Phantom Of The Microphone

I've never really liked the term "Phantom" power.  It makes it sound like it's not really there, or that it's just a figment of someone's imagination.  But since I don't have a better suggestion (and apparently neither has anyone else), we're stuck with it.

If you're using condenser microphones in your set up, you're going to need phantom power to them.  Condenser mics will not work without some kind of power source.  Period.

Condenser mics aren't the only thing that can take advantage of phantom power.  Some active DI boxes can use it as their power source, as can a few preamps and effects pedals (the Sansamp Tech 21 series being a good example).  So lets start the discussion today with exactly what phantom power is.

Special Delivery
Phantom power is a way to deliver DC power down a balanced audio connection without causing problems for the audio coming back the other way.  The original specification was written to allow 1mA (.001 amps) per connection, but as with everything else electronic, power demands have increased over the years, and now that power budget is 10mA.

Thinking back last week to our discussion of balanced and unbalanced connections, keep in mind that phantom power can only be done through a balanced system.  The positive voltage is applied to pins 2 and 3, and the shield carries the ground return current.  At the mixer (or voltage source end), the DC is blocked using capacitors as a high pass filter (DC is essentially a 0Hz signal, so we can filter that out long before we get to audio frequencies).

Electrically, here's what it looks like:

 

At the microphone end, the transformer that's built in keeps the DC from messing with the output of the preamp (DC can't cross a transformer, only AC / audio can).  At the mixer input side, you see the blocking capacitors I talked about.  Capacitors don't pass DC after they've charged (which only takes a few microseconds in a circuit like this).

 

So now you can see "how" we get the phantom power down to the mic and get the audio signal back.  I suppose you could think of it like a double-decker highway.  The audio is riding down the upper deck, and the DC the lower deck. 

 

Did You Want Medium, Large, or Extra Large?

I was brought up thinking that phantom power was always supposed to be 48 volts DC.  When you're using phantom for condenser mics, that's where they operate best.

 

However, it's a well know fact that most consumer grade electronics don't put out that much...it's typically 15 volts or so.  Why?  Easy...it saves them the cost of putting another power supply in their product (as most audio electronics run off of +/- 15 volts or less).  And in all fairness, you're not going to hear the difference with a mid-grade mic in a live situation.

 

It's interesting to note that the first mic to use phantom power (the Schoeps CMT-20) was built in 1964, and was designed to use 9-12 volts.  It was built for French radio, and that value was picked because that's what was easily available in the studio.

 

It was in 1966 that Neumann Audio of Berlin built a mic with a transistorized preamp for the Norwegian Broadcasting Network.  That mic was designed for the now accepted 48 volts.  Again, why?  Because the emergency lighting in their studios ran off of 48 volts.  Again..it's what they had available.  And you thought there was a bunch of math and egg heads involved in picking these values.

 

There was a 24 volt standard proposed in the 1970's, but it never really caught on.

 

But I Don't Want Any...

So, what happens when you hook a plain old dynamic mic (that doesn't require phantom) up to a cable that is providing it?  Nothing.  Since the same voltage is being applied to both sides of the mic's transformer, there's a net zero potential across it.  In other words, it doesn't need it so it ignores it.

 

Big Bang Theory

Now, it's never a good idea to connect or disconnect an audio cable unless the channel is muted.  But with phantom power on a cable, it's worse.  Even if you're working with something that doesn't use phantom power, connecting or disconnecting the cable with the channel unmuted is going to sound like a .22 caliber weapon going off.  You won't damage the device you're hooking up to, or the mixer.  But, there's a good chance you'll blow a high frequency horn out.  This is why (when the equipment allows it) I only turn phantom power on the channels that need it.  Most digital and higher end consoles allow this.  But for less expensive gear, it's typically all or nothing.

 

You've been warned.

 

No, You Can't Do That

I mentioned earlier that some active DI boxes and preamps can use phantom power instead of their internal batteries.  This is cool (as anytime you can take a battery out of the equation is a good thing in my book).  But, there's one major drawback.  That is, when using phantom power you can not use the ground lift if you need to.  Phantom counts on the ground being there as the return path for the current.  If you have to use the ground lift, you'll have to run the device on batteries.

 

We've been at this for almost a year now, and I've wondered how much of this stuff I've been writing about has stuck with the readers.  So next week...we're having a quiz!  Yeah, you read that right.  It will be multiple choice, and all of the questions come from what we've covered here. 

 

And just to give you a little more motivation, the first person to email me with all of the correct answers....heck, I'll send you an iTunes gift card.  In the event no one aces the test, the highest score with the earliest time stamp wins. 

 

Study up and get some rest.

 

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



 

 



Lost My Balance...

There's a long list of buzzwords in audio that people toss around, but really don't understand what they mean.  Two of those terms are "balanced" and "unbalanced".  Now, if you're talking about your band mates...then everyone knows what you mean.  But if you're talking about an audio connection or interface...that's where a lot of people's understanding gets a little murky.  So, this week we'll try to bring some understanding to these terms.  I'll attempt to keep it light on the math and heavy on the practical applications.

