces speak volumes of silent protest. "What the #$*% is the matter with you, we can't hear the mandolin break?" I've been there, done that........
So........ If the sound man is on his toes, he of course turns up the mandolin for the break. When the break is over and the mandolin resumes his chop and is still 2 inches from the mic. He's too loud in the mix..... Now the soundman is forced to, soundman jargon, ride the fader for the mandolin. Perhaps the next thing that the soundman is going to hear from the stage is the front man for the band say, for all in the audience to hear. "I wish you'd quit fiddling with the levels, we'll work the mikes......" Not! There is nothing in the world that the soundman would rather do than set the balance for a band during the first two songs, sit back, cross his arms and enjoy the show. Again, I'm going to use a soundman's term to describe this mandolin picker, he is called "flat footed." He's not working the Mic. Working the Mic. means that when he's playing rhythm, he stays back from the Mic. 6, 8, 10 or even 12 inches depending on what he hears in the stage monitors. When it comes time for his break, he then closes up to 2 inches and in this way controls his own volume. The musician is the one that knows when he's gonna' pick one......... the soundman out in the audience, 100 feet away, has to guess, and sometimes he guesses wrong. Either way, the soundmans reaction time is not instantaneous, and the first 8 or 10 notes in his otherwise brilliant mandolin break are going to go un-heard, or a least heard at a low level. This is not acceptable.
This article is not a defense of shoddy sound work, we all know there's plenty of that out there. I merely wish to point out a problem that has possibly created ill will between sound people and the musicians on stage at a live show. If you run a band and you seem to have a consistent problem with the soundman, regardless of where you go, it may be time to ask yourself some cold, hard questions. "Am I doing all that I can to make the show smooth with a minimum of difficulties?" Running a band is tough enough, trying to cope with schedules, show selections, hurt feelings in the band, rivalries, ego's and personal problems without adding soundpeople to the list. Maybe there is a solution.
Question one - Do you have consistent problems with sound on live show's?
Question two - How many times in the last year have you had a practice session with live sound....? The big boys do........ you might find it valuable to turn your instrument over to a stand-in and observe your band from out front (as if you were the audience) to check and make sure your people are really knowledgeable about working a Mic. If they aren't. Make them aware. Question three - Do you have a soundman you like, and trust, that you can sit down and have a chat with.....low key, after he has worked a job with your band. There may be things that you have over-looked. Question four - When you have conversations with soundpeople does the conversation go like this? "We seem to have had a little problem with the audience hearing the banjo on our last set, what do you recommend?" or does the conversation go...."What th' H____ is wrong with you. You screwed up our last show!" Soundpeople are human too. Be polite and diplomatic, most soundfolks will go to the limit for you. You must remember that the reputation of the sound company is at stake....too. They want you to sound your very best. They swell with pride when they hear comments from the audience and the promoter like "Great show, every band was really good. That guy really picked the heck out of that guitar." These comments are taken by sound companies as a personal tributes to their abilities. They really want you to sound your very best and they are on your side. Board operators take as much or more pride in a job well done as any banjo, mandolin or fiddle player. Question five - When you have a bad set. - instruments out of tune. voices not up to par, forgot how that kick-off went, forgot your words, Etc. is it easy for you to make a comment like "Terrible sound, I couldn't hear a thing, I don't know what's going on unless that guy (no name, no face) just wanted to make us sound bad." You get the picture. Go get acquainted with your soundman, he's really part of your band, even though you may not think so..... You may even find that he/she is human after-all. Question six- Do you feel that you must trick a soundman into giving you the amount of levels you think you need? This means, during a sound check, do you stand back 12 inches from the Mic. and keep calling for more levels in the monitor, so you can be dominant on stage. Do you have your bassman carry an amplifier on stage so you can crank it up to force the board operator to raise all the levels in order to keep the mix proper, thereby raising the entire volume level of your performance. Louder is not better. Don't do it. These are the oldest tricks in the trade and they set the tone for feelings of mis-trust. If it's necessary to do this, let the promoter know and encourage him to replace his current sound company, next time. There are bad apples out there who have equipment but don't know even basic sound needs. Unless you're the only one complaining, promoters will catch on real quick that they must make a change for the better.
