It's Only A Flesh Wound...

Most of us are at a performing level where we're still handling our own gear.  Some of you may have a small crew that handles the PA and lights, but there ain't many of us on the club circuit that have our own instrument techs.  Yeah, wouldn't it be wonderful to just show up for sound check with your tech waiting to hand you your guitar as you walk on to a 60' x 40' custom stage. 

OK...wake up.  It's time to load in.

This week, I want to talk about personal safety for musicians that handle their own gear before and after a show.

As a musician that's moving equipment in the afternoon and then performing at night, you want to make sure that you protect your hands and limbs, your back, and then everything else. 

You're In Good Hands...
Let's start with the hands.  Unless you're a vocals-only front person you're going to need your fingers to play your instrument.  Moving cases, handling cables, and everything else that goes into building a production has the potential of doing damage.  So to that end, get yourself a pair of good quality well fitted gloves...and wear 'em!  My favorites are Setwear Pro Leather gloves.  They'll set you back about $40, but they typically last a few years for me.  If that's too rich for your blood, then get a set of mechanic's gloves (about $15 at auto parts and home improvement stores).

Whatever you get, make sure they fit snug.  Gloves that are too large for your hands will just frustrate you, and you'll likely not wear them.

Fingerless gloves have their place, but not moving equipment.  Back in the days when we were carrying lighting truss, I had a pair that I used for just that task.  I could thread the hardware easily, and my palms were still protected.  But other than that and weight lifting...they really don't do much for a rock-n-roll show (unless you're a lead singer in an 80's tribute band...then knock yourself out).

That's How We Roll
Never carry something that you can roll.  If you've got a road case with good casters and it's not ridiculously heavy put a small container or two on it when you get it out of the truck/trailer...then head for the stage area.  As a bonus, you can save yourself a few trips to back and forth if you watch what you're doing.

If you don't own a good hand truck, you're working way too hard.  I don't like wheels on a PA or sub cabinet (unless they're removable).  So if they're not in a case or on a dolly board then put those bad boys on a hand truck and off you go.  If you're carrying them by hand, you're straining yourself.  If they're big enough for two people to carry....we'll, you're tying up two people when one person and a hand truck could do the work.

If you do outdoor gigs where you have to go over rough terrain, then get a hand truck with pneumatic tires.  But, that does mean you will need to air them up periodically so you better have a tire pressure gauge and air compressor.  The solid-wheel versions are fine until you have to go over soft ground.

One of my hand trucks is a convertible type, where you can make it a 4 wheeler to carry more gear.  That configuration is OK if you're on smooth asphalt, concrete, or flooring.  But honestly, almost everything we have has casters on it, so we don't use that option very often.

A good hand truck will run you around $60.  Again, the home improvement stores (Home Depot, Lowe's, etc) will have 'em.  I bought my workhorse at U-Haul for under $50 (they will deal a little on the price if you're nice about it or a regular customer). 

Now, if you're a drummer, keyboardist, or anyone else with a lot of bulky (but not overly heavy) cases, then you owe it to yourself to check out Rock N Roller carts and hand trucks.  I know two drummers that have these, and they're great.  They don't seem that heavy, but they can take a beating.  There are a bunch of different configurations and options for them (some of them a bit overpriced, but whatever).  But think about this...instead of four or five trips to the truck, you load up and bring everything in with one trip!  Think about how much time you've saved.

Back Up Against The Wall
I'm a text book example of back problems.  Between falling out of trees when I was a kid, and then breaking my back about 10 years ago...yeah, I've got issues.  There's no substitute for being careful, but if you've got a history of back trouble, are over 40, have a lot of heavy stuff (or in my case, all of the above), then get yourself a back brace to wear while moving things around.  I got mine at Home Depot for less than $15...and that's less than half of my deductible for one chiropractic treatment! 

I like the braces with the shoulder straps so I can loosen it when I'm not lifting things, but it's right there when someone asks for a hand with something.  It's not the coolest or sexist thing you'll buy, but this is all about you and being able to play later.

And Then There's That Gravity Thing
If you're working outside and especially on uneven surfaces, beware of cases that decide to start rolling on their own.  That happened to us last weekend on a concrete patio we were playing.  A Mesa Boogie guitar amp took a spill (but survived)...but that could have been bad.  If you've got good casters and they don't have brakes then make sure to block the case so it can't go anywhere.

If You Want Blood...
With all the care in the world, accidents still happen.  I got the end of my fretting hand index finger sliced right before a gig a few weeks ago.  If I had still had my gloves on, it wouldn't have happened.  But it did, and so I had to fix myself up. 

I keep of bottle of what I call "skin fix-it" in my work box.  It's marketed under the name New Skin or Liquid Bandage, but it's all the same.  It's basically a medical grade Super Glue with an antiseptic in it.  I buy it at CVS Pharmacy.  Unless you're a total klutz, a bottle will last you for years.  It works best on clean cuts.  Take your time and build up several layers of the stuff and you can get through a gig.  A puncture wound, though, it ain't gonna help.  The only thing you can do for that is Neosporin, a bandage, and a shot of Patron.

You know those rustic looking stages finished in rough cedar that are a main stay at Country Western clubs and upscale venues?  Any club owner that puts those in needs to be thrown into a cage with pissed off porcupines.  Those things are splinter bombs just waiting to go off.  I got one over an inch long under a fingernail about 5 minutes before a very high profile show.  That was a long 3 sets.  Now I keep a set of fine point tweezers in my gig bag, along with fingernail clippers and a file.  Hang nails and guitar playing don't work.  (And no...I quit carrying the black nail polish a long time ago).

