Vocals & Gear !

[Nelson F]

It seems like no matter how much gear we may all have i still like to sing more than play guitar !:D :D :D :D

[Gazza]

If I wasn't a guitarist I would love to be a singer except I suck at singing.

[Lily]

So Nelson, get gear for vox...that's what I do. :bh

[Nelson F]

what type ????:bh

[Lily]

you know, PA gear, good studio mics, compressors, vocal enhancement, fx, monitors, that sort of thing...

Hey, have you ever used an ear monitor on stage???

I've always wanted to try one, but I think they are pretty expensive.

[mofinco]

Originally posted by Lily

Hey, have you ever used an ear monitor on stage???

I've always wanted to try one, but I think they are pretty expensive. I am one of the singers in my band, and I have tried in-ear monitors. It was weird! It lasted one set! We run nothing but vocals in our monitors, except for the songs where our female singer plays acoustic guitar, then there's a little of that in the monitors. It was strange not getting the direct sound of my amp, or the drums, or the bass, or anything else, for that matter! I even tried for a while with only one ear bud in, but it wasn't loud enough with only one. That was it for me!

A good full-range floor monitor coming from the side instead of the front works best for me!

[Nelson F]

I agree floor monitors!

[Lily]

Hmmm,,,,now that's interesting. So maybe I wouldn't like ear monitors so much, eh? I thought they were supposed to be optimum for vocalists. Seems like many artists are using them. But I agree, having only the vox in your ear could be too weird.
I thought they were designed to somehow filter in the stage sound as well.

I don't like using only a floor monitor. I can NEVER hear it well enough - especially in the bands we've had, with the lead player's amp always seemed to get pointed in the direction of my right ear. I like to have a side fill as well - but I want the whole of the house sound coming thru that - not JUST vox.... Then I'm okay. Then I hear what is going on in the house and work with that, confident that what I am hearing is what THEY are hearing.

[mofinco]

This is just my $.02, okay? (Well, I never just give $.02 worth ... ;) )

I thought they were supposed to be optimum for vocalists.In the right situation, they probably are. In huge touring acts where they have an entire mixer and sound person dedicated to monitors with Lord-knows-how-many separate monitor mixes available, I imagine everyone gets exactly what they want to hear in their ear buds.

I thought they were designed to somehow filter in the stage sound as well.They do somewhat, and I'm sure the really expensive, custom-made-for-your-ear buds have some sophisticated leak-through, but I can't afford those. I did try four different kinds of ear buds from different manufacturers the night I tried this out. You should have seen it - my band-mates were ready to kill me! I was swapping ear buds every two or three songs during our first set that night.

Sound from the stage does bleed through, but what I missed was the 'immediacy' of the sound. It was all pretty muffled. I love the attack of my Duncan JBs through my Mesa gear... gone!

I can NEVER hear it well enough - especially in the bands we've had, with the lead player's amp always seemed to get pointed in the direction of my right ear.The way our band sets up (wherever possible) is with all the amps directly in a back-line. That allows me to put my floor monitor on my right side (I stand stage-right). That fact that our drummer uses electronic drums means we can play quieter on stage than any other band I've been in, which is a GIFT! But it also further aggrevates the problem of hearing bleed-through with the ear buds - we aren't very loud on stage anyway.

The floor monitor I use isn't your standard wedge, either. I looked for a while until I found one that's kind-of an elongated 30/60/90, and it stands up taller than most, which I then put on a milk crate to get it closer to my ear without it having to be too damn loud.

I know what you mean about wanting to hear what the house hears. We're fortunate in that we have a sound guy working for us who used to do it with some big touring acts, and he gives us a great mix. He's been working with us long enough that we trust him and that just lets us relax and play.

Lily, maybe you should just go to a pro sound company and rent a good in-ear system for one evening and see if you like it before you invest the coin. I wish I'd done it that way.

:ola

[Lily]

Mofinco, what kind of "30/60/90" monitor do you use?

