Live musician recommended mixer settings

SamFox

New member
Hi all. I am a singer/guitarist that is looking to get back into playing live venues (hotel lounges, bars, and cafes primarily). I want to learn more about creating the best output with the gear I have, maintaining quality and volume without any distortion or feedback. My main question is regarding volume levels---which control should be highest--individual channels or master volume on mixer, or the volume on the PA?
:confused:
My gear is as follows:
--Ibanez Artcore Hollowbody electric guitar
--Cordoba Classical acoustic/elec guitar
--BOSE compact L1 P.A. system (also using as monitor)
--Mackie ProFX8 Mixer (which is also plugged into certain venues speakers).

I am clueless about what volume settings would give the most sound without distortion.
www.samanthafoxmusic.blogspot.com
 
The point is to get the guitar and the vocal mixed to the relative volumes so it sounds like a song when you perform. The overall volume is then set with the master after the mix is working.

If you are getting feedback, you have turned it up louder than that situation will allow. The settings will change for every room. Small rooms are worse than big ones because of the sound reflecting off the walls and back into the mics. The speaker placement relative to the mics also makes a difference.

If the feedback is just one or two problem frequencies, they can be EQ'd out. Generally the acoustic guitars will feedback in the 100-200hz range first. You will have to compromise how much low end you hear in the guitar with how much volume you get before feedback.

Generally, the volume on the PA should be at unity gain, which sometimes is wide open, depending on the PA you are talking about. The only exception to this is when the PA is way more powerful than you need. If you find yourself having to turn the master volume of the mixer way down to get the volume you want, you should turn down the PA in order to turn up the mixer.
As I said before, the individual channel volumes are using to mix the individual channels to their relative volumes for the mix.
The master volume is the actual overall volume control.
 
It is impossible to recommend eq settings without being at the gig. However one thing I find with performers using smaller PA systems in crappy sounding rooms is that they have the low end of the EQ way too high, even to the point that they boost it. For example using an acoustic guitar and voice I would pull down everything below about 120hz maybe not completely but until the sound clears up and the mud goes away. Then fine tune the mid range to take out any room honk. The top end I would leave alone unless there was feedback issues.

The trouble is that the BOSE compact L1 is very basic eq wise, so if the guitar sound is being a problem try using an eq pedal on the guitars to cut unwanted frequencies when using the BOSE on its own. The Mackie gives a lot more flexibility as it has a graphic, so as I said above cut the 125hz until the mud has gone but you still have some body to the sound, the honk will be around the 1K or even 500hz depending on the room. With graphics I rarely boost anything, thats why I cringe when I see the smiley face on eq's at gigs.

Remember to EQ the graphic with the channel eq's centre, then you can use the channel eq's to fine tune the separate channels.



Alan.
 
What he said.^^^

Normally I'll get the lead vocal set up correctly first on the board: set gain as needed, make best guess as to eq (I've had practice), set channel fader to 0, set master fader to 0. Then I'll bring up the PA to put the vocal at an appropriate level. Then I'll mix everything else to that.

Try to keep the main meter from spending too much time over 0. You can always lower things that are too loud rather than raising something that's too low. If a fader ends up way down low then the input gain/trim on that channel is probably too high.

If you run out of PA headroom doing that then it's too small for the show. Being a solo performer you can simply turn down the PA. If you were trying to get vocals over drums and amps you'd be out of luck. That Bose stick is supposed to be pretty feedback resistant, and if you don't have the bass unit I doubt the guitar will feedback down low.

You might want to Google "gain structure" and "gain staging".
 
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