Ramirez

I thought the TV sound overall this year was phenomenal. Yes, Chic's bass could have been a tad louder, but it was definitely there and close enough. I'd say it was at a level where you'd get a studio mix back and feel the bass should slightly stronger - ie. quite remarkable for an real time live broadcast! In previous years it has been poor at times, but I thought there was a massive step up this year. It's a remarkably difficult job mixing live music for broadcast in a truck if you're close to the stage - I've done it myself, and the sheer amount of bass that comes from the stage can make proper bass judgement almost impossible. They've found a way this year it seems, and the results, to my ears, consistently ranged from good to superb. Of course, the problems are often compounded by people listening on TV/multimedia systems that are simply not set up properly. Many TVs come with a myriad of sound 'enhancements' turned on by default that can absolutely butcher a good mix, and the same goes for receivers/soundbars etc. A hi-fi might sound fine for music playback, but if the signal being fed to it has already been messed with by the TV then all bets are off! It's certainly not a live feed from the desk - it's all AoIP (Dante etc) nowadays, which makes it much easier to arrange multiple full channel splits to multiple destinations. There was a thread on a Facebook group by one of the broadcast engineers involved with Glastonbury, and he said there was much better collaboration between all concerned this year, as well as a good few technological advancements being trialled. To my ears, it all made a massive and worthwhile difference.

Thanks all! It was a special night for us. That's also the first time we ever played that song live - it's about the time in hospital following the stroke.

I've enjoyed a lot of acts this year - Four Tet, Alanis, Maribou State, Chic, Black Uhuru, Rod Stewart, Prodigy so far,a nd still a good few I want to catch up on. I have to say the broadcast mix and sound quality has been consistency unbelievably good. I've done it myself on a smaller scale and It's a very tough job, especially on the fly, and they've suffered in previous years, but this year has been quite spectacular!

Nearly a year ago my brother, and our singer, suffered a stroke live on stage at a festival. For a while we wondered if we'd ever get to play a gig again. Luckily, that chance came last friday! A filmmaker friend brought his camera along, and I arranged to record the set. We put together someof the footage and mixed a brand new song that we played. It was the hottest day ever, but in my 20 years of being in this band, it's the gig I'm most glad to have been able to do, and I know this video will be something to look back at and cherish as long as I live. Hope you enjoy!

First live performance done last friday! Here's a live track video (although most shots are non-synced and taken from other songs in the set). It's also a good example of the type/size of gig an Ampeg PF20T can handle 😉 It was a particularly poignant gig for us as my brother (the lead singer) had a stroke last year, so for a while we were wondering if we'd ever get to play another show together (the drummer is my other brother)

The Line Audios are indeed very good mics, and hold their own against much more more expensive mics. Be careful if trying the CM4 live though- in truth it’s slightly wider/more open than a true cardioid, and is approaching a hypocardioid pattern. I think the CM4 are closer to true cardioid than the CM3 they replaced though. There’s much more to small-diaphragm mics than ‘adding detail’. A true single diaphragm omni like the Line Audio OM1 will go down to lower frequencies than any other type of microphone, and does not suffer from any proximity effect. An omni pattern created by summing two back to back cardioid capsules like you get in a switchable-pattern large diaphragm mic doesn’t quite offer the same low frequency benefits, but can still sound great. To be honest I find large diaphragm mics to be of limited use apart from vocals- their main benefits are: *lower self-noise (which is rarely a problem with SDCs when close mic’ing anyway) *reduced proximity effect compared to small-diaphragm cardioids (this is due to the use of two diaphragms). This is why they work so well and have become a standard for close-up vocals. *They are less accurate than a small-diaphragm (larger diaphragm covers a larger area- the opposite of ‘pin-point accuracy!), but by the same token they have more character, so they often just sound ‘nice’ Personally I prefer to take the time to find the right position for a single mic rather than use two or three- and if you have a nice room, the ideal position might be a bit further out than you expect! Also keep an ear out for any phase issues if you do use multiple mics.

There shouldn't be noticeable latency as the Apollos are designed to host and run the UAD plugins in real time on the interface itself, just like any other digital effects unit. It can also host them as VSTs in a DAW when used as an interface, which is where latency might come in. But used standalone it should be good.

Old thread I know, but if going this route I wouldn't use anything but the Apollo. It can do all your signal processing, so no need for the Noble or pedals. It has a 2nd input that you can use for a mono monitor mix, and it can feed your signal to FOH as well as feed your IEMs (are the main outputs separate from the HP out?) Neat all in one rig!

Well, had my fretless debut on an all-nighter BBC session las week that's broadcast tonight!

Yes. Melodyne is very good. I haven’t tried AutoTune yet 🫣 Getting used to it- I had a Harley Benton short scale fretless that sounded wonderful, but seeing as I’m trying to play upright bass as well, the jump in scale lengths was one step too far and the more I played one if them, the more out of tune I seemed to get on the other! Everything seems to fall into place easier for me on the standard scale fretless. That said, playing along to other tracks still show that there’s work to be done! One thing I find helps quite is to ensure that you’re playing your FRETTED bass on top of/just behind the fret - ie. at essentially the correct position for a fretless. Muscle memory becomes much easier then, as you don’t have to change your technique as much when switching basses.