Tips For Dealing With Rubbish Rooms?

RocknRollDave

Played in one of those rooms we all dread over the weekend - ceramic tiled floors, high ceiling, plain plastered walls, large expanse of glass doors etc.

As expected, it sounded like we were carrying out an experiment with the furthest extremes of reverb, and all definition was lost.

I turned all reverb and delay off to give myself the driest guitar sound possible and STILL I sounded like The Edge soundchecking in an aircraft hangar...

We turned the drums up FOH compared to our usual levels, as the more directional sound from the speakers reached the ears with less reverb than the acoustic sound of the drums in the room...but what other tips are there for handling these rooms?! 

More volume FOH? Less? All advice welcome.

Roland

We played in a new hall last week.  The sort of place which has hard floors and walls, and the sound comes straight back at you from the opposite wall.  This time we set up in a corner, and played diagonally across the room, with everything except the bass going through the PA.  The combination of single sound source, and reduced "slap back" from the room, made a big difference. 

ESBlonde

Less volume usually works, get the sound source up in the air and point it down into the water bags (or audience bodies) using a single focal point about 2/3 of the way back. No combos tilted back!! keep it down physically and in volume and let the PA do the work. This will give the best room response by stopping the worst or first reflection. If you can have a thick curtain or backdrop behind the stage (fire proof of course) and if the event organisers are 'with it' have a large net of slightly under inflated balloons hung in the top of the roof and not let them down until the very end.

RocknRollDave

Thanks @Roland and @ESBlonde. Some useful tips logged in the memory banks for future reference, thanks.

maltingsaudio

As @roland and @esblonde say less band sound and more Pa sound is the key . Tops high pointing down to the audience helps as does toeing in the system ie aiming it inwards not straight ahead, If your desk can do it and everything is miked up then delaying the front of house back to the drummer (about 1ms per foot )

PS for an awesome example of the use of natural delay see this thread I've started http://www.thefretboard.co.uk/discussion/6875/natural-reverb#latest

not_the_dj

maltingsaudio said:

If your desk can do it and everything is miked up then delaying the front of house back to the drummer (about 1ms per foot )

I know Def Leppard have a one armed drummer, but I haven't heard of a one footed drummer before ;-)

maltingsaudio

not_the_dj said:

maltingsaudio said:

If your desk can do it and everything is miked up then delaying the front of house back to the drummer (about 1ms per foot )

I know Def Leppard have a one armed drummer, but I haven't heard of a one footed drummer before ;-)

Boom tishhhhh

EricTheWeary

maltingsaudio said:

not_the_dj said:

maltingsaudio said:

If your desk can do it and everything is miked up then delaying the front of house back to the drummer (about 1ms per foot )

I know Def Leppard have a one armed drummer, but I haven't heard of a one footed drummer before ;-)

Boom tishhhhh

or just tishhhh in his case...
X_X

koneguitarist

There is a venue we played in Bristol years ago, something to do with the uni.

PA nightmare. one regular wall all the length of the room quite large and high. (covered by glass mirrors )

the other wall to ceiling is a glass curve, the whole length of the room and ceiling.

We were a country band and dressed accordingly fancy shirt and cowboy boots etc . I walked down room and when I stopped walking, my footsteps carried on so well, I almost fell over, it was really freaky.

worst sound I have ever encountered.

Worse still, you had to go out of room up some steps and along a garden to bar, where did all the students stay ?

Barney

shut the curtains iff there is any ...they soak up a lot and hope you get plenty of bodies in as well

EricTheWeary

I played a gig in here, this is basically the view from the stage above about head height. Behind the stage was a huge glass panel covering a tapestry. Just a total mare for band sound.

Phil_aka_Pip

EricTheWeary said:

I played a gig in here, this is basically the view from the stage above about head height. Behind the stage was a huge glass panel covering a tapestry. Just a total mare for band sound.

I guess it could have been good for a viol consort or lutes

EricTheWeary

Phil_aka_Pip said:

EricTheWeary said:

I played a gig in here, this is basically the view from the stage above about head height. Behind the stage was a huge glass panel covering a tapestry. Just a total mare for band sound.

I guess it could have been good for a viol consort or lutes

I guess the acoustics in somewhere like that could be amazing for one or two acoustic instruments but for us terrible and the difference in sound with and without punters in there non existent.

Still, I got paid