This all brings up the new/old One Mic. system. The very things we've been talking about have become such a problem to some bands that they have decided to bypass the soundman (for the most part) and have complete control of the sound their band produces. If you listen closely you can pick up on some subtle differences in the tone quality of the one microphone system, and I still maintain that individual microphones are superior in comparison, given the proper equipment and knowledgeable operators both behind the board out front and backstage to control the monitors (sorry, Doyle). I guess the main thing that the one Mic. deal produces is consistency, and I fully understand since I have been a dog-house bass player for many years and suffered through some bad sound situations myself. Being a professional band and doing a lot of shows is a crap-shoot, you never know what you're gonna get from the in-house sound system. Even though I enjoy watching the choreography that is required to make the one mike system work, I still miss the throaty bottom harmonics of fine mandolin playing and the hearty knock of a good banjo player. If you are going to go to all the trouble of learning to fully utilize the one mike system, why didn’t you learn (the easier) use of the individual mikes in the first place.. food for thought.
Ray Graeff
THE BEST AND THE WORST
I guess I’ll do the worst case for a soundman first, and it’s a real nightmare. The situation has been encountered by most soundmen at some point in their career.
Here we go..... The superintendent of the local school calls and says.... “Hey, Charlie Jones has Cancer and we want to do a Bluegrass Show benefit for him in the School Gym, OK........ Several bands have volunteered to play, and Agnes the hammer dulcimer champion has volunteered to do a 1 hour display of her talents” (a hammer or mountain dulcimer is near the top of the worlds toughest instruments to sound re-inforce). Now..... I said this is the absolute worst, so, I’m gonna lay it on. The Superintendent goes on to say..”Charlie and the Country Pickers has also volunteered and he wonders if you’ll give him a call, he has special needs for his star of the band... “his drummer” “........... OUCH...... BUT HE SAID THIS WAS A BLUEGRASS SHOW....?
The Super Says...,. “Of course we’ll want you to do this for free, considering the benefit status of the show, and they’ll all want to practice for the entire day prior to the actual show....”
The hard, flat walls of the School Gymn mean that it is going to be echo city and there is no way to get the sound clean, short of draping the entire surface with convoluted curtains top to bottom.. the hardwood floors and flat ceiling will also tend to bounce the sound around like a deranged 8 ball on a pool table. Now the good name of MY sound company is going to be on the line, and when this turns out to be a genuine train wreck, I’m going to be the one who gets the bad rap for this disaster. Also the amateur status of all the bands mean no one is even going to suspect what the term “working a microphone” even relates to. Another consideration is going to be the electric amplifiers on the elec. guitar, the electric bass and the pedal steel..... all of these guys will want to be “the loudest” due to their obvious ego problems, and the drummer will want a minimum of 5 microphones on his drums..... HELP! ! ! ! !..... (I warned you it was gonna be bad)...
Now ... to minimize the bounce of sound off the hard walls, I want to set my speakers as high as possible and tip them slightly forward to minimize the bounce off the back wall..... but the Coach says... “HEY, you’re not gonna drag those heavy speaker scaffolds over my pristine gym floor, no siree Bob..” Ok, you finally get him calmed down and swear on your mothers grave that you will use scrap carpets to set all the speaker stands on, so they won’t scratch the floor... (wonder where I can find some old carpet?)...
Ok... set up time, day of the show. I found some old carpet, 22 miles away (had to buy them), and my tallest speaker stands are in there..... The people the Superintendent promised would be there to help me set up, didn’t show up, so I go to the local coffee shop to try and recruit someone to wrassle the 200 lb. speaker cabinets up on the stands.... (the only ones I could find at the coffee shop were 4 high school kids with their knees sticking through their blue jeans and their baseball hats turned around backward..... (Oh joy).... After I paid them $20 apiece, in advance, to come with me, we go to work... (Now, where did those kids go????)....