First off, lets start with an unbalanced audio connection.  Every time you hook up a guitar to an amp, an iPod to a computer or mixer, or anything else that just uses a 2 conductor cable, you're using an unbalanced connection.  This is what that type of cable looks like:

A balanced connection requires three conductors.  If you're hooking up a professional mic to a mixer (especially if it's going down a long cable), then you're likely using a balanced connection. Here's what that type of wire looks like:

OK, we've identified the physical difference between the two types of cable.  But what's going on here electrically, and why is one better than the other.

Let's look at the unbalanced (also called single-ended) connection first, since it's a little easier to understand.  With unbalanced connections, the shield is performing two functions.  It's serving as the return path for the signal (the "negative" side of the audio if you will), and it's shielding the center conductor (the "positive" side) from external noise.  It does a pretty good job, but if the interference is strong enough, it's going to start bouncing the ground around...and you're going to hear that in the audio.

Here's a very basic premise...the shield is only going to do so much to protect the signal from interference.  Unless you're using wire with a solid outer shield (which would make the cable extremely stiff), then some amount of noise is going to get through.  And the longer the cable, the more chance for garbage to get in.  That's one of the reasons why you rarely see unbalanced connections longer than 30 feet.

OK, so why is a balanced audio connection so much better?  It has to do with the fact that there's a second line of defense against noise that's built into the architecture.  It's a concept called Common Mode Rejection.   No, I'm not talking about when you got turned down for dates back in high school.  This is far more useful and much less painful.

Before we talk about common mode rejection, we're going to have to have to touch on a mathematical concept here (sorry...I've put it off as long as I can).  That concept is Vector Addition.  OK...let that sit for a moment...the sting will go away.

The classic (and simplified) definition of a vector is a ray with magnitude and direction.  Putting that concept into a real world example...a car heading north at 50 MPH could be considered a vector.  You have both magnitude (50 MPH) and direction (north). 

So far so good, but how does vector addition work?  For that example, let's use a tug of war game.  Let's say that there are 4 people on each side of the rope pulling.  Pulling from the left side, it's 4 Marines.  On the right side, it's 4 members of the Austin Botanical Society.  When we say "go" there's force being applied from both directions, but guess which way the rope is going to go.  Yeah, I'm betting the that vector force coming from the Marines side is going to be a little greater.

Now, let's even this up.  We'll send the Botanical Society home and bring in 4 Army Rangers to stand in for them.  And now let's assume it's a dead even match and both teams are pulling with the same force.  Which way will the rope go?  Right, it doesn't move because the 2 forces are cancelling each out.  (Now, in reality I know that one team will probably prevail...but I have friends who are ex-Marine Corp and ex-Army...so I'll just let them talk trash to each other).

Back to the world of electrons.  A balanced audio connection works by running the same signal down 2 wires, but they're running opposite of each other.  If you've heard the term "out of phase"...this is it.

By the way, here's another tech term you can throw around and impress people.  Whenever you have two signals like this that are compliments (opposite) of each other, it's called a Differential Pair.  That's going to turn some heads at your next beer bust.

I know...you're thinking "if those signal cancel out, then how do we hear anything?".  Well, you're right, but this is just to show you what happens to two signals that are out of phase with each other when they're added together.  I'll show you how we recover the signal in a bit.

Now, we've got our two out of phase signals running down the cable.  All of a sudden, noise decides to show up and join the party.  Now, our otherwise pristine signal looks something like this:

I want you to notice something very important here, because it's key to understanding how we're going to get rid of the noise.  While our audio signals are out of phase with each other, the noise is the same (or in phase) on the 2 lines. 

So what do you suppose would happen if we could flip one of those audio signals over so that is was in phase with the other one.  What would happen to the noise? 

Now our two audio signals are in phase with each other, but the noise is now out of phase!  When we add those two signals together...the noise is cancelled out.  And just to throw another tech term out there for you, the specification that describes how well a piece of equipment does this job is called the Common Mode Rejection Ratio, or CMRR.  That's one of those specs where the bigger the number the better.

The "phase flip" and signal addition was done with a transformer in the olden days.  Now, it's typically done with a ....wait for it...differential input amplifier.  Electrically, what's going on looks like this:

Given this significantly improved method of getting rid of noise on audio lines (along with a couple of other electrical characteristics), we're able to run much longer cables without degrading our signal.  How much longer?  If you've got a good pro mic and you're plugging it into a decent mixer, you can typically run up to 2000' feet of cable before you start messing the signal up.  Yeah, you read that right...about 4/10ths of a mile!  This is why you have to used balanced audio connections when you have a console out front to mix the band.  In that application, it's not uncommon to have 120 feet of wire between the mic and mixer.

So, can unbalanced and balanced connections ever mix?  The short answer is yes.  You can unbalance a balanced connection through wiring:

You would use a cable like this if you wanted to plug a balanced microphone into a guitar amp.  You loose the noise cancellation and some signal, but it works.  When you do this, though, the rules for unbalanced wiring apply...especially the length of cable limits.

Going the other way from unbalanced to balanced can't be done through wiring alone.  You're going to have to have some electronics or a transformer.  If you're a bass player or keyboardist, you've like already used a device that performs this function.  You just probably know it by it's common name...a Direct Injection (DI) box.

The transformer does the job of converting the signal from single-ended (unbalanced) to differential (balanced).  It also electrically isolates whatever you're hooking up to prevent ground loops.  And again, this can be done with electronics to...which would make this an active DI box (as opposed to a passive one shown above). 

