Mega Noob (Help)

[dtr1991]

Hey,

could do with some help/recommendations.

 

I'm putting on my mates birthday gig, and I have 4 bands, all playing moderate rock, and a small pub venue, that holds 150 max.

I was planning on renting a PA (two speakers, and a mixer, 300W), from the local rehearsal room.

 

I have no idea what I am doing and I regreat organzing this.

 

Help me with what equipment I will need/what to do with it.

 

Yes I am a mega noob :|

 

cheers

 

 

Moderation: Moved to the Sound Forum since more specialists in that field might see your query there.

[gherriott]

Firstly welcome to the BR,

 

Well, firstly you need some microphones, one per singer, I would use just a bog standard SM58, then if you want to mic the drums though I don't think you will need it in the size of your venue then you will need some drum mics, couple of overheards, some tom and snare mics and an egg for the bass, and then guitar wise you can either use SM58 again fro micing the individual amps or take a direct out through a DI box, recommended for a bass, then you will need some XLR cables to run those to your mixer, with enough channels for the above, a stereo amp, some speakers and some speakon to speakon cables to connect those to the amp. Most companies will hire out basic PA's which will have most of this included if you just tell them whatthe purpose is they should be able to recommend a package for you.

 

Hope this helps

 

Greg

[Ynot]

Serious answer?

Look for someone in your area who has experience mixing bands and can maybe bring along their own kit if needed.

Sticking a mic thru a mixer to have karaoke style singing to a backing track is (relatively) easy.

Trying to mix 4 bands with NO know-how at all is, quite honestly, going to scupper you!

 

get some talent in, and get them on board ASAP!

 

EDIT - oh, and update your profile so we know exactly where you are. Who knows, there MAY be a Blue-Roomer in your neighbourhood who MAY be willing to offer direct assistance!

:** laughs out loud **:

[weatherhead]

I second the above. If you don't know how, there are plenty of people who will know a little at least many of whom will do it for free. The hire company may be able to supply someone at a cost.

If you're interested in getting more into this stuff, then watch and learn at the gig and read around it. If you're not interested, then as with anything the best advice is to leave it to someone who is!

 

EDIT- if the bands playing are a little bit experienced, they often will expect the sound man to know what he's doing. Some bands can get quite short with people over this kind of stuff.

[niclights]

I might take a different stance on this.

 

If this is something that interests you then maybe just go for it. Only one way to learn. I've certainly been there and done that. That does very much assume the bands are also inexperienced as mentioned above though!

 

But if technical stuff really isn't your field or you have no aspirations to work in this area then do find someone who is, even if it's still just very basic.

[Ynot]

If this is something that interests you then maybe just go for it. Only one way to learn.

Hmmmm.... ©

 

I really can't see a 4-band gig going at all well with a total novice sound op - no matter HOW keen he/she is. And any formula that includes total inexperience is bound for frustration and very poor PA, (thus frayed tempers at best on both sides) unless they're REALLY lucky! ;)

[niclights]

Like I said, I've been there and done it (in Nuneaton IIRC!). Borrowed PA. Probably even less power. Used mics that borrowed with it, probably not even 58's. Only vocals really need the amplification although I remember trying a bit more than that. I had no experience. It was obviously awful when I look back on it, but nevertheless it happened and everyone was happy. It was hard work but there were no frayed tempers etc. All had a good time.

 

It's only a small birthday thing after all.

 

If you can cope with this then you can cope with many things & is a great way to learn, assuming you want to! I'm sure many engineers started out in similar ways. Why not? ;)

[Bobbsy]

Well, first just an example of what you're up against. I have on my desk right now a book claiming to be a beginners' guide to live sound mixing. It's just under 400 pages long and my main criticism is that it glosses over quite a lot of important points.

 

So, may I propose a compromise? How about finding somebody with some experience to be the main sound person on the understanding that you work as his assistant. Perhaps the sound technician might be a local freelance...or you might ask the bands and see if one of them might have a specialist who does the job for them who would be willing to do everyone. (Beware rivalries if you go this route thought.) By having one expert to "carry the can" you'll take a lot of pressure off yourself (you might even enjoy the party!) but you'll also have an opportunity to learn a lot very quickly.

 

One main suggestion I'd make: in a venue as small as 150 people, keep it simple. You can probably get away with just miking the vocals and leaving the instruments to take care of themselves. Frankly, if you use a 300 watt system, you're going to have enough trouble keeping vocals above the backline without adding to your difficulties by miking drums and instruments.

 

Cheers,

 

Bob

[Al Cain]

Perhaps if he posts where he is from in the world,m then as mentioned earlier, someone maybe able to help! ;)

 

HTH

AC

[berry120]

If you're interested in learning about it, then I'd go with Bob's suggestion of getting someone on board to show you what to do and someone you can learn from. It's just my opinion on it, but personally I think that's the best way to learn - at least that's how I did it. Learning by just being thrown in at the deep end is good to a certain extent, but I wouldn't recommend it when you've got absolutely no experience at all, it could get very frustrating. At the other extreme, if you just get someone else to do it all for you you're not going to learn much at all. On the other hand, if you don't want to learn and just want to get the job done (which is completely understandable if that's the case!) then it might be the best option.

[dtr1991]

thanks for all the advice so far.

The gig is in Halifax, West Yorkshire ;)

and I think that mic'in the drums/backline wont be needed, as they have regular gigs there and all of them never mic them up, and it sounds alright.

so just vocals did doing then.

 

any more/updated suggestions?

 

Thanks again

[cfmonk]

Heylo,

 

I started in a pretty similar way but did have at least some experience of wiring up sound systems and watching other people operate them.

 

As has been said. Find out how many singers each band has, get enough microphones, try and get hold of the kit the day before the gig and at least make sure you can get some noise out of it then, as long as the bands are pretty patient and you know what they SHOULD sound like then I reckon you will probably be ok although probably not great!

 

Might also have to think about monitors so the singers can hear themselves, have a word with the bands, they've done this before!

 

Chris

[DaveBennett]

Have a word with the bands as some of them may already have there own PA systems which they might be happy for all the bands to use.

 

Dave

[johndenim]

I hope all goes well dtr!

 

So many things can go wrong if you have no experience, feedback, clipping, things falling over etc!!!!

Do a search in br and look into the best place to put your rack (and yourself) and do a good sound check.

 

As mentioned get some help is you are a bit unsure as even working the mics only is not as easy as lt looks.

You will need to be monitoring the desk constantly if you have more than one vocalist on the same mic, try to get one per singer if you can.

 

John Denim.

 

 

Edit: can I please ask what they heck is a 'noob'?

[smalljoshua]

Edit: can I please ask what they heck is a 'noob'?

 

It is a newbie to somthing. Can be used as an insult "you noob!" as in you idiot. it implies you don't know much about a subject

 

Josh