Don't Start Killing Brain Cells Early...
I have a personal rule when setting up a show.  I don't have that first beer until everything is unpacked, stacked, and hooked up...especially the power hook ups.  You get hurt when you're not aware of what's going on around you. 

For the next couple of weeks, I want to talk about the actual load in and striking the show.  It amazes me how many bands create multiple obstacles for themselves when they're moving gear in and out of a venue.  I've got a couple of full production shows with The Rhythm Dawgs over the next couple of weeks, so this is a good time to share some of the things I've learned over the years.

Until then...keep the meters out of the red (especially if the red is blood).

Ken

 

Ken Carver has been a musician and performer since the early 70's, and involved with live music production since the mid 70's. He worked for 15 years as a broadcast engineer, building numerous studios and transmitter sites around Texas. He's also worked in Critical Care Communications for the medical industry, R&D for an automated lighting manufacturer, and owned Project Lighting & Sound in the 80's. He currently heads up an R&D Hardware Technician Team at National Instruments in Austin, and still performs on the weekends in the Central Texas area. You can reach Ken at itsjustlogistics@gmail.com 



Flying On Instruments

We've spent over half a year now talking primarily about sound systems, dealing with clubs and club owners, lousy power, and even lousier business deals.  The best sound system in the world doesn't do you much good without something to run through it.

So this week, I thought I would focus on the care and feeding of instruments...at least the ones I know, being guitar and bass.

A lot of people equate "maintainence" of an instrument with wiping the beer off and occasionally throwing a set of strings on it.  OK...that's a start...just getting the sweat and other foreign material off your instrument (especially the strings) will help out.  But that in and of itself is not a replacement for periodically giving your axe some real TLC.  Here's my ritual.

When you've got a lot of instruments to keep up on a frequent basis, there's nothing like having a dedicated workspace.  After years of restringing on the kitchen table (which there's nothing wrong with in my opinion, but Mrs. Carver wasn't crazy about it), I finally got my spot. 
 

 

I found a great chest of drawers at IKEA that's just the right height (with a ton of storage).  The mat is from Musician's Friend, and set me back $30 or so.  Add a work light and you're all set.  We'll work on my main guitar and bass today...a 2012 Fender American Precision Deluxe and early 2k's Schecter semi-hollow body.
 

First off, let's get our supplies together.  Today I'm going to polish the frets, condition the finger board in the Schecter, restring, and then clean.  Here are the tools and supplies I use:

 

Most of this stuff is probably familiar to most player, with the possible exception of the package on the lower right.  That's a product I found a few years ago called Gorgomyte.  It's a disposible cloth that impregnated with a metal cleaner/polisher.  Before if I wanted to polish the frets on an instrument, I had to get mask off the neck and use a Dremel tool with a polishing wheel.  No more...this stuff makes it super easy to have smooth, clean frets.  I'll use it about every third string change.
 

The bottles are Dunlop cleaning and maintainence products which I've used for decades.  The "01" is an alcohol based neck cleaner, the "02" is a conditioner, and the "65" is a general purpose cleaner for the entire instrument.  It can take fingerprints off a black guitar in seconds, which is kind of my litmus test for this kind of product.  I keep a bottle at home and in my workbox that goes to gigs.
 

Along with the tools, I'll use 3 different cleaning cloths....
 

The one on the left is a microfiber cloth I use for general body cleaning.  In the middle is a cotton wash cloth I like for neck clean up.  On the right is part of an old t-shirt that gets used to take up the excess oil when I condition the fingerboard.

Oh yeah, one last thing before we get started...I open up the pack of strings I'm going to use and make sure that all of them are there!  It hasn't happened often, but there have been a few times over the years I've had a 3 string bass or a 5 string guitar set!  Bad news right before a gig.

 



I buy my strings in bulk now, but back in the day when I had to sell my organs to buy bass strings this would have been a big problem.  BTW, for the gear heads that are wondering these are Dean Markley Blue Steel medium lights.  The Fender is the only bass that gets this gauge...all my others get 45-105 sets.
 

At this point, I might get myself a beverage...(wait...there's ain't no "might" to it) and get to work.
 

I'll go ahead and apologize to the purists and vintage snobs out there right now, but the next step is to remove all the strings.
 

 

"AHHHH...what about the neck?"
 

Chill...this is a modern instrument with a good truss rod.  Hell, I'll even do this to my 1970 Les Paul and not think about it. Well, my thinking is that tree lived for a long time without any strings on it.  Honestly, I've never had a problem with this.  In fact, most experts tell me you should loosen the strings on a guitar if you're flying it in an unpressurized cargo hold.  But I digress.  Now that there's nothing in the way, get in there and clean between the pickups and the bridge!  There, all better now, right?
 

Next...I'm going to hit the frets with the Gorgomyte.  A 2" square will do a neck just fine (you get a piece of it big enough for 10 jobs for about $10).  Some guys will really dig into the wood with these, but I pretty much concentrate on the frets and will use other products for the wood.  By the time you finish, this cloth is going to be pretty nasty looking.

Next, I follow up with my fingerboard cleaner.  I try to keep this away from the painted parts of the instrument (but have never damaged anything if I did get some on).  Spray it on, wipe it off.  Wax on...wax off.  Except this isn't wax.  Nevermind.

If I'm going to condition the fingerboard, here's where that happens.  I did the bass a few weeks ago, so I'm just doing this guitar today. 

Different folks have different opinions on what to use and how to do it.  As I mentioned earlier, I use the Dunlop products...mainly because I know they won't have an adverse interaction between themselves.  But in the past, I've used lemon oil and it worked fine.  I also used a product called Fiddlebrite for years that worked well (it's just hard to find now).  Taylor guitars recommends linseed oil.