I just got a JBL G2. I love it! I've been using it at home for jamming for now...but we did gig with it. It ended up as a main at a small outdoor gig because it's so powerful! (400W self powered) But I am really happy with this monitor. It's got a 15 and a horn. The vox and the acoustic sound sweet thru it. In fact, I'm using it as my main acoustic guitar amp now. It has a jack pack on the back with 3 separate channels and a master EQ (bass & treble controls.) It also has an XLR out for daisy chaining.

[mofinco]

Lily, my monitor is some "generic" name you've never heard of - "CGM" ???? I bought it because of the shape. It's got a 12 and a horn. I pulled the generic 12 out of it and put in an EVM12L I had lying around. Since I run nothing but vox through it, the lack of a 15 isn't a problem. I also use it for practice at home - I have a little four-channel Peavey mixer that I put vox in one channel, my guitar through a Zoom 606, and my synth through a third.

http://www.webuypayments.com/stage_monitor_upload.jpg

Your monitor sounds great! Very versitile! Can it be used as a passive monitor? It sounds like a mini-PA in its own right!

[Lily]

http://messe.harmony-central.com/Musikmesse01/Content/JBL/PR/EONSUB-G2.jpg

Yes, it is very versatile. And it is a mini PA, you are right. But it can't be used as a passive. Mackie makes a similar one.

I use our 16 channel Mackie board through this at home. It sounds SO good for vocals.

So, Mofinco, what mic do you use for vocals?

[mofinco]

Electro-voice ND757 - in fact, all the 'lead' vocalists in the band use one. It shows in my mugshot photo on the LPF.

What about you?

I think I've seen that JBL in stores... it looks great! I love stuff in that impact-plastic...

[Lily]

Cool. My friend has an EV757. I like that mic alot. I have an EV357 - a great mic too. Since we've been working right here tho, I have been using my AKG C4000. I LOVE that one. :)

Mofinco, forgive me if you've already talked about this and I've missed it, but what kind of music does your band play? And how many vocalists do you have?

[mofinco]

Hi, Lily - you've got mail. I emailed our current song list - basically we're a dance band. We play stuff you can can dance to - a little bit of everything - check out the list.

We have 5 people in the band, and everyone sings to some degree. There are three 'lead' vocalists, and we work to balance the load in every set. There's myself, our female singer, and our keyboard/sax/second guitar/drums person (yes he really plays all of those positions over the course of a night, in addition to being the best vox in the band). Our drummer sings a couple of tunes, and our bass player throws an occasional backing vocal in.

What do you like about that AKG C4000 mic?

[Lily]

Thanks, got the songlist. Yes! Our band used to play some of those songs at gigs...they are "danceable". Man! Sounds like your band has everything covered in the vocals department! Do you all do backing vocals as well?

The AKG is a killer mic. I got it a couple of years ago for recording. It is a dual diaphragm condenser mic. It is so sensitive and responsive. The detail is just amazing. It picks up every subtlety of your vocal. It makes singing even MORE fun! And if you want to record the room, say a group of acoustic players, you can set it on the omni setting to pick up 360 degrees.

I''ve gotten so hooked on this mic that I decided to take it to our last gig, as it is also live performance mic. We did an outdoor gig - it was fine...performed really well.

Here's a pic of what it looks like:
http://www.akg-acoustics.com/english/microphones/Bilder/c4000.gif

[mofinco]

Whoa! That AKG does sound like a killer mic! It would probably be wasted on me! It's sensitivity would have me worry about picking up bleed-through from my guitar amp - I already get some with the EV. I can see how an outdoor gig would help eliminate that somewhat. That's definitely a recording-spec mic! Nice!

Backing vocals... well, that's pretty much myself and the keyboard player. Shelly, our female vox, well, she does fine when singing leads, but isn't the best on harmonies. She tries hard, but really isn't the best for backing vox, so she doesn't do many. Mac, the keyboard-and-everything-else guy, and I have played together on and off for over 12 years in various bands, and our voices are an amazing match. In some songs, we'll trade vocal harmony parts in the middle of a chorus just to amuse ourselves. Our drummer does no backing vocals, and the bass player's backing pieces are more 'spoken' parts than real singing... :)

(We've lost poor Nelson somewhere along the way... :D )