_ Six _
Joined: 03/06/06
Posts: 1398
Loc: Liverpool
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Mixing tracks through a PA
#1000421 - 29/07/12 11:48 AM
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I use recorded parts for live performance. Pretty much a full band minus the guitars and
vocals recorded at my studio. I took the tracks along with my PA ( a full range Adlib
Audio ) into a rehearsal room and EQ'ed all the tracks to the speakers at moderate to low
volume.
We rehearsed last night in a diffeent room with a lower ceiling and
the sound (perfect in the other room) was all over the place. EQ and levels were way out.
I'm stuck! If I EQ and set the mix on my monitors it doesn't work on the PA.
If I mix in one room it won't work in the next. I don't want to carry a Lappy and
multitack files around with me from gig to gig I want them mixed down onto a stereo WAV so
I can load them into hardware.
Should I be mixing these tracks in a
controlled/ acoustically treated room or am I just going to have to make do!
Cheers guys...
Six
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Exalted Wombat
Joined: 06/02/10
Posts: 4196
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Re: Mixing tracks through a PA
[Re: _ Six _]
#1000432 - 29/07/12 01:25 PM
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Mix on the best system, in the best-sounding room that you have available. If you will be
using a bass-heavy PA, make sure your mixing setup lets you hear what's happening in that
region.
Then, on the gig, try to set up the PA for best sound, not just for
maximum volume.
Accept that what you hear in the monitors won't be hi-fi :-)
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_ Six _
Joined: 03/06/06
Posts: 1398
Loc: Liverpool
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Re: Mixing tracks through a PA
[Re: _ Six _]
#1000474 - 29/07/12 07:00 PM
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I meant mix on my studio monitors... I understand that foldback will never be hifi. What's
considered a 'best sounding room' other than hiring a studio where the walls have been
treated?
I've put my mix from yesterday through my control room monitors and
it sounds way out... but it sounded great in that room!
I may have to set the
PA up in my studio and just annoy the neighbours for the day... Seems like the best oprion
at the moment.
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Exalted Wombat
Joined: 06/02/10
Posts: 4196
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Re: Mixing tracks through a PA
[Re: _ Six _]
#1000477 - 29/07/12 07:12 PM
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Take a favourite commercial CD. Play it on your home system. Play it through the PA.
There will be differences, but does it "translate" acceptably?
That's what
you're aiming for in your tracks.
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artzmusic
Joined: 20/05/11
Posts: 113
Loc: usa
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Re: Mixing tracks through a PA
[Re: _ Six _]
#1000488 - 29/07/12 09:26 PM
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Six, I have experienced the same difficulty. A well-mixed backing in studio may not give
you what you need at the venue. Most venues seem to accentuate the low end to the point
that you wonder where the high freq percussion is.
You might find it helpful to
pick a track - say with shakers - and sound check with it - adjusting the channel EQ for
your backing tracks accordingly.
I know this is irrelevant but, as I have had
the same Saturday gig for ten years I've found myself mixing in studio with that room in
mind - not something one would want to admit in a public forum I'm sure.
Rick
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shufflebeat
Joined: 09/12/07
Posts: 2268
Loc: Manchester, UK
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Re: Mixing tracks through a PA
[Re: _ Six _]
#1000494 - 29/07/12 10:42 PM
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Depends on your specifics of course but first principles would suggest mix neutral
(appropriate for many venues) then EQ playback as required on the night.
As
previously suggested if playback is always bass heavy then special consideration should be
given to this aspect. Bass light monitors/mixing environment will leave a significant
blind spot where issues will hide.
You seem to suggest that this is being
played on the same system in various venues in which case you should only need to EQ to
cater for the room, no?
I have often heard it said that mixing involves just
the kind of compromises you suggest, hence the many and varied monitoring and listening
checks most people go through.
--------------------
Ohm's Law states, "Your PA isn't as powerful as you think it is".