I set the main mixer board out in the seating area.... (with the table legs setting on more carpet, as the coach watches carefully).... and proceed to lay out the control snake to the stage.... I use four 200 watt monitor cabinets up on the stage, knowing that these folks are gonna want tree top high monitor levels, so their vocals can be heard above the elec. amplifiers they are gonna use.. The monitors will be powered by 1/2 of a Peavey CS 800..(400watts on the monitors..... hehehe).....
The drummer comes in and proceeds to set up all 247 pieces of his drum set.... right in the middle of my trying to set up microphones and lay cables... (Frezilslamthdieselwitch)....
The temperature in the gym now reaches 92 degrees and they turn on the big exhaust fans in the ceiling to stir the hot air.... (the steady hum of the fans will fit right in with the other noise the social crowd is going to make...). The humidity in there is at 94%. The high humidity means that I’ll have to turn up the mains about 5 or 6 db hotter than normal to get the same volume for the audience and the low frequencies are going to sound muffled. The high freqs are going to take on a “hurt ya” personality and the voices are going to sound like they are singing through one end of a 14 foot long galvanized 14 inch drain tube.... TRAIN WRECK....
Ok,,, the microphones are set in a line across the front lip of the stage right behind the monitors, and the Mains and monitors are all wired and set......, the main and monitor amps are checked.., and the feedback extermination has been performed.
As the crowd starts to come in, it’s obvious that they are going to visit with one another rather than listen to show.... maybe that’s good, in one way, but bad in another. The highest degree of bad manners is to loudly visit with the person next to you about how great your grandkids are while there is a show going on.... this is gonna be one of those times, apparently.
The country band starts the show and it’s just like I figured.... the elec. instruments are sky high in volume and the one mic. (out of the five) on the drums that I have turned on is blending in well...... NOT..... I send word to the stage that the bass amplifier is turned up so loud that he is getting into the vocal mics. and no one out here can hear the vocals..... Might as well have talked to a rock, would have done me about as much good... The lead guitar man, sensing that the bass amplifier is covering his feeble efforts, has turned his lead guitar ampl. up to the “bring tears to your eyes” level and things are perking along nicely...... Shades of Garth Brooks, this is terrible...... all we need now is a couple of explosive flash pots and some clown to smash his guitar and we’ll be right in the swing of things.
What’s this..... Joe Wasininski, the local church sound man stops by the sound board while I’m trying to get some semblance of a balance on this mess.... and proceeds to tell me how great a sound man he is and that he knows exactly how to straighten out the sound troubles I’m having..... With a single flourishing hand signal, I invite him to set right down at my sound board, while I go up to the stage and kick in the auto-overload DDT on all the ampls.......
As I leave the building and head for my truck to go home, I can hear that he has all 5 of the drum mikes turned sky high and things are really kicking.... about half the audience follows me to the parking lot...... and I wave at the dumfounded Superintendent as I pull the truck in gear and exit the parking lot...... Ah, home sweet home...... it’s 10 blocks away... so maybe I won’t be able to hear this mess if I shut th doors and windows and turn on the air cond.... hehehe
NOW FOR THE BEST OF SITUATIONS.....
It’s a pure TRADITIONAL bluegrass festival..... no frills, no gimmicks, just pure harmonies and expert instramental work, without the jokes and who you were in the studio with last week... Just honest to God finger lickin Bluegrass..... like 10 songs in a 40 minute set.... There are trends afoot that are introducing dawg grass, and new grass and groove grass but the traditional stuff will outlast them all... In fact our own band is being viewed with disdain by some promoters because we have a great harmonica player, and he isn’t bluegrass enough.... OUCH...
