Practice PA set up. How do YOU do it?

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Erockrazor

Erockrazor

I mix in (2x) real-time
How do you guys set up your PA system for band practices. I am in a two piece band, one drummer and a guitarist(me). We both sing and today we had a hard time setting up an effective monitoring system. When we thought we had it good, it would start feeding back or I couldn't hear myself singing that well. I have 4 speakers and 1 monitoring speaker to work with. I would like to use 2 speakers but how to do it effectively, maybe you can help. How do you guys do it? Any secrets? Fill me in, thank. Erockrazor:)
 
I personally prefer floor monitors.
They seem to work better from a feedback perspective.
You obviously can play with headphones on, saves your ears some stress.
 
A Behringer Feedback Destroyer would solve your problem. It uses 1/64 octave filters to cut feedback. Unlike a graphic EQ it won't butcher all of the frequencies just to cut the offending ones.
 
For monitoring, you need monitors. They are designed (crossed over etc) to focus on preventing feedback.

Make sure you aim any speakers you are trying to use, right at the back on the mic to minimize feeback.

Or trying using headphones.
 
You need a lot of money to make a good monitor system.

The behringer feedback destroyer will help and I would recommend that.

It sounds like you have no clue how to setup a sound system.

See if anybody knows some old guy like me to help you.
 
First of all,
turn down.
It's practice.
I know you need to pretend you are are playing in front of thousands
of people ( i was 19 once), but a musician knows how how to dial it
up or down volume-wise without losing the intensity. This is called playing to the room.
I see this a lot with younger players. They only have one dynamic level-full on.
Your neighbors will be happier,
your ears will last longer,
you will sound better,
and when you play at a small club, the patrons will be happier.

that is , if you want to play music. If you just want to burn off extra
energy and jump up and down and yell, that's different.


Second of all, as was mentioned earlier, learn how to set up a PA.
95% of feedback is speaker placement. Buying a device to eliminate
feedback is for when all else fails.
 
Speaker placement, mic placement, room size, volume level, EQ, mic patterns, celing height and a few other factors go into setting up a system for maximum effencency. The easy ones are to turn down the volume and be sure no mics are pointed at the speakers.
 
Erockrazor said:
How do you guys set up your PA system for band practices. I am in a two piece band, one drummer and a guitarist(me). We both sing and today we had a hard time setting up an effective monitoring system. When we thought we had it good, it would start feeding back or I couldn't hear myself singing that well. I have 4 speakers and 1 monitoring speaker to work with. I would like to use 2 speakers but how to do it effectively, maybe you can help. How do you guys do it? Any secrets? Fill me in, thank. Erockrazor:)
Click to expand...

You shouldn't need that many speakers.

-MD
 
For practice, all you need is a speaker pumping out the vocals. That's all. Don't complicate things and focus on the performance, not the sound.
 
zorf said:
First of all,

that is , if you want to play music. If you just want to burn off extra
energy and jump up and down and yell, that's different.


Second of all, as was mentioned earlier, learn how to set up a PA.
95% of feedback is speaker placement. Buying a device to eliminate
feedback is for when all else fails.
Click to expand...


Yea, I totally understand that I'm not a musician yet because I'm 19...

You say learn how to set up a PA as a response to my question.

That was my question, I was just looking for your take on setting up a PA. I'll try and take your advice about making the volume lower. Im competing with the drums in a real close environment and the music I do play is loud in general but we do have a grasp of dynamics, well ... probably not. Im gonna see if he will play with lighter drum sticks.


themaddog ... well how many speakers do you use? I've been using 1. Thanks.


Thanks for the responses guys. I think I'll be good from here on out.;)
 
here's a few ideas;
As someone else suggested, 2 floor moniters should be all you need.
(are you both singing?) In general, for cardiod mics, speakers should be
not be facing the buisness end of the mic directly. Some folks like small
spot moniters on mic stands at ear level. Do a search for setting up small PA. Too much to go into here.