I want to leave you with one final thought here.  If you happen to have a balanced cable that's had one of the signal conductors fail, you will continue to get a signal through it, because that that point you've got an unbalanced connection.  It's going to be quite a bit lower in level, and likely have more noise on it (since you've lost the ability to cancel it out).  So, if you're setting up your PA and happen to notice that a mic is quieter than you expected, it's probably a good idea to bust out the handy dandy cable tester that I'm sure you have now and check that cable.

This is has been a pretty heavy installment, and I've only covered a small part of theory behind all of this.  If you have additional questions, you're always welcome to email me.

Next week, as long as were talking about these connection schemes we might as well tackle another "mystery subject" to a lot of people, and that's phantom power.

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

Seeing Specs Before My Eyes

Last week, we talked about all the ways that the wattage on an amplifier can be grossly overstated and that finding out the true power capabilities can be a game of cat and mouse.  This is especially true of the manufacturers of lower end gear.

This week, I wanted to at least touch on some of the other specifications you will typically see on a power amp.  You don't see these exaggerated near as much...mainly because most folks never get past the wattage spec.  But, they are there, and I thought you might like to know how them impact the way an amp sounds.

First off, let's take a look at the specs our trusty Crown XLS 802.

So, for a live sound application which specs are we really concerned with?  While I can make a case to consider all of 'em, the first 4 are really the important ones.  Let's talk about what they are.

Sensitivity Training
The spec for sensitivity of an amp is actually one of the easiest to understand.  The spec for this amp is 1.25 volts.  What that means is that if you turn the gain controls on the amp all the way up, it will take 1.25 volts at the inputs to drive it to full power.  This is a reasonable spec, as most modern mixers and crossovers can output several times this. 

The trick is that console outputs are almost always spec'd as dBu.  To convert that to voltage requires....ah hell, I'll just give you the answer today.  My Presonus StudioLive can do +24dBu.  That works out to a little over 12 volts...plenty to drive the amp.  (We'll do an article on decibels for non-math majors one of these days).

But decibels are funny critters, being logarithmic.  That means they're kind of like the Richter Scale they use for earthquakes...where a 7 is a whole lot worse than a 6.  If your console can output +18dBu, then that's about 6 volts.  And if it can only do +4dBu...that's right at 1.25 volts...which means you'll have to have it floored to max your amps out.  It also means you're completely out of headroom on your console and you're probably clipping the signal.
And once the signal clips at the console there's nothing you can do to clean it up later. ...you're S.O.L. at that point. 

Freq Out
The frequency response of an amp is the range of frequencies that it can pass.  Almost every amp will have that spec, but 80% of them are incomplete.  A frequency response without a tolerance on it is really useless.  The spec for this amp is 22Hz to 20kHz, but notice the numbers after that...+0 dB, -1 dB.  That means the amp is flat to within 1dB which is incredibly good. 

Most amps are spec'd +/- 3dB which is still perfectly acceptable for live work.  But when you start seeing numbers like +/- 10dB...it's a BS spec.  That means you're going to have to put a lot of EQ in front of that amp to get it to flatten out.  And if there's no tolerance...well...that just means they're hiding something.

Now, how much frequency response do you need for live work?  Unless you're using concert grade subwoofers and doing electronic dance music, you're not going to need to reproduce much of anything below 40Hz.  And going to the other way, most PA systems start rolling off at 12 kHz.

So why do amp manufacturers spec the frequency response outside of this range.  While you may not be able to hear (or a speaker pass) anything about 15kHz, an extended high frequency response can be an indication of how "fast" an amp is.  There's a spec not mentioned about called slew rate, and you'll usually see it on consoles and preamps.  Slew rate can be a scary looking spec, but what it amounts to is "how fast can this amp move on a waveform".  It's usually expressed in volts per microsecond.  An extended high frequency response can mean that the amp has a decent slew rate.  What that that translates into sonically is amp that sounds clear and punchy.  The slew rate along with the damping factor (we'll talk about in a bit) has a large impact on the "sound" of a power amp.

Bring Da' Noise
The signal to noise ratio (frequently abbreviated S/N) gives you an idea how much background noise the amp produces on it's own.  Here again, a bigger number is better.  For this amp, they're saying that the noise is 100dB below the signal.  Putting that into more familiar terms, it means that the noise is 1/100,000th of the signal...pretty darned quiet.  The difference between weighted and unweighted is that the weighted number is filtered and limited to what we can actually hear.  The weighted number is more meaningful in the real world here.  But even the unweighted is still pretty impressive. 

Again, how much do you need?  Keep in mind that your system S/N can not be any better than the worst component in the chain.  So, if you amp is 100dB, but your Behringer console is only 55dB...then that's as good as your system can get.  Personally, I look for 80dB or better unless the client just has no budget and is only going to be playing $#!+ hole clubs.

Distorting The Truth
When most musicians here the term "distortion" they think of the pedal a guitar player steps on before the intro to "Satisfaction".  (OK, bad example...that's a fuzz box). But where I'm going with this is that while distortion is usually desirable to a guitar (and some bass) players, it's not in a PA system.  So this is where a smaller number is better.