Speaking of Taylor, they recommend putting the stuff on and wiping it off immediately.  Personally, I'll let it sit for a few minutes, and then wipe off the excess.  How long?  About the length of time to go to the kitchen and freshen my drink.

I'll typically do a conditioning on my rosewood necks about 4 times a year.  Ebony necks get it twice a year (it's a naturally oily wood).  I don't own any maple neck instruments, but if they're finished then you really don't need to do this.

After this, it's time to put a fresh set of strings on...

The hardest thing about restringing is "where do I cut the string off at?".  Improperly wound tuning pegs are a huge source of tuning instability.  I've got a little different technique for each instrument, but for my basses this works really well.  For the E and A strings, I go "a post and a half" past where they will wind.  In the above picture, I'm getting reading to the E string.  Where my fingers are is where I will make a 90 degree bend.

I like to make the bend before I cut, because in my mind it lessens the chance of the outer wrap on the string coming loose.  I'll cut the string about an inch past the bend.

From there, I insert the string and then wrap it smoothly from top to bottom on the post.  You want the string to have a downward force into the nut.

 

From here...repeat ad naseum.  For the D and G strings, I will give them 2 posts of length (since they're thinner strings).  Since you're going to run out of posts, hold the string in position at the correct tuning post, and then bring it back to make your measurement.  This photo shows me about to string up the G.  I'm holding it where it would hit it's tuning post.

Now I tune up, stretch the strings, repeat...a couple of times.  And we're strung up for the next show.

Since I didn't change string brands or gauges, there's no need to do a truss rod adjustment or set the intonation (although I'll spot check it).

Before you put your instrument away, check and make sure that everything that's supposed to be tight is.  Strap buttons are notorius for working loose.  Make sure those are snug, and if you use strap locks (you should be), then make sure that hardware is tight.

You don't want to wind up like this guy...especially if you tend to do any tricks.

Finally, if any of your guitars have active electronics and require a battery, when's the last time you changed that?  Typically, I'll change 'em twice a year.  I like to put a piece of board tape on 'em and write the date I installed it.  That takes the guess work out. 


Next week, I want to take about something that ain' glamorous but very necessary.  I've been doing this a long, long time and I been injuried either setting up or tearing down after a gig more times than I care to admit.  We'll talk about safety for you and your gear, and things you can do to make sure the show goes on.

Until then, keep the meters out of the red.

Ken




Ken Carver has been a musician and performer since the early 70's, and involved with live music production since the mid 70's. He worked for 15 years as a broadcast engineer, building numerous studios and transmitter sites around Texas. He's also worked in Critical Care Communications for the medical industry, R&D for an automated lighting manufacturer, and owned Project Lighting & Sound in the 80's. He currently heads up an R&D Hardware Technician Team at National Instruments in Austin, and still performs on the weekends in the Central Texas area. You can reach Ken at itsjustlogistics@gmail.com





I Hear You Rockin'

Next to my talk box and multi-neck guitars, the piece of gear I get asked about most at shows is my in-ear monitor system.  So this week, let me try to demystify this technology.

Using personal monitor devices is has been going on since the 70's (it's just gotten more elegant and less obtrusive).  Keith Moon used to put on a pair of Koss headphones to follow a backing tape when The Who would play Won't Get Fooled Again and Baba O'Riley live.

Guitarist Jeff "Skunk" Baxter (Steely Dan, Doobie Brothers), used headphones instead of monitor slants live...as that was what he was accustomed to in the studio

Of course, these examples pre-date the wireless options we have today, but the concepts are the same.  Going to in ear systems have a lot of advantages over traditional slants:

• Hearing Conservation - when you put in a set of in-ears, you're really knocking down the  stage noise you hear.  Universal fit ear phones will attenuate the ambient by 10dB or so.  Custom fit molded ones will get you up to 25dB.
• Less gear - A transmitter, receiver, and ear phones can fit in a gig bag.  Try that with a monitor slant, power amp, and EQ.
• Speaking of EQ, you don't have to ring the feedback out of in-ears.
• Less noise on the stage means a cleaner mix for your front of house.
• When someone walks up to you while your playing to request a song, just point to you're in-ears, shake your head, and mouth the words "sorry, can't hear you".

OK...so that's all good, right?  Well...it is, but there are some trade-offs.  First, it's really not practical to share mixes with in-ears...everybody needs their own.  With that consideration, your main console needs to be able to supply enough mixes.  With modern consoles now, it's tough to find anything even semi-pro with less than 4 mixes now (the Presonus SL24 I'm using now has 10 freakin' mix outputs, plus 2 more for effects).

There's also cost.  You'll pay 2 to 4 times per wireless set up what a traditional slant/amp/EQ package would run you.  And this is one time where you need to stay with the name brands like Shure, Sennheiser, and Audio-Technica.  You really don't want something cheap that's going to randomly blast your ears with interference.  You're looking at $500 to $1000 per transmitter/receiver.  Most packages include universal fit ear pieces.   If you're a drummer or keyboardist and don't need wireless mobility, then wired systems are available for about half the cost.

If you're a band that mixes themselves from the stage, it's not practical for everyone to go to in ears.  Somebody still has to be able to hear the mains.  Otherwise, you could have a major problem in the mix and not know it until your crowd starts throwing stuff.

And finally, it's a very different environment to play in.  It's been almost 10 years ago, but I very much remember the first show I ever used them on.  I put in the ear pieces and thought "ah hell...this is too weird.  I just pissed away $1200".  But, seeing as I was trying to save my hearing I kept at it.  Along the way I figured a few things out that made things better, and now it's tough for me to play without 'em.

