Miking a Seven piece Vocal Group

[jpinewoods]

I thought I would give an update on how the gig went. Overall it went pretty well technically. We used the cardiod dynamic (e835) mics which worked well and suited the venue. We put in our own mixer in the seating area upon the suggestion of the Church technical assistant and then piggy backed it into their house desk which was set way back from the stage area on a balcony. We got a pretty nice sound in the church - their house PA (Nexo speakers - I never saw the amp rack) had been sympathetically installed and tuned to the space so we were onto a good thing there from the start.

The only issues were having no idea of the music in advance and the group themselves. Great singers but only two spoke any English and they were every bit the diva's that they have no doubt been mentored to be when competing in Romania's Got Talent. I got disapproving glares every time I cued the and played the track too early - I hadn't heard it before and had no idea of their act. so I was simply going on a best guess Then they wanted the backing track level continually turned up and up again., much to the annoyance of the Charity for whom they were performing and to most of the elderly audience who complained to me en-masse during the interval. I had been warned by the Charity's founder that they had sung the night before at their Annual Ball and again wanted it far too loud, so was asked to try to keep it down! A case of being between the devil and the deep blue sea. Despite the bands urging, we kept the volume down in the second part, got a much better mix and a much happier audience.

Overall it was useful experience and next time would go into with much more confidence.

Once again, thanks for all the advice and help offered.

[Alec]

So, as is often the case, the technology ended up being the least of the issue, and the major challenge was conflicting expectations, and lack of clear direction.

 

Another day in the life of a noise boy...

[paulears]

Oddly, I think that despite some performers being very annoying, big headed and sometimes even nasty, then their requests should be complied with. I totally agree it was probably far too loud, but monitor level is often critical to how well they perform, and by resisting, you could end up with a poorer performance and perhaps even a walk-off. Taking flack is part of the sound ops job, and to me, having somebody between each number saying more, more more, is an indication they are unhappy, or struggling. Always tricky, but unless there is a manager you can discuss it with - saying no is rarely something we do?

[Judge]

Its a tricky one and I think its sometimes difficult to know which route to take. Inexperienced performers in a situation like this often do not know what they want, so don't ask. Give them what you as a professional think is required. Remember that quote by Henry Ford:

 

“If I had asked people what they wanted, they would have said faster horses.”

Its surprising how quickly people fall into the "everything louder than everything else" mentality. I worked with a (fairly inexperienced) vocal/rapping group a couple of years back and they kept asking the sound guy for the monitors to be turned up, and at one point I went up on stage to adjust a lamp and it was so utterly and horribly loud that it was impossible to discern anything. That doesn't help anybody. So there is always the option to say "Thats as loud as it will go" which I have certainly done a few times.