soundlight
Well-Known Member
I went to a John McCutcheon concert last night at the ArtsCenter, a very small venue in Carrboro, NC. I went up to talk to the sound guy (as always) and he was actually glad to share some of his knowledge with me. After the show, we were discussing the mic techniques used on stage. Now the drum kit for this show is no ordinary drum kit. This was, as stated on stage, the "Drumship Enterprise." There's two regular cymbals, a hi-hat, a snare, a cardboard box, some tin and aluminum cans, and a suitcase. So the sound guy says "So they show up with this drum kit and I'm thinkin' 'how do I mic a cardboard box, some tin cans, and a SUITCASE?' So I stuck a D6 on the suitcase, and a 57 on the box an the cans." And then we laughed for a minute or two at the hilarity of this randomness!
The way that John's setup was run was very interesting. He plays about 8 or 9 instruments throughout the show, almost all of which plug in to his wireless beltpack. After they go through the reciever, they come back to the pedalboard in front of the mic stand for transformation, and then go back to be run through a Soundcraft Compact 4 mixer (along with the signal from the hammer dulcimer) and then the whole thing goes out throgh a DI. The vocal mic is also apparently taken care of by a DI, as it is a wireless mic and is also sent through the mixer, and out through a different route. I thought that this system was very intriguing. Also, I now want to get a Compact 10 mixer froms Soundcraft, for just a utilty mixer, because of the wealth of I/O provided in such a small form factor. The thing's also built 'like a tank' and is soundcraft quality. What else needs to be said?
About half the show was DI'd, and the other half was straight mic'd. The two keyboards were DI'd, but the fiddle and all of the vocals were mic'd. I don't know exactly what happened with the accordion. The Drumship Enterprise also had a PRO-37 over it to pic up the cymbals and the hi-hat (the snare was mic'd top and bottom with phase reverse on one of them).
I just thought that I would share this random montage of techniques used for the show.
The way that John's setup was run was very interesting. He plays about 8 or 9 instruments throughout the show, almost all of which plug in to his wireless beltpack. After they go through the reciever, they come back to the pedalboard in front of the mic stand for transformation, and then go back to be run through a Soundcraft Compact 4 mixer (along with the signal from the hammer dulcimer) and then the whole thing goes out throgh a DI. The vocal mic is also apparently taken care of by a DI, as it is a wireless mic and is also sent through the mixer, and out through a different route. I thought that this system was very intriguing. Also, I now want to get a Compact 10 mixer froms Soundcraft, for just a utilty mixer, because of the wealth of I/O provided in such a small form factor. The thing's also built 'like a tank' and is soundcraft quality. What else needs to be said?
About half the show was DI'd, and the other half was straight mic'd. The two keyboards were DI'd, but the fiddle and all of the vocals were mic'd. I don't know exactly what happened with the accordion. The Drumship Enterprise also had a PRO-37 over it to pic up the cymbals and the hi-hat (the snare was mic'd top and bottom with phase reverse on one of them).
I just thought that I would share this random montage of techniques used for the show.