If you are counting on getting your tone from a big guitar amp try a small amp at ear level. It sounds counter-intuitive, but a 100 watt amp is only twice as loud as a five watt amp.
Smaller drums, lighter sticks, practice pads on the heads, cymbal chokes,
lighter touch can help with drum volume.

Are you learning and practicing arrangments or just jamming.
If it's the former, you really don't need much volume at all.
I practice in a guitar/drums duo with a 50 watt PA. Never turned it more than halfway up.


Here's another thing i've done. Run your 2 mics into the mixer, run your guitar through a modeler (pod, microcube, sans amp, etc.),
Put the drummer on electronic drums ( i have a cheap yamaha unit ($100 used),mute the speakers and moniter on headphones.
Don't laugh, it works great!

bye the way, jumping up and down and yelling is ok too, you know.
Just watch your eardrums.
 
Last edited:
Thanks a lot zorf, excellent suggestions. I really like all of your ideas. I want to fool around with my amp height, maybe putting it closer to his ear level and mine. Secondly, I want to try giving him some lighter sticks because that's something I do have (from 5A to 7B).

I wonder how well one monitor would work in between us(we're both singing by the way). I guess that all depends on how directional my monitor is. For the sake of the conversation, we play with earplugs in. This might even make our problems with levels worse as we might compensate too much. For next band practice I'll have to keep all of these things in mind. I'm anxious to try everything out.

Thanks a lot, Zorf.:)
 
First off most of you guys are half right but not completely right.

At 19 I was a musician and so are you end of story, you play, you are period.

Floor monitors suck!!!! unless they are of high quality and have a lot of power pumping through them.

Anytime you put a mic in front of a speaker it will feedback so it doesn't matter where you put the speaker.

They are better off as close to your head as possible within reason. The further away the harder it is to hear them. The best monitors are actually side fills but that's another story. I would put them on tripods in front of the band. From the center of the band setup make about a 90 degree angle and put the speakers on tripods as close as possible to you, like I said within reason.

As for practicing.........the first time you do the song, do it at low volume to make sure all the parts are right and everybody knows what to play. That's when you'll find out who has been working on their own to learn the material.

Keep working low volume until everybody knows their part and the changes, intro, ending of the song. Then work on dynamics of the song as in when to play softer and when to play harder and louder. Make sure everybody is on the same page and talk about it to get the emotional content down.

Once you have that down, turn it up and you'll see how much better the song sounds. Play at almost stage volume to get a feel for the performance and get that adrenaline rush, that's why you play music in the first place. If you guys have smaller amps use them and save the big stuff for your live performances. That way you will be lower in volume and it saves wear and tear on your more expensive gear.

Make sure you have good mics a Shure SM 57 or 58 can be had for $50 used. Use good cables and get the feedback destroyer. There are a few on the market and even one's you can plug the mic into if I'm not mistaken, by Sabine and behringer. Some PA systems do not have inserts or an ability to put any processor in the signal path so you will need to plug the mic into it.

If you can get an EQ and learn to use it, that will help the PA system too but it's limited by the quality and system. Parametric is better but more advanced, you really need to know what frequencies are feeding back.

If you give me a run down on what you have I can help you set it up. You can email me if you like and I would be glad to help. If you hook it up wrong you could damage your speakers and power amps by mismatched impedances and feedback blowing out the drivers.
 
Very informative post Big Daddy. Thanks for taking the time to write all of that out. Ill send you a PM if thats alright with you. :) Erockrazor.
 
You only need one speaker per individual. Spreading speakers around the room will just add to the problem.

The directional pattern of the microphones you're using will determine where you need to place the monitors in relationship to the mics to minimize feedback. For example, hypercardoids have a response peak behind the mic, along the axis, so if you put a floor monitor directly behind the mic you will get feedback.

Just experiment and use as little volume overall as possible.
 
Pro Mark makes a line of drumsticks for lighter playing. They're called like... Hot Rod, Lightning Rod, and Thunder Rods. If you search for them on musiciansfriend you can find em. I've used them... you can play at a decreased volume without changing the way you play. Though they may be prone to breaking if your drummer plays really hard.
 
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