pete10uk Posted July 5, 2011 Share Posted July 5, 2011 Evening all. Fresh back from my first festival of 12 acts over 3 days, I helped out with stage setup and a bit of mixing, I was utilising the kit of a 3rd party. The music was mainly rock and folk, I enjoyed the weekend immensely especially as the weather was great and wouldn't mind taking this line of work further. I have a few questions on best practices for mic'ing such an event with the view of investing in my own kit for future events. We pretty much ran the whole event on 3 x 58's for vocals with a £10 maplin jobby for a 4th if needed, an unbranded kick drum mic and 2 x 57's as over heads on the drums, (possibly fakes, something just didn't feel right) and 2 generic vocal mics hanging over the front of cabs. It all felt a bit wrong but sounded quite decent which is a good end result. My current mic kit includes 2 x 58's, 2 x 57's and some Sennheiser E345's (I think) and a AKC C1000s. I have always used the 58's for vocals but recently been thinking of adding some Sennheiser 935's as I have worked with someone who swears by them. I've used 57's for anything bass and have a AKG C1000s for any other instruments or just a 58, as I know peoples thoughts on the C1000s aren’t complementary. I did try a 57 on the kick drum this weekend but it didn't really work, it was just my instinct. I've never worked with a drum kit before this weekend. My main question is do I just invest in more 58's and 57's and possibly a good kick drum or do I split the vocal stuff across brands and invest in a full drum set and use the 57 for the cabs? The durms are my main ponder as time was an issue and not sure if I'd have had time or the patience to mic the full kit for every act, and secondly is it acceptable to start clipping mics to someone elses kit? What would your recommendations be? I fully appreciate you get what you pay for, I tend to go mid range, not cheap and not top of the range stuff, I would like to have a good versatile range of mics which no one will turn their noise up at. Baring in mind I now have six events over the next 12 months I have some budget to spend, they won't be gigged unless I enjoy my self too much. Any thoughts would be much appreciated. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
whisky-zulu Posted July 5, 2011 Share Posted July 5, 2011 I've never had an drummer turn round to me (yet) and tell me I'm not allowed to clip mics on their kit; my drum mic kit consists of Beta 91 and Beta 52A for kick, Sm 57s for Snare top and bottom, Sennheiser e604s for Toms and Sennheiser e614s for Highhats and OHs (Also if you can, try to get bands to share the backline - it makes life alot easier esp for supports - headliners are a different kettle of fish, they'll want to use their own backline and may not want to share it too much with other bands). However, having a good stock of 58s and 57s isn't a bad thing - I have a dozen of each myself (not including those in the drum kit). The Sennheiser e935s are very nice mics in my opinion, but I'm more of a fan of the e965s. Guitar cabs I've also used Sennheiser e906s on, which sounded pretty good, and bass cabs MD 421s when I can get hold of them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jmaudio Posted July 5, 2011 Share Posted July 5, 2011 At a festival I worked on last weekend doing patch and monitors, we had the following channel list. The mics we used are next to the respective channel. Some of them are a bit odd because our FOH engineer isn't a fan of SM57s! But he managed to get most of the bands sounding brilliant! The exceptions being down to poor drum tuning. 1. Kick in - Beta 912. Kick out - Beta 523. Snare top - Rode NT54. Snare Bottom - Sennheiser 6045. HiHat - Rode NT56. Rack 1 - Sennheiser 6047. Rack 2 - Sennheiser 6048. Floor 1 - Sennheiser 6049. Overhead right - Rode NT510. Overhead left - Rode NT511. Bass Mic - Beta 5212. Bass DI13. Guitar Stage Right Sennheiser 60914. Guitar Stage Left SM5715. Up stage right DI 1 16. Upstage right DI 217. Upstage left DI 118. Upstage left DI 219. Front right DI20. Front Center DI21. Front Left DI22. Spare 123. Spare 224. Drum Vox - Beta 5625. Far Stage right Vox - SM5826. Stage right Vox - SM5827. Stage left Vox - SM5828. Far Stage left Vox - SM5829. DJ playback30. DJ playback This generally caters for most bands, We had very few acts who needed significant changes to this. I'm personally not a fan of drum mic sets, sometimes they cost more than the individual mics themselves! Many drummers don't like you clipping a 57 to their toms, as it gets in the way of cymbals etc. So 604's are brilliant for this reason alone! Beta 56 on drum vocals is good as it is much more compact than a 58. So can happily live on a gooseneck stand and be out of the drummers way. HTH J Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jivemaster Posted July 6, 2011 Share Posted July 6, 2011 A box of SM58s and 57s will be a very good start, never the total answer to all situations but they will cover many tasks especially if you have few mic types. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wilflet Posted July 6, 2011 Share Posted July 6, 2011 for festivals always take more than you think you'll need. Your always going to get a band with a percusionist they didnt tell you about, or someones doing guest vocals on one song and needs a 5th vocal mic, or when they said 3 piece horn section they meant 5 etc etc. Id generally go for a couple of get out of jail channels with DI boxes and 57s to go down them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
