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Sound Nerd Tip: Vocals Mix

noah@capsicumpro.com (Noah Waldron) — Fri, 21 Oct 2011 17:06:57 GMT

SOUND NERD TIP:

If you're ever having trouble getting a vocalists voice to stand out in a mix, find their dominant frequency and pull that frequency down 3 db from all the instrument channels. Sometimes I have all the instruments on a sub group with an EQ inserted to just use one stereo EQ...

Happy Mixing!!!

Sound Nerd Tip: Stereo Compression

noah@capsicumpro.com (Noah Waldron) — Thu, 13 Oct 2011 12:33:55 GMT

Sound Nerd Tip: When compressing a stereo signal avoid stereo linking your compressors. This causes the compressor to push on both signals at the same time ruining your stereo image. Unlink your compressors and set them both to the same setting....

Happy Mixing!!! And don't forget to share this link with your friends....

Best Kick Drum Microphone

noah@capsicumpro.com (Noah Waldron) — Tue, 11 Oct 2011 14:51:21 GMT

THE BEST BASS DRUM MICROPHONE…….

On many pro audio forums I see people asking the question “ What is the best bass drum microphone?” Of course every microphone manufacturer claims that they have the best bass drum microphone, and can back it up by the long lists of celebrity drummers that they have paid to use their drum microphones.

So what is the best kick drum microphone? Well, That depends…. What kind of bass drum sound are you after?

Though I’m not sure that those in search of the best bass drum microphone have considered all the elements that make up a great drum sound E.Q. compression, preamps, speakers, and too many others to mention here.

I’ve used everything from a Neumann U87, Shure SM57, EV RE20, to the Radio Shack special.

In the recording studio, I hold the idea that anything goes and do whatever works. But, over many years of working in the concert touring industry, I have definitely noticed a trend and an industry standard. I can show you hundreds of technical riders, from many genres of music, asking for two bass drum microphones and often both of them at once.

The three microphones I am referring to are the Shure Beta52, and the Shure Beta 91. Although there are a few rising stars such as the Audix D6.

When using a combo of bass drum microphones, one microphone rarely changes, and that is the Shure Beta 91 inside the bass drum.

The Shure Beta 91 has always been a go to microphone for me because of its ease of use. Just throw it inside, on the pillow, and place at your distance of choice from the batter head, for more click or bottom. No stand necessary to set up or tear down, getting you out the door and off to the next gig faster. Because the Beta91 is a boundary microphone it reproduces lower frequencies with impressive clarity. As any microphone ever made, the Beta 91 does need a bit of EQ work. I usually pull out at least 6-10db at 400Hz (the new Beta 91A has a switch for this) and add anywhere from 3kHz-5kHz for click, and a bit at 60Hz so I can feel it in my chest.

The Shure Beta 52 is my next go to bass drum microphone, especially when I have a drummer who doesn’t have a port in his bass drum head. The Beta52 is pretty forgiving of placement like the Beta 91. I usually place the Beta 52 right inside the port, aimed at the batter. The Shure Beta 52 is a supercardioid microphone, which allows for a strong gain before feedback ratio, and solid rejection of unwanted sounds. It’s also built like a tank and can withstand tons of abuse! To EQ the Beta 52 I sometimes have to roll off below 60Hz and like the Beta 91 the Beta 52 needs 300-500Hz taken out.

Other popular bass drum microphones include the AKG D 112, Audix D6, Sennheiser MD421.

Happy Mixing!!! Let me know your thoughts or what has worked for you! And don't forget to share this page with your friends...

Sound Nerd Tip: Vocals

noah@capsicumpro.com (Noah Waldron) — Mon, 10 Oct 2011 00:51:55 GMT

For a vocal based group send all of the instruments to a stereo group and add 3-6 ms, keeping the vocals heading straight to the main L/R. Then delay the mains to the backline. This allows you to tune some distance between the vocals and the rest of the instruments allowing the vocals to pop a bit more.

Happy Mixing!!!

Monitors at FOH less feedback

noah@capsicumpro.com (Noah Waldron) — Sat, 08 Oct 2011 16:42:35 GMT

SOUND NERD TIP: When mixing monitors from FOH throw the vocals on a bus and compress them there. No Compression in monitors = less feedback!

