Vocal EQ settings & soundman communication

[sage]

.. aka that black box at the corner of the studio that you switch on to have your mic work, but have no idea what those other knobs are about.

Anyone wants to contribute with this? What are the general applications on the thingy, to configure, other than volume, and how should you configure it to make sure you sound your best as a vocalist during a jam?



Also, how do you check your sound during live sets? What are your requirements to the soundman before you start your gig?


For those who are new to gigs, I could start off with suggesting that you might want to make sure your voice and the band's music can be heard through the monitors, that are usually at the front of the stage. That's to check whether you can be heard at all or whether you're going pitchy vocally. I guess that's logically the most basic one, but I know some singers here who don't know it.. so er.. I'm just posting this k?

Depending on your style of singing, you might want to add some reverb as well to give the voice some warmth or to smooth it out. You can ask this from the soundman until you're happy with the sound. Other than that I'm afraid I don't know anything else. LOL.

Any suggestions on how to make sure the soundman does his job during the sets?


Shoot your ideas; I know tetra posted a wholeload on another thread.. can copy and paste here or not? :P

[kdash]

http://soft.com.sg/forum/all-about-s...stamina-2.html

post #13 by bro tetra might help

alternatively you can wait for him to reply

[sage]

Will do, I think this is might be a most sought after thread (especially since most of us are leading into bands as vocalists and have no clue how those things work... me included lol).

Mornin' kdash! :}

[kdash]

morning sis sage!

anyway yup this is something that keeps coming up, even within the few days that i've been surfing on soft. maybe when bro tetra and the rest contribute to this thread, we can ask for this to be a sticky.

[fgl]

SAGE - u know MY METHOD:mrgreen: ....

[Tetragrammaton]

So...here you are! Hehehe!! Sorry was busy the whole day. Only manage to get back on-line at home.

Ok, if you're playing for a gig especially those that are all mic'ed up. I'm sorry to say that you are at the mercy of the soundman. Now a days, you'll see funny people handling the sound system. If the sound guys doesn't like your band, well he can do what he want to the sound system. Or if you get an amateur sound guy...you're in deep trouble. Only luck will prove otherwise.

But in a situation that you're playing 'raw'. That means basing on all the instruments amplified without a mic up on the drums for instance in a jamming studio. Only the mic is hook up to the PA. Maybe the keyboard at sometimes if there's not enough amplifier. The purpose of jamming in a studio is to practice as a band. Everyone should hear one another. You don't need to blast the instruments until the vocals strain his or her throat. Simply, if you come out of the studio and you can hear that hissing sound inside your ear...that shows you're playing too loud.

Ok back to the adjustment on your microphones settings. I'm just refering to basic setup. First of all, you should see a Master volume on the side. Then you'll see the channel 1,2,3, etc. Some model has an equilizer on left and right. Setting this will determine your main equilisation of the system on left speaker and right speaker. On the individual channel you'll see high, mid, low, gain(volume), effects and pan if there's any depending on the model. You master volume should always be higher than your channel volume. About the high, mid, low are equilizer for individual channel settings. Everyone have their own preference so I can't pin down what to set. Some models have effect too. If you see this, there will be the main effect setting somewhere near the main volume too. On the individual channel, you may want to have a lower effect on it so your setting should be lower. The Pan knob is to control left or right output. Normally set to centre so both speakers should be heard.

Hope that helped for a start!

Saluti!
Tetragrammaton

[sage]

fgl>> yes... i know your method.... and i don't want to remember it............... it still haunts me...............


"at the mercy of the soundman"

Oh hell yeah. Any tips on how to get these buggers to actually do their work? You could get everything perfectly done up during soundcheck, and for some reason, during the set itself, the soundman's like a dead fish with swollen chicken-backside ears. I was so desperate to get decent sound for mic (at least once in my gigging days damn it!!) that I even considered socialising with those buggers.

Damn man those were some useful tips for the eq settings bit. At least I know what's what now....
How do we adjust the effects settings tho? Just for a lil reverb at least... I tried manhandling the effects knob (I assumed effects = reverb) and I donno what happen, there was a bloody chorus behind my voice. I mean.. it was cool lah, but I'm not doing Enya...

But thanks for the post tetra! And yeah it would def help to get this stickied, but I'm tired of trying to contact the mods to do it. Donno how many times I've tried, it's like my pms are lost in the twilight zone or something...

[soft]

During performance, concentrate on singing well.

- Close to perfect pitching.
- Good projection.
- Don't sing certain part sooooo soft and then suddenly scream/shout.
- Keep in time with the music.
- Learn to handle the microphone. Not too far from your mouth. But please don't put your mouth on the mic.
- Entertain the crowd.
- Know where are the monitor/FOH speakers, don't point the microphone at them.
- If singing halfway and the mic doesn't work, use the other mic on stage. Don't keep singing and look victimised.
- Never throw microphone in the air or swing them by the cable.

During sound check

- Make sure you can hear yourself and the important instrument that help you keep time/pitch on the monitor speakers.
- Move around the stage and make sure you still can hear yourself
- Let the sound engineer know if you like to have some reverb/delays for effect

What you hear on stage is from the monitor speakers. It is different from the front-of-house speakers.

During practise session

- Keep the EQ flat (meaning zero), this is your voice straight from the system without any coloring.
- Practise your singing, microphone position until your voice sound good without any EQ.


* be nice to everyone on the set, in return, they will be nice to you.

[sage]

Thanks for the tips mr softie! And... thanks for the stickies!

"- Don't sing certain part sooooo soft and then suddenly scream/shout."
Yknow that's a good point... I generally sing softer in some parts and louder on the rest, but I really can't help it cos I'm doing some soft backgrounds and breathy talking parts.. :/ And I'm too shy to project during soundcheck sometimes :X Urgh I never thought about that..


"What you hear on stage is from the monitor speakers. It is different from the front-of-house speakers."

How so?

[kdash]

"What you hear on stage is from the monitor speakers. It is different from the front-of-house speakers."

How so?

what happens is that on stage, the band people listen to themselves via monitor speakers while the audience/crowd listens to what's coming out of the front-of-house speakers. usually the different band members will request to the sound engineer which instruments they want to hear more on their respective monitor speakers, rather than to hear everything. so the sound engineer will tweak and adjust the volumes of each instrument/mic on each monitor speaker.

eg, the lead singer may want to hear more of the drums and keyboard/guitar, so that he/she can keep in tune and in beat. meanwhile the drummer may want to hear the bass and the lead singer's voice more, so that he can sync with both the bass and the singer. these are personal preferences, so it's up to the respective band members. also it depends on song genre.

just my 2 cent's worth, hope it helps! and please correct me if i'm wrong!