Our church hosted a concert of local Curb Records recording artist Marie Miller. Our church uses 4 L1 systems and, combined with some borrowed Bose gear, we were able to put provide a full-fledged whole-band L1 solution that was, in my humble opinion, outstanding. The band manager owns two L1 systems, but does not use them as intended. Typically will use them as a monitor fill and/or powered mains. So this was a new experience for them having the full band amplified with separate and independent L1's.


Here's a recap:

4 piece band consisted of:

Female lead vox and acoustic guitar/mandolin
Male backup vox and electric guitar
Bass no vox
Drums no vox

The setup was as follows, but let me first say the area where I have the least experience is mic'ing drums and the drums were absolutely amazing thanks to advice from folks on this board - at-Bose and non-at-Bose alike. (more on that later)

Facing stage left to right

5 piece drum set on front of stage (near audience) facing center stage / lead singer. Floor tom, typically known for needing low end boost was closest to audience.
L1 Classic w/ 2 B1's with phase-cancelled SM57 Y chord as recommended on the Musicians forum using the "Differential 57" preset. One 57 below crash pointing to snare slightly above snare (more or less level) sitting between hi-hat and 1st tom. Other SM57 below the ride between Tom 2 and floor tom slightly above and angled slightly down toward the floor tom.

Bass player (upright and Warwick) into L1 Classic and 4 B1's (two B1's powered by an additional PS1 since I don't have a PackLite) with Active Bass 2 preset for Warwick and Upright with fishman preset for upright bass. Channel 3 received kick drum output from lead singer's T1 into which was plugged a Sure SM52A kick mic with the kick gate. That puppy was literally cranked all the way without so much as a drop of feedback all evening.

Lead singer with L1 Classic (1 B1) and T1 singing into an Beta SM58 in channel 2; Taylor with Fishman in channel 3; Weber mandolin with piezo pickup in channel 4. Artist provided her own Baggs preamp.

As mentioned before, kick mic was in T1 channel 1 to take advantage of kick gate. Sent to separate L1/4B1 via Aux send out of T1.

Lead guitar / back up vox in L1 Classic (1 B1). Mostly played a Strat into a small Mesa amp. (also had footboard with a few pedals). Amp was behind a curtain and firing into the side of cloth overstuffed chair that was on stage as part of the set.

How was the sound? All the usual raving reviews followed: “It was unbelievable”. The band loved it. Both the bass and guitar players said they could “really hear everything”. The bass was chest thumping at times, but not obnoxiously so and not all the time. Guitar player said “everything was so clear.” Bass player had never played into an L1 with proper presets and sufficient B1's. He absolutely loved it. I asked the drummer if he could hear everything ok. He goes (almost as though surprising himself with the answer), "you know, I really could hear everything". Marie, the lead singer really liked it too. She's only 18 but has talent and soul beyond her years. They played some of her originals along with old 30's tunes, and a couple jazz numbers - very versatile and tight band.

I'm telling you, the drums were phenomenal. Just a little extra on the snare, cymbal highs and low toms. And of course the glorious kick which still managed to sound like a real bass drum - just louder. (as opposed to an electronic boom that's sometimes desirable, but less than authentic, in my opinion). The drums were nicely tuned - Sonor's I believe - and I'm sure that had a lot to do with it. But there's no doubt the out of phase SM57's worked like a charm.

It's true: Hearing is believing, folks. I was on such a high after the show last night. It couldn't have gone better.

On odd thing that happened: We were in a school gym with carpeted floor. Quite alot of air handling noise. There is a raised stage (about 18 inches). Band was on stage firing "the short way" across the rectangular gym against a concrete wall. I used rubber wedge-shaped door stops to slightly angle the L1's down into the crowd and placed solid-walled cloth "accordion" partitions along the back wall to help prevent the slap back off the concrete. I'm all but certain that a phase cancellation (if that's the right term) was happening as the sound bounced off the back wall and returned to near the font row. It seemed as though the vocal was going in and out, but only in a very specific location. During the intermission, I repositioned the accordion partitions, slightly angled the L1 Classic off center and adjusted the eq, adding a few more mids. Seemed to fix the problem. Very odd. But that was the only hickup.

Man, that was a fun evening and it was so satisfying to get buy-in from the band and the manager alike.

Link to pics - Click "Slideshow" once you get there.

http://picasaweb.google.com/sweetjohn/MarieMillerConcert

Hi John,

Thanks for the wonderful gig report. I am delighted that it went so well. You certainly put in the effort in the planning and preparation.

The slide show is great.

Thanks for letting us know how it all turned out!

Here are some reference notes for anyone wanting to explore some of the interesting things that John did.



Extended Bass Package - Classic Version

This is what you can do if you have a Classic and don't have PackLite® amp.

--== click the picture to see the full explanation ==--


Out-of-Phase Overheads


--== click the picture to see the article about Out-of-Phase Overheads ==--

Kick Gate

This is one of the effects available in the
See: KickGate

Hey John,

Enjoyed meeting you at Cuchara!
Nice report, and thanks so much for pics.
I was curious about the placement of those out-of-phase 57 mic.
I saw the tom side, no shot of snare, but I get the idea.
Running sound (more actually just setting up, and letting the artist run) with L1s is really a joy.

You guys are really making me want to dig out the acoustic kit again.

Hey John
Thanks for the Gig report. I enjoyed the slide show. What a nice clean set up. I love the fact that you put the drums to one side. We do this when ever we can. It helps everybody hear each other better. I will have to try the phase-cancelled SM57 Y chord with the "Differential 57" preset and the placement for the 57s. You have sparked my interest. I am wondering if I will like this set up better than what I am using now.
Rick

John,

So glad to hear the gig went well. You'll never go back to any other drum mic'ing technique now that you have the dual SM57's dialed in. Its secret is that it amplifies just the drums and not the cymbals

Thanks for posting such a great report...we cant get enough of this stuff.

Mike

quote:

Originally posted by MikeZ-at-Bose:
John,

So glad to hear the gig went well. You'll never go back to any other drum mic'ing technique now that you have the dual SM57's dialed in. Its secret is that it amplifies just the drums and not the cymbals

Thanks for posting such a great report...we cant get enough of this stuff.

Mike

Thanks, Mike. You know, it proabably has to do with my mic placement, but I was picking up some cymbals; not too much and in a good way, so I was happy. For what it's worth...

John

As a way of advancing the L1 Youth Movement, it sure would be fun to have them at the next L1 conference.

Great report John.

Ken