JBL Vertec V5 Presets

noah@capsicumpro.com (Noah Waldron) — Sat, 08 Oct 2011 03:37:51 GMT

Capsicum Pro Audio is always staying up on the latest technology to provide our clients with the best service possible. We are very excited about the new presets for our JBL Vertec 4888's

From the JBL Website

LONDON, United Kingdom – HARMAN’s JBL Professional has launched the Pilot Program for its new VERTEC® V5 DSP presets—software plug-in upgrades for VERTEC VT4889, VT4888, VT4880 and VT4880A models that dramatically enhance VERTEC system performance. The V5 DSP presets leverage OMNIDRIVEHD™ linear phase FIR processing capability found in Crown I-Tech HD Series power amplifiers and JBL DrivePack® DPDA input modules.

The VERTEC V5 DSP presets offer significant improvements in horizontal coverage thanks to the use of higher order, asymmetric filters, and improved sound quality via phase linearization. The presets also feature improved system response to equalization, better far-field summation and throw, and improved inter-array interaction/summation and stereo imaging.

As part of the VERTEC V5 Pilot Program, upcoming VERTEC V5 releases will progressively add support for additional VERTEC models including VT4887A, VT4887, VT4886 and VT4881A, VT4882, VT4883 subwoofers along with presets for cardioid subwoofer configurations. The V5 presets will eventually be incorporated into the new JBL HiQnet Performance Manager™ sound reinforcement system configuration and control software.

The new V5 DSP presets are currently being employed in a sound system upgrade at the Gibson Amphitheater in Los Angeles, where Sound Image of Escondido, California has installed VERTEC VT4889 fullsize line array elements as the main PA system and VT4888 midsize line array elements as outfill arrays with the entire system powered by Crown ITech HD amplification running V5. In addition, Flag Systems of Santa Ana, California has installed five VT4888 loudspeakers as the center cluster at the Hollywood Palladium to supplement a house system consisting of 24 VT4889 loudspeakers (four arrays of six loudspeakers each).

Paul Bauman, Senior Market Manager – Tour Sound, JBL Professional, commented: “These two local showcase venues provided important test beds for V5, allowing for real-world testing and validation. We’ll be following up with VT4889ADPDA V5 testing on the system that was recently installed at the Staples Center in the coming weeks as part of the V5 Pilot Program.”

Select participants around the world have tested the V5 presets, and the early reviews are overwhelmingly positive:

“The high-frequency section is detailed and silky,” said Rich Davis, front of house engineer for Jimmy Buffett. “I also like the changes that have been made to the low frequencies.”

“We tried the new VERTEC V5 presets for our last gig and it was fantastic the horizontal coverage is a very good improvement in the 6 kHz range and in the low mids,” said Vishnu P., Owner of V&P Sound in India. “The vocal range appears to float outside of the box, bringing the sound image directly in the face of the listener. It has a more defined bass sound. I feel 2011- 2012 will be the years when VERTEC, with the V5 presets, will be on all the tech riders. We truly believe that it’s the right people at JBL Professional who made a great difference in making VERTEC sound fantastic, and doing so without changing any of the components.”

Bauman concluded: “The magnitude of improvement with V5 is as significant as was obtained in the transition from V3 to V4. I’m confident that VERTEC system owners will be more than pleasantly surprised with the result—it’s like having a new loudspeaker system all over again.”

Waves C6 MultiBand Compressor Review

noah@capsicumpro.com (Noah Waldron) — Wed, 06 Oct 2010 23:04:46 GMT

Review:
Waves C6 Multi-band Compressor

Many engineers are familiar with the Waves C4 Multi-Band Compressor. The C4 is a multi-band dynamic processor. Meaning that you can select a frequency band and apply dynamic processing to that frequency band individually.

Similar to the C4, the C6 has 4 crossover bands but with the addition of two more floating bands of up/down expansion, limiting, and compression, plus dynamic and standard EQ, and the ability to have a side-chain input for each frequency band.

Features:
-Internal/External sidechain per band
-Individual band listen mode
-Four crossover bands plus two floating bands
-Dynamic EQ, compression and expansion
-Double precision bit resolution processing
-ARC (Auto Release Control)
-Up to 24bit, 192kHz resolution
-Mono and Stereo components
-Supports TDM, RTAS, Audio Suite, VST, and AU
-PC and Mac compatible

Since I am mainly using this plug-in for live sound on our Digidesign Venue console, some of these features mean little to me, such as PC or Mac, RTAS, Audio Suite, VST, or any of those compatibility features. But if you're interested in using the C6 in the studio then these might mean something to you.

The Waves C6 has plenty of controls to help you with hacking away at your signal victims.

