Sound Reinforcement

Process
Guitar,DI and Drums
Getting a handle on stage amps and Tips

• Musicians want a specific tone coming from their

instruments.
file:///C:/Users/user/Desktop/Screen-Shot-2014-04-08-at-7.11.08-AM-56a68e065f9b58b7d0e38820.png.
• Musicians use their own amps for self-monitoring.
• You can gain enough control over stage amps that get the
musicians their tone, meets their self-monitoring needs,
and gives you the right amount of volume control.
Respect the tone from Musician
• The tone of the instrument is picked to meet the preferred
sound.
• An electric guitar patched through the sound system won’t have
the same sound as if it was run through their amp.
• Guitar amplifiers have tone controls and model of amp has its
own tonal characteristics.
• They can get a lot of tonal controls through pedals and pedal-
boards. The point is you need to respect their decision on the
importance of tone.
Self-monitoring
• Pointing their amp up at their head.
• If they don’t, the amp is usually pointed at their knees. Pointing the
amp at their head also means less volume is required.
• If the position not at the head, ask them to play while you point the
amplifier at their head.
• Note the tone of the amp sounds differently when you are in front of
it versus to the side. In the case of musicians who have been using
the wrong setup, they will need to change their tone settings because
now, for the first time, they are on-axis with the amp’s speaker(s).
Volume control(mics)
1. Using an instrument microphone, attach it to a small microphone
stand and put the head of the microphone about 2 inches from one of
the amp’s speaker cones.
2. Next, set the microphone so it’s pointing at the outer edge of the
speaker cone and also at the middle of the speaker cone. Listen to
how it sounds in the house speakers. Note the difference between the
two sounds. The farther away from the center of the speaker, the
more less treble you will hear in the amp. You CAN point a mic at the
middle of the speaker but the range of frequencies is significantly
reduced because of the design. Experiment with several locations on
the amplifier’s speaker until you find the spot you like.
Volume control(mics)
3. Once the amplifier is set up and the microphone is in place, you need
to find a volume level on the amplifier that’s loud enough as a monitor
but doesn’t blow away everyone on the stage. This might take some
trial and error and a little assertive pushing on your part if the musician
is used to using their amp as the main volume source. Let them know
their only concern is the volume for self-monitoring and that you’ll take
care of the house volume.
Summary

• Proper on-stage amp usage is about directionality, proper

microphone placement, and on-stage volume control.
• Respect the musician’s views on amplifier tone and their needs for
self-monitoring.
• It just takes a bit of time and the willingness to talk with the
guitarist
Electric Guitar

• In the studio, you can spend as long as you want experimenting with mic
positions, but at a gig you normally have to choose a mic position fairly
quickly and sort out any tonal issues on the mixing desk using EQ.
• Ribbon,condensor and dynamic are advisable to be used in live miking.
• It is always depending on the situation, venue size, type of tone and
other matter related.
• When using the dynamic model placed close to the grille cloth. For a less
bright sound, point the mic further towards the edge of the speaker
cone.
Guitar mic positioning
• Hanging a dynamic mic by its cable in front of the speaker is to be avoid, as this
presents the sound to the side of the mic and usually compromises the tone.
• Instead, pick a dynamic cardioid and use a stand to aim it directly at the centre
of the speaker, with the mic almost touching the grille cloth.
• Do a quick test to see if the sound is right, and if you find it's too bright move
the mic sideways towards the edge of the speaker cone, where it should sound
warmer and fuller.
• If the cabinet has more than one speaker in it, see if any one speaker sounds
better than the others, but only if you find you have the time. If you work with
the same amp on a regular basis, make a note of the best mic position.
DI Box Application
• In most cases the sound taken direct from the preamp output is
disappointing, as it bypasses the tonal contributions of the power
amplifier and speaker cabinet.
• A far better option is to use a dedicated guitar DI box that includes filters
to emulate speaker response and can also be connected directly to the
extension speaker outlet of the amplifier. This type of DI box is available
in both active and passive versions and provides a balanced output that
can be connected to the stage box in the same way as a regular
microphone.
• The passive Palmer Junction box effective in this role but there are many
other options.
DI box on guitar

