How to amplify a session in a pub?

[gmrd]

Im a complete newbie to this so please forgive my general ignorance on PA matters. I play traditional folk music in a pub session unamplified but the noise from the crowd makes it difficult for the people who want to hear us actually do so. I don't want to set up a formal PA as this would put off people joining in but I was thinking I could set up a discreet system with a mike perhaps on the table which would pick everyone up.Is this feasible and if so what type of mike would suit?

Thanks in advance of any help and again please excuse my ignorance.

[mkfs9]

Yes this would work ok, seen bands in Dublin do this. One or two mkes on the tables. A small mixer 4 channel or so then a nice little powered speaker.

[bruce]

Amplifying pub sessions tends to be a self-defeating process. The people are playing "for the fun of it", not specifically to entertain the rest of the pub. If people want to listen, tell them to sit near to the musicians. "Minimal and subtle" are the important things to bear in mind.

 

If the crowd in the pub is noisy, it probably means that they don't really want to hear you.

 

In many cases, the only result of amplifying the musicians will be to make the rest of the pub customers talk louder. Which means you have to increase the volume a bit more. Which means the customers talk louder... which means you turn up the wick a bit more... and you've killed the whole atmosphere of the session.

 

By this point, you've turned it into an amplified gig, playing to people who came to the pub for a quiet pint and a chat. You've pissed off the musicians, and you've pissed off the other customers...

 

Remember, "noise breeds noise".

 

 

If you really must do it, a cheap boundary mic on the table between the musicians, feeding a couple of plastic boxes on sticks, is as good as anything. Make sure it's a cheap mic, cos it will get covered in beer.

[Doug Siddons]

I'm with Bruce on this one. Sessions IMHO are for a bunch of musicians to sit around and play for their own enjoyment. If the people in the pub want to listen they will shut up if they don't then its not up to you to make them. I have a bunch of mates and we do this sort of thing frequently for fun. Apart from the bloke with the harmonica who has a little battery powered marshall amp for "that" tone, we just bang away and shout! Every now and then the pub will go quiet if something exceptional is happening but most of the time we do our thing and everyone else does theirs. If we're booked for a gig then out comes the pa ect but if its just a session its unamplified.