Sound system for club

[mandosage]

Our club meets once a month at an old train depot. We jam, draw for hat bands, have groups perform and just hang out. The local chamber of commerce has been very supportive and helpful in providing this venue free of charge. They have even constructed a stage for performances. Our problem is we don't seem to have the right sound system for this venue. Our sound system probably dates from the seventies and was used mainly twice a year at the club sponsored outdoor festivals which we have discontinued in favor of semi-annual shows and monthly jams\meetings. The depot holds about 200-250 people. Therefore we don't need as powerful a system as we needed outdoors. I very much wouild like your recommendations for the type of equipment we would need\want\and afford. The stage is in the corner of the room bisecting the rectangular long axis of the building.

[Bandersnatch Reverb]

I've a friend with one of the Fender suitcase portable models. That sort of thing would be plenty for the two groups of 10x12 chairs you suggest. If the seating is spread out though, you may need a wee bit more.

But whats the "problem" with the system you've got? Can it be adapted? Does it only need, say... more portable speakers?

[ira]

i bought a kustom system recently for 200 bucks which i use at an open mic in a bar- and i'm thrilled. the model escapes me now, but if you do an archive search, i posted about it in the recent past. highly recommended.

[mandowilli]

Anyone who has had success with sound will tell you that there are just so many variables to consider. Educating yourself up front, before buying, is the best thing that you can do.
Try these sites, they have it all.

http://www.prosoundweb.com/forums/

http://www.sweetwater.com/forum/

http://acapella.harmony-central.com/forums....ex.php? (http://acapella.harmony-central.com/forums/index.php?s=e0cac7994f45cbc310a2253681a34b68)

Hope that helps!

willi

[mandofiddle]

Exactly what Willi said. Shopping for sound system in my opinion is about as hard if not harder than shopping for "the One" mandolin. Depends on how many inputs you want, if you want separate pieces of equipment, or one main piece. I went with a Behringer UB2442-FXPRO board, that cost $300 new. It's a great board for the price, and anything comparable is $1000 or more. I also have an EQ for the mains (to dial out feedback) and a compressor/limiter to smooth the sound so to speak. And then currently we're borrowing mains (powered Mackies or JBLs depending on who we are borrowing from). After all of this, you'll still need to think about monitors...

[TonyP.]

Well said indeed Willi. My pic of this(because we are missing I think what the "problem" is) if I walked in with our PA to do a big bare reverby room, which that's our tain depot is, I'd freak. You are looking at a nightmare sound wise. I don't care how nice or new the system is it's going to take some expertise to work out. One of the great examples of taking a space like that and making it work is the Freight and Salvage in the Bay Area. By hanging battons from the ceiling and putting stuff on the walls they kept enough reverb to sound good. With a live room you don't need much power. For me the trickyist thing is mics and how to make them work....right.

[mandowilli]

One trick that I learned from others more wise than myself was to use all of the same type of mics if you have, let's say, four vocalists(as in my group). This helps in level setting and overall setup in that yhou don't have to be adjusting input gain for different mics in different channels.
Another very good piece of advise I received was to concentrate on mic placement in lieu of endless tweaking. Much easier said than done, but I have solved many a problem by re adjusting mic positions.

willi

[TonyP.]

I agree essentially. After seeing Hot Rise I always knew they had the answer, one vocal mic. It solves so many problems like hearing each other and getting a good blend etc. We do like they used to do also where there are instrument mics besides the "big" main mic. The only mic, for me, I could say is our universal mic that sounds good on all the instruments and the vocals is the AT 4033. We don't have several of those so we use different small condenser mics for the instruments. In one way the one mic setup would be great for jams in that it would be simple but most people are not used to how sensitive they are, they either want to stay too far away which makes your have to boost the signal until you run into feedback or they are right on top of them like a dynamic mic and they overload them. I am very envious that you even have a place where you can do this as around here we went through hell finding a place like what you have and never did. You have such a great opportunity to have jams and meet people but also get experience on stage AND working a PA. I wish you great luck.

[mandroid]

Local 5 pc uses 2 cardoid large diaphragm condensers with pattern slight overlap . #now I see them standing more erect rather than singing down to an instrument level mic.
in hunchback harmony. the Quasimotos ?

A pair of EV SX 80's on stands are EZ to carry and decent sound, spec'd for 175W RMS.
for the DIY sort www.partsexpress.com has a mixer/amplifier to build your own active speakers, will also run a 2nd slave [monitor?] speaker.
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