Advice on micing a band

[GR1]

Don't over deaden the band playing space. If you end up making it so dead that it is almost anechoic the musicians won't be able to hear themselves play properly and could end up over playing their instruments. You need a bit of life in the room.

[sunray]

11 hours ago, GR1 said:

Don't over deaden the band playing space. If you end up making it so dead that it is almost anechoic the musicians won't be able to hear themselves play properly and could end up over playing their instruments. You need a bit of life in the room.

It's very tricky to soften a hard space to that degree without major effort

[ANDYLASER]

Is the space under the stage used as storage, or is it a bone fide room? What about fire escapes and emergency lighting etc. H&S could be very involved for using this as a performance location.

[sandall]

Ok, back to first principals. Putting the band under the stage is a no-no for all the reasons already given, & many more. You say you normally have a small pit, which sort of works, so why not abandon the idea of extending the stage, & stick to what you're familiar with?  If you must have the bigger stage, & there is absolutely nowhere offstage to put the band, then why not pre-record them? I've also met shows in the past where the MD recorded all the parts & played them "live" from his keyboard. It seemed a lot of faff, but he was still totally in control of the music, & didn't take up much space (in a different venue he could have been offstage, with a camera feed to conduct the singers).

[DrV]

2 hours ago, sandall said:

Ok, back to first principals. Putting the band under the stage is a no-no for all the reasons already given, & many more. You say you normally have a small pit, which sort of works, so why not abandon the idea of extending the stage, & stick to what you're familiar with?  If you must have the bigger stage, & there is absolutely nowhere offstage to put the band, then why not pre-record them? I've also met shows in the past where the MD recorded all the parts & played them "live" from his keyboard. It seemed a lot of faff, but he was still totally in control of the music, & didn't take up much space (in a different venue he could have been offstage, with a camera feed to conduct the singers).

We've done something similar to this. Amateur group using a church hall in which we have a permanent stage and sound rig. We use one of our regular MDs who is very capable with sound editing software so he creates all the backing tracks. He also does stuff like having a vamp intro which blends seamlessly into a number on an external cue eg. a performer reaching their mark. He gives a stereo feed or two from his keyboard and laptop to the desk and our engineer mixes that and lots of radio mics just as he would a regular band. The pertinent point being that the MD and his gear doesn't take up much room. We've done a couple of shows like that.

[sclg]

On 11/21/2024 at 4:22 PM, ANDYLASER said:

Is the space under the stage used as storage, or is it a bone fide room? What about fire escapes and emergency lighting etc. H&S could be very involved for using this as a performance location.

That's one of the few bits that isn't a problem! Three exits, all leading to separate fire exits, does have emergency lighting AND smoke detectors connected to the alarm system.