Gig in mountain cave

sikter

sikter

New member
December 13th I'm going to play a gig with my band (2 el. guitars, bass, Hammond and acoustic drum kit)
in a cave, around 2300 meters (1,5 miles) underground. See pictures!
Its an old silver mine turned to museum.

I don't think it's gonna be an easy job to get a good sound.

I would appreciate any advice from more experienced sound guy.
(we are going to play without sound guy monitoring us)

We own 5000W Activ PA ( dB Technologies) and Allen&Heat mixer PA28
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You won't need 5000 watts. The best show I ever heard in a crappy wooden hockey rink was Seals and Crofts. They wore headphones and played really quietly. The audience was louder when they clapped. I would try for as low a volume as you can and try and balance the vocals.
 
mixsit said:
I thought it would be this.. but maybe not.
Bluegrass Underground Acoustic Music Concerts Volcano Room Venue
Click to expand...

They have something like that in Bowling Green KY.

I have never done it, but you could take a super reverb and have it at the end to give you an idea on how to setup. I would think first item to get right would be high end, maybe next would be the low end. This would be the two areas that would be the most problem in my mind.
 
As said above, control your stage volume. I would suggest placing each amp so it aims at the player's face rather than at the back of his calves. Put everything through the board as normal but be prepared to keep things low or off should they be too loud in the house. Start the house mix with just vocals and anything not loud on its own, like acoustic guitars. Then add other instruments only if necessary. Don't put reverb on anything.

Unfortunately stage is a terrible place to control the house mix. It's like driving your car from the trunk. Good luck.
 
Thank you guys! Nice respond!
Our PA is 18" + 15" (active) + 12" passive (and everything same on the other side)
In small venues we don't use 18" and we have possibilty to attenuate active cabs.
I guess we should skip 18" in cave but I'm not sure.
They are pretty heavy too so two cabs less would be fine.
I play through Marshall Vintage Modern so I guess I should bring my smallest cab.
The other guitarist plays through Fender Tween Amp (combo 2x12")
Our drum player doesn't hit hard. That will help a lot.
We replaced our Hammond with SK2 and he goes to PA (stereo) and uses his own monitor cab.
The biggest problem is that venue is empty during sound check and full when we start to play.
before cave gig we'll play 4 gigs in other venue where everything always goes well.
The owner is musician and his feedback helps a lot.
 
We're doing a similar one next year in Cornwall, but in a natural cave rather than a man made one. We've been warned it's a bit lively acoustics wise but the main issue could be drips from the stalactites! We're looking forward to it!
 
I saw acoustic trio there and the sound was vierd.
Envirement was dry but rather cold. It is a system with hundrends corridors and caved in all directions.
No doors.
 
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