OK, so you (individually or your band) are going to move forward with this.  I won't go into the details of hooking everything up, as that can vary from system to system.  Instead, let's talk about getting things fired up and dialed in.

A Channel For Everyone

Seems kind of obvious, but everyone needs their own frequency to operate on.  This is the first thing I check when setting up a new system.  So of the new advanced ones automatically scan for available channels and configure themselves (the Shure PSM-1000 will do this...at a price of of over $5000).  And once you get your transmitters and receivers matched up, MARK 'EM!  Either color code them or put the performer's name on both the transmitter and receiver.  You'll thank me 5 minutes before show time.

Start Small

I used mine the first time at a performance...trial by fire for me.  If I had to do it over again, I would have done a couple of rehearsals with them first.

When you first put in the ear pieces, resist the temptation to put everything into the mix.  See what you can hear without adding anything.  Then, add your voice, instrument, and maybe the other vocals.  It's quite possible you might wind up with just about everything in, but you might not need it.

How Are You People Doing?

The biggest "disconnect" for me was not hearing the room or the audience.  And then I found out what the big boys do...they mic the room and add that back to the mix!  So that's what I do now.  I started out putting a condenser mic on my stand facing back out, but I got tied of the drunks bumping into it coming up to ask for "In A Gadda Da Vida".  So now, I just crack in a little of the drum overheads and that works fine.  Just make sure that in the case of a true room mic, it's just routed to the monitor bus and not going out the mains.  Otherwise, you'll be trying to chase down some nasty feedback.

Earache My Eye...

The quality of the ear pieces that comes with your system is directly proportional to the cost of the entire system.  My first system came with Shure e1's...pretty fundamental single driver units, but OK for guitar and vocals.

Those gave up the ghost after a couple of years so I stepped up to the e3's.  Much better, and they worked fine until I started playing bass in Buzzfuel.  Unfortunately, I couldn't hear below a low G on my bass, and the guitarist next to me on stage was using a 100 watt Mesa Boogie that was capable of wiping out a small country.  Even with the e3's in, he was the loudest thing in my head.

That's when I decided to pony up and get a set of custom mold in-ears made for me.  After shopping around and talking to some friends of mine who play for a living, I decided to go with the UE5's from Ultimate Ears.  They're a 2-way system (separate woofer & tweeter).  Between the ear pieces, getting the molds shot, and shipping it was just under $700, but they've been entirely worth it.  Not only do the sound a ton better, the outside noise isolation was so good that I had to add that killer amp next to me back into my mix...I couldn't hear it otherwise!

You're Gonna Put What Where?
If you decide you want to go with the custom mold route, I'll warn you right now...it's not at all painful, but it's a strange experience. 

You'll want to go to an audiologist that's familiar with the requirements of the particular company you're going to order from.  Ultimate Ears calls out for a specific mold compound, the depth of the mold, and how much of your outer ear they want an impression taken of.  Most places will charge you about $50 to take the impressions.

When you start, they're going to shove a small foam dam deep into your ear.  Next, you'll get a piece of foam to bite on (a bite block) to hold your mouth open at a certain angle.  Finally, the audiologist comes at you with what looks like a caulk gun and shoots the mold compound into your ear.  It's very cold when it goes in, but warms up as it cures.  It only takes a minute or two to set up, and then they pull it out.  Repeat for the second ear.  You wind up with a couple of alien looking things.  These are my impressions from my last set I had made. (Note: the fuzzy looking things are the dams they put in my ear canel before shooting in the blue goo...not something unexpected that came out of my head)

You send these in (along with a fairly substantial amount of money) and some paper work.  Be sure you send them to the correct address.  The lab that scans the impressions and makes the enclosures may not be the same facility that you ordered from. 

Anyway, in a couple of weeks the in-ear fairy will bring you your new toys.

Care And Feeding
The most important thing you can do with custom mold in-ears after you get them is to keep them clean.  As gross as it is, you're going to have to clean the ear wax out of the ports every show or two (you'll get tools to do that).  Another thing I like to do is wipe the outside down with alcohol (isopropyl, not grain) after every show.  Rather than carry a bottle of the stuff that can spill, I use these:

These are pre-moistened 1" x 1" cotton squares in individual packets.  You get 120 for less than $3. 

I figure if I've got these things I'm going to sticking into my head for several hours at a time, I need to make sure  that they're not acting as a Petri dish for who-knows-what bacteria that they may have picked up at a gig.





We've covered a lot of ground today.  I may have talked a few of you out of the idea of using in-ear systems.  Honestly...not every one likes 'em, and that's all right.

I've received a few emails about instrument maintenance, and seeing that I've got basses and guitars to restring and prep for shows next weekend I figure we'll cover that next week.

Until then, keep the meters out of the red.

Ken

 Ken Carver has been a musician and performer since the early 70's, and involved with live music production since the mid 70's. He worked for 15 years as a broadcast engineer, building numerous studios and transmitter sites around Texas. He's also worked in Critical Care Communications for the medical industry, R&D for an automated lighting manufacturer, and owned Project Lighting & Sound in the 80's. He currently heads up an R&D Hardware Technician Team at National Instruments in Austin, and still performs on the weekends in the Central Texas area. You can reach Ken at itsjustlogistics@gmail.com

More Me...Revisited.

Earlier on, we discussed monitors for performers...mainly the set up.  This time out, I'd like to concentrate not so much on the "how" but the "what" to put into them.  

Before we delve into this, let's establish the principal function of a monitor system.

