Crap live sound rant!

maltingsaudio

The problem with using a laptop to mix live is the difficulty in grabbing more than one fader at a time with a mouse or adjusting two or more parameters at a time because no matter how well you think you've set your software up live music will always catch you out. At least with a surface you have more chance. And let us not forget the moment when a lap freezes momentarily just when you have to make a major adjustment to something.I tend to run lap on stage with surface at FOH . At the gig i was at on sunday the engineer was running his X32 wirelessly from his Ipad, I found it on my phone but couldn't break the password then I'm not a 14 year old kid!

PS you can also patch reaper into an Allen and Heath ZED10

ICBM

maltingsaudio said:

At the gig i was at on sunday the engineer was running his X32 wirelessly from his Ipad, I found it on my phone but couldn't break the password then I'm not a 14 year old kid!

I can only imagine the amusement and chaos which would result if the engineer isn't careful to pick a good password, and more than one person has a go at remixing the gig from their phones at the same time .

Although given some of the mixes I've heard, it would still be an improvement probably...

ESBlonde

Another innovation being used for the last decade or so is the concept of Aux fed subs.
The subs (not just the bass speakers) cover the frequencies up to say 95hz so feel rather than hear. These are only fed the desk channels (via an aux send) that require trouser flapping frequencies - so Kick drum and bass guitar. The result is a defined, deep, clean bottom end without the muddiness often encountered. Again not all these facilities are available to the average techy at gigs, and even if they were many wouldn't understand or be able to utilise them.

Drew_TNBD

Danny1969;178894" said:

Drew_fx said:






ICBM said:



If you can't get a good mix with simple equipment - assuming it's basically capable of enough volume to get over the drum kit and with a decent frequency response - the problem is not in the equipment.

I think this is true to an extent. But the sort of EQ's you get on a basic entry level console are often wholely inadequate. You turn down the bass control to manage the low end, and you just lose everything. So they turn it back up again and think "fuck it" - they know exactly what they want to do, but they're not willing to lose the entire low end to get the clearness they want.



You could do so much with just a laptop and enough inputs, and most people these days are way more comfortable with software than they are hardware. That's the sad truth of it.



You could have a gate for every microphone. Sidechain on the kick+bass. Parametric EQ on every input... save it all as a Pro Tools, Cubase, or Reaper session. Load it up as the band sets up the stage.



No different to using an Axe FX in a live situaiton really. Just new technology, new ways of doing things.










We have all that in the digital desks we use now ..... I don't see many analog desks used these for anything other than the small pub gigs, everything has gone digital as you generally get full para EQ on every channel, dynamics on every channel, enough aux sends to run stereo ears for everybody, remote iPad mix ability, iPhone controlled personal monitor mixs or ethernet personal monitor mixers. When things were analog we had racks of outboard, huge frame desks and mic splitters to achieve the same thing we can do with 1 single QU24 or X32.  The Multicore \ stage snake is now a single Ethernet cable

You can still patch in to Reaper or any other DAW, signal hits desk AD convertor, out down firewire into Reaper, processed by plugs and back into desk channel via firewire again. It's a great way to run a specific plugin that was used in the mixing of a song

Aye I get that, but generally most of the venues I see, they're still using analog desks. And they're often crap!

Phil_aka_Pip

ESBlonde said:

A bit like having a blank plate on the outboard rack and mounting a big red knob labelled  volume (or indeed no label at all). When someone asks you turn something up you reach over and oblige, await them to nod in ackowledgement that its better and get back to the job in hand. Not that I would you understand, I always turn an unused Aux send or the output of an unused compressor.

Ah, yes. The DFA button

mike257

The single biggest obstacle I find to getting a good live mix is bands themselves. Inappropriate stage volume, gear/tone that doesn't sit well in the mix (or just plain sounds terrible) and musical arrangements that don't leave space for individual parts to come across with clarity. All of these things can lead to a difficult mix, in many cases with little or nothing the engineer can do to resolve them.