Gig related advice

[Dazza1004]

As a gigging new boy I need some advice from you experienced giggers out there.

I need a couple of microphones, 1 to mic up the amp and 1 for vocals, was thinking of the Sure SM57 for the amp and SM58 for the vocals.

How many songs do you get through in a typical night ?

I need a decent PA but would like to keep the cost down, I know nothing about PA’s and desks so can you recommend some for me to check out. Am probably going to go 2nd hand

I have a set of these ear plugs  http://www.wireme.co.uk/wireme/product.asp?pid=mer-er20&cat=Earplugs&subcat=
And whilst they are good I can’t help but feel there are better ones out there, can someone point me in the right direction.

Thanks

[Twinfan]

You can't go wrong with the two mics you suggest - industry standards.

I've tried those earplugs and while they're OK, you just don't feel the music the same so I've ditched them.  We don't play seriously loud that it'll damage my hearing too much.

We play two sets of about an hour each, so that's about 25-ish songs a gig.

[38thBeatle]

I agree with Twinfan-good choice of mics. Allow for gaps in between songs when planning a set and fill that gap with one of you talking to the audience avoiding band in-jokes and mumbling garbled intros.
PA wise- you need to think about the size of venue-that'll determine size but go for over power rather than under.  You'll need also to sort out "foldback" stage monitors. You might like to think about a mixer or a combined PA/Mixer amp. Peavey PA's seem to be pretty good-but I would just suggest having a good look around locally-go see other bands and ask them what they are using if you see something you like. Take extras of everything-cables, mains cables, strings etc. I have to go out now but could go on for ages so I shall leave others to chip in.

[_tom_]

We do 2 sets of 13 songs, which seems to be plenty, though we are expanding it all the time.


Now, I'm not a gigging expert or anything, having only played 3, but I will say definitely take a spare guitar - even if its a bit cr@p, its very handy to have - if you break a string, its very annoying to have to change it quickly under pressure.

As for the PA, in my band, we have a Behringer mixer of some kind. People always seem to slag off Behringer, but theres nothing wrong with it, and has been used by the drummer for discos every week since he got it, with no problems. Not sure what speakers we have, big JBL ones of some kind I think! Monitors are another thing, we have 2 old Carlsbro monitors which seem to work well. Oh, and take a spare of every cable!

As for the mic, 1 SM57 would be sufficient for guitar I would've thought, and SM58 seems to be the standard for vocals.

[HTH AMPS]

SM57 for guitar can't be beat, I just used to pan the mic'd guitar to the opposite side of the stage to my amp to give some spread to the guitar (same thing with the bass too even though bass frequencies are less directional)

For vocals I really like the Shure Beta series - they just have a punchier sound than the standard 58s, more output and better feedback rejection too.

For desks, Mackie are amazing value for money.  You can pick up a 1604 model for around £400 if you go for one or two revisions back.  If you don't need a 16:4:2 desk, get one of the small models and save some cash.   My old band used to mic the drums (3 toms, kick, snare) plus guitar, bass DI and vocals so we needed quite alot of channels.

Some Behringer compressor/limiter/gates are invaluable for micing the drums and controlling feedback (but keeping things punchy).

Lastly, those Mackie self-powered PA cabs are great - we used the 500w per side ones and they were punchy (and loud) as hell.  Downside is they're pricey - we paid £1200 AND we got them cheap though a friend in a music shop who owed our singer a favour.

 :twisted:

[Ratrod]

Shure mics are good.

As for PA's, be shure to get one that's loud enough. I've had some good experiences with Peavy, Mackie and Yamaha. PA's are pricey. You could rent one for a gig.

At the moment our band does 3 sets of 12 songs and an encore. If you don't have many songs yet, smuggle a few from the first set in a later set.

Be shure to mic the bass drum. It'll fatten up the music and will get people on the floor.

[TwilightOdyssey]

How many songs do you get through in a typical night ?

5.

I have a set of these ear plugs  http://www.wireme.co.uk/wireme/product.asp?pid=mer-er20&cat=Earplugs&subcat=
And whilst they are good I can’t help but feel there are better ones out there, can someone point me in the right direction.

Thanks

http://www.etymotic.com/