Ken's Road Tip #12: 

The primary function of a monitor system is to enable a performer to hear himself and other performers as needed in order to play / sing on pitch and in time.  It is not meant to be a duplicate of the house mix.

And the corollary to that:

The more crap you put into your mix, the harder it is to pick what you need out.

Lets take a look at the stage plot for The Dawgs, and see what is where.

We're going to make some assumptions here, which when deviated from will throw the whole thing out the window:

• Everyone is using an amp on stage
• The band doesn't get too crazy with their stage volume, and has a relatively good balance between all the instruments
• Your monitor system is somewhere between "OK" and "Really Good".  If it's "World Class", you don't need my help.  If it's "Total S#!+", I can't help you.

Ladies & Gentlemen, Please Welcome...
We'll start with the principle vocalist.  Since they're normally in the center of the stage, you would hope that they could hear the instruments clearly.  If that's the case they should only need their vocal in their slant, and then any harmony singers under that.  

If your singer is confident enough, and can hear his reference pitches from either guitar of keys, then that's a good place to stop.  Where you run into problems is when they ask for "a little bit of everyone".  If you're dealing with a 100 watt monitor with a 12" speaker and 1" horn, it's not going to take a whole lot signal sources before you're not going to be able to pick your own voice out of the mix.  Remember, your monitors are there to help you hear what you can't...not make everything louder.

And Now, The Other Guys...
Unless you have multiple lead vocalists, we'll assume that everyone else who sings in the band is also playing an instrument.  If you've got enough mixes to give everyone their own, you're golden.  If you have to share, someone is going to have to be dominant in the mix...no way around it.  

Remember what I've already said about the monitors should supplement, and not replace everything you hear?  This is to the guys / gals that get to set up right next to the PA speakers....you're already getting a ton of sonic info.  If it's usable, then use it!  I usually wind up right by the stage right PA cabinets, and I can get by just fine with no monitor slant at all in a small club.

Getting Crossed...
Referring to the above stage plot, you could make that the case the bassist could use a bit of one of the guitars in his monitor for pitch reference within the chords.  I can tell you that being a singing bass player is a tough thing.  Most of the time, you're playing the root note of a chord, and then your supposed to sing some interval above that.  Having one of the melodic instruments to key off of is usually a big help.

Sometimes guitarists and bassist will place cabinets on each both sides of the stage, typically driven by separate amps.  This is referred to as cross-stage monitoring.  Some bands take it further than that.  Alex Van Halen counts on hearing Eddie's guitar so much that there's a dedicated amp and guitar cabinet just for Alex behind his drums.

A system like this is cool because it can take some of the load off the monitor system, but it's more gear to bring.  However, if you playing on house sound systems where you're at the mercy of the equipment and monitor engineer that's there, it's the way to make sure that you can all at least play together.

Give The Drummer Some...
I feel sorry for drummers...they typically work harder physically than anyone else in the band, get shoved to the back of the stage, and usually spend the night staring at the lead singer's butt (not by choice).  They also have the hardest time hearing what's going on, and that's bad for the whole band.  

While I just said to not put everything into the lead vocalists, drummers just about need that.  Well, everything except the whatever is getting blasted out of the amps right next to them.  So make sure that they've got a good system to listen to and are able to get the instrument cues they want...'cause if the drummer stops....well, it ain't good.

When I first got into live sound, I couldn't understand why a drummer wanted his own drums coming back at him through the monitor...until I filled in on drums for a sound check with a loud band.  Without that sonic info in the monitors, it's real easy to overplay and hit a lot harder than you should have to.  The result is you can physically exhaust yourself in just a few songs.  By giving them at least their kick and snare back to them, they tend to lay back and let the PA do the work.

Now, I've seen monitor requirements for drummers that ranged from just kick and snare to absolutely everything, including a mic on the ride cymbal!  I'm not going to call out any names, but that poor drummer for Quiet Riot must be one deaf mo-fo.

And on that note - 

Getting Everyone On The One
Here's another "lesson realized and learned".  On a small stage (less than 20' wide) you're really not going to have this problem.  But once you get on a bigger stage,  you start to realize that everyone is hearing the drummer at a slightly different time.  Remember, sound takes about 1mS (.001 seconds) to travel 1 foot.  So, if you're on a 40' wide stage (and the drummer's in the center), the guys on the outside are hearing him about 20mS after he hits a drum.  

Yeah, that doesn't sound like much.  But try this if you're a guitarist...get a delay pedal and set it to 20mS with 1 repeat and 100% effect.  Now, try playing a rhythm pattern.  Kinda gnarly, ain't it?  That's actually what's going on, except not everyone is hearing the drums at the same time.  You'll have people with just a few milliseconds of delay (and you really can't discern anything less than 10mS), and others with more.  What happens is that you start to get a smearing of the notes across different band members.

The answer?  Put a little bit of the at least the snare (and the kick if your monitors will support it) into everyone's monitor.  Now, the signal gets to the monitor slants at roughly the speed of light, and then only has a few feet to get to the performer's ears.  I've been able to get bands to really tighten up just by doing this for them.  If you've never tried this (and you're spread out on a stage), you should.

Oh Wow Man, He Stuck It In His Ear...
I get asked time and time again about in-ear monitor systems.  I've been using them since about 2005 to try to conserve the hearing I've got left.  In The Rhythm Dawgs, I'm the only one using them, and I've been in two bands in the last few years where everyone was on them.  I plan to write more about working with in-ear systems soon but for now just realize that if your entire band is thinking about using them it can get a bit complicated to deploy and you will have to have a sound man out front for your shows.

So how about we talk about in-ears next week.  I'll cover setting 'em up, off the shelf versus custom mold earpieces, and the pros and cons in general.

