Threw a party the 7th of july. Originally we planned to play and trade sets of 4-6 songs with my friends 3 peice metal/thrash band.

Unfortunately my drummer had a run in with an octopus. He and some of the guys he works with had a bad reaction to eating it at a buffet. Their necks and faces swole up, if they had eaten any more they would have been in the hospital with holes punched in their throats so they could breath. So, my band was out of commision for the day.

So, it was up to, "Forced To Hate," to save the day.

I set them up through 2 L1's All they brought were their guitars and mics. The guitar player went through his effects processor straight in and the bass player used my pod. The drummer was off to the side on an acoustic kit. This is facing out of my two car garage with the L1's against the back wall and facing out.

Keep in mind the drummer is an extremely hard hitter. His favorite drummers are from bands like Slayer and Slipknot. I only had to put the L1 up to about 1:30 or 2:00 to get the guitar to proper loudness up front comparitively to the drums.

Also, they downtune pretty low, and the bass player plays a five string.

I gave them just some simple instructions, and since they never played on the L1 before helped them make sure the levels were right:

1. point mics up and away
2. Here is the remote, ch1 is the vocal, ch2 is your guitar.
3. The mix you hear is the mix the audience will hear. So, if something is too loud or buried, thats the way it is out in the audience as well.
4. Eat the mic.

They had at it like the pros they are. No problem. I was concerned never playing that the first time playing through L1's and a different reference might throw them off. They played through them like they had already done it before.

Holy cow it sounded Sooooooo good. Sure it was loud, but not the usual ear ache inducing loud. We had the bulk of the party goers just outside the garage door. You couldn't talk over it, but you could lean in and talk to someone without shouting in their ear. Even one of my little dogs walked through as they played at one point.

I had my doubts that the L1's would sound right for a live thrash band or even if they would like it after being used to their amps. Thrash metal of this type requires a certain amount of ooomph and loudness to express it's energy correctly. The band loved the sound. The bass player couldn't believe all that sound was coming out of the tower for his bass. I could tell he was having a ball while playing and really enjoying his sound. After hearing him on it, I want to get a five string myself.

Well, it was plently loud and the sound was excellent. I even walked to the end of my drive and across the culdisac as I was concerned the neighbors might call the police on us..............again. It was plenty loud back there, everything was as clear as a bell. Luckily the police didn't show up, but we had mercy and didn't push the thrash past 10:00.

Now, that I've heard the L1 this way if anyone ever tries to imply that the L1 isn't loud enough for a rock club or even a heavy metal/thrash band I'm just going to laugh in their face.

I recorded all of their songs with my edirol R09. After I get it off of it and on to my computer and ask them which ones they want to post up, I'll post up some of their live songs as played through L1's

-Ric, July 08, 2007

Full Thread Here