Live sound question...
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Posted on Sep 02, 2002 09:31 pm
Johnny Hero
Member Since: Apr 26, 2002
Ok, I have a 500 watt (250 per side) pa system. When my band is playing, even if vocals are the only thing running through the pa, we can't hear them over the music. I've tried turning it up as much as I can... I don't know what to do... anyone have any advice?
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Sep 02, 2002 09:37 pm Do you have any EQ running also? Have you rung out the room for bad frequncies and such? Ringing out a room can add tons of volume to your PA system by lessening the frequencies that feed back in the room your in, thereby allowing you to increase the volume of your system.
Sep 02, 2002 10:27 pm Go on... how do I do this??
Sep 02, 2002 10:31 pm Actually on second thought, even this doesn't seem that it would help... the last show I did sound for I kept pushing the faders further and further up the board... eventually it got to the point where the meters were clipping... but I still think I'm doing something wrong... it seems to me that 500 watts should easily overpower a 100 watt guitar amp, a 50 watt bass amp, and a drum kit...
So I guess the question is, how should I go about setting everything on the board. I'm pretty sure I have it all hooked up right... 1 main (150 watt load) and 1 monitor (100 watt load) on each side of the board (250 watts per side). The mics plugged into the inputs and all that... then I set the gain on every channel. Basicly I turn it up 'till it clips, then I turn it down just under clipping range. Then I bring the fader up, tweak the EQ on the channel 'till it sounds good, and move on... is there something I'm doing wrong there or does it still sound like I need to "ring out the room"?
Sep 03, 2002 06:48 am Ringing out a room is something that should be done before every show...all you do is set up your PA as usualy, plug in a mic right by the sound board and aim it at one of the speaker columns, right at the tweeter if possible, have the mic on a stand by the sound board. Turn up the main outs to around 0db with every channel down, then slowly turn up the mic by the board until it starts feeding back, then go to your EQ (30 bands or so work best) and find the frequency that is feeding back and turn it down until it stops, then turn it up a little more and do the same thing.
You will usually find that you will have a few highs and a few lows that feedback. (low frequency feedback is really cool sounding ;-). Anyway, do that half a dozen times or so to get rid of the offending frequency ranges and you have rung out a room. When you get really good, you can ride the feedback by finding it, and letting it ride without totally squeeling and getting loud.
Doing this will give you PA more headroom before feedback, and as far as you saying your amp is clipping. AT most every live show I have been to, worked security or performed at, the PA amps were clipping on every beat of every song for the whole show. Not clipping to the point of static and noize, but the LED metters were in the red zone...
Also, if you are not, use a compressor on theose vocals too...
