Jay Pemberton
09-03-2008, 09:16 PM
If you've been keeping up on Vinyl David's thread about getting a new mixer at his school, he and I got on a chat there about the Tascam M 30 mixer he has. I mentioned a few bits about mine. I also have some sound clips there of some live recordings I've done recently of the local bluegrass group Blue Dogwood with mine. Here's some pix and something of the story of an evening on the square in Mountain Home, Arkansas late last month, running live sound with it, and some auxiliary pieces of gear.
http://i150.photobucket.com/albums/s88/Perisphere-photo/square1.jpg
Just after the initial fire-up of everything, around 6.25 peeyem. You can see where the big Altec-Lansing A7-500 Voice Of The Theatre speakers are, off to the sides.
http://i150.photobucket.com/albums/s88/Perisphere-photo/Square2.jpg
A couple of songs later, after the dialling-in of a monitor mix (not a luxury I usually get). Ultimately there were between 200 and 300 people there. Only one person told me some people way in the back couldn't quite hear things. She was very polite though, so I explained everything was as loud as it could be pushed short of howling, which it was. They'd just have to get closer! Everyone else said it sounded great. On the other side of the square was another music act. From what someone showed me on a pic there was only about 5 people to hear the other act--everyone else was here!
http://i150.photobucket.com/albums/s88/Perisphere-photo/BDlive.jpg
How they looked on stage, from my vantage point this time, early on.
http://i150.photobucket.com/albums/s88/Perisphere-photo/A7L.jpg
Speaker to the left of me....
http://i150.photobucket.com/albums/s88/Perisphere-photo/A7R.jpg
Speaker to the right of me. Nevertheless, a mono mix.
I had three people ask me what make of speakers they are, as they were so well pleased with the sound; apparently far better than what they usually hear at things like this.
http://i150.photobucket.com/albums/s88/Perisphere-photo/BDnight.jpg
Late in the evening, with just street lighting. By this time they were having a bit of difficulty seeing things. We eventually wound it down around 9.30 peeyem.
http://i150.photobucket.com/albums/s88/Perisphere-photo/Mixers.jpg
My wee mixing setup. Left to right: Fostex 450 mixer, Tascam M 30 mixer; going up, Peavey EQ 215 stereo graphic EQ, a DVD player belonging to the banjo player, and my Valley People Dyna-Mite used as a limiter for the vocals. (The custom-made phantom power supply for the M 30 is on the ground underneath the table.)
The 'monitor' thing has been long a source of grief and woe with this lot. The monitoring bit was sorted that night partly by the chap who occasionally plays acoustic guitar solos (second from the left) running the 'pickup' on his guitar through his own amp, as a stage monitor for the group on stage, whilst I still miked the guitar itself for the main feed. He still was hard to hear sometimes! Trying to get him audible, I told them, is akin to trying to amplify a gnat fart in a hailstorm! Not running his mike through their monitors allowed the vocal mikes to be brought up much higher in their monitor mix. (I ran only vocals, and only a little autoharp, through them, instead of more or less the same mix I made for mains or recording, as I did at Bull Shoals.)
They were, on balance, much happier overall with everything. Except the fact that I didn't record this performance (it would have turned out mono if I had).
http://i150.photobucket.com/albums/s88/Perisphere-photo/square1.jpg
Just after the initial fire-up of everything, around 6.25 peeyem. You can see where the big Altec-Lansing A7-500 Voice Of The Theatre speakers are, off to the sides.
http://i150.photobucket.com/albums/s88/Perisphere-photo/Square2.jpg
A couple of songs later, after the dialling-in of a monitor mix (not a luxury I usually get). Ultimately there were between 200 and 300 people there. Only one person told me some people way in the back couldn't quite hear things. She was very polite though, so I explained everything was as loud as it could be pushed short of howling, which it was. They'd just have to get closer! Everyone else said it sounded great. On the other side of the square was another music act. From what someone showed me on a pic there was only about 5 people to hear the other act--everyone else was here!
http://i150.photobucket.com/albums/s88/Perisphere-photo/BDlive.jpg
How they looked on stage, from my vantage point this time, early on.
http://i150.photobucket.com/albums/s88/Perisphere-photo/A7L.jpg
Speaker to the left of me....
http://i150.photobucket.com/albums/s88/Perisphere-photo/A7R.jpg
Speaker to the right of me. Nevertheless, a mono mix.
I had three people ask me what make of speakers they are, as they were so well pleased with the sound; apparently far better than what they usually hear at things like this.
http://i150.photobucket.com/albums/s88/Perisphere-photo/BDnight.jpg
Late in the evening, with just street lighting. By this time they were having a bit of difficulty seeing things. We eventually wound it down around 9.30 peeyem.
http://i150.photobucket.com/albums/s88/Perisphere-photo/Mixers.jpg
My wee mixing setup. Left to right: Fostex 450 mixer, Tascam M 30 mixer; going up, Peavey EQ 215 stereo graphic EQ, a DVD player belonging to the banjo player, and my Valley People Dyna-Mite used as a limiter for the vocals. (The custom-made phantom power supply for the M 30 is on the ground underneath the table.)
The 'monitor' thing has been long a source of grief and woe with this lot. The monitoring bit was sorted that night partly by the chap who occasionally plays acoustic guitar solos (second from the left) running the 'pickup' on his guitar through his own amp, as a stage monitor for the group on stage, whilst I still miked the guitar itself for the main feed. He still was hard to hear sometimes! Trying to get him audible, I told them, is akin to trying to amplify a gnat fart in a hailstorm! Not running his mike through their monitors allowed the vocal mikes to be brought up much higher in their monitor mix. (I ran only vocals, and only a little autoharp, through them, instead of more or less the same mix I made for mains or recording, as I did at Bull Shoals.)
They were, on balance, much happier overall with everything. Except the fact that I didn't record this performance (it would have turned out mono if I had).