Until then, keep the meters out of the red.

Ken Carver has been a musician and performer since the early 70's, and involved with live music production since the mid 70's. He worked for 15 years as a broadcast engineer, building numerous studios and transmitter sites around Texas. He's also worked in Critical Care Communications for the medical industry, R&D for an automated lighting manufacturer, and owned Project Lighting & Sound in the 80's. He currently heads up an R&D Hardware Technician Team at National Instruments in Austin, and still performs on the weekends in the Central Texas area. You can reach Ken at itsjustlogistics@gmail.com

And Now...For Your Dining and Dancing Pleasure

As some of you know, I spent last week cruising around the Gulf of Mexico with my wife Barb.  It was our fifth cruise, but our first time on Princess Cruise Lines.  Even though I was on vacation, I was hoping to get a little inspiration for an article while we were on the ship.  

Right after boarding the Crown Princess, we got to hear a rather good cover band playing on the Lido deck.  I had a chance to visit with them after their set, and got to see them perform (and sit in once) during the week.  The band was Goodtimes, Inc. from Brighton, England.  After watching them for the duration of the cruise, I gained a great deal of respect for what these guys and gals do.

First and foremost, playing on a ship is basically up to a 10 month tour, but playing the same venue the entire time.  It's funny when you think about it...you don't travel to the audience, they travel to you.  That's a long time to be out and away from your family and home.  And oh yeah, plan on working seven days a week.  Musicians and entertainers can usually get off the ship (the crew calls it "going outside") at most ports, but any time the ship is sailing you could be working.

Yes, room and board are included in the contract.  But I've seen the rooms...and there ain't much room in the there.  Take a typical college dorm room and cut it in half.  Now put 2 people in there.  Cozy, ain't it?

Oh yeah, forget about any creative freedom.  Depending on the cruise line either your playlist is dictated by the home office and/or what you want to play has to be approved.  And every band on the high seas has to be able to play "The Electric Slide".  Seriously.

On the plus side, the money can be pretty good (salaries for musicians rage from $450 to over $1000 per week), you're covered by insurance, and it's pretty cheap to live on the ship. And if you love to play, you definitely get to do that a lot.

But what really struck me was the harsh realities of playing to an audience that's not really there to see the band. There's nothing that will suck the life out of a performance quicker than an appathetic audience that sits on their hands.

So, why do they do it?  Most will tell you that it's a steady income and it gives the chance to travel that they wouldn't ordinarily have.  There are a few delusioned individuals out there that think they're going to get "discovered" on the ship.  I'm sure it's happened somewhere at sometime, but it's not going to be great odds.

I guess where I'm going with all of this is to say appreciate any gig you get.  If you're getting to play music in front of people, regardless of the pay, you're getting to do something that the vast majority of the populus never gets to realize.  Enjoy yourselves!

Oh, one last thing....to all the white folks out there, please clap on the "2" and "4" counts...not the "1" and "3".  Thank you.

Next week, we'll get back to the technical side and talk about monitor mixes.  What you want in your mix may not necessarily be what you need.

Until then, put some money in the tip jar for the band.

Ken

Ken Carver has been a musician and performer since the early 70's, and involved with live music production since the mid 70's. He worked for 15 years as a broadcast engineer, building numerous studios and transmitter sites around Texas. He's also worked in Critical Care Communications for the medical industry, R&D for an automated lighting manufacturer, and owned Project Lighting & Sound in the 80's. He currently heads up an R&D Hardware Technician Team at National Instruments in Austin, and still performs on the weekends in the Central Texas area. You can reach Ken at itsjustlogistics@gmail.com

Did You Want A Sub, A Sub, Or A Sub?

When I started writing this article, I quickly realized how much the word "sub" gets tossed around in bands.

It can mean a speaker system designed for low frequencies, as in "I can't feel the kick drum...turn up the subs."

It could refer to a replacement musician...."Louie got busted again and can't make the gig, so we'll need to get a sub on cowbell for the night."

Or, it could simply be what the drummer had for dinner.

But today, we'll be referring to the term in the context of sub group on sound board.  

Explain This Again
So first and foremost, what the heck is a sub group?  In it's most basic form, it's a way to control a large number of channels with one or two faders.  If you were looking at this from the stand point of signal flow on a board, it would look something like this:

OK...easy enough.  But why would you want to do that?  Let's say you've got a drummer with a fully mic'd up kit.  That can take anywhere from 6 to 12 (or more) inputs on the board.  After you get the EQ on each drum set, you're going to balance the levels of the inputs with each other.  So now you've got a balance between all the mics.

Then you start adding in the other instruments, and you quickly find that the drums are getting buried in the mix.  Sure, if you're careful you can grab a bunch of the channel faders and push them up.  But, if you had routed the drums to a sub group then you could just grab that fader (or faders if you're doing the drums in stereo) and adjust from there.  You're changing the overall level of the drum kit, without affecting the balance between the mics.  And when you're mixing during the show, it's a lot easy to do and not mess up the balance.

What's Good For The Drummer...
...is good for any other groups of similar inputs where a balance needs to be maintained.  After drums, I usually sub-mix vocals next (even if there are only 2 vocalists, and I'll explain why in a bit).  Sub mixing the vocals gives you an easy way to turn everyone up and down while again keeping the balance.  

In fact, taken to it's logical end this is what I might do on a mono system with 4 sub groups.

To Sub Or Not To Sub
You'll notice on the diagram above that not everything is routed through a sub group, namely the bass and lead guitar.   This is based on only having one mic or DI on each of these, so it's only one fader to deal with.  Back in my days of excess in the late 80's I had this ridiculous bi-amplified stereo bass rig that took up of 4 channels on the main board (Pre-effects DI, Time-based DI, and 2 mic'd cabinets).  That was a prime candidate for a sub group.