Controls:
Input Gain Fader (-inf. to 0dB)
Range(-24dB to +18dB per band)
Gain (-18dB to +18dB per band)
Attack (0.5ms to 500ms per band)
Release (5ms to 5,000ms per band)
Threshold (-80dB to 0dB per band)
Energy Level Meter (-80dB to 0dB per band)
Solo per band
Bypass per band
DynamicLine Graph (Shows reduction curve -18dB to +18dB, 16Hz to 20kHz)
Frequency Band Marker (Graphic control over Frequency/Gain per band)
Master Controls (Global control of threshold, gain, range, attack, and release settings)
Release type (ARC or Manual)
Behavior (Opto or Electro)
Knee Type (Soft to Hard, 0.00 to 0.75)
Crossover Bands:

Low 40Hz-250Hz
Mid 100Hz-5993Hz
High 2kHz-16kHz

Crossover Band Q (0.1 to 0.75)
Floating Bands (16Hz to 21kHz)
Floating Band Q (0.35 to 60)
Output Gain Fader (-18dB to +18dB)
Output Meter (-80dB to 0dB with peak hold and clip indicators)
SideChain Controls (Source is used to choose the SideChain source: Internal/External)
SC Mode determines the frequency range of the Side Chain signal: Wide/Split

Now for the real life stuff...........

Once I had the Waves C6 authorization on my iLok and plugged back into the Digidesign Venue SC48, I ran some test music that I usually use for listening to sound systems. I spent about 20 minutes just getting familiar with how this thing works and sounds on some of my favorite tunes.

The user interface is pretty straight forward and easy to navigate.
The sound is pretty smooth. I fidgeted with the high band for a little while, and liked the way I was able shape and cut into frequencies. I then moved onto the other bands and found them equally as impressive.

Now onto a bit more meat....
I then began to run some pre-recorded (raw) drum sounds through the Waves C6. I was able to deal with a long time issue of single band compressors..... Other entities dictating the behavior of my compressors, such as a loud kick drum triggering the compressors on the drum buss, and squashing the overheads as well. I enjoyed the ability to compress the lower frequency and not have the kick drum dictate how the cymbals were compressed. This allowed me to achieve a natural sounding drum mix where the compressors weren't overly noticeable.
As for vocals....
A common struggle that I have faced on many occasions is the sonic characteristics of microphones and vocalists as they transition between singing levels. As the band and singer pick-up the pace and volume, sometimes the vocals begin to sound harsh. With the Waves C6 I was able to tame the problem frequencies and keep the vocals up front in the mix and clear.

Though I have not yet used the SideChain feature, I can sure imagine the possibilities.
Such as using the vocals to trigger instruments to clear a frequency space for the vocals allowing them to stay on top of the mix without dropping the entire signal of the instrument.

All in all I think the Waves C6 is a fabulous plug-in that I will be using quite a bit..
A feature that would be interesting to see, would be the ability to select separate key sources for the individual bands.

Loud Stage and Vocals

noah@capsicumpro.com (Noah Waldron) — Fri, 01 Oct 2010 21:51:24 GMT

Any engineer who does sound for clubs with small stages has many challenges to overcome. Especially in the realm of bringing the vocals up front in the mix. Many times I have soloed a vocal mic to my headphones, only to hear more electric guitar than the singers voice.......

Recently I was hired to mix sound at such an event. The stage was small with a fairly good sized band that included 3 electric guitarists, a bassist, keyboard player, drummer, and 5 vocal mics. Needless to say everyone was fairly cozy and close together with very little room to spare for jumping around.

During the sound check the vocalist was having trouble hearing himself sing, and kept asking for more monitors. Since the guitars were loud enough to be a dominate part of his vocal signal, when he asked for more vocals, he was also receiving more guitar. Thus begins the vicious circle of death and feedback. No matter how loud you can get that vocal microphone in his monitor, he will never hear enough of his vocals if there is more guitar signal in the vocal mic than vocals.

The current microphone of choice was the standard Shure SM58. Which has a basic cardioid pattern. To remedy the solution I needed to, A: lower the stage volume by bringing the guitar amp levels down. But this was not an optimal solution considering the problem was not any one guitar amp, but 3 different ones spread out across the stage. Or B: Find a different microphone which has better off axis rejection. Basically I was looking for a hyper-cardioid microphone. We then tried a Shure Beta SM58A, which has a super cardioid pattern. I was not satisfied with the performance of the mic, though it was a step in the right direction I felt there could be a better solution.
We then realized that the club had an Audix OM5 and an OM7.
Upon testing the Audix OM7 we immediately noticed a drastic difference! The vocals popped out in the artists monitor mix and the overall FOH mix improved drastically. When soloing the vocal microphone in my headphones I immediately noticed that there was barely any guitar amp bleed into the vocal microphone.
The only downfall of this microphone that we had noticed was that the vocalist had to stay in close. This was evident to the vocalist and he stayed close to the mic for the rest of the soundcheck and the evenings show.

