From: "Sjoerd Koppert" <sjoerd@n...>
Date: Sat Jan 13, 2001 3:29 am
Subject: structural noise / vocals
Interesting thread!
As I could well have been the person sending people to the bathroom
before a Floyd gig, depending on the date (the ones who'd just eaten
normally didn't make it), and 'coz it touches on some of my pet
peaves, here's my 2 pennies worth:
Structural noise used to be a huge problem in the '60's / early '70's,
when large PA's normally lived stage left & right. The introduction
of flying systems helped overcome the problem to a large extend,
especially with subs placed off stage, on the ground.
Now it is - in my opinion (and I'm an old opinionated bastard) the
main problem in small venues. Most small stages are boomboxes and
totally wreck the sound. Easy to fix, without spending a lot.
Recently I re-did a friends club (he wanted to buy a new PA system
'coz the sound was bad), by removing the stage's ply floor, building
compartments under the stage with cheap ply, and filling them with 4
tons of rough sand. (do the same with those awful monitor stands -
you'll notice a big difference). Glued / stapled spare peaces of ply
to the bottem of the floor before putting them in place again -
problem fixed for $250 instead of buying a new system.
Second - and in my opinion one of the most common structural noise
problems - drum risers and any other type of commonly used platforms.
How can you expect to get a good sound by placing instruments on a
resonating platform? Answer - you can't. It effect.s everything,
especially in the low to low-mid ranges. Doesn't matter if you use
good shockmounts on your mics - the instrument itself will sound
awfull. Dampen it!!! (bloody easy isn't it? them why don't people
do it?)
Vocal sound:
"Roll off is a matter of taste / kindo' music / style" - is it?
A LOT exists in the lower frequency ranges - especially in vocals.
This is where a voice's character becomes apparent, and where
psycho-acoustics come into play.
If you, or any singer, has a "midrangy" voice, that does NOT mean that
you should / could just roll-off the low end. Just think about it.
Some microphone manufacturers now make mic's especially for female
vocals like, for instance the AT 4055. What distinguishes the mic's
from the normal? A very much extended low end. It introduces warmth
and character.
Regardless of what type of music you are recording, shelving or
rolling off as a matter of cause is, in my opinion (and like I said,
I'm an opinionated so-and-so) wrong and lazy. Record with the best
possible microphone / pre-amp combination, at the widest range
possible. At least them you'll have something to work with when you
come to mix vocal and music together.
(people who roll-off as a matter of cause might as well record
everything 44.1 16 bit - it ends up on a CD anyway right?)
With regards to "cutting a hole" at 100 cycles to make room for the
vocals - A lot happens at around 100 - if you have to eq
instrumentation out to make room for vocals there is something
drastically wrong with your choice / setup of systems.
Finally - to return to structural born noise - one of the biggest
problems here is within speaker enclosures themselves. Ring
modulation is a serious problem, which has only recently become
recognised by some manufacturers, like EV. That is why EV's new PA
system sounds awsome, that is also why JBL has now for the first time
manufactured a brilliant monitor system.
So, thats my bit - but then - you know the rest.........