ironing out the sound problems

Entry posted by mark555 May 18, 2014

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After our first gig when we really fought the sound gremlins, we decided that we would devote our next practice to sorting out the problem of sound so that we are ready next time. So meeting up at our rehearsal venue, instead of our usual rehearsal positions facing the drummer and each other, we lined up and started playing as if we were on a stage, we even allowed ourselves only a small space to play from to replicate smaller stages.

How ironic though that on this day when we wanted to sort out sound problems, Dave, our other guitar player then had problems with his brand new Fender Valve amp and could only get sound from the power amp, not the inputs for guitar. So being a bit of a genius with engineering and such, he managed to got some sound out of it but more of that later.

We're a bit of a traditional band in that we are back line plus an old Peavy 600 watt pa amp, after all, our money has gone on guitars, and as we're not singers we don't have enough budget for a huge pa set up with monitors. However, we are going to have to do something because we have difficulty in hearing the vocals. I actually own a 150 watt 6 channel pa amp which although would be run seperately, we could use as fold back with a pair of monitor speakers.

We had been playing too loud if the truth was known, so we set a level that would be pleasant for an audience and worked from there. We had two hours and it was time well spent. We now need to continue practicing the numbers we have learned over the previous weeks and perfect them, then start learning some more songs. We were messing with the Stones old hit, Paint it Black.

Getting back to Dave's amp, at four pm he shot off back to the shop he bought it from where they offered to repair it. He said that as it is under 30 days old he is entitled to a new one, so they are ordering one in for him which should be here next week.

Thanks for reading and best wishes,

Mark.

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rockabilly69 1447

Posted May 18, 2014

Mark, take this for what it's worth. Most musicians/bands that I go to see are playing too loud on stage, ESPECIALLY rock musicians. Learning to play to the limits of your PA is just as important as getting the songs down. And on top of that, learning how to not kill the audience with excessive volume is just as important. It's the mark of a true amateur when they are turning up their PA, to get over the already TOO LOUD guitar amps. You're on the right track rehearsing with your PA the way you intent to play. Maybe you can stage some practice performances for honest friends who can give you some feedback on the volume levels. I do think it would be a good idea to budget for some powered monitor speakers that you can add to you 600 watt PA. But you have to be very conscious of loud monitoring as the reflected sounds of monitors can wreak havoc on the overal sound! Good luck on the quest.

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ironing out the sound problems

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rockabilly69 1447

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