Live Sound and "Green"

noah@capsicumpro.com (Noah Waldron) — Thu, 09 Sep 2010 20:19:36 GMT

Live Sound and "Green"

The concert touring industry is notorious for consuming tons of energy in the form of fuel consumed for transportation, and gobbling up as much electricity as possible.
Big light shows and big sound are the names of the game. We have to impress fans and that equates to energy consumption, and lots of it. The concert touring industry will always have a decent sized carbon footprint. People will always travel long distances to see their favorite artists, artists will always have to travel to their shows somehow along with their equipment. But concerts are a wonderful part of our culture bringing people together to celebrate life, friends, family, heritage, and so on. So the best we can do is reduce the environmental impact of our events.

The rest of the producing world has been using the words "Green, Sustainable, Organic, Eco Friendly, and so on" as the new marketing spin to get us to consume more of their products. It wasn't until recently that the live sound and concert production industry has caught on to the marketing trend.
Does buying new equipment that is more energy efficient than your current equipment mean you are making an environmentally friendly decision? Of course if it consumes less electricity, and weighs less, you are obviously saving energy in the form of fuel for transportation and electricity. All the while I've heard people say that the most energy efficient vehicle is the one that is already on the road……… Of course we are always purchasing new equipment to stay competitive in a gear driven industry. But at what point do we justify the purchase of new equipment as an environmentally friendly decision? Since manufacturing accounts for a large portion of the worlds pollution, by buying a new energy efficient piece of equipment we are still contributing to more manufacturing. So we need to consider the idea that a new piece of equipment has a debt to pay and at what point is that new piece of equipment turning an environmental profit? Or should we keep using the equipment that we already have, even if it is less energy efficient, and keep turning the profit in our pockets and possibly the environment?

As manufacturers have been meeting the touring industries' need for efficiency they, have also been creating a more energy efficient industry as well.

With advances in digital technology and Class D Amplification, manufacturers are now making 4 channel amplifiers that boast outputs of 10,000 watts, weighing well under 30 lbs. and consuming a fraction of the electricity of the old industry standard Crown MacroTechs. This obviously allows providers to carry less amplifier racks at a weight and energy savings. This all equates to cost savings in transportation fuel and consuming less electricity.

Digital consoles have allowed for smaller footprints, weight savings in channel to weight ratio, and not to mention eliminating the need for racks of outboard gear. Also some digital consoles have eliminated the need for heavy snake cables and drive lines by having their A/D and D/A converters on the stage and sending all the channel signals to the console digitally. This saves quite a bit in weight, space, and set-up/ tear-down time. I know I'd rather coil a small cable rather than a huge 56ch. snake…….

In Ear Monitors have reduced the need for stage monitors and their amp racks. Again saving space and weight

I think all parties involved in the concert touring industry have some questions to ask themselves.

Artists: Do we need to carry all of this extra stuff on our tour, or is it something that most local providers already have and can provide? This would save the touring artists money in transportation expenses and allow local business' the opportunity to have business that they might have otherwise not had. Also a great way for a tour to give to a community based business. Can we use In Ear Monitors and save the space and weight consumed by conventional stage monitors.

Local Providers: Consider the impact of your new gear purchases. Evaluate your transportation. Form relationships with other sound companies for cross renting. You can still be competitive and co-operate, all the while reducing the need to purchase extra equipment for those twice a year gigs.

At Capsicum Pro Audio we're striving to have as small of an impact on our environment as possible while providing the best concert experience possible.

Tech Tip: How To Blow Up Your Speakers

noah@capsicumpro.com (Noah Waldron) — Mon, 07 Jun 2010 18:51:01 GMT

Tech Tip: How to blow up your speakers!!

Quite often blown speakers are blamed on overpowering or lack of protection (limiting). Many times an inexperienced engineer will purchase an amplifier that is rated under the limits of what the speaker can take. You might think that it would be safe to assume if a speaker is rated at 250 watts, then a 200 watt amp would be a safe combination.........Not True!