Author Topic: Mixer Help (Calling all engineers!) (Read 388 times)

811952 · « **Reply #30 on:** January 18, 2008, 07:41:34 PM »

The Soundcraft and Mackie both have very musical EQ, too...

jagerphan84 · « **Reply #31 on:** January 18, 2008, 11:18:33 PM »

Thanks for the tip on the Soundcraft mixer. It's another one I'll check out if the need should arise for us to provide our own PA at a gig.

Peter, I must say I hadn't considered that aspect of working the PA! Maybe with that in mind I'll encourage our lead singer to let us have a gig/party at his place, where our practice space is set up (and I'll volunteer to set up near the mixer, naturally). I'm actually the only member of the band who is not married or engaged, so the competition is limited!

Tonight was our second practice with our PA in place. We added in a Moog Rogue for a little flavor and recorded the evening for posterity (whoever posterity is, to quote Adrian Belew). Our drummer is in the process of putting together a new kit, so he was using bongos and various hand percussion tonight. This presented an opportunity for us to try some new arrangements of our tunes. I'll try and get the lead singer to send me over the files so I can share some of the results of all the great advice from this thread. We had a chance to listen to most of the practice at the end of the night, and I was very pleased with the warm and balanced sound we managed to get with minimal tweaking of the levels and EQ.

Adam

keith_h · « **Reply #32 on:** January 19, 2008, 06:32:01 AM »

Adam, I'm with Peter on the component PA. Here's what I use. I have added pieces over time as my needs grew. It lets me match speaker and amplifier requirements to the room. Another advantage is the backup I get in the event an amp breaks down. Allen & Heath Mixwizard Wz3 16:2. a great board in the under $1K range. It will handle up to 4 monitor mixes and Aux fed subs. In addition it has a reasonable built in effects unit.

My amp rack. I started with the PLX2402 for mains and a PLX1602 for monitors. I have since moved the PLX2402 and a new PLX2502 to my subs and a new PLX3602 to my mains.

Keith

lbpesq · « **Reply #33 on:** January 19, 2008, 08:56:22 AM »

That looks similar to my old rack P.A. It worked great, but schlepping it to and from gigs made me speculate that P.A. really stood for Pain-in-the Ass. I LOVE my Mackie. Does the same job at a fraction of the weight and size. Especially when we play unplugged and just need a little reinforcement, mostly for vocals. The Mackie and a couple of my floor wedges as mains work perfectly.

As for a component P.A. getting you girls, sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't. Anyone familiar with the Jackson Browne song Rosie from the Running on Empty album? One of the two best songs ever about that particular topic. (The other being John Prine's My Own Best Friend). hehehehe

Bill, tgo

(Message edited by lbpesq on January 19, 2008)

jagerphan84 · « **Reply #34 on:** January 19, 2008, 09:55:42 AM »

Looks like a nice system, Keith (and that amp rack must be heavy!). I do like the flexibility of a component system, and the exercise of lugging it around would do well for me...though I suppose the cabinets would still take care of that, even with a more portable mixer/amp setup.

I'll have to check out those songs, Bill. I'm fairly sure my brother's got the Jackson Browne album kicking around somewhere.

We're thinking about hitting an open mic this coming week, as we've been pleased with many of the new arrangements, sans drum kit.

Here's a couple of the tunes from last night:

Long, Hot Summer

Everything You Wanted It to Be

They may need a little EQ tweaking if you're listening on computer speakers - mine aren't complemented by a sub so I boosted the lows a little to hear myself. And please disregard the oft-silly banter after the songs; that just goes to illustrate how a 2-hour practice netted 10 songs .

Adam

(Message edited by jagerphan84 on January 19, 2008)

David Houck · « **Reply #35 on:** January 19, 2008, 02:57:01 PM »

I followed the link, and saw the name of the tune, but I don't actually see the file anywhere.

jagerphan84 · « **Reply #36 on:** January 19, 2008, 03:40:19 PM »

For the first link, you have to enter the 3-letter code into the provided box and click Download. There is then a 45-second wait for the actual download button.

The second link should process for a few seconds before a link says Click Here to Start Download.

(Message edited by jagerphan84 on January 19, 2008)

David Houck · « **Reply #37 on:** January 19, 2008, 05:13:13 PM »

I got the first one. Cool! Nice laid back bluesy roots feel.

jagerphan84 · « **Reply #38 on:** January 19, 2008, 09:26:30 PM »

Thanks Dave!

keith_h · « **Reply #39 on:** January 20, 2008, 05:36:24 AM »

Adam & Bill,
I have thought about splitting the PA into multiple racks. One for subs another for the mains and monitors. With the 21 Lbs per amp this would make the racks about 50 Lbs each (less than my bass rig rack). I could also leave the sub amps at home when not needed. However the full rack is only a 100 Lbs or so and on wheels. Since any gigs I play around here are on ground level it's not much to lift up a stair or two. Not to mention it makes a great stand for the mixer.

Keith