Now, how many of you actually know what "distortion" is?  The technical definition for the intellectually curious is any non-linearties introduced into a signal.  For the mere mortals, it's probably easier to explain how it's measured.

To measure distortion in an amp, you input a single tone (1kHZ is the standard, but some folks use 400Hz) and measure the output signal level.  Then, you filter out the original tone at the output and measure the signal level again.  The crap that's left over...that's your distortion.

Again, how much (or little in this case)?  It depends on the application.  If this amp were going into a studio or other critical listening environment, I would want 0.1% or less.  But for live work, I'll generally accept anything at 1% or below.  This amp has 0.5%, so it's fine.

But remember, for the distortion numbers to be meaningful it has to be a rated power.  And this is where you can get tripped up.  The Crown spec above is written to say that distortion will never be worse than half a percent.  But other manufacturers will bound the distortion measurement by doing things like spec'ing it at a lower power or not over the entire frequency bandwidth of the amp.

If you don't see this number on a spec sheet...it's likely because the manufacturer doesn't want you to know that it sucks.

Et All
The other numbers (IMD, Damping, Cross Talk, and Input Impedance) are still important, but unless you're putting a very large system together (I'm talking 10 power amps or more), don't concern yourself too much.  Most folks getting into a system that big are going to hire a geek like me to do it for 'em anyway.  But just for giggles, here's what they are and how the affect what comes out of the speakers.

• IMD - Intermodulation Distortion.  Dang...that hurt.  IMD is one of one of those distortions that is really uncool.  To explain it, you have to have a quick primer on the concept of Intermodulation.  Whenever you mix 2 different frequencies together, you wind up with 4!  Yep...it's magic.  You get the original 2, plus the sum and difference of them.  So..if you mixed 800Hz and 1200Hz, you would also get 400 Hz (1200-800) and 2000Hz (1200+800).  To bad we can't do that with currency.  Anyway, it's an annoying artifact, so the more negative this number is the better.
• Damping Factor - I would tell you how this number is derived, but you would just want to throw something at me.  Let's just go with this...the damping factor is an indicator of how well an amp can physically control a speaker.  Think about what's happening with a speaker...it's travelling one direction and then all of a sudden has to go the opposite way.  If the amp doesn't have enough control to do this, then the first thing you notice is that the low end is muddy and undefined.  The Damping Factor (sometimes written as DF) is one of those "bigger is better" numbers.  There are a lot of other things that affect the system Damping Factor (when you add in the speaker and the wire that hooks it up).  If you see an amp with 200 or better, you're in good shape.  Don't look for this spec on a budget amp...it would reek if they printed it.
• Crosstalk - This one is actually pretty easy to understand.  On a stereo (or multi-channel amp), the crosstalk is a measure of how much of the signal on one channel gets into another one.  Again, the more negative the number the better.  I only pay attention to this spec if the amp is going into a critical listening environment (like a studio).  But live...all the noise coming off the stage is going to mask the minor amount of crosstalk in the PA system.  As long as it's at least -40dB I'm not gonna sweat it for a PA.
• Input Impedance - This is almost useless to spec now unless you plan on hooking up 10 amps in parallel.  Back in the 60's when stuff had real transformers in it for the audio, this mattered.  Now...no so much.  It's just another big number to confuse the average user. 

I realize the last couple of weeks have been really tech-heavy.  Those of you who got through this...kudos.  Regardless of how much of this sank in, I hope this helps those of you buying equipment in the future.  Again, I hate seeing people get ripped off or wind up with less than they thought they were getting.

Next week...I promise no (OK...very, very little) math.  We'll talk about working with sound and lighting companies.  I recently played a show where we hired in the production (and man oh man was it nice to not have to pack a PA at the end of the night).  A lot of what we'll discuss also applies to playing on house systems at a club. 

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

2012 In Review

Here's another year in the books.  And music-wise for me this year, it's been quite a bit different than past years.  Since everyone does their end-of-the-year wrap ups and "best of" articles about now, I felt somewhat obligated.

So, in no particular order in my Top-10 Music/Gig moments of 2012

1. In March, The Rhythm Dawgs take their first extended break in their 13 year history
2. The same Rhythm Dawgs reunite in December and play to a packed house, basically picking up exactly where we left off.
3. After roughly a year, I parted ways with Triple Play. Still love the folks and will support the band wherever I can....things just weren't panning out like I had hoped.
4. I did my first major PA upgrade in 10 years, discovering the beauty of digital consoles and modern power amps that weigh a fraction of what they used to.
5. Proved that it's possible to get frost bite from bass strings by playing an outdoor wedding reception back in February.
6. Once again confirmed at the same gig that the more upper class a venue is, the more they treat their bands like crap.
7. Via the Michael Ingalls Band, have seen first hand that Motorhead is a guilty pleasure that more people than let on really really like.
8. Drank the Apple Kool-Aid and found out that iPads are all they're cracked up to be...especially when they let you replace 3 large notebooks of music.
9. Proved to myself once again that I'd much rather play with good musicians who are great people than great musicians who are full of themselves.
10. Rush will finally be inducted into the Rock-n-Roll Hall of fame. That doesn't have anything to do with me, but it's freakin' cool!