Horn sections and percussionists are also perfect for sub groups.  

But Wait, There's More!
Having the convenience of turning multiple channels up and down is cool, but with a sub group you also have the option of applying processing to the group.  The most common is compression...especially on a vocal group.  And here's why it's cool...if it's set up correctly then your system will just about mix itself.

Let's look at what happens without group compression first.  You have the vocal mics set up where each mic sounds good through the system and the the level is balanced against the music...not too much but not lost in the mix.  That's fine for when you have only one person singing, but what happens when you get to the part of the song where there's a two part harmony.  Now the vocals are a little further ahead of the music than desired, so you either turn up the instruments (bad news...because you just started the upward volume spiral), or you have to turn down the mics.  And now, the harmony part is over and your lead vocalist is buried.  There's got to be an easier way.

Captain Compression To The Rescue
If there was just some way to automatically adjust the volume....oh wait, there is!  This is precisely what compressors were designed for...automatically controlling the volume (in fact, they were first referred to as A.V.C.'s, or Automatic Volume Controls).

Some boards now include group compression (Carvin, Presonus, and others).  But almost every board has an insert point on the sub groups.  Patch a compressor across the vocal sub and set the ratio at 3:1 with a threshold of 0dB.  What you want is just a little compression on one voice (maybe 1 or 2 dB), 2 to 4dB for two-part harmony, and up to 6dB for three-part.  What happens then is that as you add harmonies the vocals get a little louder, but not too much.  And as a result, you shouldn't have to jack with the vocal levels throughout the night, at least until the lead singer gets drunk and starts forgetting the words...they bury him in the mix.

Moving In Stereo
If you have a sub group that you want to spread across the stereo field (drums, keys, etc), then you'll need to route to two sub groups.  Those, in turn, would get routed out left and right to the main bus on the board.

How you do this varies from board to board, so this is one time where I would encourage you to read the manual that came with your gear.  But, in general, it's a combination of routing buttons and a pan pot on the channel (digital boards...way different most of the time).  

Let's look at a close-up of a photo from last week's installment:

 

You'll notice that the bus assign switches are paired up 1-2, 3-4, and L-R.  If you select the L-R, you're going directly to the output and bypassing the sub groups.  Useful for the bass and lead guitar, but let's say we want to set the drums up in stereo so that when the drummer does the huge Neil Peart 6-tom fill from high to low it moves across the stage.  We'll pick sub groups 1 & 2 for the drums.

So, you would select the 1-2 button.  Then, don't forget on the sub groups themselves to assign group 1 to Left, and group 2 to right.

If you're trying to do stereo, don't make the mistake of selecting both Left and Right on both sub groups.  You've just mono-ized yourself.  (If you're using a single sub group or running all of them mono, then yes...you would select both.)

Now, go back to the channels for the toms and adjust the pan pots.  If your drummer is right-handed and sets his kit up in standard configuration with his high toms on his left and floor toms on his right, then you're going to want to pan just the opposite.  In other words, pan the high toms to about 2:00 on the right, and the floor tom to 10:00 left.  Then split the difference between the rest of them.  Overhead mics (if you're using them) can go 9:00/3:00, but I wouldn't pan anything wider than that.  Just make sure you've got things panned so that the sound lines up with what the audience is seeing (unless you're just wanting to jack with 'em).

I've got to give props today to a gentleman named Dave Rat, who runs Rat Sound out of Oxnard, California.  Dave started out cobbling systems together in his back yard, and now supplies sound and Front Of House engineering to bands such as The Red Hot Chili Peppers, The Foo Fighters, Pearl Jam, and others.  It was Dave that turned me on to the idea of group compression.  He uses it just like I described (except with 24 sub groups and 12 stereo compressors).  We should all have such problems.

Next week, I'll be missing in action.  Our cat Spot will be answering the phones and replying to email while I'm out.  

Until then, keep the meters out of the red!

Ken

Ken Carver has been a musician and performer since the early 70's, and involved with live music production since the mid 70's. He worked for 15 years as a broadcast engineer, building numerous studios and transmitter sites around Texas. He's also worked in Critical Care Communications for the medical industry, R&D for an automated lighting manufacturer, and owned Project Lighting & Sound in the 80's. He currently heads up an R&D Hardware Technician Team at National Instruments in Austin, and still performs on the weekends in the Central Texas area. You can reach Ken at itsjustlogistics@gmail.com

What Do You Mean "It's Not Working"?

If there's one thing I've learned in almost four decades of performing, it's that it's not a case of "if" you're going to have a failure at a show, but "when".  And most of the time, that "when" is right before your scheduled to start.

This week's article is going to center around PA system failures, how to locate the problem and how best to fix it on the spot.  But keep in mind that these techniques can be applied to any sound system (namely guitar and bass rigs).

The first thing to do is not panic.  When you freak out, you rush and usually overlook the simple things.  As long as there hasn't been a loud "bang" and smoke isn't pouring out of your amp rack, there's a very good chance that you're going to be able to recover.  You might have somewhat reduced capacity (channels, power, etc), but you'll probably be able to play the show.  

The trick to troubleshooting a problem...divide and conquer.  Don't try to look at your entire system at once.  Instead, think about your system in blocks, with the signal starting at the microphone and ending at the speakers.

It Ain't Got No Gas In It...

Before you go ripping things apart, is everything that needs to be plugged in actually connected to a power source?  Yeah, I know...seems overly simple.  But I've been tripped up by this, and have actually seen the drive rack of an arena sized system (with 16,000 people in the audience) ripped apart only to find out that a breaker was inadvertently shut off.

