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Mandolin - the current bane of my life.


Matt Hydropath

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Hi,

 

I have started working for a folk/Irish influenced punk band in the same vein as the Pogues, and have been having endless trouble with the DI-ed mandolin, trying to get it audible above the other instruments without getting feedback.

 

I was wondering if anyone here has experience working with them, and had any hints or tips?

 

Cheers!

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You could try covering the sound hole in the mandolin (if it has one) I have done this a few times with acoustics that feedback and has worked pretty well. Obviously this will make it sound different and will only work if the acoustic/mandolin has a peizo pick up in the bridge
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there's a band local to me who use a mandolin. they run it straight into an amp. I know what you mean though, its such a quiet instrument to amplify. what pickups are you using?

 

I've been fortunate enough to work with a band who use a Godin mandolin-never had a problem getting it loud enough in the monitors (and it does need to get loud) though it is on the same mix as a bunch of acoustic instruments so there is a reasonable amount of EQ done for more tricky offenders. I guess the secret may lie in the different pick up schemes of different instruments.

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how much EQ are you doing in the desk, and is that mainly for the benefit of the monitors or FoH? (assuming its a FoH desk running monitors off the pre fade auxes)

 

try putting in a channel split and compressing just the FoH split. the EQ should be pretty similar, though some extra boost in the high mids might bring the pluck out.

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how much EQ are you doing in the desk, and is that mainly for the benefit of the monitors or FoH? (assuming its a FoH desk running monitors off the pre fade auxes)

 

Unfortunately we are still working on the pub circuit, and so I have to use whatever the various pubs supply, which tends to be very limited, mostly 16 channel EQ and only one compressor on the kick drum. Looking into getting my own compressor specifically for the mandolin. It's for the benifit of FoH, monitors didn't seem to be having too much trouble.

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Looking into getting my own compressor specifically for the mandolin.

 

From the way you describe the problem in your first post, a compressor will only make things worse. Is the mandolin player standing next to the FOH speakers? Usually feedback from monitors would be more of a problem.

 

It would be helpful to know what sort of pickup the mandolin player is using - normal piezo pickups don't usually cause problems although they need a little corrective eq to make them sound good.

 

Cheers

 

James.

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Looking into getting my own compressor specifically for the mandolin.

 

It would be helpful to know what sort of pickup the mandolin player is using - normal piezo pickups don't usually cause problems although they need a little corrective eq to make them sound good.

 

It's definately feedback coming from the FoH speakers, no feedback was noticed on stage by the band. Not 100% sure of the type of pickups used, will find out at rehearsals on Sunday.

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