EBS_freak

If it sounds right, it's right. Assuming the OP is in an ambient ensemble...

So as I said - user error! Its like anything, bad technique needs to be unlearned - whether it's singing or playing. IEMs aren't the problem - and I'll defend that to the cows come home. It's how they are implemented/used. I will add into the conversation though, people that compress their vocals in their IEMs need shooting - as that does impact the way that you sing as you lose all sense of dynamics... and even with correct mic technique, if you start messing with dynamics, the singers ability to sing naturally will be impacted.

User error! 😛

I’ve no direct experience with that pedal - but if you are looking at thickening your vocal, the tiniest bit of chorus and saturation courtesy of the xr18 will work wonders. Saturation on vocals to add harmonic content is a very much underused trick in the book!

We don’t need to take it out in the carpark... we’re groundhog buddies. 🙂 I get where you are coming from - bleed is bleed though, no matter how loud the band. And of course, if you are playing in venues where you are standing on top of each other due to the lack of space, the techniques I describe all help. You’ll never get people complaining at a gig about non studio quality vocals - but you will feedback. Maybe it’s my ears but I never hear enough warmth and low end in vocals unless the singer is “on” the mic. Anyway, just throwing it out there what I do. Experiment and see what works for your setup. There’s no right or wrong (within reason) when it comes to mixing. If it sounds good, it good. I should probably mention that the best thing you can do to improve your vocals, is to go onto IEMs. Helps people to pitch without resorting to the crutch of a pedal. If people have confidence in their pitch, they tend to sing louder - and that’s better as you don’t have to run the gain so hard.

And here was me going to recommend a mile long speaker cable to the cab that has been positioned away from the neighbours...

Thought I would add the reasoning in the post above!

Ha ha, very opposite advice to the one that I just posted! Keeping your lips on the grille increases the bass in your vocal - which prevents vocals from sounding thin. You can EQ out excessive bottom end. The louder you sing and the closer to the capsule you get, the less spill from other instruments. Less spill, the better the band will sound - keep the cymbals, and amps out of the vocal mics and you'll have a better sound and less problems with feedback. You may want to gate off backing vocals to assist with this... although you never want to gate the lead vocals. Mic choice can also aid - Audix for example are ace at off axis rejection... but conversely will punish you if you sing off axis and your mic technique is poor. Windscreens (the foam) are generally for use outside where wind noise can be picked up by the mic. Pop filters are usually the domain of the studio and used with more sensitive condenser mics where there is a larger space between lips and capsule. Just my take on it anyway!

Less is generally more. Compression on vocals, for a lot of people, is more hassle than it's worth because, as mentioned, due to the increased chance of compression. In short, if you do use compression, take it easy, especially on the make up gain. Also, you will need to have got rid of the hot nodes in the room - so a 31 band EQ on all the outputs (monitors and for speakers) is pretty much essential. If you are on an analogue desk, this is a lot of extra kit to be carrying around. Reverb - works but you ideally need to cut the low end reverb... and the airy highs - the "Abbey Road" reverb if you will. Again, switch if off between songs - and be wary, too much adds muds. Realistically, you should turn it up so that it's just perceivable, and then maybe knock it back the tiniest bit. Too many people flood the vocals with reverb and it completely kills it. Listen to your fave music - and you'll tend to find that the vocals are a lot more dry from a reverb front than you would think. More often than not, a delay is preferable... HOWEVER, if you do use delay, it needs to be beat matched... so prepare to tap tempo - or better still, have somebody else control the delays from the desk (tapping tempo). If you are playing to tracks, it's easier because if you tap accurately enough, the tap will stay in sync for the average song. Even better is if you can sync to a midi clock to control the delay rate. In reality, what will do you best, is keep it simple! Get your EQ sorted - and sing in tune. And above all, get your mouth around the mic. The more your lips are on the grille and the louder you sing, the less issue you will have with feedback. That last tip will trump anything you can do on the desk or fx etc.

Isn't pancake a modulation - or pan - plugin as opposed to a multi band ?

It turned out OK in the end though - despite the ball ache, I got the pay out in the end and now sporting some IEMs that I prefer the sound of. But as I say, I would wager most people would not have got the same result.

