First Try with Sloppy Seconds Mic Positions

  • Thread starter Thread starter drstawl
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drstawl

drstawl

Banned
So I've finally arrived. I got my official House of Blues Full Access Pass and my Video Pass so I could run around at will with my camera without getting tossed out by the Security Detail while capturing the Three Blind Mice playing the House of Blues on the main stage. Last time I did this they only let us into the bar. But it was a battle to get permission to burn a CD my way. Dave Edmunds, the guy on after the Mice {he rocked, BTW. He's a guy I've inadvertently stolen alot of licks from over the years. I've got video of Treeline and his stance is a lot like Dave Edmunds. Not to mention his picking style.....}, was scheduled to start 15 min after the end of their set. So I tried my best to choose a spot on the balcony to set up shop out of the way of his crew setting up after the Mice. I had the two mics positioned and the whole wiring thing done up sano so there'd be no drunks knocking shit over and no wires out in the path of foot traffic. Here comes the stage manager saying this won't do at all and I can accept a DAT tape from the house board if I had one handy. Sure. I always bring DAT tapes for my CD burner. Or I could choose any spot I wanted onstage to plant my shit. So I had to break it all down again, repack it and drag it downstairs to the stage. Pain in the ass!!! The band is doing a totally acoustic shtik and they've even brought an actor (friend of the band) to sit onstage and act like an Oakie digging the music in a rocking chair with a jug of moonshine. This guy was the real deal. He didn't need to act! They want minimal electronic bullshit in stage view. They're pushed really close to the front of the stage so there's no place to put the AT4033 and Rode NT-1 mics (I'd chosen out of my wall of thousands of microphones ;) ) without getting zapped by the stage monitors. So I put them behind the band and it worked better than I thought it would. My only regret is not putting them back even FARTHER. They were 8 feet back and about 10 feet apart, facing inward about 40 degrees. The instrumentation was Dobro or Flat-top Guitar/Washboard/Washtub Bass or Stand-Up Bass.
And the washboard turned out to be the loudest.
On the verge of annoying. But in character for this genre of music.
 
Miking the monitors?

(dobro shakes head)

I don't know man, I think you need a bigger Full Access Pass. :D
 
The monitors weren't that loud. The instruments themselves and the house mix were.
But I only had one quick shot to set the levels before I let it run and tended to the video duties, and they got louder (soundman turned it up) later in the set. Glad I was conservative. ~3dB shy of "perfect".
Maybe they were afraid I was gonna throw my equipment off the balcony onto the soundman's head :confused:
As for the bigger pass: I wasn't about to try to grease anyone's palm to get one.
 
If it was the one in H'wood - you'll have a boomy hollow sounding recording with the mids popping through very loud.

If there is a next time, just ask if you can fly your mics, out of the direct line of the monitors.
 
Sjoko: It was the one in Anaheim (disneyland) and the mids were fairly prominent. By "flying" the mics, do ya mean hanging them from the ceiling?
 
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