So, what's ahead in 2013 for me?  The Rhythm Dawgs will be playing out albeit at a much reduced pace from previous years.  In the next week or two, I'll be starting work on an album with Michael Ingalls which should be cool.  And I'm planning on continuing writing these tidbits weekly.  Oh yeah, I'm sure there will be a new gadget in there somewhere.

Thanks to all who have taken to reading this blog...it's much appreciated.  And to all my friends, band mates, clients, and lurkers out there I wish you all the best in 2013.

Until next year, 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

Is The Party Over There????

'Tis the season.  Whether it's office parties, house parties, or Grand Openings this is the time of year a lot of bands find themselves in the position of getting out of the clubs and performing at privately hosted functions.  It's a welcome change of scenery for a lot of us, and it's usually better money than you'll pull down at a club.  And of course, there's the opportunity to play in front of people that haven't seen you before (and possibly recruit some new fans).

But these affairs can also be royal pains in the neck.  If you're lucky and it's a pretty big shindig, then likely the host will have hired someone to put the party together for them.  Those people will usually have had experience dealing with bands, and have some idea what goes into putting on a great performance.  But then again, there are folks who while they might be good at planning appetizers and center pieces, may have never dealt with a band (or think it's the same as a DJ), and then be totally shocked with you roll in with 20 or 30 road cases.  This is where you have to be as much a diplomat and counselor as an entertainer.

I've played parties at those two extremes and everything in between.  So in the spirit of the holiday season, let me pass along to you a few of my survival tips for playing private affairs:

You're Not The Center Of Attraction
Just get over it now.  As much as our fragile egos want to think it's all about us, it ain't.  Unless you're an established artist, your importance falls somewhere between the crab dip and the door prizes.  Depending on the agreements (and you got everything in writing, correct?) you may be anything from background music during dinner to the jukebox for the company limbo contest.  No, it ain't about us tonight, it's about the guests and making sure they have a good time.

Take Your Usual Set Up Schedule...Now Double It
Hotel gigs are the most notorious for this, but be ready for delays at any party.  I've waited two hours for the stage to be erected, only to be delayed another hour because the party planner wants everything moved 12 inches to the left.  You'll wait on dance floors, decorations, and sometimes skit rehearsals.  On second thought...better triple your setup time....she might want it all moved back where it was.

Find Out Who The Boss Is Early
That's the wonderful thing about private parties...you'll get conflicting information from several well meaning folks.  This is why when I book these things I specify that there's one person for me to deal with throughout the night.  And that's either the person writing the check or an appointed representative that has the authority to make decisions on the spot.  That way, when the cousin of the CEO's neighbor's brother comes and tells you to move something, you simply say "I'd be happy to do so...I just have to clear it with the boss".  

Make Sure They Know What They're Getting
Once the deal is put together, I send 'em a contract, rider, and stage diagram.  They're required to sign everything and send me a copy back.  Make sure they know exactly what you need in order to put your production on (stage size, power, set up / tear down time, sound levels, etc). That's saved my bacon many times, but two that really stick with me are: 

• The event coordinate starting raising holy hell with us when we put the front of house console in place.  "That can't go there...it's ugly.  Does it have to be out front?".  Well lady, that's why it's called "Front Of House".  I pulled out the contract package and showed where the client had signed off on it.  I said we would be happy to pack it up, along with everything else, take our money and leave (that's how it was spelled out).  That ended that discussion.
• I booked a company Christmas party with a young lady, making sure she understood we're a rock-n-roll band (and including that in the contract).  We got the deposit and contracts back and thought we were good to go.  We show up for the gig and start rolling in.  The owner of the company comes up and says "Y'all don't look like a country band."  Well Billy Bob, there's a good reason for that.  He tried to start a fight with us for misrepresenting ourselves, but I showed him the contract his representative had signed.  The asshole wrote us a check for the balance and sent us on our way (fine).  He also fired the girl that hired us right there (not cool).  His company went bankrupt in 6 months.  Karma, baby.

Now, don't get me wrong...if the client needs something moved or changed and we can do it in a reasonable fashion then fine.  In the case of setting up front of house, I've suggested to event coordinators that they could drape the racks with table linens and add other decorations to the area as long as it doesn't impede our sound man.  That's smoothed over a lot situations.  But putting artificial Christmas trees on the stage that we have to maneuver around...I gotta draw a line there.

Make Sure You Know What You're Getting Into

If there's anyway to advance the gig...do it.  Go to the venue and look it over.  If you're playing at a hotel, talk director to the special events manager.  Find out where you're loading in and out from (don't assume it's the closest door...we had those blocked by catering before).  Ask if they've had other bands with production similar to yours and find out how they set up.  

 

If you're playing a venue that's out of town, talk to the manager there.  Most places that host a lot of parties will be able to send you a drawing of the room with dimensions, location of power, and load in/out locations.  It's better than nothing.

 

And review my post from September 30 (Before You Leave For The Show).  Don't be a rookie and have to ask for an extension cord.

Trust, But Verify
If you've negotiated for the client to provide sound & lights for you, be sure to get the name of the company / person providing that and call 'em at least 2 weeks prior.  Just because you send a technical rider to the client doesn't mean they're going to send it to the sound company.  

