Dad3353

Blow-Up mic ... ... or ...

This. End of.

Quite, so the ideal monitor would be a pair, at 45° each side of the lead singer's feet. One would do, but best off-centre, at 45° (better for hearing it, too...). Make sure that the singer doesn't 'lean into' the monitor, ever, too.

It's a better mic for lead vocals, anyway, so can't make things worse. Worth the money if the singer has a 'voice'; not so much for an 'Oi' punk shouter, though.

Can you try a Beta 58A instead, for the vocals..? It's a supercardio, so will reject more from off-centre. A definite improvement on the trusty SM58, and a tried and tested staple in FOH voice mic'ing. Just a thought.

Have a search for 'SM58 pop filter'; this will bring up a series of foam covers for the mic' dome. Inexpensive, but would probably need replacing quite often. If he's biting the dome, he's far too close to the mic', of course, but, if that's how he sings... There's a big difference in performance, too, between an SM58 and a Beta 58 (the Beta is a far better mic', and the dome grill is deliberately more dent-resistant compared to the SM58...). It's not a Good Idea to replace the dome completely, as it's there to protect the capsule, so a 'soft dome' would protect his teeth, but not the mic'..! Hope this helps.

I thought it meant 'bollox'. ...

Finger trouble. PM sent...

And the winners are... @AndyTravis, @Dad3353 and @upside downer..! Here, then, are your Winner's Certificates (download and save as pdf file, then proudly print and frame...) ... BC_Chal_Cert_2024_10.pdf ... which look like this (but bigger, of course..!)...

A few drops of Dr Duck's Ax Wax on a lint-free cloth ... Use sparingly; a little goes a long way. Cleans anything on guitars and basses. Good Stuff, and very economical.

Well someone else can't.

All three..?

That might work, unless ...

Eight entries..? Four voters..? Scary stuff, and on All Hallows' Eve, too...

Aye Aye, Cap'n.

We all have an Iris in our eyes.

These (and other similar sticks...) do the job, but are really quite delicate, so if the fellow is already splintering his sticks, they might not last a song, let alone a gig. I'm not at all a heavy hitter, and never break sticks, or even chip them, but wanted to reduce volume for rehearsals and studio sessions. I found none that would last long at all. It's true that they are quite good for 'feel' (although 'frise-rolls' and rebound need some getting used to...). My solution has always been to use cloth covers over the drums (like shower caps, but cloth...); I now have the ultimate answer with my e-kit, which does it all (except swish brushes...). With a sly wink, I could also suggest the following... Aerodrums 2 ... Video of Aerodrums 2 in action ... I'm waiting on delivery of mine, ordered at their first announcement, supposed to be delivered in the next couple of weeks or so.

In the twenty-odd years we've been playing (The Daub'z...), we've had four or five line-up changes, with a core of three as constants. We normally cater for an hour and a half, In that time, songs have come and gone, and some have come back. At the last count, we have a repertoire of about fifty or so (I may have forgotten a few...); some only lasted a gig or two, others are still there, from the beginning, or nearly. We often try out a new suggestion, and one in ten cut the mustard, but it's really quite rare that we change much. Every rendition has its own 'life', so we don't get bored of them really, and, to be fair, we now play out very rarely (advancing years, and no tour bus for all our gear...). Hope this helps.

Not that he's likely to hear much.

He won't be getting the acoustic sound of his kit unless it's fully mic'ed up, which probably won't be the case in a small pub venue. If the kit has only a bass drum mic, and maybe one overhead, plus the vocals and other instruments in the IEM mix, he'd have to adjust his playing a lot, if he's used to hearing the kit alone. It seems to me that it's an ideal case for an e-kit; no drum mic's at all and perfect drum mix both in the FOH and the IEM. It needn't cost an arm and a leg; there's some seriously good stuff available now.

Set the PA up to get the best vocal sound, and everyone else plays to that level. If the drummer can't do that, don't try to fiddle with the PA to 'compensate'. Once everyone (including the venue...) realise who's responsible, measures can be taken, either by the drummer, or by the band. If the drums are always drowning out the vocals, the bookings will dry up. If there's an option of an e-kit, the Millenium MPS 850 is an affordable quality kit, made even better if triggering Superior Drummer software on a laptop. Superb quality drums with complete control over volume and playing style (except swish brushes...).

These last videos ^^ are a far better 'selling point' than the cleanly-produced 'couch' ones, in my opinion.