originalshez Posted July 6, 2011 Share Posted July 6, 2011 You can do much worse than have a 57 on a tall stand either side of stage for 'random crap' that inevitably turns up. But yea, that festival patch a few posts up looks pretty decent. If you want cheaper than Shure but still quality, AKG D5s are a good alternative to SM58s Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
soundo26 Posted July 6, 2011 Share Posted July 6, 2011 my standard festival kit is:Drums:1. D112 Kick2. SM57 Snare3. Rack Tom 1 Gatt4. Rack Tom 2 Gatt5. Floor Tom 1 Gatt6. Floor Tom 2 Gatt7. O/H 1 Gatt or AKG Condenser8. O/H 2 Gatt or AKG Condenser9. DI 1 S/Right10. DI 2 S/Right11. Gtr 1 S/Right SM5712. Gtr 2 S/Left SM5713. Bass DI14. DI 3 Centre Front15. DI 4 Centre Front16. Di 5 S/Left17. DI 6 S/Left18. Vox 1 S/Right SM5819. Vox 2 Centre SM5820. Vox 3 S/Left SM5821. Radio Mic Sennheiser22. Radio Mic Trantec23. Spare Vox Wharfedale SM58 clone24. Spare Vox Wharfedale SM58 Clone25. EM1 Large Diaphragm Condenser for acoustic instrument Covers most eventualities! Saving up for some better drum mics although the Gatt set is serving me well and they sound pretty good! The spare Vox mics at the end can be used in many other situations,brass percussion etc! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
addoaddo Posted July 8, 2011 Share Posted July 8, 2011 My slightly smaller set up a couple of outside events I am doing is 1 Kick D1122 Snare SM573 Tom Rack AKG4184 Tom Rack AKG4185 Tom Floor AKG4186 OH Left Shure PG817 OH Right Shure PG818 Bass DI9 Guitar L SM5710 Guitar R SM5711 DI12 DI 13 VOX RL SM57 Beta14 VOX L SM5815 VOX R SM5816 VOX FR SM5817 Keyboard DI18 Keyboard DI19 Radio SM5820 Radio PG5821 Computer22 Computer23 DJ24 DJ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
themadhippy Posted July 8, 2011 Share Posted July 8, 2011 Am I blind or have both channel lists missed out a hat mic? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kerry davies Posted July 8, 2011 Share Posted July 8, 2011 Depends on the scale, Hippy. We have an AKG Rhythm pack and use 57's for extras like hats on the rare occasions they are necessary but then we only use 16 channels for 99% of events which is plenty at our, community event, level. For the OP Jive's lots of (real) 58's and 57's seem to be the acceptable baseline for festys, with drum mics as per personal choice. I don't use clips because our drummers bash hell out of them and, touch wood, the AKG's still look brand new after a few years light use. We have a couple of other really decent condensers which save lives regularly. We also have a few Sennheisers, two switched, so that councillors, MP's etc can make the boring speeches. They ALWAYS look for switches for some reason so we give them to them. Wish I had twelve acts over three days, more like twelve a day for three days, all amateurs! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dbuckley Posted July 8, 2011 Share Posted July 8, 2011 The last couple of lists also dont have a mic for bass guitar, just a DI. Sometimes, you need the mic, either instead of, or as well as. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pete10uk Posted July 8, 2011 Author Share Posted July 8, 2011 I really enjoyed the weekend a whole lot more than I thought I would, and look forward to doing it again but this time confident that we have enough proper Kit. If I correctly merge all the opinions and generalise a little, I wouldn’t be far off with say 6 x 58's, 4 x 57's, a £350 - £400 Drum mic Kit (5 Piece) and a half dozen of DI's, plus stands for each. Baring in mind my current desk has 12 mic's, 2 stereo in's and 6 mono jack inputs, I can't actually connect all these at once, unless I have a small mixer creating a sub mix of the drums or something. I'm looking at maybe upgrading to a LS9 16. Thanks for all your opinions. Oh and one thing I did learn was to but a drum kit mat, non of them had them and for a few the kick just skidded on this particular stage. Plenty of gaffa, job done! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tolley1466 Posted July 8, 2011 Share Posted July 8, 2011 To add to the conversation about hat mics, I'd personally use condensers on Hats (SM81) and Overheads (C414 XLS). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kerry davies Posted July 8, 2011 Share Posted July 8, 2011 Interesting point about mic'ing a bass David. I have a friend who has far more experience and knowledge than me, was one of the first electric 5 string bass players in the UK (short arms!) and has been in the business since 1960. He has yet to mic up a bass cab as he says every other mic picks it up anyway. At least he has and does mic basses purely for show but never turns the things on! He always has used a DI because he says it gives him far more "control". What is the opinion on that? Pete, I would consider getting a couple of condensers as acoustic instrument mics as well as your basic set-up. Your call though as you know the music genres you will be doing. Our C1000S AKG's are cheap enough at around £100 and pretty decent basic mics. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tolley1466 Posted July 8, 2011 Share Posted July 8, 2011 Pete, I would consider getting a couple of condensers as acoustic instrument mics as well as your basic set-up. Your call though as you know the music genres you will be doing. Our C1000S AKG's are cheap enough at around £100 and pretty decent basic mics. There are honestly much better mics in the price range of the C1000. I strongly reccomend not to buy C1000s. This is my opinion but they're not really rider friendly and they sound rubbish. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.