 

One such incident happened several years ago.  I negotiated sound and lights for a party we were doing.  I sent a very detailed rider along with the number of channels we needed (16 minimum), mics, monitors, effects, etc.  Being the thorough guy I am, I called the sound company 2 weeks early and asked what they were bringing.  The guy on the other end of the phone said something to the effect of "they said there was 4 of you in the band, so I figured I could just bring a Peavey 6 channel mixer and we'd be good".  When I asked if he had seen the rider, he said that the client had attempted to read it to him and he quoted a price, but they said that was too much and asked what was the cheapest thing he could bring (yet, they thought nothing of a $3000 ice sculpture for the affair).  

I called the client back, and tried to explain how that was going to severely limit our ability to deliver the best performance we could, but they just said "oh, we just want some noise to fill the background at the party".  At that point I told them that we were not the band for their event, cancelled the gig and sent their deposit back.  As Kenny Rogers once said "...you've gotta know when to hold 'em, and know when to fold 'em."


Be Prepared To Be Interrupted
You know that killer set list you wrote out?  Be ready to toss it out the window.  Between awards, door prizes, "thanks for a great year" speeches and such, count yourself lucky if you get to play 3 songs in a row.  But hey, they ain't paying you by the song...so just smile and take the money.  I can recall one Christmas party I played where we contracted for 3 hours.  By the time the evening was over, I think we had played 9 songs. 

You're Not A Guest
As a rule, I don't approach the guests about anything.  Now, if they come to me and strike up a conversation, I'm more than happy to talk to 'em.  But it's their party, let 'em enjoy it.  And don't assume you've got access to the open bar or buffet unless you're specifically told that it's cool.

Welcome To Amateur Hour
If the function is like 99% of the ones I've played, you're going to have a room full of people who are not very good at holding their liquor.  The drunkest and most abusive a-holes I've ever played for are 7-figure company executives with 4 shots of tequila on board.  Keep in mind that these folks will have no recollection of what they did the next day, and unless they try to get physical with you best just to nod your head every now and then like you're agreeing with them, and then excuse yourself.  

"Thank You...Good Night"
Wrap the show up at the agreed upon time, and no encores unless your "boss" says OK.  Then load up and get outta there.  The guests who haven't passed out yet are lookin' for the hook up, and the rest of the hired help for the party want to get out of there too.  Don't linger and talk.  If someone asks how to hire you, hand them a card and explain you're on a dead line to get out but you would love to talk to them next week about their event.  Nine times outta ten, you're never going to hear from 'em.

Private parties can be fun if you don't stress over 'em, and as I said are usually much better money than club gigs.  Just be prepared to earn it.

This year has been a little unusual for me.  My band of 13 years, The Rhythm Dawgs, took a break in March and just picked back up a couple of weeks ago.  Consequently, I've done more "band hopping" this year than I have in quite a while, and also played a lot fewer gigs than the typical.  I was thinking about sharing some of my "lessons learned" for 2012 in next week's installment.

Until then, Merry Christmas (there...I said it).  And this time, just for the holidays, you can let the meters go into the red a little.

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
 

Go Go Gadget...

A few weeks ago, I did a post on some of my "must have" gadgets I keep in my tool box.  With us being in the thick of gift giving now, I thought I would throw out a few more of my favorite things to get me through a gig.  And by the way, I'm not compensated in any way for this...these are just things I like and consider quite handy.

LED Flash Light
Man, when these things came out I thought they were a bunch of hype.  Was I ever wrong.  My son gave me one about 5 years ago, and I wouldn't take anything for it.  And here's a real kicker...I've only changed the batteries in it once in that time (and it gets used a lot, even when I'm not gigging).  The color rendering on LEDs is so much better for actually reading the back of a power amp in a dark club.  The Maglite XL50 is the replacement for what I'm carrying.  About $30 at Frys.

Cab Grabber Mic Holder
If you're a sound man, or a guitarist who mic's up his cabinet then you'll love this.  It's a fairly new offering from Audix, and will run you about $50.  But then you've got something that holds the mic in place and you don't have to worry about knocking over a stand (and I'm all about getting rid of as many mic stands on stage as possible.  You can find 'em at Musician's Friend online.  And if Santa doesn't bring me a couple of these, I'll use any cash I get to score some.

 

 

Portable Guitar Work Stand

I've got a pretty nice bench at home where I can work on my guitars, but every now and then you find yourself having to restring at a venue.  Rather than try to balance your guitar in your lap and support the neck at the same time, just grab this little gizmo from your work box and set your guitar neck in it.  From Planet Wave, the Headstand Instrument Workbench Stand is one handy little tool.  You can find 'em for $10 at all of the major online music dealers.

 

 

Music Management Software

A lot of musicians I know are carrying iPads...myself included.  I originally got mine for remote control of my mixing console, but it's morphed into a whole lot more.  My iPad has now replaced 3 large notebooks of charts and lyrics, and made them more usable on stage then ever before. 

 

There are several programs out there, but the one I'm using is called OnSong (http://www.onsongapp.com/) , available for iPad, iPhone, and iPod.  It not only lets me organize all of my lyric sheets, but also lets me build sets and then scroll through the songs in order.  You can import Word, PDF, and most image files directly, but the magic really happens when you take the time to put your cheat sheets into Chordpro format.  Then, you've got display control of the fonts for the chords and lyrics separately.  You can even transpose the key of a song on the fly.  It's the best $8 I've spent in a long time. 

