live bands,

[Thames Valley Discos]

what a :Censored: :Censored: :Censored:
Really.
They started playing at 9.30 ish, they wanted to have eye of the tiger as an intro so they could walk out into the room in a " blaze of glory".
Lead singer could not sing (see another thread to see who that was)
Ah ive got an hour to hit the bar and have a fag!.
5 mins later someone comes out and says " oh the bands pa keeps cutting out".
Finished my fag and went back in. Looked at their 20 chan mixer only to see it clipping every time it was cutting out.
So, i walked over turned the main gain down, as i had no idea what channel the lead singer was on, and fixed the clipping and sound cutting out. Good job i thought.
Oh no, all he did then was moaned we could'nt hear his key board.

I tell you, bands just take the :Censored:
Next time i'll leave them with a clipping amp, and muting speaker.:bang: :bang:
I felt like telling him to stick to tv presenting, i really did. I can't remember the last time i came so close to losing it with such a rude Arrogant person before. And what makes it worse, i find out he lives in the same :Censored: village!

[rob1963]

Hi Thames Valley,

Sorry to hear about your problems with the band.

I work with a few bands, but luckily they've all been good & never had equipment which is inadequate or cuts out.

The only problem I've had is that they sometimes spread out more than they need & take up lots of space. This results in me having to squeeze into an incredibly small space in the corner.

[wensleydale]

Hi Thames Valley,

Sorry to hear about your problems with the band.

I work with a few bands, but luckily they've all been good & never had equipment which is inadequate or cuts out.

The only problem I've had is that they sometimes spread out more than they need & take up lots of space. This results in me having to squeeze into an incredibly small space in the corner.

thought you got up at 10am rob?

[rob1963]

thought you got up at 10am rob?

I'll be honest with you Rich.

I normally do, but yesterday I didn't get up until 12 noon, and this morning I was awake before 8am, so I thought I may as well get up then!

:D

[Dillmiester]

Playing in live bands myself, over the years i now realise how important it is to have a decent sound engineer. Its almost impossible to tell what the levels are when your on stage (especially when your a drummer).

[nigelwright7557]

I tell you, bands just take the :Censored:
Next time i'll leave them with a clipping amp, and muting speaker.:bang: :bang:
!

Just coz someone plays in a band doesnt mean they are a sound engineer !

Bands suffer from the same problems as discos in that people sell them gear that isnt loud enough or up to the job.

[Thames Valley Discos]

Just coz someone plays in a band doesnt mean they are a sound engineer !

Bands suffer from the same problems as discos in that people sell them gear that isnt loud enough or up to the job.

Never said they were or had to be.
A thanks would have been nice after saving them from a disaster though.
Besides, they should have done a sound check which would have highlighted this before playing live.
I had my system up very loud last night, but i keep an eye on my gains and amp for clipping, if it clips bad, then i turn it down. Sorry no excuses!

[nigelwright7557]

Never said they were or had to be.
A thanks would have been nice after saving them from a disaster though.
Besides, they should have done a sound check which would have highlighted this before playing live.
I had my system up very loud last night, but i keep an eye on my gains and amp for clipping, if it clips bad, then i turn it down. Sorry no excuses!

I suspect most people couldnt tell if it was clipping just by listening to it until the clipping became serious.

You can clip a high power amp easily with transients yet you probably couldnt tell it was clipping. I have tested my own amps with an osciloscope and was shocked at just how little level of input clips the transients.
However this small clipping probably would do any harm.
Its when the clipping starts sending square waves to the speakers that the problems start. A square wave can be 1.414 times the rated output of the amp.

The lights on the mixer should give a very rough indication but at the end of the day it depends at what level the amp clips that decides where the problem starts.

[Thames Valley Discos]

I suspect most people couldnt tell if it was clipping just by listening to it until the clipping became serious.

You can clip a high power amp easily with transients yet you probably couldnt tell it was clipping. I have tested my own amps with an osciloscope and was shocked at just how little level of input clips the transients.
However this small clipping probably would do any harm.
Its when the clipping starts sending square waves to the speakers that the problems start. A square wave can be 1.414 times the rated output of the amp.

The lights on the mixer should give a very rough indication but at the end of the day it depends at what level the amp clips that decides where the problem starts.
when your speakers start muting is an even better indication.And clipping that bad can cause damage.
And yes, people did notice, because everytime the singer sung, his sound cut out, hence in my original post i said "someone comes out and says " oh the bands pa keeps cutting out"
If only they would have had an osciloscope.

[JAMdisco]

You can clip a high power amp easily with transients yet you probably couldnt tell it was clipping. I have tested my own amps with an osciloscope and was shocked at just how little level of input clips the transients.
However this small clipping probably would do any harm.
Its when the clipping starts sending square waves to the speakers that the problems start. A square wave can be 1.414 times the rated output of the amp.

Apparently, keyboards are the worst offenders for producing 'square waves'. When I was in a rock band it was this that caused our sound engineer quite a few problems.

The song that posed the most problems was 'November Rain' as most of the intro was played on 1 keyboard whilst midi connected to another keyboard that took care of the 'orchestra'.

Another problem was our very powerful 4 part harmonies, the high frequency drivers used to 'drop out' occasionally. Just for the record, we used Mackie SRM450's with 2 SWA1501 subs, another 2 SRM450's as floor monitors and a Mackie 20 channel desk.

But yes, we did take up a LOT of room as we had a LOT of equipment. :D

Ah, good old days, I do miss em :(

[nigelwright7557]

when your speakers start muting is an even better indication.And clipping that bad can cause damage.
And yes, people did notice, because everytime the singer sung, his sound cut out, hence in my original post i said "someone comes out and says " oh the bands pa keeps cutting out"
If only they would have had an osciloscope.

If the speakers are muting then it sounds like the reservoir capacitors are being discharged. Thats seriously over driving the amp !

[JAMdisco]

If the speakers are muting then it sounds like the reservoir capacitors are being discharged. Thats seriously over driving the amp !

Unless they had some sort of cut-out device.
Our old peavey 4XT's had an aftermarket device fitted - basically a small circuit board with a bulb on it. If the sound got too loud, the bulb would light. Not sure how it worked, but it did!