Now .. the setting for the perfect show.... It’s outdoors, of course, with trees for shade (which also helps the sound by absorbing some of it, believe it or not). The temperature is about 76 and the humidity (big factor) is about 55%. There is no hint of rain in the forecast and there is a light breeze (2-4 mph) wafting across the stage area to help carry away cigarette smoke and the smell of dog manure (hint, hint, hint). The folks are all friendly and during set up of the sound system several of the guys have grabbed the heavy speakers, amplifiers and road cases and asked... “Hey, where do you want this”?....
The park owner has provided the sound company with two measured 120 vac at 20 amps. circuits to power up the equipment and there are no lights, popcorn machines or refrigeration equip. that must share the circuit..... and definitely no campers on the power leg that will cause clicks or other extraneous noises in the system. Fluctuation of voltage on a elec. system will do a number on sound gear real quick.
The park owner has also carpeted the stage to hold down the foot patting noise that sometimes carries through the floor, up the mic. stands and into the microphone to be heard in the mains speakers. The stage lighting is all incandescent lights (fluorescence can cause buzzes and hums in a sound system) and there are NO light dimmers (a real sound nightmare, believe it or not). The stage is designed with only a back wall to minimize the sound from the monitors bouncing off it and right back into the microphones (feedback... squeals)... in fact the back wall leans back slightly and has a soft surface to help minimize any sound bounces... the ceiling of the stage also has a back to front raise to it to cause any acoustic bounces to wind up out in the audience somewhere and not into a microphone (feedback again). There is a railing along both sides of the stage to keep people from stepping off it and hurting themselves. Somewhere backstage there is a squirrel cage fan that is ducted in right above the performers to give them a little air on a hot day (though a lot of performers will want even that turned off). The stage lighting is all above the performers so that they can easily see the audience (most professionals want to see the expressions on people’s faces so they can judge acceptance of what they are doing and maybe even modify their set list mid-stream to make sure their fans get what they want). The reading of a crowd by a performer is a true mark of a professional.
The performers for this perfect show will all be seasoned Pros. This means that they have 3-5 years of stage performing experience and know all the subtle things like.... 1. How to properly work a microphone. 2. To smile and nod to their fans even though they may have a splitting headache. 3. Know that the crowd gets tired of a grandstanding show-off real quick. 4. Makes no lewd or vulgar comments while on stage, or anywhere else. 5. Understands that the crowd came to hear him pick and sing. 6. Knows how to mix fast and slow tunes to keep the audience from going to sleep. 7. Is dressed in a professional manner.. (no shorts, holy jeans, dirty T-shirt slogans, baseball hats on back-ward, or other offensive attire) 8. Have bathed sometime within the last day and clean shaven unless you’re growing a beard or already have one. 9. Have changed the oil under your fingernails in the last week 10. Shows some respect for the folks out there that gave good money to come and see him perform. 10. Is sober and not under the influence ........ (sorry). hehehe
An absolutly perfect show is ... of course impossible..... and that’s what makes a show so alluring..... there’s always forgotten words to a song, a wrong kick off or a blown joke. All the little things that go wrong just make the crowd more supportive, knowing that we, as performers are just as fallible as anyone.
The sound crew would be at least 4 people to prevent burnout during a long show. There would be a back or side stage monitor control board and the sound people would all be 3-5 year veterans too. Some in the crew would be electronic troubleshooters (in case of a failure), but all in the sound crew would be performing musicians that have been there, done that. The sound system would be at least Bi-amped and at a 1 to 1 ratio minimum. That means 1,000 people = 1,000 watts. Plenty of headroom on all equipment is an absolute necessity (this means the system can operate at approx. 2/3 of it’s capability to provide ample sound for all listeners).
The sound at a festival has so many variables that you’ll never see a perfect show from an audio viewpoint. Everyone hears just a little different. But that soundcrew will keep on trying and hoping that they can make every show they do..... the perfect one.....
see ya...
Ray Graeff