 

The program also supports Bluetooth pedals that will scroll the page and advance to the next song hands free. 





 

 

Mic Stand Drink Holder

'Cause you know you're gonna drink something. Saves you from spilling your beverage into your amp or knocking it over on the floor. Plus, you don't have to bend down or turn your back to the audience (unless that's part of your stage persona). There's lot's of 'em out there for $10 to $20.

 

 

 

Hope this gives you a few ideas.

 

Next week, we'll talk about something a little different.  This is the time of year a lot of bands are getting out of the clubs and into private parties.  They're two very different gigs, and we'll discuss how you should be approaching each one.

 

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

 

OK...Let Me Hear The Kick

PA in place...everything tested and working...monitors set.  Now, it's time to build the mix that you'll be presenting to the audience this evening.

If you've got 3 vocal mics, this is going to be real quick.  If you're fully mic'd up with all the instruments going through the PA, this is going to take a bit.  

Before you start mixing, you need to have some idea what you're going for.  It's no different than if you sit down to draw something.  If you just start, there's no telling what you're going to wind up with or even when you're done.  If you're a band member that running sound, you should have some idea what you want to sound like.  

If you're working with a sound man, take a moment to convey some idea of what you would like in the house mix.  If you're a country band, you don't want a death metal or funk kick drum dominating the mix.  Likewise if you're a rock band, you don't want the vocals 12dB in front of everything else.  Try to put it in general terms, such as a well known band.  One of the best examples I've heard was from Pat DiNizio of The Smithereens when he told the house sound man "make it sound like The Beatles...just louder".  That gave the sound man an instant point of reference to start his mix.

For vocals only, get things balanced and intelligible, add a dash of reverb and away you go.  Don't get really hung up on a lot of effects on the vocals unless you have a way to turn them on and off.  Otherwise, if you're talking to the crowd between songs with a lot of echo on your voice, it's just silly.

And don't forget to use the low-cut on your inputs if you have it.  I pretty much use it on everything except kick, bass guitar, and keys.  Your voice has no useful information below 100Hz...the only thing down there in a vocal mic is rumble and bleed from other instruments.

If you're running instruments through the PA, there are entire books written on various mixing techniques.  How you set this up, again, depends on the band, the style of music, and the room.  

Just remember that unless you're in a huge room, you're not trying to displace the stage sound completely with the PA...you just want to build on it.  The idea is just help the instruments project into the venue.

Somewhere down the road, we'll go a little more in depth on different ideologies of building a mix.  For now, just keep these bullet points in mind:

• Make sure the vocals are present and intelligible.  People like to hear the words to the song so they can sing along.
• If you're a Cookie Monster-vocals death metal band, you can forget about the above
• Fortunate enough to have a stereo PA?  Keep the vocals, bass, kick, and snare in the middle and pan guitars to the side.  If you have keyboards and enough channels, run 'em in stereo and pan 'em 9:00-3:00.
• If you're playing to a dance crowd, then a solid kick drum in the mix is very advantageous. But keep in mind that the kick you hear on a lot of recordings is either electronically generated or is a result of a complicated chain of multiple mics / EQs / Compressors.   It's more important that you make it work well with the bass guitar than it is to have this huge monster sound all by itself.
• In reference to the above, don't burn 50 minutes of your 1 hour sound check on the kick drum...nobody has ever left a show humming the kick drum part from a song.
• If you notice you're cutting the same frequency on every channel, then you've got an issue with the house EQ.  Make your system adjustments there...not on the individual channels.
• The idea is to make the instruments fit together like a sonic puzzle.  If you have both the kick drum and the bass guitar trying to dominate the low end, it's not "heavy"...it's just mud.
• Likewise, if you have 2 guitar players with similar tones then you just wind up with a bunch of white noise.  EQ them slightly differently and pan them if you have the option.
• You can always cut what you don't want, but you can't add back what isn't there.  Guitarists who insist on scooping all of their mids out are guaranteed to be totally covered up by the drums in the PA.  The midrange is where the majority of a guitar's sonic information is...don't throw it away before your sound man has a crack at it.
• Once sound check is done...don't touch the input levels on the channels!!!  If you do you've not only jacked up the main mix but the monitors as well (unless you're using a separate monitor board...and if you are you don't need these articles).

Having a sound man is a luxury, that you can't always afford.  Heck, there are some rooms I play that there wouldn't even be a place to set up a front of house console without knocking out 15% of the seating.  And running back and forth between a mixer on stage and listening out front is a pain as well.  

But there are a lot of technologies out there now that let you drive your console by remote control.  Behringer (those guys again) just introduced their X32 digital console that lets you set the fader levels through an iPad wirelessly.  Presonus steps that up a notch with their Studio Live consoles by giving you access to every channel function via iPad remote.  I just built a new PA around the Studio Live 24.4.2...it's an amazing piece of gear that not only sounds good, it replaced the equivalent of a 24 space rack of compressors and EQs.

Granted, those solutions will set you back from $2000 up to over $15,000.  Mackie, however, has broken the $1000 barrier with a 16 channel host frame that uses an iPad as it's user interface and mixing engine.  The DL1608 is a game changer...it's the first digital mixing system I know of at that price range and in a small console format.  If you're looking to upgrade or replace your mixer anytime soon, you at least owe it to yourself to look at some of the digital solutions.

