An interesting exchange in PackLite - Questions and More Bass Talk got me pondering.

Traditional approaches to sound reinforcement have been undermined by trust issues.

Here's the exchange that sent me down this path.

quote:

Originally posted by Drumr:

quote:

Originally posted by Oldghm:
Could it be possible that by shouting into the mic for your initial trim adjustment, that you actually end up with it set too low. Then if you don't shout during your perfomance, you don't get full potential from your system because the initial gain is too low.
Oldghm

I have always pushed the "shout" approach to mic trim adjustment as in my experience most people will sing louder in performance than they will on a quiet stage during setup.

But trying it both ways is certainly feasible. One could surely yell too loud.
I find that even when yelling into my mic, the trim gets to 3 o'clock...that's pretty high.

I wonder how many of us have hedged our bets when dealing with "the sound guy". When that person asked us to give him/her an example of as loud as we will sing, play, drive our amp, did we really "give it our all" or did we hold back a little in reserve.

When I did it, it was because past disappointments had taught me to expect that at some point very soon, I'd be standing there unable to hear myself. This was when I'd turn it up, crank it out, and go for it. This was my last vestige of control in a situation where I had already been rendered impotent.

It's hard not to grieve for those shows, those lost opportunities.

When you help someone else set up you may be dealing with someone laboring under old expectations.

These issues should fade as we learn to trust our new experiences. Those should get better as we realize that the Remote (that smallest part of the System) represents a basis for a new trust.

I was in Park City, UT this past weekend covering the Durango song writers conference. I ran the open mic sessions for two nights with Dan, their sound tech. He was a real gem with accepting the system. I had a great time working with him and we experieced the same trust thing with the performers just as you brought up here ST. It was an interesting observation for you to make at this time. I look forward to talking with you at the East Coast conference.

Dan

FASCINATING!

This hit me right between the eyes. Even whey a musician is told "don't trust me, trust your ears ... there is one mix in the room" we don't trust OURSELVES due to the years of not trusting how it sounds "out there."

What a perplexing situation. And the funniest part to me is that many of us spend most of our playing time alone, at home, without amplification working "getting the sound right" or just rehearsing alone knowing what we want it to sound like ... then we show up at the gig and throw all of that knowledge away. Yet, that's the best, purest, cleanest and greatest quantity of sound that we ingest.

This is great food for thought ST ... simply great. I know that when I rehearse/practice at home with the L1 I'm going for a tone I like for a song and then I show up at the gig and guess what ... no surprises. It's funny that when you explain this to another musician they don't have any frame of reference for this being a "truth" because they KNOW that it's going to sound different or that they won't know what it's going to sound like at all.

Again, thanks ST. Fun stuff to consider.

One thing I have learned to my cost is Dont change any settings on pedal-board's ,sound module's etc. when rehersing at home through other sound-equipement,in my small studio I run a pair of Behringer B2030A speakers and did a few tweaks on my live-xt,when this transfered to the L1 system it was totally extreme (and embarrasing)on a gig to find a small vol-tweak to an o/d patch almost took out windows!OOPS!