Monitor nightmare
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Posted on May 17, 2010 04:21 pm
Gear Addict
Member Since: Jul 09, 2008
My band played last Friday night and we had more trouble with our on stage sound than we have had in the past. Being the most mobile member I went out front several times and it sounded (if I do say so myself) great. On stage it sounded like a bag of hammered poop. It was loud and nobody could hear anybody else.
The keys were either inaudible or blaring (maybe compression would help that) and the guitar players couldn't hear each other well, the drummer heard nothing and the bass player heard only drums.
The stage was surrounded on three sides by hard (plaster) walls, bass and guitar on one side, singer and drums centered, hand percussion, keys and guitar on another side. Blues junior amps turned down low for both guitar players, 3 1000 watt self powered QSC 12" monitors out front, and a fourth used as a keys monitor.
Now I suspect that having the drummer placed where he was made things worse even though that is the traditional place for him. We are going to try putting him in the corner next time.
It is hard to describe the sound, but it was just loud and indistinct. In fact in my vocal monitor it sounded like the speaker was blown. Testing yesterday proved that no to be the case. Could there be phase issues? Any ideas would be very helpful. Our drummer needs to play quieter but he is a bone head. Good drummer but a bone head.
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May 17, 2010 04:40 pm Small space + hard surface + loud volume = Garbage!
The issue that you have in a room like this is nowhere for the air to go. So, you get phasing, and standing waves, comb filtering, you name it. You got it in a room like this.
In a space like you are describing, you have to keep all volumes as low as you can go. If you have any plexi to wrap around the drummer, that would help to. And any banners of thick material that you could put on the walls will clean up some of the bounce issue as well.
If you need your guitar to have a certain gain for the sound, then face the cabinet to the wall. Put tape on the drum heads to quiet them down.
All of this will only help. Unfortunately, it will not clean up all of the issues. But, at least you will be able t hear yourselves on stage.
May 18, 2010 12:10 pm Thanks Rob, always a great resource. The club owner is a buddy of mine. Maybe I will suggest to him that he hang some black carpet a couple of inches away from each of the walls to help suck up some of the sound.
Quincysanhttp://www.unitedmusicians.infoContributor
Since: Nov 11, 2007
May 18, 2010 01:33 pm
Carpet yes, also perhaps some 4" thick rigid fiberglass in the corners like the picture below. This is from Ethan Winer's acoustic treatment page, he suggests 705-FRK...whatever that is:
www.ethanwiner.com/acoust...erglass%20traps
May 18, 2010 11:21 pm Fingers crossed that it will be flame retardant carpet?
I hope?
May 19, 2010 10:49 am This club is in Mass. Close to Rhode Island if you know what I mean. Definatelty would need to be fireproof. Would just a heavy (fireproof) drape do the trick?
May 19, 2010 01:52 pm Yeah, like duvetyne. That should work just fine. If you still get a little bounce from it, then double the layer.
And thank you Great White!
May 19, 2010 09:30 pm They have that spray on flame retardant stuff as well. Tried it on my cat, works great.
May 19, 2010 11:39 pm That's just wrong!
I'd would hated to be the one to make sure that it worked! AHHHH! My FACE! The cat just scratched it OFF! But, hey look at that. The cat is standing right next to the candle and he's fine. Nice.
rayssMember
Since: Mar 04, 2009
Jun 08, 2010 10:28 am why the fiberglass across the corners? are corners bad?
Jun 08, 2010 10:30 am corners exaggerate bass...crank up some tunes and go stand in the corner...it's really obnoxious sometimes depending on the surfaces involved.