• It is a good option where the guitar amplifier is physically small and

produces a thin or nasal sound, as the DI feed will make it sound as
though a larger cabinet has been used.
• Speaker-simulator filters are particularly important for overdriven
guitar sounds, which can be harsh and raspy when DI'd with no
filtering.
DI box on Guitar
• If the amp has two speaker jacks (wired in parallel), and only one has a speaker
plugged in, you could simply plug the DI device into the spare speaker jack.
• Although the impedance of your DI or speaker-sim box can effectively be ignored
in calculating the total load, watch out for amps where self-switching jacks are
used for the speaker outputs; plugging in a second jack will sometimes activate a
different tap on the output transformer.
• With combos, make sure that plugging anything into the extension speaker jack
doesn't disconnect the internal speaker. Most of the classic Fender valve amps,
however, and their many design derivatives, have a simple parallel connection for
their extension speaker sockets, actually forcing the amp to run into a
mismatched load when used with both internal and external speakers, but
creating the ideal connection for a speaker-sim DI.
DI BOX
Bass Guitars

Bass guitar amplifiers can be miked up in a similar way to

conventional guitar amplifiers, though the mic is usually set up a
few inches from the speaker grille, rather than being hard up
against it.
Many general-purpose dynamic mics have a built-in low-frequency
roll-off to compensate for the proximity effect when used with
vocals, so pick a mic with a good bass response, such as a
Sennheiser MD421.
Drum Miking
Most basic Item:
1.Snare
2.Kick Drum/Bass Drum
3.Cymbals

Complete Version:
4.Snare
5.Kick Drum/Bass Drum
6.Cymbals
7.Hi Hat
8.Toms
Miking the Drums
The most convenient type to use for live performance provides similar
clip-on mics for the snare and toms, a boom-mounted kick-drum mic,
and a pair of back-electret or capacitor mics to use as 'overheads'.
The clip-on mics need to be small enough not to be in the drummer's
way. When looking at a set, consider how much space they will take up
when the mic cable connectors are plugged in.
The clips, which attach to the drum rims, usually put the mic close to the
optimum position, which is roughly 5cm above the drum and 5cm in
from its edge.
Hi Hat

Separate hi-hat mics are rarely necessary, but where one is

needed, use a small capacitor mic and aim it just above or
below the hi-hats, about 10-20cm away, so that the air forced
out when the cymbals close doesn't rush straight into the front
of the mic.
Kick Drum/Bass
Drum
• The kick-drum mic is invariably a dynamic cardioid, but with extended bass
response and a frequency-response curve tailored for kicks.
• This mic should be placed inside the drum shell, pointing towards the spot where
the beater hits, but some adjustment of position may be necessary to obtain the
best tone.
• Most kick drums used for pop work have a hole cut in the front head, so a short
boom stand can be used to position the mic through this hole. A damping blanket
is usually placed on the bottom of the drum to reduce unwanted ringing.
Cymbals
• To capture cymbals we use the overhead stereo mics (capacitors, to capture the
high end), but being further from the kit than the other mics they may pick up
sounds from other sources on stage, so the distance arrived at will be a
compromise between the best sound and adequate separation.
• A spacing of as little as 50 to 60cm above the cymbals can yield acceptable results,
though a slightly higher position is best if spill conditions allow.
5 shapes of drumstick tips and their affect on the sound.

Oval: largest spectrum of sound

Teardrop: warm with focused low tones
Round/ball: clean, bright, and crisp
Acorn: full, rich, and fat
Barrel: punchy and loud
1. The Glyn Johns
Technique (3-4
mics)
• a dynamic microphone is used for the kick
drum, a condenser is used across the toms
pointing at the snare, and one or two
condensers are used as overhead mics,
equally spaced so as to avoid phase
problems.
• When use this method, make sure the
overheads capture the full drum kit sound
and start that as the loudest channel of the
drum mics. From there, bring in the kick
drum and then the toms/snare drum as
needed.
2. Kit Piece Miking

• Every part of the kit is closely miked

except for the overheads.
• Overheads are NOT only for the
cymbals. That’s a common
misunderstanding. They are for
capturing the whole kit.
List of
Microphones to
consider:
Kick Drum:
Shure Beta 52A
AKG D 112
Sennheiser e602

Snare:
Shure SM57
Audix i5
Sennheiser e604
List of Microphones
Toms:
Shure Beta 56a
Shure Beta 98AMP
Sennheiser e604

Cymbals / Overheads:
AKG C1000 S MK4
Shure SM81
Sennheiser e614
END OF
SLIDES