Jack's Place: Performance Matching
A different kind of equalization
Our goal here is to collect and provide field derived tricks/shortcuts/moves. In this issue, we’ll start with something I’ve noticed. Later, it would be nice if readers would share their sleazy tricks with us and we’ll print them if we can.
FOLDBACK VOCALS
Quick, what’s the most important component of a successful vocal monitor situation? State of the art wedge, digital control platform, amp with a huge power supply, cool console, a no-loss splitter (that can mean different things to different folks - could be Dean Jensen’s or it could be those hip XTA actives), all the right stuff, understand?
Like most in our profession, I started with a fairly crummy monitor rig, and had to extract as much as possible from every component to get the thing anywhere near loud enough for the artists and guest engineers.
We quickly hit the limits on the rest of the rig, so one day we compared the eight Shure 58s in our mic case and were shocked to notice that no two sounded exactly alike. These units had some miles on them, of course, and the differences were pretty radical.
Would you hear these differences running a Tapco mixer into a single 12in International at your local music store? Not really, but in a high SPL situation where your career depends on your ability to deliver 2.5kHz from an open mic to the artist, these differences are obvious and useful.
DAILY ROUTINE
Every day, prior to soundcheck, I would grab all those 58s, trot to the monitor board, and speak through them into the cue (remote for you Brits) wedge. I organized them in order of perceived loudness and appropriate bandwidth, assigned a number to the piece of masking tape just above the XLR, #1 through #8, and made damned sure that the headline act got #1-#4. After the headliner soundcheck, I’d grab #1-#4 and hand the support act #5-#8.
The hierarchy would not necessarily remain constant from day to day, as the #1 mike would get wet and get dropped more than the other mikes, usually pushing it down the line after a while. Also, because monitors did not sound identical, it was fun learning which mics best matched which monitors on a daily basis.
I was able to get a little more out of the same system than engineers who did not futz with the mics this way. It was a useful trick.
I’ve also noticed that this applies to just about all the mics we use for any live performance. It is wise to give them a listen every so often and figure out which ones are at spec and which should be assigned to the three-day street festival.
Note: This is not a slam at manufacturer quality control, though I suppose it could be, but.....
Jack Alexander instructs on topics allied to Performance Audio at Columbia College (Chicago) and can be reached via e-mail at jalexander@popmail.colum.edu
July/August 2001 Live Sound International