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Mike Stranks
active member
Joined: 03/01/03
Posts: 3055
Loc: Oxford, UK
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Re: Mixing tracks through a PA
[Re: _ Six _]
#1000495 - 29/07/12 10:46 PM
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How do your mixes normally translate to other systems - ignoring the PA/live-sound
dimension?
If they don't usually translate well/easily then you have some
issues with your mixing room and/or your studio monitors. What acoustic treatment are you
using in your room?
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Exalted Wombat
Joined: 06/02/10
Posts: 4196
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Re: Mixing tracks through a PA
[Re: Mike Stranks]
#1000528 - 30/07/12 09:17 AM
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We're now well into the "gigs in tents" season, and I'm being reminded once again how
different the same music can sound over different PAs in different locations. And how
many sound operators are deaf, and want to make me just as deaf!
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tacitus
Joined: 04/02/08
Posts: 754
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Re: Mixing tracks through a PA
[Re: _ Six _]
#1000552 - 30/07/12 10:56 AM
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You're not wrong, Wombat. If a wave of a magic wand could automatically eliminate
smiley-face EQs nationwide and lop a few dbs off the total volume (or at least make the
bands work harder to get it) the quality of band PA would be much improved. It wouldn't
matter so much that most sound men are deaf, then.
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grab
Joined: 08/07/07
Posts: 2626
Loc: Cambridge, UK
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Re: Mixing tracks through a PA
[Re: Exalted Wombat]
#1000596 - 30/07/12 02:34 PM
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Or in some cases, make me wish I was as deaf as them so I wasn't suffering. 
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Exalted Wombat
Joined: 06/02/10
Posts: 4196
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Re: Mixing tracks through a PA
[Re: grab]
#1000603 - 30/07/12 03:09 PM
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Two gigs-in-a-tent this weekend. One had the standard three battered black boxes each
side pointing at the audience, but no monitors. Persuaded the op to swing them round so
we could hear too. "But you'll get feedback!" "Not if you turn it down to half that
level, we won't". And we didn't. But if there were any hf drivers in the black boxes,
they'd blown long ago. The op was trying to be helpful, but just couldn't hear it :-)
The other setup was smaller. Just a couple of boxes-on-poles. Set them up behind
us, everyone could hear. But there were a couple of horrible one-note resonances in the
mid-treble.
We were an acoustic act. I wandered over to the "big" stage where
the usual "thump, thump, thump" was being pumped out reasonably effeciently. The ops seem
to know how to do that.
I HATE tent gigs.
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Bilbert55
Joined: 08/02/11
Posts: 6
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Re: Mixing tracks through a PA
[Re: _ Six _]
#1001784 - 04/08/12 05:20 PM
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before i mix down/master any tracks, i eq my studio monitors to a really good produced
commercial track (actually if its a country track im producing i'd setup my monitors to a
country track - same with rock, acoustic etc)
then when using these tracks
live, i pick one of my tracks i know v well and play it over and over whilst im eq'n the
desk to suit the room,
at 1st it took a while before i was happy with the sound
(usually i was tweaking for the 1st half hour of gig) but you'll get to know ur diff
setups and it get much easier and quicker.....
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chris...
active member
Joined: 12/03/03
Posts: 4151
Loc: Glasgow
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Re: Mixing tracks through a PA
[Re: _ Six _]
#1001821 - 05/08/12 02:02 AM
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Quote _ Six _:
We rehearsed last
night in a diffeent room with a lower ceiling and the sound (perfect in the other room)
was all over the place. EQ and levels were way out.
I guess you've hit upon precisely why many use multitracks, mixed
live.
Quote:
I
don't want to carry a Lappy and multitack files around with me from gig to gig I want them
mixed down onto a stereo WAV so I can load them into hardware.
Shurely the reason to use stereo would be lack of
soundman to balance the multitracks on the nite.
(not simply that you can't
be arsed to carry a laptop)
Plenty acts use multitracks coming from a laptop.
And if you like hardware so much, can always get a hardware multitrack. Or use the
laptop, with a stereo backup on hand from an iPod or similar.
Either way,
have fun!
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