playing gigs every weekend and only have this trouble very rarely....last night was a great example.
Only the vocals go through the pa .....soundcraft mixer with active 450 Mackies. 4 sm58's for the vox..
Guitarist has his amp waaaay up loud and punters complain they can't hear the vocals. The pa is right on the edge of feeding back with no room for increasing either the channel gain, the slider or the main slider. The Mackies were dialled to run at just over the 12'o clock position........Guitarist us unable to comprehend the basic concept that he's 'too loud tonight' and just says the pa needs turning up
Are there any options I didn't condpsider to get more pa volume without the dreaded feedback ??
Comments
fire guitarist, that's a dick move to ruin the band for ego.
Buy smaller guitar amp
As mentioned above.
The guitarist has an issue with maturity and professionalism. Have a chat with him or replace him. From a punters perspective, I'd walk out of the gig in the situation you describe. Good competent guitarists are ten a penny. There are ten standing on every street corner with a desire to perform - many of whom know what the volume knob does on their amp.
"Take these three items, some WD-40, a vise grip, and a roll of duct tape. Any man worth his salt can fix almost any problem with this stuff alone." - Walt Kowalski
"Only two things are infinite - the universe, and human stupidity. And I'm not sure about the universe." - Albert Einstein
My band, Red For Dissent
Yep totally selfish move on the guitarist part to ruin the balance of the mix for his own ego. get shut.
It doesn't make for a good listening experience when he's guitar wanking over the whole band.
I had a pair of Mackie srm450s for about 5yrs, never had any headroom issues, when gigging my my old rock band. I used to run the mackie volume at 3 o'clock. They took it every weekend no problems, still going strong with their new owner as well.
If the guitar and drums are balanced out front then you have a vocal problem. Having a drums/vocals only mix is not the answer, although it slightly preferable to a drums/guitar only mix.
You *must* get him to understand that and listen to outside input as to volume and probably tone.
The only other way round it is to soundcheck with him out front with a long cable, and then have the self-discipline not to adjust it once he gets on stage.
"Take these three items, some WD-40, a vise grip, and a roll of duct tape. Any man worth his salt can fix almost any problem with this stuff alone." - Walt Kowalski
"Only two things are infinite - the universe, and human stupidity. And I'm not sure about the universe." - Albert Einstein