Pointing the amps into the stage area

JCA2550

Fitting a Mitchell donut on guitar combos and cabs really helps with the on stage mix in my experience, cheap, effective and fairly easy to do.

TheBigDipper

Thanks to all for their input so far. 

We had our final 2022 session last night and made some progress - which was great for me personally, and I think we all thought it was an improvement. I had a quiet word with the bass player and he appointed himself to balance our sound. He didn't do anything I couldn't do, but he has more traction in the band with the bandleader - 3 years in post rather than my 5 months. 

And, as much as we could, we repositioned the amps so we could hear ourselves better individually and he told us the levels to set ourselves at for a balanced sound where we could actually all hear everyone else as well. Recordings (I record all practices, just in case...) showed we were quieter and much clearer. 

There's still work to do, but it was heartening. And just before Christmas, too! :-) 

oktorockto

ICBM said:

Yes, it works - but be careful not to point them *too* far into the stage area so they then bleed into the vocal mics. Ideally across the front of the stage and outside the crowd area if you can - I've usually found that to be the most successful.

Pointing them towards the ceiling also works, but you tend to need them mic'ed as well or the sound can get a bit lost out front. (I haven't tried any steeper angle than the Fender tilt-back legs though.) I'm not really a fan of tilting though, it tends to make them very shrill if you're in the beam at close range, so you dial them in too dark which makes them sound worse out front.

It is worth experimenting a lot with physical placement, height and angle though - it's really important and makes a big difference to the mix both onstage and out front.

Optogates are worth their weight in gold. Turns the mic on when you step up to it, off when you step back so much less bleed. While on-mic you generally blockout the guitar spill. 

Rowby1

JMP220478 said:

hire an engineer or ask a respected muso  from another band to give an honest appraisal of your live sound - look for constructive feedback - recording it and reviewing as a band is also a useful exercise - good luck 

This!

Barney said:

I keep saying check out deeflexx but nobody seems to listen ...it will solve your problems ...a bit expensive but well worth it in my opinion 

That looks really interesting.