Live mixing on behringer desk. Oh my...

[Roel]

I did another mixing gig last friday. The setup sounded pretty ok, I liked the way it sounded. Maybe a little too transparant sound, but it was better as most setups I play with.

Then I got to the desk. Behringer Eurodesk 24/40 or whatever the number is. Don't like it, but you gotta work with what you have. All the auxiliaries were used for the monitors. The second mix-bus for the effects send. Just one. But that's workable. (I prefer at least 2 so I can play with delay on main vocal.)

Then I started the soundcheck. The snare sounded strange. I have NEVER had that kindof sound with that snare. Like it was a deeper wooden snare. Now, I like the sound of a deeper snare, but this kinda sounded like a bad one. But, you don't really think about it, you try to get the best out of it, and that's it.

Then I came to guitars. I had 2 mics on each cabinet, panned hard for a wider sound. 2 SM57 on the same cabinet, placed 'exactly' the same. One sounded kinda shrill, the other DARK! What the hell! Let me tell you, I really thought it was a different mic! THAT was the behringer.

Strange thing, I had the vocals sounding perfect. Never had such a good sounding voice with that band. But that's probably got to do with my voicechannel that I took along. So the rest of the system was pretty good. The behringer sucks.

It also had alot of ranges in the pots of the aux that didn't work anymore, stuff like that. I discussed it with the owner. Conclusion: Berhinger sucks. BAH!

 

[Track Rat]

Your Honour, the prosecution rests.

 

[MISTERQCUE]

AMEN!!!!!!

 

[littledog]

You're probably right, but it also could have been a lemon or badly maintained. I have one of those little baby Behringer mixers that I'll use from time to time on really small scale remote gigs, and have been able to get useable results running a couple of mics and maybe a keyboard through it (although I'm just recording flat wiht with no EQ).

I guess what I'm saying is you can run into a badly working board of almost any brand from time to time. Still, I probably wouldn't rush out and buy one either.

 

[BrettB]

Hi Roel,

I got two live mixing jobs this weekend. What I am interested in: did it pay off to double mic the guitars? was the sound bigger of wasn't it worth the trouble?

I doubt I'll have the channels/mics to do it on the gigs this weekend, but if I have, I'll try it...

 

[The Green Hornet]

Yo Roel:

You sure do move around. Who is chasing you? :]

In France, there may be an inordinate amount of wine vapor in the air. That might affect the board?

Green Hornet

 

[Roel]

Hi Roel,

I got two live mixing jobs this weekend. What I am interested in: did it pay off to double mic the guitars? was the sound bigger of wasn't it worth the trouble?

I doubt I'll have the channels/mics to do it on the gigs this weekend, but if I have, I'll try it...

Try it! It's easy to do. I just put 2 mics aimed away from eachother on the 2 upper speakers of a marshall cab, aimed right next to the middle of the cone, and pan them hard. Gives a wider sound. You can also pan them less, and it'll give you a bigger sound, but here you have to be carefull for phasing problems (but you won't have alot of trouble with those, the mics are close enough to the speakers and setup pretty identical).

"You sure do move around. Who is chasing you? :] "
Chicks... The most evil kind... Boy are they evil...

Littledog: it might have been a bad lemon, but I've mixed on a variety of boards, I start to get a feel for boards... I've mixed on alot of behringers, so I'm getting confident on using them, but the EQ never works for me. Just never does. I never noticed such a difference between channels either. Now, it could have been a badly maintained board, it could use some repair for sure, but I still don't like behringers.
Btw, I also have one of those small behringermixers. As a keyboardmixer. Guess what? It's broken. The alternative mixbus left me. Damn. I'm one of the few owners that actually knows the use of it, I even used it every now and then, and then it breaks down on me. Bah!