Agree in most part. I've been on the wrong end of a claim - where a 2k set of IEMs went missing... they were never found. They got to Florida airport and then went missing in FedEx's secure compound. I'd paid the postage and insurance - which cost over £100. It probably cost me 30+ hours of time (that obviously I don't get paid for) to get the claim resolved in my favour and paid out. They stock up everything against you to avoid a successful claim, more so than an normal insurance claim. The documentation and links aren't readily available. They demand information with deadlines on time to respond other wise the claim is null and void - yet when it comes to them responding to me, there is no SLA. It's all in the T&Cs but this is where it all gets interesting. The problem is, is that you aren't dealing with an insurance company - you are dealing with a self regulated claims department in a courier company - and in that case, my contract was not with FedEx. It was with Parcel Force that had subcontracted to FedEx. Parcel Force said I needed to take up the matter with FedEx. I refused. I did not have a contract with FedEx. FedEx said the value and nature of the item meant that it wasn't covered by their insurance. Then all of a sudden, the IEMs became re-classed as a musical instrument in their attempt to invalidate the claim. You can imagine the fun and games. They were then saying that the IEMs had no value because they were custom made for me and they had no market price. Then the claims handler went on holiday for a fortnight... and nobody would respond to emails... and if I answered the phone, I would tell the claims number and then they would just put me on hold - with no intention of dealing with the claim. It took a solicitors letter to get that claim resolved - at further expense. I am convinced that if that solicitors letter had not have landed, they would have fobbed me off until I lost my mind and gave up. Couriers. * sigh *

You think that anybody in the position to act upon this sort of thing cares enough to do anything about it? The only way this would get traction is if 100 odd people wrote to watchdog. The thing is, that sentence, for the vast majority is believable... only in my case, I know 100% that it is false. Of course, it would be up to me to prove so... and how do I do that when I haven't got access to the usage logs from the servers that are generating the logs. I would have to do a personal information request to pull all that detail... and what would the outcome really be? I'm not going to get compensation - because I have not lost anything. So if I am not out of pocket, what am I really complaining about? A false statement that has no consequence? All it does is cause me to question their scruples. And they probably don't care what I think about them anyway.

https://www.ninetribe.uk/products/gator-cases-retro-series-vintage-amp-rack-case-2u-black-grretrorack2bk That price can't be serious, can it...? And decent cab maker would do you one for cheaper - with the option to customise. For example - https://www.zillacabs.com/head-shells - scroll down to rack

There's all sort of shenanigans going on at the moment. Let me show you an interesting paragraph from an email I had from TalkTalk. So yeah, given the pandemic, I could totally get with that figure... but the property in question has been unoccupied, with the router unplugged for the last year.

Jeez HJ - are you the Unabomber? Attention to detail, lonesome in the wood, little cabin... I'm scared.

jeez, you’re a dog with a bone aren’t you? please reread what I said. I understand the insurance terms - I just don’t agree that they are fair. And you can insure the same risk twice - just don’t expect to get the pay out twice. Google “double insurance”

This is a great hack that not enough people know about. Mind you, most people wouldn't know how to split channels and delve into the realms of limiters! I do similar but with two desks, where the audio is shared using Dante. One desk for foh, one for monitoring. You can do do similar natively with the X32 and say a M32C - although you would have to think about the patching of your physical outputs from the core back to your M32 because of their stupid block of 8 I/O implementation... so you may be better off getting a pair of X32s with all the IO attached to the individual desks as opposing to patch them all virtually. More expense - but gives you more channels to play with obviously. Anyway, I digress - your split approach is doing it right and (I can't remember if you can pass through EQ to auxes off the main as it's been a while since I've used an X32) but will give you the ability to EQ your instrument independently from your FOH for your monitor mix... instead of being limited to the one global EQ for your monitor aux.