That's enough for today.  I gigged last night and still have to clean my instruments and gear.  

Next week, we'll take a step away from the heavy duty tech stuff.  A few weeks ago in the "What's In Your Tool Box" post I talked about a few of my go-to gizmos that I have to have in my tool box.  I'll share a few more of my "gotta have" things next week...still in time for you to drop hints for the holidays!

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!!!!

In our last episode we got the stage mic'd, did a line check to make sure everything was connected and working,  and now we're ready to start making some noise.

 

Now, there are two schools of thought in the audio world as to what you do next...dial in the monitors or start building the house mix.  There are advantages and disadvantages to both.

 

Building the house mix first does get the most important thing out of the way first.  However, you're asking the musicians to perform without monitors.  I've been on the stage end of this arrangement, and I can tell you that it's uncomfortable...especially in a big hall.  And as far as I can tell, the only other advantage to it is that it lets you build the monitor mix on top of what you're hearing in the room.

 

Personally, I prefer to get the monitors out of the way first.  In my book, the advantages are:

• The performers can hear themselves and will play/sing with more confidence
• The house mix can then be built on top of the monitor bleed off of the stage

What happens now depends on how many monitor mixes you have to deal with, and how much is actually mic'd up and going through the PA.  As a bare minimum, you hopefully have 2 monitor mixes...one for the vocalists and one for the drummer (who, since he/she is usually in the back won't be able to hear the PA as well).

 

I like to get the vocalists set first.  And here's a secret I'll let you in on when you're dealing with one monitor mix across several vocalists...there has to be one person louder than everyone else.   Logic would dictate that the lead singer (or whomever is singing the bulk of the songs) would be that person.  But, if one of band members is doing this job then he'll likely make himself the loudest.  It never fails.  Trying to make everyone "even" in the mix will only result in a volume spiral throughout the night.  Someone has to be the king of the mix, so make the decision and get over it.

 

The drummer's mix depends again on how much is actually mic'd up and going through the PA. If you're mic'ing everything, then they usually like a "full" mix...almost what's in the front of house with their kick and snare on top.  Some guys just need vocal cues, and maybe a guitar if they're not close to the amp.  In most rooms the bass is next to the drummer so putting that in the monitor is redundant.

 

If you're in a position where everyone can have their own mix, you don't have to make near the compromises.  And it's not near as expensive as it used to be to have multiple mixes...a lot of consoles now in the $500-$1000 range have 6 or more aux sends.  Just keep in mind that the more stuff you put into a monitor mix, the better quality your monitors have to been.   Putting kick, snare, bass, 2 guitars, and all vocals into a $60 Pyle monitor is just going to leave you disappointed.  The idea is not to displace what you're already hearing on stage, but only add what you can't hear.

 

On the vocal monitors, you're probably going to have to do some kind of EQ on them to suppress the feedback.  We previously discussed the importance of pointing the monitors at the null point on the mic, but that only gets you so far.  To really crank the monitors, you're going to need either a graphic or a parametric equalizer.  Graphic EQs are a little easier to understand and set, but in my book the parametrics are more powerful.  

 

If you're using a graphic EQ, the more bands you have the more "surgical" you can be about your cuts.  First, I usually cut everything below 100Hz and above 12kHz.  Unless you've got drums and bass in the monitors, there's not really any useful information there.

After that, the process is pretty simple...raise the volume of the monitor just until it starts to feed back, and then start pulling down sliders.  After a while, you develop an ear and kind of know what frequencies to grab on the EQ.  Once you find the frequency, just pull it down 4-6dB...don't bottom it out all the way.  Extreme EQ moves introduce other artifacts, and there's just no need to cut anymore than you have to.

 

Up the volume, and repeat.  You may have to bring down the same frequency, or a different one.  

 

So...when are you done?  Once you've touched about a third of the sliders between 100Hz to 12kHz...STOP.  You've reached the point of diminishing returns.  All you're doing after that is just turning everything down.

 

For setting a parametric EQ, I'll up the gain on the mid-high band about 6 dB and then sweep the frequency.  If nothing feeds back, I'll turn everything up and repeat.  Once I find a frequency that feeds back, I'll cut it 6dB.  Then if you have a bandwidth control (also known as "Q") I'll alternate between turning up the monitor and adjusting that until I can get the most volume with the least amount of bandwidth.  I'll repeat for the the low mid and high bands as well.

 

I've been asked about in-ear monitors.  I'll tell you that I think their great personally, and I've been using them in some of my bands since around 2004.  The take some getting used to.  Scratch that...they take a lot of getting used to.  But my hearing was taking too much damage from stage volume so I had to do something.

 

If you decide to go this route, keep in mind that you can't share monitor mixes.  You're also shut off the room, so if you're mixing yourself from the stage you have to have at least one person that's not using them.  Otherwise, you have to have a front of house sound man.   I've built a couple of in-ear systems for bands, and if there's interest I'll cover that in a future article.

 

It's been a long time comin', but next week we're ready to tackle the main mix.  We'll look at mixing from the stage as well as using a sound man.  And we'll touch on some new technology that I'm using now that will give you the best of both worlds.

 

Until next time, 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