Mark V - Live stage setup - Shared Tips.

[thalweg]

I've been doing a lot of gigging lately, in small 100 - 400 patron clubs and medium 500 -1000 person halls on average. I always Mic my amp(combo) in every situation (trusty SM57 - 3 inch's from grill, off axis pointed about 2 inch's left of center of cone works great for me), as the narrow spread of the combo makes it near impossible to fill the room evenly and entirely on its own. (recommendation was made on this board for a home made diffuser, but I haven't tried that yet)

Small clubs... I'll place my amp on an amp stand, pointed away from the audience and angled up towards me and use it as my main guitar monitor. With larger clubs I'll have it on the back line pointing at me and ultimately towards the audience as well.

Prior to show time, we'll setup our stage sound with our instrument amps and monitors only - no FOH - and make sure it sounds nice and even, with everyone getting what they want out of a monitor mix. The FOH will then adjust the mains accordingly based on our Stage sound not vice versa. We find this works out really well. In the clubs we play the stage sound has a profound impact on the overall front of house sound. Whether that be from the sound, or the pleasure of having a great stage setup giving us more confidence and motivation in the playing.

Just wondering what you folks do in your live situations, and if there are any tried and true methods you use to extract maximum live performance sonics?

Thanks

 

[miqueas92]

Great Little Wing cover.

Why do you run your 57 at 3 in. from the grill, what is the benefit¿

Mick

 

[thalweg]

Thank you.

I have my amp tone dialled in at roughly the volume of a busy restaurant. I'd reckon somewhere between 85-88 or so Spl. Within say 5 - 7 feet of the amp. (My usual average distance when performing)

I find that 3 inches or so best represents the amount of saturation/distortion that I hear naturally coming from the amp directly at that distance. The closer I put it the more it seems to artificially boost saturation. Farther away and I loose the gain and sound that I worked hard to dial in. But it's a general rule of thumb when it comes to live performances.

When I studio record...I put the mic best to serve the song. Which can be anywhere based on the freq I want to highlight. Lately I've been forcing myself to use mic placement as a natural eq filter. I find it makes my recordings so much better than drastic eq in the console.