OK - the short answer is a little like this. You are most likely to be in either the Shure camp, or the Sennheiser camp. You can make both co-exist, but I would always suggest that your IEMs are of one make and model and likewise, your mics be of one make and model (or range, appreciating the fact that you may have a mixture of belt packs for lav/guitars and handhelds). If you running one brand, then you ideally put devices on a network and configure them all remotely via software - so Shure's Wireless Workbench or Sennheisers Wireless Systems Manager. More on those in a bit. To run up large channels counts, you'll definitely want a shared mic license - so typically channel 38 if you are moving your band around venue to venue. You can up the count by using the free to use license (ch70) but you are more likely to have interferences with venues and dodgy DJs using cheap ch70 mics that will interfere with yours. IEMs should be racked together on one side of the stage and mics racked together the other. You can get away with both rack units on the same of the stage - but aim for at least 3metres separation. Ideally, you want a distro and external aerials - however, this is not always a steadfast requirement. As long as the antennae on the units have line of sight - and ideally not on the floor, then for most venues you are likely to be OK. As mentioned before, its best that the antennas are clear of the rack - but if you aren't using external antennae from a distro, then have it so the antennae are closest to the performers, so the RF doesn't have to pass through the rack and electronics to get to and from the radio receivers/transmitters on stage. If lots of metal work comes into play, or if the venue has more stray RF noise, that's where the distros are going to help. And of course, if you are running dual diversity systems, you can have an antennae both sides, pointing across the stage, for better signal and less chance of drop outs. IEM dual diversity systems are expensive by the way - compare the price of a PSM1000 system over a PSM900. Back to the software - this is where the magic happens and most people don't know/understand the importance of this. You can upload your inventory of wireless gear to say Wireless Workbench and it will have all the technical details associated with that piece of gear available to work with. You can then specify the portion(s) of the radio spectrum within which you want your wireless to operate... and then let the software work out all the intermod free frequencies for you so everything works together without interference. Of course, if you have a profile for mismatched gear, it can take that into account (hence you could mix brands - although you do tend to get more usable channels if you stick with brands and models as stated above) You can then manually program all the devices with the frequencies the software comes out with. If you have WW on the network and all the devices are on the network - you can remotely push out all the config to the rack units (although you are limited to Shure for WW and Sennheiser if using WSM - so you can immediately see the advantage of co-ordinating RF units from just one manufacture, especially if touring and large channel counts are involved) and then sync the portable units using the IR sensors that tend to be on the units. All clever stuff. For relatively low channel counts, in the UK, its rare that you have to keep reprogramming your wireless units as Ofcom has got a pretty good handle on wireless control. I run 11 channels of wireless with my band and 99% of the time I can just turn up and play at a gig with the same settings as the last without any issue. If there is an issue, I use WW to scan the area for rogue RF (it can do this by using a receiver that it is on the network with) and choose to co-ordinate frequencies that are free of any troublesome RF. As I say though, for shared mic license, this is a pretty rare occurrence - but in the States for example, where wireless changes from state to state and generally abused, it can be a life saver. For big tours, you wont find bands on Ch38. They apply for licenses from Ofcom - which gives them legal access to other parts of the spectrum for specified durations. Of course - the gear has to be able to be tuned to that area of the spectrum. For completeness, you can also get a fixed license - so you will find that theatres tend to be allocated areas of the spectrum for their mic use... but obviously the equipment use on those frequencies are limited to the boundaries of that building. Lastly, your wifi wireless should be kept away from everything. Typically you'd have another rack for your router and hang your WAP(s) off that - and that would also probably contain your pair of Dante switches of similar if you are making use of digital runs (for audio over ethernet). In short, wireless can take time and be a headache when it goes wrong. So be prepared and have a bail out solution where everybody can go to wired. For tours and the like, this stuff doesn't just happen. It's weeks, sometimes months of preparation to have the confidence that stuff is going to work as intended. Hope this helps and gives you a brief insight!

Not really. I stated that I don't agree with the way that insurance is provisioned in such circumstances. Not a lack of understanding at all. If you hired a plasterer to plaster your wall and they ended up putting their foot through your window, they are paying for it, whether out of their own pocket or their own insurance. When you get somebody to plaster your house, you don't get a quote for them with insurance, or without insurance. Both service industries, different insurance policies. Of course the prices would go up - but in a rose tinted world, they should look at the processes that are leading to the damage or loss of parcels... after all, we all know how much care couriers take when handling our goods.

Indeed there are - but few get all the elements right - the video production, the players, the choice of song, the production on the audio, the branding. Not saying Scary Pockets hit the mark every time for me music wise - but their quality control is exceptional.

Thanks for the kind and words - and for acknowledging the case that my input on the topic is to help people not fall into any pits that they don't understand how to get out of!

Oh man. Sounds similar to the EHX vs Mooer case!

Aww cmon, they're just a covers band.

Thats more of a case of their systems not being fit for purpose for the service they provide. As you say, if they can provide the spec, you can work with that. If they don't... well, that's their lookout. (Or should be). And yes, I'm still angered by the fact YOU have to take out insurance for THEM to do THEIR job properly. You would hope their own insurance polices would cover such things. But alas. You can see why Amazon are ruling the roost and couriers are missing out... as Amazon, for common transactions, just take all this nonsense away.