Most gear has some kind of light on it to indicate power, but not always.  I'm the proud owner of a few EV powered subwoofers that have no indicators on them at all.  I had one that wasn't functioning at a show, and started swapping the signal cables to it.  Come to find out that the IEC power connector was partially out of the socket, and I hadn't seen that (black connector, black speaker, dark club).  Pushing that back in solved the problem.  By the way, have I ever ranted about how much I hate IEC connectors?  On the next performance break, those are getting retrofitted to Neutrik Powercon connectors.

Get The Easy Stuff Out Of The Way
It's not dumb stuff...it's only dumb if you blow past it.  Every connection point in a system is a potential location for either an error or failure.  I did some quick addition, and with The Rhythm Dawgs sound system, there are about 400 total connection points for audio.  If you just consider 1 microphone through to the speakers, there's 32 total points (if you include the monitors).  And all it takes is one to go down.

So make sure the easy solutions are checked.  Are the mics actually plugged in (and if you're using sub-snakes, do forget to check there.

How Bad Is It?
Is the whole PA not working, or just a single mic?  If the entire PA is down, then think about it logically.  Which is the more plausible situation:

 - All the channels on the board went down at the same time
 - All of my mics and/or cables are bad
 - I don't have the crossover or amp turned on

I gotta go with the last one.  Unless you've had an electrical event (surge, brown-out, etc) then you usually just have a single fault to deal with.  If the whole system isn't working, then start at the speakers and work back down the speaker cables to the amps, then the crossover, and then back to the board.

If you can hear a hiss coming out of the horns on the PA, then you can assume that the power amps are working.  

Remember, think single-fault.  Ask yourself "what one piece of equipment can take out the whole PA?".  

Of course, there have been those times when I've found a bum mic, a bad cord, and a failed compressor in the same night.  But those showed up as 3 different channels that didn't work.

Look At All The Pretty Lights...
Yeah, all those sexy LEDs on your equipment aren't just there for the bling factor...they can actually tell you what's going on (and through) your gear.

On most mixers, each channel has an overload indicator to assist you in setting up the gain structure.  Then, there are likely meters on the sub groups and mains.  

So, start with the channel strip and make sure you're at least getting to there.

This is from a Carvin console, but they all work about the same (unless you're dealing with a digital desk, and that's another article).  The Input Gain should be turned up to the point to where the Level Indicator is flashing.  Note that this is independent of the level of the main slider.  Don't worry about that yet...we'll get to it.

If you don't have anything going on here, you've got one of these issues to deal with:
 - The channel on the board is bad...try another
 - The cable between the mic and the board is bad...swap it out
 - The mic itself is bad...try another mic
 - The mic was plugged into the wrong channel...follow and check the wiring

Assuming things are hooked up correctly, then the cable is usually the first suspect.



If you've got signal to the channel strip, turn up the channel fader, the subgroups, and the main fader.  

Still nothing?  Is the channel assigned to an output?  This is an easy place to get tripped up.  Unless you tell the channel what to output to...it's going nowhere (except the monitor bus).  When I'm troubleshooting a channel problem, I like to assign the channel directly to the main output bus (usually marked L-R on the assign switches).  Now, you should have some indication of signal on the output meters.

If the channel works to the main outputs, but not the subgroups, then make sure that the subgroups are assigned to an output.  In this case, each sub can be assigned to left, right, or both.  And again, if nothing is selected there's nowhere for the signal to go.

Any failures after the console will tend to take out the entire system.  That is, nothing will be able to get through.

We're Out Of Time
If you're lucky, you find your issues when you set up and sound check.  However, there's a corollary to Murphy's Law that states the likelihood of a system failure 5 minutes before showtime is directly proportional to the number of people waiting for you to start.

So, how do you handle a last minute failure quickly?  Like I said earlier, don't panic...nobody has died because a show started late.  (If that was the case, Guns 'n Roses would have killed several million people in the 80's).

Is it a system failure or a channel failure?  Just remember that: 
 - For a system failure, start at the speakers and work back to the amp rack and mixer.
 - For a channel failure, start at the source (mic, DI, etc), and work to the mixer.

If you've got a fairly complex system, do yourself a favor sometime and sketch out the signal flow.  It doesn't have to be a work of art, but included each piece of gear from the mixer input to the speakers.  Here's one I did in about 5 minutes:

It ain't pretty, but if I'm tired / drunk / whatever...this will jog my memory.  Make your own chart, put it in a plastic sheet protector, and tape it in your amp rack.  You'll thank yourself later.

In this article we had a brief mention of subgroups on a mixer.  I find that, after gain structure, this is a fairly misunderstood feature.  Subgroups used to be a feature that you only found on large high channel count boards...now their everywhere.  

Next week we'll talk about strategies on how best to utilize subgroups to make your mixing easier.  We'll also be talking about the benefits of group compression (which I'm loving on my new StudioLive 24.4.2), so if you've forgotten most of it, re-read my article "Putting The Squeeze On" to review compression basics.

Until then, keep the meters out of the red moving!

Ken

Ken Carver has been a musician and performer since the early 70's, and involved with live music production since the mid 70's. He worked for 15 years as a broadcast engineer, building numerous studios and transmitter sites around Texas. He's also worked in Critical Care Communications for the medical industry, R&D for an automated lighting manufacturer, and owned Project Lighting & Sound in the 80's. He currently heads up an R&D Hardware Technician Team at National Instruments in Austin, and still performs on the weekends in the Central Texas area. You can reach Ken at itsjustlogistics@gmail.com